How long does a successful band last? As long as one of the members falls in love, one might say sometimes. We have examples at home, starting with Pooh who in ’73 – in their golden moment – lost Riccardo Fogli along the way, madly in love with Patty Pravo. An initially clandestine relationship (Fogli was still married to Viola Valentino) which continued to embarrass the other members of the group, until the either/or: “Either us or Patty”. We all know the choice. Eight years later it was Marina Occhiena who left Ricchi e Poveri, on the eve of Sanremo, because she had had a relationship with the partner of the “brunette” Angela Brambati, Marcello Brocherel. The historic quartet became a trio, while Marina embarked on a solo career. In both cases there was no dissolution, but a change of formation which in the end proved to be lucky for everyone.

It didn’t go so well, however, for the Beatles, who disbanded in April 1970 after a long period of tension and harsh clashes, apparently not only due to divergent artistic views. Most Fab Four fans – but also music critics, journalists and insiders – have always attributed the main responsibility for the dissolution of the English band to Yoko Ono, who had been engaged to John Lennon for just over three years at the time and had become immediately the center of his world. Companion, advisor, muse and artistic sidekick, it would have been her presence that irreparably compromised the harmony between the four baronets of music. A sexist hypothesis – patriarchal some might say – which sees women as the cause of family, work and artistic disarray. The woman as an emblem of destruction, a Judith portrayed by Klimt with the severed head of the enemy in her hands. The man seduced and killed, artistically speaking, of course. But is it really like that?

Damiano David and Yoko Ono syndrome

Damiano David, leaping forward fifty years, unintentionally undermines the Yoko Ono syndrome, i.e. the tendency to blame women for decisions or missteps of their partners (see Meghan Markle and Prince Harry). Heritage dies hard. Although many blame his girlfriend Dove Cameron for his estrangement from the Maneskins (easy as that!), the truth is that the former Disney starlet, now a star with 47 million followers, has no interest in tearing her partner away from his band. Indeed, to be honest, on the world stage Damiano David is Damiano David thanks to the success of Maneskin, so it should be a shine – in terms of image – to have alongside the frontman of a rock band of that caliber that continues to churn out global hits. In short, the hypothesis of the cumbersome girlfriend who separates the Holofernes on duty from his companions holds very little weight in this case. At most, the opposite could be true. The star of the couple is Dove, famous since she was a child thanks to the Disney series “Liv and Maddie”, and then divided her time between cinema and music, also highly courted by the world of fashion. A diva of our times. The ‘new’ Damiano, on the other hand, is starting to seem like a confused and fussy singer, looking for renewed fame overseas that he doesn’t have to share with anyone, to be closer to his girlfriend but also – who knows – to show her that he is height of a star system that is still relatively new to her. “Silverlines”, his first single away from Maneskin, and the new “Born with a broken heart” – which will be released in a few days, on October 25th – are the first steps in his solo career, or rather in the one he has called his “new life”. It is more in this aspect that the triggering cause of a divorce passed over quietly should be sought, in his personal desire for affirmation, in the desire to raise the bar, in the belief that he no longer needs shoulders, on a stage or in a studio. of recording, despite the project starting from Sanremo in 2021 it turned out to be more than successful and it seemed like it was the right one to write a new page in music history. A sort of artistic greed that could prove fatal, born from a decidedly premature sense of omnipotence given that the years of his career do not reach double figures.

It’s no coincidence that he started thinking about this chapter, and then writing it, when his story with Dove Cameron took off, of course, but it’s bizarre how it didn’t occur to anyone that his could have been a free choice from a hypothetical sentimental conditioning, or rather, from a conditioning exercised from the outside (and in any case far from gender issues). Time will tell whether it’s right or wrong, but first Spotify.

Talent is not enough

Damiano David is in a new phase of his life and evidently also an artistic one, in which there is no room for Maneskin. And maybe it won’t be there anymore, although woe betide anyone talking about dissolution. For the moment it’s better to leave the door open, because maybe there’s still time to turn back, even if certain choices always have consequences and above all they demonstrate that it’s not enough to be presented as the new Nirvana or Rolling Stones to really be one. It takes talent, yes, but also head, sacrifice and feet anchored to the ground. There is a long list of rock bands that can set the tone, from U2 to Bon Jovi.

Meanwhile, the name of Maneskin has disappeared from the bio of Damiano’s Instagram profile and many are asking him for a song with Dove Cameron. Be careful not to get too big (yet), because I doubt a new “Imagine” will be born, but it is easier for the Maneskin to become the new Rich and Poor.