Muore Massimo Morante

Massimo Morante, an Italian guitarist, singer, and composer, passed away at the age of 69.

He was a co-founder of the progressive rock group Goblin, best known for their horror soundtracks in Dario Argento’s films.

The most famous titles that everyone remembers are: Deep Red, Suspiria, Dawn of the Dead, and Tenebre. Morante was born in Rome on October 6, 1952.

Brief Biography

Born in Rome in 1952, Morante started playing the guitar at the age of 12, mainly listening to records by the Rolling Stones and Jimi Hendrix.

In 1971, he met keyboardist Claudio Simonetti, and together, invited by their producer friend Eddie Offord (also producer and sound engineer for the Yes), they traveled to London where they recorded several of their compositions with a band named Oliver. In the band, with Morante on guitars and Simonetti on keyboards, there were Clives Haynes (vocals), Carlo Bordini (drums), and Fabio Pignatelli (bass). The London experience soon proved to be unfulfilling and needlessly expensive, so Morante returned to Rome, where in 1974, along with Simonetti, he formed the group Goblin, on the occasion of recording the soundtrack for the film Deep Red by Dario Argento. Joining the band were Walter Martino on percussion and Fabio Pignatelli on bass. The film’s success and the excellent sales of the 45 and the LP of the soundtrack (partly shared with Giorgio Gaslini) led Morante and Simonetti’s band, now joined by two new musicians, Agostino Marangolo (drums) and Maurizio Guarini (keyboards), to embark on a long Italian tour between 1975 and 1976, alongside singer Riccardo Cocciante.
During one of the tour’s trips, the car driven by Marangolo was involved in a serious car accident, from which Morante and the others miraculously escaped unharmed.This unexpected event led to an abrupt interruption of the live experience and, soon after, the band returned to the studio to record the album Roller.The album, released in 1976, was not tied to any film as Deep Red had been, and it received poor sales, marking the beginning of a crisis period for the band.

Morante and his bandmates were discussing how they could regain public favor while maintaining high standards and musical quality when a new opportunity was provided by director Dario Argento.

After unsuccessfully trying to involve Banco del Mutuo Soccorso to score his new film Suspiria, Argento decided to turn once again to Goblin, who had by then become a quartet following the departure of keyboardist Maurizio Guarini.

Morante and the others spent several months in the recording studio, creating one of the most original and celebrated soundtracks in horror history, once again climbing the sales charts.

1978 was an intense year for Goblin, with the release of their second “autonomous” album, Il fantastico viaggio del bagarozzo Mark, in which Massimo Morante not only played guitar but also appeared as a singer for the first time.

The album failed to fully convince the public, and the band had to halt promotion as they were called back to the studio to score the soundtrack for the film Dawn of the Dead, a horror film directed by cult director George A. Romero and financially supported by Dario Argento as producer.

However, the same year also brought unpleasant surprises: the death of Massimo Morante’s father and, shortly thereafter, the death of Simonetti’s father, maestro Enrico Simonetti, as well as the group’s producer, Cesare Andrea Bixio.

Shortly after, Massimo Morante left the band to pursue a solo career.

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