On via Gluck. Adriano Celentano as Architectural Critic

Abstract

This article proposes a perspective on the Italian pop star Adriano Celentano as a critic of architecture, by a close reading of song lyrics and careful listening to music and instrumentation. The signature hit Il ragazzo della via Gluck (lit. “The Boy from Via Gluck”, 1966) is not theonly song in which the singer–songwriter criticizes modern architecture and urbanization, his I Want to Know (1976) about the lack of space in modern apartments being at least nationally as famous. What such pop criticism obviously lacks in expertise, I argue, it gains in proximity to the audience and acute awareness of the experience of architecture in the everyday. What is more, Il ragazzo della via Gluck addressed the post-war suburban reality of Italian cities before the professional debate picked up on such issues. With its accurate polemics and dismissal of professional concerns and terms, Celentano’s criticism seems more knowledgeable than expert discourse, and actually was at the spearhead of postmodern critique.

What is particularly interesting is Celentano’s incompetence in architecture and competence in music. Already the title of I Want to Know suggests his lack of knowledge, in this case the inability of a layperson to grasp the aims of modern architecture. Celentano’s music, on the other hand, perfectly mirrors the design and experience of the modern housing estates he criticizes, with its pronounced repetitiveness and almost annoyingly slow rhythm. This article analyses such issues, examining the core topics and strategies, musical as well as textual, of Celentano’s critique.

I posit to extend the notion of what can be understood as “architectural criticism” and its actors, beyond professional journals and critics to pop songs and singer–songwriters, not least in their capacity to reach audiences far beyond the limits of the architectural discipline, which underlines their status as central contributors to a debate on architecture beyond elite circles.