In the music industry, people working in radically different genres at the same time are rare. Claudio Simonetti is one such exception. He wrote soundtracks for cult Italian horror films by Dario Argento and in parallel made dance pop for Italian clubs. Here's that unusual double creative path.
A Musical Family
Claudio Simonetti was born in 1952 in Brazil, into the family of Italian conductor Enrico Simonetti. That immediately set his musical course - he grew up in a setting where classical and academic music were everyday. He got his education in Italy, where the family returned during his childhood.
That biography is rare for '80s pop music. Most Italo Disco producers came into the industry "from the street" - through amateur bands, self-teaching, work at small studios. Simonetti had an academic foundation from childhood.
Goblin: the Horror Era
Simonetti's main fame is tied to Goblin, one of the most influential Italian rock groups of the '70s. They specialized in progressive rock with electronic elements and were a perfect fit for working with film.
The band became the main composer for director Dario Argento. "Suspiria" (1977), "Phenomena" (1979), "Tenebre" (1982) - the soundtracks for these cult horror films were written by Goblin. That work had a huge influence on film music and on electronic music overall.
Solo Career
In the early '80s, Simonetti started a solo career in parallel with Goblin. And here he moved in a completely unexpected direction - toward dance pop. It was a big contrast with Goblin's dark style.
Simonetti explained this as a desire to diversify, to try a new genre, to earn on more mass music. But it was also sincere love of dance culture - he was an active club-goer and saw artistic potential for himself in that music.
Easy Going and Kasso
Simonetti's main solo projects in dance music were the groups Easy Going and Kasso. Under those names came out hits in the Italo Disco and early house style. Tracks like Easy Going's "Fear" or the Kasso work were popular in European clubs.
Stylistically, this work stood apart from mass Italo Disco. Simonetti brought into the genre elements of prog rock, experimental electronics, academic musical ideas. That gave it an unusual sound - familiar, but with extra depth.
Kabala and Experimental Work
Besides more mass-oriented projects, Simonetti worked on experimental electronic compositions under various pseudonyms. The Kabala project, for example, combined Italo Disco aesthetics with elements of progressive electronics and even ethnic motifs.
That work got less distribution, but among fans of the instrumental branch of Italo Disco it has cult status. It shows the genre could hold much more than typical pop hits.
Parallel Work
Simonetti's uniqueness is in the parallelism of his careers. He wrote horror soundtracks and dance-floor pop hits simultaneously. Those are completely different worlds with different demands and aesthetics. But Simonetti managed to live in both.
In one studio he might be working on a scary soundtrack, in another on a dance track. Those projects ran in parallel, demanding different moods and approaches. But both worlds enriched each other - elements from one could unexpectedly appear in the other.
Technique and Tools
Simonetti was among the first Italian musicians to work seriously with samplers. He used the Fairlight CMI - one of the most expensive and advanced instruments of the era, which very few could afford. That gave his work particular technical quality.
Simonetti also actively used modular synths, which were rare in pop music. His sound stood apart in textural complexity compared with standard Italo Disco tracks. A specialist hears it instantly - it sounds "richer."
A Relationship With Genres
Simonetti never treated Italo Disco as the "only" genre. He worked in it but wasn't tied to it exclusively. That set him apart from many peers for whom the genre was a permanent identity.
For Simonetti, dance music was one of many creative languages. He could switch between genres relatively easily because he didn't identify with any of them. That flexibility helped him survive in the industry as trends changed.
Return to Film
In the late '80s and '90s, Simonetti returned to film music. He kept working with Argento on later films, wrote soundtracks for other directors, took part in reissues of Goblin's work.
In parallel the music work continued, but with less focus on pop genres. Simonetti concentrated on more experimental, academically charged projects. That was natural evolution - as he got older, interest in purely commercial dance music faded.
Today
Claudio Simonetti continues to work to this day. He often tours with a reformed Goblin lineup, giving concerts where he plays the cult film soundtracks. In parallel he works on new projects and sometimes takes part in Italo Disco retro events.
With the revival of interest in '80s genres, Simonetti is getting new recognition - in horror circles (via Goblin) and among Italo Disco fans (via his solo work). For him, it's a reward for decades of creative consistency.
Lessons of a Double Career
Simonetti's story shows several important things:
- Genre boundaries are arbitrary. A talented musician can work in completely different styles without damaging his identity.
- Commercial and "artistic" aren't opposites. You can do both at a high level.
- Education matters. The academic base helped Simonetti in both directions: in horror soundtracks the classical schooling brought depth and complexity, in dance pop - understanding of melodic line and harmony.
Italo Disco has few figures at Simonetti's level: most producers in the genre worked exclusively in it, often without serious musical training. Simonetti is an exception that shows what could have been if more talented musicians with varied backgrounds had taken interest in dance music.
A telling epilogue: Luca Guadagnino's 2018 "Suspiria" remake used the Goblin sound as a direct citation - but the soundtrack was by Thom Yorke of Radiohead, while the original Claudio Simonetti the same summer toured Europe with his own Goblin, playing the classic 1977 tracks over horror cinema on festival screens. The same sound in 2018 played in two versions at once: as a historical citation by a younger master and as a living continuation from the author himself. A rare opportunity for a musician.