Rock en español

[Zzzptm]

This has been a musical hobby of mine, finding good stuff from the past and present for those who like rock con mas ñ...

I usually start with Enrique Guzman con Los Teen Tops from the fifties. Los Teen Tops, along with Los Hooligans and Los Crazy Boys, provided a foundation of Spanish-language rock in Mexico.

Mexico, in fact, was one of the few places in the world to develop a proper rock and roll "scene" outside of the USA prior to Beatlemania. Canada and the UK had their bands, along with a few in South Africa, but Mexico was the first non-English speaking land to really get into rock. A large part of that had to do with bilingual rockers in the border states - Freddy Fender being one of *the* most important among them.

If Elvis was The King, Freddy Fender was El Rey.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBA0qfdWMdg

Freddy Fender did a great job covering a lot of Fats Domino's swamp rock. Without him, Spanish-language rock wouldn't have gotten its early start, plain and simple.

[Billy Underdog]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiwqRSCWw2g

That's rockin' pretty hard. In Portuguese, though. But that's more or less like Norwegian and Swedish, right?

[Zzzptm]

Somewhat, yes... but you're getting waaaaaaaaaaaaay ahead of the game, putting Sepultura in there when I haven't even gotten to Los Dug Dug's or Riff!

So let's mention Los Dug Dug's. So named because the abbreviation for Durango is Dug. Because the city of Durango is in the state of Durango, it's Dug Dug. Pretty cool, is it not?

Anyway, Los Dug Dug's were among the first bands in Mexico to do predominantly their own compositions. Nearly everything in Mexico up to the late 60s was cover versions of American and British tunes. Just as the music was getting more adventurous up north, so the Mexican scene began to be adventurous in its own way.

Los Dug Dug's would record both in English and Spanish and had a very heavy psychedelic sound at first, moving more towards a hard rock sound for their later albums. One of my favorites of their catalog is "Cambia Cambia", give it a whirl!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpk5t4eaMZI

The fuzz level in this song makes it quite acceptable and accessible as an early stoner/fuzz tune. I love it.

[Billy Underdog]

but you're getting waaaaaaaaaaaaay ahead

I'm always ahead of everything...

[Zzzptm]

Cheeky Norwegian!

I mentioned Enrique Guzman earlier, so let's have a bit of a focus on his early years, shall we?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SKSk-r-V_o

The footage is from the fifties, with Los Teen Tops, but the sound is definitely mid-sixties, with that electric piano ostinato. Over the years Guzman softened up and did more ballads, but his work in the fifties and sixties will always be some great rock. Here's another:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51nN3hD3mXQ