Franco Battiato started his career in the late '60s as a struggling, middle-of-the-road Italian pop singer; by the early '70s he had undergone a radical transformation into avant-garde dabbler, creating spacey music (ostensibly) inspired by Karlheinz Stockhausen, Krautrock and Brian Eno. One of his most outré albums featured an entire side of him playing a single piano chord over and over. Although folks such as Jim O'Rourke and Julian Cope are wont to name-drop Battiato nowadays, at the time his experimental records weren't winning him much praise or monetary reward; so by the '80s Battiato re-invened himself as an Italian new-waver and finally received the fame (in his home country, at least) that he sought.
"Centro Di Gravitá Permanente," from his 1981 album La Voce del Padrone (The Master's Voice), is one of his catchiest tunes, but still sounds a bit silly, especially to newbies, due to the dated production. This video is a classic exploration of the seemingly endless possibilities of green-screen technology (a still-fresh innovation in 1980s Italy!) and home video special FX. The result? It looks like Battiato is singing to us from inside an Atari game; "Centro Di Gravitá" packs all the non-stop visual dynamic of a round of Breakout. Still, Battiato's energy and excellent taste in socks are amusing enough. Interested Eno and David Bowie fans are urged to track down more essential Battiato (as fun as "Centro" is, his early stuff is in an entirely different dimension than this); start with his 1972 album Fetus.