Brief history of Argentine rock music

With the explosion of rock & roll and Elvis Presley as the first main lead character, each country began to produce local figures that emulated the most current American or English star.

In the 60s, the Beatles phenomenon changed the minds of millions of youngsters from all over the world. Thousands of rock bands emerged trying to imitate their beloved heroes from Britain. the same thing happened in South America, on the shores of Rio de La Plata...

By the end of 1963 Los Shakers were performing in Montevideo (the capital city of Uruguay) and soon signed for a contract in Buenos Aires (the capital city of Argentina). they became enormously succesful.

From Rosario (the main city of the Argentine province of Santa Fe) a group called The Wild Cats -with their Beatles/Hollies/Animals repertoire- moved to Buenos Aires as well, changing their name to Los Gatos Salvajes and -this was big news- singing in Spanish. Other outfits, like Los Vip´s, Los In, The Seasons, Los Walkers (from Argentina) or Los Bulldogs and Los Mockers (from Uruguay), played beat music, but with English lyrics. (Actually, Los Gatos Salvajes was not the first group to sing in the local language, but it was their attitude what turned this into something natural from then on).

In 1966, Los Beatniks recorded the first garage-single in Spanish, but it was not until the following year -with the release of Los Gatos’ massive hit ‘’La Balsa’’- that the history changed. Almost no group in Argentina (or Uruguay) dared to sing in languages but Spanish afterward. Even the big record companies pushed their beat commercial artists to translate their lyrics into Spanish.

Deep in an old basement at Pueyrredón Avenue in Buenos Aires -called La Cueva- a group of young striving artists began to gather together and play with the local jazz band. Moris, Pajarito Zaguri, Javier Martínez, Miguel Abuelo, Tanguito, Litto Nebbia, Pipo Lernoud, and other ‘’hippies’’ exchanged ideas, music and poetry.

From La Cueva they used to go to La Perla del Once, a pizza-bar that never closed. They finally greeted the dawn at Plaza Francia to meet other young hippies. All these places eventually became the cradle of a big rock local movement. Groups like Los Abuelos de la Nada, Manal, La Barra de Chocolate and singers like Moris, Tango or Pajarito Zaguri emerged from these meetings.

La Cueva from Pueyrredón finally closed, but Billy Bond opened a new one at the long Rivadavia Avenue. In those days, Bond was a commercial beat singer who had already several singles.

Since Buenos Aires was big city, this small venue was not the only place where new rock groups formed. Almendra (one of the Big Three, together with Los Gatos and Manal), Vox Dei and Arco Iris -all from different neighbourhoods- had something new on their own to say...

In 1968, pop magazine Pinap hit news-stands and Mandioca -the first record label devoted exclusively to rock music- was born.

By the following year, big concerts were held: the June Sunday concerts (Beat Baires) at the Theatre Coliseo, the Festival Nacional de Música Beat at the Theatre El Nacional, the Festival de Música Joven at the outdoors Piletas de Ezeiza on September 21rst (the beginning of Spring and Student’s Day), and the Festival Pinap -with 12.000 attendants in two weekends- at the Anfiteatro Municipal.

The big wheel of Argentine rock was rolling... and nobody would or could stop it.

In 1970, from the ashes of Pinap (along with Cronopios and La Bella Gente, the only beat rock magazine) emerged Pelo (Hair), soon to become the official publication of Argentine rock.

Pelo’s influence became enormous. Daniel Ripoll, owner and editor, decided whether an artist was ‘’in’’ or ‘’out’’, praising or ignoring him.

In November 1970, Pelo organised the first Festival BARock (Buenos Aires Rock) at the Velódromo Municipal, where 30.000 people enjoyed the music of the aforementioned acts plus others like Alma y Vida and La Cofradía de la Flor Solar.

Also in 1970, The Beatles broke up, and in 1971 the Big Three followed (Almendra, Manal and Los Gatos)... After these groups died new bands appeared, playing a wide variety of challenging styles for a growing local audience.

Once again, during the four Saturdays of November, the BARock II festival gathered 50.000 people to watch new and old bands perform, among them: Pedro y Pablo, Gabriela, Raúl Porchetto, León Gieco, Orion’s Beethoven, La Pesada, La Cría Rockal, Miguel y Eugenio, Aquelarre (yet without a name), Color Humano, Contraluz, Escarcha, Fe, La Pequeña Banda de Trícupa (all from Argentina) and Tótem, Psiglo and Opus Alfa (from Uruguay).

With Mandioca out of business, new labels like Microfón (and subsidiary Talent), MusicHall, DiscJockey and Trova, together with the always-present RCA, devoted efforts to record the new growing movement.

