The 10 Best Rock Albums In Spanish! Apr 13 '06    Write an essay on this topic. Tweet Popular Products in Music The Dirtchamber Sessions, Vol. 1 by The Prodigy From $11 Jersey Boys [Original Broadway Cast Recording] by Original Broadway Cast From $8 The Bottom Line Even if the lyrics might be in Spanish, it's still rock and roll to me... Billy Joel once sang, "hot punk, cool funk, even if its old junk, its still rock and roll to me." The Bill-ster was on to something. There's a tendency to, at some point or another, label artists or songs or albums as "not real rock and roll." It's ridiculous. Rock has more faces than Sybil, and is a lot more fun to get to know. So, without further ado, here's my list of 10 great rock and roll albums that just happen to have Spanish language lyrics... 1. Los Rabanas - Rabanas Somewhere between the metal and the punk camps of rock and roll there must lie a small spot for Rabanas, whose sound rocks and rolls and shakes the whole damn house. If you liked the Dead Kennedys or even Ian Drury and the Blockheads, you'll love Los Rabanas...I sure do. 2. Shakira - Donde Estan los Ladrones? She's had bigger selling albums, but Donde Estan los Ladrones? is the one that I think marks her metamorphosis from a spirited young artist to a mature performer. It's got youthful zeal, but amazing complexity. It defines her modern sound. Shakira still reminds me a bit of Tracy Chapman. 3. La Oreja de Van Gogh - Lo Que Te Conte Mientras Te Hacias la Dormida The almost nostalgic 80s feel comes to life with Spain's young rock group La Oreja de Van Gogh. I like their early works, but its really Lo Que Te Conte Mientras Te Hacias la Dormida that marks them as a powerhouse and that proves their canny songwriting ability and clever hooks are no fluke. Think Bangles, think Cranberries, and now think La Oreja de Van Gogh. 4. Jarabe de Palo - La Flaca Sure, its got a kind of folksy tone to it, in kind of the same way that groups like Grateful Dead always had, but just like the Dead, you can't help but fall in love with the music's craftsmanship and its feel of capturing old blues influences. I think Flaca best exemplifies Jarabe de Palo's style, but recent albums like Un Metro Cuadrado might reflect even more maturity. I recommend this to folks who like Little Feat. 5. Cafe Tacuba - Cuatro Caminos Its a rough and tumble kind of hard driving rock sound, with ska influences and a definite industrial grunge edge to it, but if you like cranking your music to 11, this is a good album to crank up. Cafe Tacuba has a lot of good stuff though, and you might like their Avalanche de Exitos release if you've got an appreciation for the somewhat strange side of experimentation. I like it, but I really think Cuatro Caminos better exemplifies the group's focus and sound. 6. La Ley - Uno Chile's answer to Mana is the La Ley --- an outstanding group with a big driving guitar sound that bears more than a passing resemblance to Duran Duran. Some folks might say Vertigo is better than Uno, but I'm not so sure --- this is an excellent album and very representative of the La Ley sound. 7. Mana - Donde Jugaran los Niņos? Probably the most obvious pick when it comes to rock en espaņol is to list a Mana album, since everybody knows Mana, and in my opinion, picking Donde Jugaran los Ninos is a slam dunk since its the group's iconic album. So much so that bad-boy band, Molotov, even spoofed it with their album, Donde Jugaran las Niņas? 8. Enanitos Verdes - Big Bang Don't matter what you're callin' it, it's still rock and roll to me. Enanitos Verdes show flashes of pure classic rock, but they have a soft, very pop-oriented aspect to them (not unlike La Oreja de Van Gogh...or even my old buddy Billy Joel, for that matter). Somewhere in the balance lies albums like Big Bang, which I like for its raw, undeveloped, unchecked passion. 9. Juanes - Un Dia Normal Great grinding guitars! Juanes does indeed rock the house, especially on this album --- even more so than on either his later or earlier works, neither of which let Juanes the guitar maestro break free from the shackles of Juanes the vocalist in quite the same way this album does. It has maturity...yet it still retains a zeal of youthful exuberance. Its hard to imagine how Juanes will ever top the mastery of Un Dia Normal. 