Twenty Years of OndaRock

2001-2021 – We're still standing

by Claudio Fabretti

When OndaRock was born, the currency in Italy was still the Lira, Mark Zuckerberg was a nerd whose aggregating potential was clearly inferior to that of our own Forum (where at the time friendships, love affairs and maybe even a few children were born), and As Roma had just won the Scudetto. This trio of facts alone should give you a sense of how much time has passed on these pages. As far as our own field is concerned more directly, we can't help but recall how the very concept of music consumption back then was light years away from what it is today. In that year, 2001 — which in collective memory will forever be tied to the horror of September 11th — a record industry still existed in the traditional sense, CDs were the main format, record shops, however battered, were still hanging on, and the illicit thrill of peer-to-peer seemed destined to fade away along with the fleeting, illegal mirage of Napster. A few people secretly put their faith in alternatives (Audiogalaxy, Morpheus, Kazaa), but no one could have even imagined that, just a few years later, they'd be cruising undisturbed down the streaming highways of YouTube or Spotify.

Two decades, like two geological eras, then. But we already touched on this on the occasion of our last anniversary, that of the first decade of OndaRock, when we found ourselves celebrating the shift from the tender amateurism of our early days (when the forum was pale blue and the chat room was red) to the professionalism of a music website in step with our ambitions, including on the graphic and structural front. So today, what's changed compared to ten years ago?

The first thing that comes to mind is the most painful one: the long list of artists who have left us over these years: Lou Reed, David Bowie, Leonard Cohen, Prince, Aretha Franklin, Keith Emerson, Etta James, Tom Petty, Mark Hollis, Amy Winehouse, Donna Summer, Ric Ocasek, Mark E. Smith, Dolores O'Riordan, Claudio Lolli, Lucio Dalla, Franco Battiato — to name just a few. A grief we've shared together, trying to hold on to what remains of them: the immense legacy of their music.

As far as we're directly concerned, instead, the toughest challenge was continuing to guarantee the kind of content that has earned us your trust. A difficult task for a site that runs on passion and volunteer contributions. It's no coincidence that many people, quite legitimately, have moved on. Our salvation has been finding other contributors of equal worth. But there are also those who came back after many years, like Mattia Paneroni, one of the "founding members" of our community, now firmly at the helm of our new column "Don't box me in". Turnover — including generational turnover — and the will to always keep the door open even to those who had left are the two factors that have allowed us to keep the quality and quantity of our content unchanged over these years, together with the extraordinary passion of those who have stuck around for so long, first and foremost our editorial coordinators Giuliano Delli Paoli and Fabio Guastalla, who deal every day with an unrivalled amount of tasks (and headaches).

But the raw material of our site has also renewed itself. Pronounced dead for decades now, and certainly not in the best of health, so-called rock remains, all things considered, a defiant ghost that keeps hovering over much of contemporary output. Perhaps deconstructed, decomposed, crumbled and freeze-dried, but still recognisable. In 2021, though, it would be pathetic to limit ourselves to just the literal meaning baked into our name. Music has expanded and branched out into an untangleable Babel of subgenres and niches, which make a critic's task even more complex and fascinating. An expansion that's not just stylistic, but geographical too. With the invaluable help of some contributors, we've broadened our horizons to national genres and scenes, from Korea to Tanzania, from Poland to Argentina, from South Africa to Russia, uncovering a wealth of treasures, some more hidden than others.

Set against the complexity of the musical universe has been the impoverishment of communication methods that has emerged in these years, no small detail for anyone working in media. Everything has become faster, more concise, more frantic. No more emails, just WhatsApp messages; no more written text, just voice notes; no more replies, just a like or a thumbs up/down, so as not to waste even those twenty seconds trying to explain oneself, to sketch out a dialogue. Stubbornly swimming against the tide, on our pages we've tried to reaffirm the primacy of reflection and argument over the hysterical ping-pong of social media. Even if, every now and then, we've fallen into that trap ourselves.

After all, these changes can't become an excuse to close ourselves off either, and end up, as it were, old "like Titian's house in Pieve di Cadore", to quote the master Battiato, and unappealing to new generations. Over this second decade, we've tried to open up on one hand to an inevitable multimedia evolution (hence radio podcasts, streaming, videos, playlists, listening charts, work on social media, live concerts on YouTube, even the at-home kind during pandemic lockdowns), and on the other to a broader range of musical genres, not shying away from forays into fields (trap, hip-hop, it-pop, mainstream in general) that have drawn the ire of our more orthodox and hardline readers. Ever come across a comment on Facebook saying "you've turned into OndaPop"? Well, you get the idea.

