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Goblin

An Italian progressive rock band formed around Claudio Simonetti and Massimo Morante, who scored Dario Argento's Deep Red in 1975 and went on to Suspiria, Zombi and Tenebre.

From Oliver to Cherry Five

Claudio Simonetti, born in Sao Paulo on February 19, 1952 and trained at the Santa Cecilia conservatory in Rome, and Massimo Morante founded the group; Italian Wikipedia dates it to 1973, with demos made at Simonetti's studio in the EUR district of Rome during his military service, and English Wikipedia to 1972 as Oliver. They went to London and reached the producer Eddie Offord, who agreed to produce them, but he left for a Yes tour and the band returned to Italy. The Cinevox deal came through Simonetti's father, the composer Enrico Simonetti, and their first LP on Cinevox was titled Cherry Five. The name Goblin was adopted for the Profondo Rosso score.

Simonetti says they were recording Cherry Five when Dario Argento's production first looked at them. Walter Martino had replaced Carlo Bordini on drums, and for Profondo Rosso in 1975 the line-up was Simonetti on keyboards, Morante on guitars, Fabio Pignatelli on bass and Martino on drums; Agostino Marangolo replaced Martino later in 1975, and Maurizio Guarini joined on keyboards for Roller (1976).

Argento, Suspiria and the splits

Scores followed for Suspiria (1977, Cinevox MDF 107), Zombi and Il fantastico viaggio del bagarozzo Mark (1978), Amo non amo, Patrick and Buio Omega (1979), Contamination (1980), Tenebre (1982, credited to Simonetti, Pignatelli and Morante) and others, with Perche si uccidono (1976) released as Il Reale Impero Britannico. Morante left in 1978, replaced by Carlo Pennisi, and Simonetti in 1979, though English Wikipedia describes a 1978 split after Zombi. Pignatelli, the Marangolo brothers and Pennisi worked as Flea on the Honey in 1980 to 1982. They reunited in 2000 for Non ho sonno, and Morante and Pignatelli reformed the band in 2005 for Back to the Goblin; dissolution was announced in December 2009 after a reunion tour that played Krems, Paris, Foligno, Birmingham and London.

In 2010 Simonetti formed New Goblin with former members, which toured Japan, Australia and New Zealand and made a first North American tour in 2013; from 2013 there are two bands, Goblin (Morante, Guarini, Pignatelli and Marangolo) and Claudio Simonetti's Goblin, which toured with complete film scores. Morante died in June 2022, aged 69, and in August 2024 Marangolo and Pignatelli left, replaced by Walter Martino and Roberto Fasciani as Goblin Legacy. Simonetti also founded the horror-theme metal band Daemonia in 1999, and the Cherry Five reformed in 2015. Setlist.fm counts 364 setlists for Claudio Simonetti's Goblin, with "Suspiria" (328) and "Profondo rosso" (301) the most played. Thom Yorke scored the 2018 remake of Suspiria without the Goblin theme. Fabio Capuzzo wrote Goblin sette note in rosso (2011).

Albums

  • Profondo Rosso 1975 · soundtrack · Cinevox

    The score for Argento's Deep Red: three Goblin pieces and four by Giorgio Gaslini, on an LP that sold a million copies in Italy according to Simonetti.

Songs

  • Profondo Rosso Profondo Rosso · 1975

    The main theme of Deep Red, a piece in 7/4 that Argento commissioned after dropping the film's first composer.

Sources

  1. Goblin (band), Wikipedia
  2. Goblin (gruppo musicale), Wikipedia (Italian)
  3. Claudio Simonetti, Wikipedia
  4. Deep Red, Wikipedia