10. Alejandra Guzman - Cambio de Piel She might come off as something of a biker b*tch, but let me tell you, Alejandro does indeed rock the house. At times, she's got the passion of Pat Benatar with a Hit Me with Your Best Shot kind of attitude, but others she's the pure rocker of Joan Jett belting out I Love Rock and Roll. There's lots of Alejandra Guzman albums out there. Most of 'em are excellent. I think Cambio de Piel is a great exemplification of her power and rock and roll spirit. Understanding a Bit More About Rock en Espaņol... Hispanic rockers (usually referred to as rockeros) have gotten a fair dollop of media attention over the last 10 years or so, but Spanish language rock is nothing new. In fact, its roots go back to the golden era of drive-ins and sock bops. The first rockero I can think of who really made a significant splash in the American mindset was Richie Valens, whose song La Bamba needs absolutely no introduction --- it's at least as well known as anything the Beatles or the Stones ever did. No intro is needed for Carlos Santana either, one of the greatest guitar players in the history of rock, and Oye Como Va stands out as one of the few Spanish language rock songs to become completely accepted throughout the English dominated rock world. Hispanic rockers for the most part have stayed within their Spanish speaking comfort zones. A few have even hit stratospheric popularity levels while remaining relatively unknown to English speaking rock fans. Case in point: Rigo Tovar. Do you know Rigo Tovar? The dude was at his peak in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Funny Rigo story: 10 or 15 years back, Pope John Paul II visited the city of Monterrey and said mass. Huge crowds came out to see the Pope --- some 300,000 folks. A bit later, Rigo Tovar visits the city of Monterrey and plays a free concert in the big, open basin of the dry Rio Santa Catarina --- and Rigo draws 400,000 folks! Is rock and roll more popular than the word of Christ?? I'd hate to be the one who states such a conclusion... Today, there are hundreds of rock bands performing in Spanish --- maybe thousands --- its just that there are hundreds with recording contracts in hand and albums in the music stores. The four most fertile countries for rock and roll seem to be Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, and Spain. Not necessarily in that order. Even small countries have large numbers of rock bands, but not always big names. In Argentina, the biggest acts are Bersuit Vergarat and Enanitos Verdes, though Los Fabulosos Cadillacs hail from the land of the gauchos as well, and a few years ago, you found a lot of folks diggin' on the grooves of Soda Stereo. Argentinians seem to favor more cutting edge kinds of sounds, and some of the groups have a definite hard punk edginess to them. The punk edge isn't confined to Argentina though, and you find it in one of Colombia's biggest alternative rock acts, Aterciopeladas, though most music fans who dig on Colombian rock favor the zesty style of Juanes or the eclectic fusions of middle-eastern sound that exemplify Shakira at her best. If you like your sounds more along the lines of something between U2 and the Smiths, you might like Los Elefantes. When you move up into Mexico, you find quite a few developing young artists, but you also find mega stars, like Mana, who are sort of the 80 ton gorilla of Mexican rock acts, although groups like El Tri, Cafe Tacuba, and Molotov rock harder (Mana follow too much in the Sting style for some fans). Mexico is also where you find the only really strong tradition of female power rock solo artists. Alejandra Guzman has been at it for a good couple decades, and she's still rockin' the house. Gloria Trevi was once the darling of a teen generation, until it all came crashing down in a series of sex allegations and prison terms --- Gloria's out of jail now, and back on stage, though her following isn't what it once was...her music though still rocks. Lately, young Julieta Venegas on her album Si is the one to watch... What Spain lacks in sheer number of rock acts (they seem to have fewer big bands than many of the Latin Aemrican countries), they make up for in quality. It never ceases to amaze me how innovative and fresh the sounds of Spain's rockeros can be. Baron Rojo shows off a rough and ready sensibility, while groups like La Oreja de Van Gogh display wonderful pop sensibilities, yet they can turn on a dime and toss off wonderfully catchy tunes that rival the best Squeeze tunes you ever heard. Lately though, my ears have been turning towards Jarabe de Palo, with his off-beat lyrics and his breezy, casual style that can be as relaxing as a Jimmy Buffet tune on a warm sandy beach.

Read all comments (6)|Write your own comment

Write an essay on this topic.