In truth, though, there's been no change of course, because OndaRock — despite its name — was born with an omnivorous vocation, addressing every genre, including a section whose very name (Popmuzik) was meant to poke fun at snobbish attitudes towards popular music. In short, all-round openness is part of our genetic code, as is our inclination to tackle every subject with the utmost critical depth, whether it's Philip Glass or Maneskin. No free passes for anyone, but also none of that self-seriousness and insufferable snootiness that pollutes the so-called "underground" universe. If there's one thing I hope we never lose, it's the self-deprecating humour celebrated by forum user gigiriva in the famous mantra "OndaRock is burning", which has by now become our official anthem.

On one thing, though, we can reassure you: our approach remains resolutely "secular", free from any outside influence. That doesn't mean it's neutral: each of us filters our judgments through our own tastes and sensibilities. Above all, it doesn't mean it's perfect: mistakes, inaccuracies — and even the occasional outright blunder — are always lurking, and sometimes they're impossible to avoid. It's also thanks to you readers that we're often able to correct ourselves: that's why we ask you to keep helping us guarantee coverage that's as accurate and rigorous as possible. And while we're at it, we also ask for a hand in constantly renewing ourselves, to meet the needs of a music webzine in 2021, which can no longer be, in any way, just the "digital substitute" for an old print magazine.

Speaking of which, who would have said, ten years ago, that old print magazines (or at least a select few of them) would still be alive today? And yet, there they are, a little yellowed and forlorn, but still standing proud on newsstand shelves. The same, in fact, used to be said about some of our house specialities. Things like monographies, sprawling deep-dives into genres, even reviews themselves (landmark ones or otherwise) were long given up for dead, with detailed obituaries written for them. And yet they still work, albeit perhaps following a different logic, one updated for the age of e-books and podcasts. Not to mention our Forum — a relic from the prehistory of the Internet — which, despite all its limits and quirks, remains a valuable source of information as well as the only place in the world where certain discussions can take root and endure over time, instead of scattering into the fleeting frenzy of social media.

Edoardo Cappuccio's first homepage (2005)

In short, old and new somehow coexist, and that can only please a site like OndaRock, which was born with a strong historicist vocation, in the awareness that without a good grasp of the past you can't properly understand the present, let alone glimpse what will happen in the future.

The same goes for our sister site OndaCinema, which has been sailing on for 13 years now with similar methods and ambitions, and above all with a formidable staff, a forge of talented film and literary buffs, as shown by the string of publications bearing their names released over the years.

Now that we've finally been granted that seal of authority which ten years ago was still almost the exclusive preserve of print magazines, we want to keep cultivating the dream of a free, competent publication, one that tells the story of music and film with the same enthusiasm with which it timidly stepped onto the boundless digital horizon back in 2001.

OndaCinema, the first homepage (June 4, 2008)

But we have no wish to bore you any further, not least because we've never much liked celebrating ourselves, and we remain - perhaps culpably - reluctant to do the rounds of music journalism's fashionable circles (paying the price for it, at times, in terms of visibility and perks). This time, though, we've decided to hand the floor over to the true protagonists of our site: the musicians we try to document and analyze on these pages every single day. We've probably irritated a few of them with our critical quirks, but we've also championed many, helping in our own small way to cement their reputations. Plenty of them have acknowledged as much, as you can see in these warm birthday messages running alongside this piece (or following it, in the mobile version). Others may not even be aware of it. But all of them can rest assured that on these frequencies they'll always find a radar switched on and curious about their work.

So here's to a good first twenty years, for us and for you. Getting this far was never a given, nor is carrying on, but we'll give it a try. With the hope, on my part, that at least one of the three facts mentioned at the start might happen again. And no, I'm not hoping for the return of the Lira.

Keep on (onda)rockin’ in the free world!

The automated site's first homepage (2007)

***

THE ONDAROCK TEAM

Editor-in-chief

Claudio Fabretti

Development, design and supervision

Edoardo M. Cappuccio

Editorial coordination

Editorial staff

News Section

Contributors

Currently inactive but essential to the history of the webzine

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This article is an English translation of the original Italian text by Claudio Fabretti, published on OndaRock.it. It was translated with the help of artificial intelligence, under the editorial responsibility of OndaRock's editor-in-chief, Claudio Fabretti.

