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Fabio Pignatelli

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Fabio Pignatelli is an Italian musician and the bass guitarist of the Italian progressive rock band Goblin. That group made the music for several horror films, best known for Dario Argento's Suspiria from 1977 and George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead from 1978. By 1983 the band had largely broken up, but Pignatelli held the group together and continued to use the name. In this way it carried on until the end of the 1980s, and in 2000 the main line-up briefly came together again.

Music and breakthrough

For the film Tenebrae, with the soundtrack Tenebre from 1982, the band was credited as Simonetti-Pignatelli-Morante. The other members, among them Maurizio Guarini and Carlo Pennisi, were not involved in it, and because Pignatelli controlled the group name, that wording was chosen. In 2013 he played bass guitar on the track Backlit from the album Simulakrum Lab, a project with vintage synthesizers by Paolo Prevosto.

Influence

Pignatelli is part of the Italian tradition in which progressive rock and film music come together. The bass lines form the solid ground for the synthesizers and guitars, and helped to create a cold, menacing sound that suits horror. Goblin showed how strongly music can carry a film and thereby became a model for later film composers in the genre.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to Goblin's music for Suspiria and notice the menacing, constantly recurring bass line and the synthesizer sounds that together build an oppressive atmosphere.

Discography

Studio albums

In School of Rock

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Categories: Artists