Angel with Drumsticks: The Rock that Shook the Foundations of the Vatican

This story is as it was told to the author by Angelo Ferrari, drummer, singer and founder of the Italian Beat rock group Angel and the Brains. After recounting how the band was formed and its music ambitions, it continues to tell the true story about the aftermath of La Messa Dei Giovani (La Messa) in 1966. Based on the immediate reaction of young people the band would be considered an overnight success. But it was not to be. La Messa was conceived to fulfil the desires of Vatican II to make the Catholic Church more appealing to young people but, bitter and vicious arguments within the church and the media about the style of music. To appease those against the concept the Vatican took steps that resulted in the band's ruin. The story describes how these young musicians, who had responded to the invitation from the church to perform the first rock mass in Rome had their fledgling careers destroyed by the Vatican. The reader will discover many articles written in recent years are wrong in their descriptions of what happened following La Messa and falsely acclaim the event as being a successful innovation of the Catholic Church at the time.