"The fact is that an image, the cover of Frank Zappa's album "The Man from Utopia", featuring Ranxerox, the hero whom I thought no one else in the world knew besides me, had an impact on my life that would change everything.
How could a series of seemingly simple events, from seeing the cover of an album to listening to a series of songs my brother played, have such a deep emotional impact that it would change my entire life, with a persistent and innovative idea that I had no idea how to move forward with.
The 1980s were incredibly innovative; Frank Zappa created music and lyrics criticizing the decisions made by drugged executives, people poorly fed from dirty kitchens, echoing alongside the rebellious RanXerox, a post-apocalyptic hero who lived between the extremes of crushing his enemies and loving Lubna, through the ultra-realistic and brilliant illustrations of Tanino Liberatore and Stefano Tamburini.
At that moment, I, a young artist who wanted to work as an illustrator, biologist, and/or perhaps travel the world (which later I ended up doing illustrations for the column "Super Fantástico" of the magazine "Superinteressante", in the early 2000s, in which I reconsidered with the question "what if...", very convenient for the proposal of questioning society and creating new economic doctrines), absorbed influences that would shape my future in a surprising way. Inspired by the Heavy Metal magazine, an adult illustrated magazine, I had my first contact with the dystopian world of Ranxerox," Pagano recalls.
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| Tanino Liberatore, Stefano Tamburini & Frank Zappa |
Immersed in this cauldron of art and social criticism, Pagano began to question the predominant economic systems of the time - both capitalism and communism fail in their proposals: "Capitalism fails to distribute wealth and socialism/communism fails even more in not generating wealth to be distributed".
"It's not about choosing simple options, voting for someone from the left or the right, whether communism or capitalism is better, but decisions must be made in a much more complex and disruptive way, completely rethinking society's models, creating something absurdly new".
Who is the man who came from Utopia?
The cover art of the album "The Man From Utopia", released in 1983, was illustrated by Tanino Liberatore and depicts an incident from FZ's tour of Italy the previous year - the cover shows RanXerox with Zappa's goatee on stage killing mosquitoes, a reference to a concert at Parco Redecesio on July 7, 1982, where the band was attacked by a large number of mosquitoes while performing; and the back cover, depicting the riot in Palermo on July 14, when the police fired tear gas at the audience.
"I always wanted to be like RanXerox, running like a monkey through the streets (yes, I did that with some friends). The ideas of Frank Zappa, the student revolutions that inspired Tanino and Liberatore with Ranxerox, and the concept of Prospenomics are all reflections of my desire for change and progress in different spheres of society".
Frank Zappa, through his provocative music and lyrics, challenged the social and political norms of his time, questioning authorities and taboos with a critical and sarcastic look. His iconoclastic approach and search for creative freedom inspired not only musicians but also thinkers and activists around the world. The album stands out for its opening track "Cocaine Decisions", with its rhythm reminiscent of skiffle washboards, it is an attack on drug-influenced businessmen and features a harmonica. "The Dangerous Kitchen" satirizes dirty and messy kitchens.
"The Dangerous Kitchen", "The Radio Is Broken", and "The Jazz Discharge Party Hats" feature Zappa's "meltdown" style, usually with pre-written singing/speaking, but sometimes improvised. For "Jazz" and "Kitchen", Zappa had guitarist Steve Vai overdubbing complex guitar parts throughout the songs, perfectly copying every word and syllable of Zappa. This unique type of overdubbing was a one-time experiment that Zappa never repeated. Hungarian composer Péter Eötvös said in an interview:
"'Kitchen', from the album 'The Man From Utopia', became a basic piece for me, especially in the following years, after I started working on operas. The technique he uses in this particular song is very interesting: it's this method of half-sung, half-spoken performance that's not exactly Sprechgesang, but what makes it so interesting is that he accompanies it with an instrumental solo. I was very surprised to find out that the guitar part was recorded separately. As it seemed so synchronous, I was convinced that Zappa had sung and played at the same time. However, the technique itself, the idea of 'the singing instrument', comes from 'The Dangerous Kitchen'".
Tanino and Liberatore, with their Ranxerox comic book series, portrayed a dystopian and violent society, reflecting the tensions and unrest of the youth of the time. Through their provocative narratives and illustrations, they explored themes such as rebellion, alienation, and disillusionment, capturing the energy and rebellion of the student revolutions of the 1960s and 1970s.
Frank Zappa became interested in the character RanXerox, created by Italian artists Tanino Liberatore and Stefano Tamburini, after a concert in Rome in 1982. A journalist from the Italian magazine Frigidaire showed Zappa the newly published album fully dedicated to RanXerox, which amused him a lot.
Zappa was so enthusiastic about the comic album that he asked his friend Massimo Bassoli to put him in touch with the authors. Thus, the artists met in 1982 and provided Zappa with a copy of RanXerox.
In turn, Luiz Pagano, with his theories of change, still quite uncertain in the 1980s, proposed an economic approach that prioritized sustainable resource management, social and ecological harmony, and the pursuit of a post-scarcity society, much like the federation of planets inhabited by Captain Kirk and Spock, without poverty, where people worked according to their talents and not just to make a living.
Inspired by the prospenomic vision, Pagano believes that it is possible to transcend the limitations of the current economic system and create a fairer and more prosperous future for all.
In essence, all these ideas share a commitment to change and innovation, seeking to challenge the status quo and create a better and more equitable world for future generations. By combining creativity, social criticism, and vision for the future, these thinkers and artists have contributed to shaping the debate on the challenges and opportunities we face as a global society.
This quest for a more equitable and sustainable alternative led Pagano to formulate the foundations of what would come to be known as Prospenomics - the economic vision that prioritizes sustainable resource management, social harmony, and harmony among all species that have evolved over the past 4.5 billion years to generate the planet we have and the pursuit of a post-scarcity society.
However, Pagano's ideas, like those of Zappa and the dystopian universes of Ranxerox, were still naive in the 1990s. It was only through the constructive criticism of Professor Mercier that Pagano found the necessary encouragement to refine and mature his concepts and create this blog.
It is through the exposure of ideas, dialogue, reflection, and collaboration that we can continue to advance toward this goal.
