Lunapop's “50 Special” turns 25: Rockol's “special”.

The 1999 edition of the San Marino Festival – the tenth – was held on 8 May at the Teatro Nuovo, and was presented by Alessandro Greco and Rosaria Renna. That year Lùnapop won the Premio Titano (presenting a first version of “Qualcosa di grande”). Below is the photo of the awards ceremony, kindly provided by Festival patron Daniele De Luigi.

Here, unfortunately in poor video quality, Lunapop's participation in the Festival ended with the award ceremony by the presenters.

25 years have passed since then – and the celebrations for the anniversary of “50 Special” (written by Cesare Cremonini, produced and arranged by Walter Mameli) are justified by the sensational success that song by a previously totally unknown group had.

Today, Monday 27 May 2024, between 10 and 12 many Italian radio stations will broadcast “50 Special”; we will tell you about its birth and creation, in the words of the protagonists. And out of historical curiosity, we propose here Rockol's first interview with Cesare Cremonini, dated December 1999, and carried out before the publication of the album “Squerez?”.

Here are the other articles from Rockol's special on “50 Special”:

Cesare Cremonini talks about the birth of “50 Special”
Lunapop, the producer Walter Mameli: “This is how '50 Special' was born”
Marco Stanzani, “'50 Special', 25 years have passed: it seems like yesterday”
'50 special': Ronny Aglietti talks about the studio recording
The 25 years of “50 Special”: what are the other Lunapops doing today?

25 years of “50 Special”: the playlist created by Cesare Cremonini