During 1972 groups were divided into two different styles. On one hand there were the ‘‘acoustics’’ after the event "Acusticazo" (June 16^th 1972 at the Theater Atlantic in Buenos Aires) -mostly solo or duo folk-rock acts-, like Sui Generis, Vivencia or Pacífico. On the other hand, there were the ‘’heavies’’, like Pappo’s Blues and Billy Bond y La Pesada , with their offsprings Alejandro Medina, Kubero Díaz, Claudio Gábis or Jorge Pinchevsky.

The BARock people organised several shows between May and August 1972 at the Teatro Atlantic, ending finally in November with Festival BARock III outside the Argentinos Juniors soccer club stadium. This event was immortalised by the movie Rock Hasta que se Ponga el Sol (directed by Aníbal Uset), the only (and superb) visual testimony of the great music performed in those days. (The following and last BARock festival was in 1982).

The film includes (in alphabetical order) Arco Iris, Billy Bond y La Pesada, Color Humano, Claudio Gabis, Gabriela, León Gieco, Litto Nebbia, Orion´s Beethoven, Pappo´s Blues, Pescado Rabioso, Sui Generis and Vox Dei.

The albums by groups like Piel de Pueblo, Sacramento or Materia Gris did not have major support from the press and went unnoticed.

Rock music in Argentina, as in every other country, was not precisely the establishment’s delight. To make matters worse, during a rock festival at the huge indoor Luna Park Stadium, Billy Bond urged the audience to ‘’break it all’’. This infamous event achieved a lot of bad press.

We should not forget that between 1966 and 1973 Argentina’s government was overthrown by a military dictatorship. Longhaired youngsters were persecuted and rock music represented the ‘’peaceful’’ resistance (whilst the ‘’armed’’ resistance was held by the revolutionary guerrilla).

In March 1973, to celebrate the return of democracy, the Festival del Triunfo Peronista was held at the Argentinos Juniors stadium. Due to musical and political problems the event experimented lots of troubles.

The youth in Argentina was enthusiastic about the idea of Juan Domingo Perón returning from exile for a third term as president. frustration was soon evident and the death of the old chief in 1974 tipped the country into social turmoil and economic chaos. In 1976, a coup put the Armed Forces back in office again until 1983 -resulting in an enormous growth of the external debt, an estimated 30.000 disappearances and, no less, a war against Britain!

This uncomfortable social climate would influence the musical production of those early years. Rock music became the natural shelter for those who sought to live in a better world.

Meanwhile, groups like Arco Iris or soloists like Litto Nebbia began to experiment with local folklore rhythms and fuse them with rock. Others, like Cuero, Rockal y la Cría, Los Barrocos, La Banda del Paraíso or Montes, released great recordings that got no commercial response.

Concerts became more frequent, and bands like Invisible, Aquelarre or El Reloj played intensively. Many new outfits like Ave Rock or Madre Atómica tried to find their own way playing past-midnight gigs at smaller venues. Finally, the considerable success of Sui Generis paved the way for a wider audience to discover the growing movement.

New magazines like Mordisco, which eventually turned into the superb Expreso Imaginario, appeared.

By the mid 70´s, a new bunch of bands with a more symphonic sound emerged, like Espíritu, La Máquina de Hacer Pájaros, Crucis, Alas, Bubu and MIA.

It was during this period that many rock pioneers emigrated in search of more peaceful lands. And once again in harmony with the major groups from the north, local artists began to experiment with tango and jazz. This led to some good music but lot of self-indulgence as well which lacked the strength of the first period of more politically-charged progressive rock.

At this point in the chronology, we stop the study of Argentine rock music. Although rock music in Argentina later achieved a success that nobody expected when the whole thing started, we feel that what happened afterwards is of no interest for the international collectors to whom this book is actually dedicated.

In Argentina, punk and new wave music went unnoticed until the early 80´s. By the end of the 70's, the music played was mostly empty-trying-to-be-FM without a challenging message. The massive crack occurred by the end of 1982, when the Falklands (Malvinas) War was over. During the war, radio stations decided not to play music with English lyrics. Radio programmers went crazy trying to find replacements for such a big programming gap, so they quickly discovered that there was ‘’that other music in Argentina’’. The Armed Forces also found through the music an excellent tool to control youth. Argentine rock music became an overnight sensation. Musicians became stars and could finally make (in many cases deserved) some decent money. Suddenly, Argentine Rock Music (or "rock nacional", as we call it) was a household word! But, as we have said, this is another story and not the focus of this book.