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Discography

Well, that's amazing! Congratulations, and thank you so much for the longtime support of my music. I hope that you continue to write about music with flair and passion.
(Marissa Nadler)
Wishing OndaRock my best wishes for your 20th Anniversary. Keep Rocking!
(Phil Manzanera - Roxy Music)
Happy 20th Birthday OndaRock! Thanks for all your dedication and love for music, your sincere, engaged and proficient music journalism. You keep culture alive, that means a lot to us all. Much love from Berlin and my wish for many more years to come. Cheers.
(Andrea Schroeder)
20 years of OndaRock, amazing! Black Tape For A Blue Girl has received so much love over the years from your site and from Italy, it's been really wonderful to see that. Here's to the success of your next 20!
(Sam Rosenthal - Black Tape For A Blue Girl)
Dear OndaRock, so happy that you have been there through these years. You have always been true music lovers who don't fear depth and new horizons. Love it! Congratulations!
(Chantal Acda)
Congratulazioni OndaRock! For 20 years of being cool. Here is to 20 more years! xox
(Erin Moran - A Girl Called Eddy)
Happy Birthday OndaRock! Thank you for your support for independent music and so many discoveries made thanks to you in so many different styles! We wish you 20 wonderful years to come!
(Odessey & Oracle - France)
Happy 20th Birthday to OndaRock! This fine magazine has always been kind to me and my music. I am particularly grateful because I recognise what a keen eye you have for the quality of written content. Your journalists clearly listen and care about music. Grateful then that you have reported so thoughtfully and supportively about my work.
(Trevor Jones)
Hello people from OndaRock! The Gathering is wishing you a happy birthday and a very nice celebration of 20 years continuous activity of promoting (heavy) music and our band The Gathering in Italy! Here's to another 20 years! Cheers and thanks!
(Hans Rutten - The Gathering)
Happy 20th birthday to Ondarock! Thank you for all your support to me over the last few years, and for being an awesome music magazine. Much love!
(Brigid Mae Power)
Congratulations and thank you to all at OndaRock for 20 years of great comprehensive music reviews and news! I wish you all the best for the next 20 years and beyond! With my best wishes.
(Louise Le May)
Congratulations to OndaRock for 20 years of existence! Independent and critical music publications are so important for music as an art form - both for artists and consumers, and for me, OndaRock is one of the best critical music publications around. I'm so grateful for the support I've received from OndaRock over the years. Since my debut album "I Dreamt I Was An Astronaut" in 2017 that barely anyone heard of, yet was still reviewed by OndaRock, to my more recent records released by Trapped Animal Records, OndaRock and writers like Gianfranco Marmoro have been given my music a life in Italy, helped bring me an audience in Italy, and I can't wait to come back to perform there again. Vita lunga OndaRock
(Jeremy Tuplin)
I wish Onda Rock the happiest of birthdays, thank you for the love and support you give to artists like myself, and so many others. We're deeply grateful for you. Looking forward to the next 20 years ahead.
(Robin Bacior)
Hearty congratulations on this significant anniversary! OndaRock always presents an insightful and really beautifully written article, taking an adventurous approach, not only with its observations, but also with its choice of music and subject matter. Here's to 20 more years of excellent writing and creative discoveries!
(Fredo Viola)
Welcome to OndaRock - and happy reading from.
(Stuart Moxham)
OndaRock is clearly one of the most reliable online sources for music reviews that I have come across in the past 20 years. It gives a thorough and perceptive review to every release it considers worthy of recommending and not a small cursory critique acknowledging the album's existence. The reviews are also very perceptive, fair and trustworthy - it is a genuine privilege to be featured on 'Ondarock' where they take every artist - no matter how small - seriously. Here is to another 20 years!
(Paul Roland)
OndaRock have been supporting and celebrating music for 20 years and now it's time to celebrate them! Happy Birthday and I hope you have a blast! Much love.
(Anna Aaron)
Ciao OndaRock - you have no idea how much feedback like this made a difference to me and the red Meat orchestra! You made our efforts make sense thank you!
(Paul Mosley)
Congratulations to my friends at OndaRock Magazine for 20 fabulous years! Here's to many more! All my best.
(John Howard)
Here it goes: wishing a happy 20th aniversary to OndaRock. Keep on with the great work and thank you so much for all the support you've been giving to Beautify Junkyards since the beginning.
(Joao Branco Kyron - Beautify Junkyards)

Many congratulations to all the writers and staff for OndaRock on 20 years of amazing music writing!! Thanks especially for all your support for my two albums! Cheers! Here's to the next 20 years!
(Ed Dowie)
Like a good, wise and cool friend with impeccable taste in music, we all need an OndaRock in our lives. A recommendation here is like a badge of honour, I've got two badges, one for each decade! So thank you, bravo and congratulations. I hope you continue to shine for another 20.
(Paul Armfield)
Congratulations OndaRock on your 20 year Anniversary! Thank you so much for your love and support of music. Here's to 20 more. Cheers.
(Danny Wilkerson - Texas)
Felicitations OndaRock 20 years of impeccable service to Music .. here's to the next 20 !! Rock n Roll love on ya , All the best.
(Philip Parfitt)