There’s a recurrent phenomenon seen in Mexican music since the seventies. And that is the sudden apparition of fads. Pointless fads, that unfortunately are gigantic successes for about six or seven months, before dying a quick, painless death.

Molotov are the protagonists of one of this silly trends, which started and ended in the same year: 1997. The fad was about using large quantities of foul language (sigh) in mainstream music and was started by Control Machete (hip hop band) in their debut album Mucho Barato. In their songs, they said as many bad words as possible (sometimes even ruining a song just for forcing the rhymes). The morbid curiosity of the young audience (mainly kids between 10 and 12 years old) that wanted to feel “bad a$$” listening to this stuff caused the album to be a top seller, and other bands to come and imitate the style. Molotov was the first, best and most successful one of them.


The Artist

Molotov is band that was formed in Mexico City in the early nineties and consists of vocalist Micky Huidobro, guitarist Tito Fuentes, bassist Paco Ayala and drummer Randy Ebright a.k.a. “El Gringo Loco”. Their music is a rather cool mixture of hard rock, hip hop, adding some Mexican folkloric instruments, such as the marimba and the redoba.

Their discography consists of the albums Donde Jugarán Las Niñas? released on 1997, and the horrid Apocalypsh*t from 1999. They also made a remix cd called Molomix which was pretty bad, but included two great inedit songs that were worth the buy.

After Apocalypsh*t, the last thing they did was the main song for the Y Tu Mamá Tambien soundtrack, called Here Comes The Mayo. Supposedly, they are recording their next studio album right at this moment, and they plan to release it in summer of 2003... we’ll see how it turns out.

The Album

Donde Jugarán Las Niñas has 12 tracks, of which 5 were singles. All of these singles had huge airplay (specially Gimme tha Power, the only one that reached the top of the charts), and were great for singing along... if you didn’t mind shouting aloud a few foul words.

While this album surely made Molotov lots of money, it brought many problems to them, due to the risqué lyrics and topics of some of the songs. Here are a few examples of the trouble they got in:

 They got sued in Spain by a Gay Pride association, which considered the song Puto encouraged homophobic hate.
 A feminist mob literally attacked them in the midst of a live presentation sponsored by a radio station, claiming that the song Quitate que Masturbas was offensive and discriminating toward women.
 Televisa, the biggest TV corporation in Mexico (and Latin America), banned them from all their channels because the song Que No Te Haga Bobo Jacobo bashed their prime news presenter Jacobo Zabludovsky for omitting news related with government’s abuse toward the indigenous population. Tito Fuentes responds “our songs are just too honest for some”.
 A Catholic school in Mexico City sued them because the uniform of the girl in the cover is identical to the one of their teachers, employees and students.

Add lots of criticism from the politics, other musicians, and some conservative people in general, and you’ll wonder how they managed to survive, let alone release more albums.

Oh, and the title of the album means "Where will girls play now?" (just look at the cover) and is a parody of Mana's Donde Jugarán Los Niños?.

The Songs

Donde Jugarán Las Niñas? starts with one of the strongest tracks of the album, the previously Que No te Haga Bobo Jacobo (Don’t Let Jacobo Make You a Dunce). They accuse him of hiding and twisting facts, and giving preference to the PRI (which still was the ruling party of Mexico back then). Its raw and powerful, definitely one of the best songs. Paco Ayala makes an outstanding job with the bass.

Cocktail Molotov is one of the 2 English songs in the album, sung by El “Gringo Loco”. Its pretty mindless compared to the politically conscious tracks that sandwich it (Jacobo... and Voto Latino), and the lyrics don’t really make sense to me, except for a part where they describe how to make a Molotov explosive. Fun song nonetheless (there’s a really cool Aerosmith style guitar riff at the middle of the song).

Voto Latino was the first single they released, in August of 1997. It talks about racism against Latin people in the United States. ”Racistas, yeah, es lo que son... es la única única raza que odio de corazón” (which can be summarized as “racists are the only race I can really hate”). The music is bizarre, like rock with big tropical influences, and some nifty organ thrown in. Voto Latino is not only a fun song, but also carries a great message.

Well... then there’s Chinga a tu Madre (Screw* Your Mom). Uses the same formula of hard rock with rap, but this is not a political song in the least. It’s just an angry rant on mothers-in-law, like what a guy would say to his girlfriend or wife. At the end, the “chinga a tu madre” insult goes to some other bands and companies (namely Televisa).

Gimme tha Power is my favorite song from the album. It was the most successful single of the album, and pretty much everyone who likes it (and even some that do not) knows it by heart, since its incredibly catchy. More political issues again: now the finger point towards the corrupt and elitist Mexican government of the PRI. ”Nos llevan por donde les conviene, y es nuestro sudor lo que los mantiene comiendo pan caliente” (“they take us to anywhere they want for their convenience, and its our sweat that gives them the warm bread”). The music is great too, with marimbas and redobas moving fast among the slow-tempo beat. Pure gold.

Unfortunately, the next song is awful. Matate Teté is just angry nonsense without a real point or reason. The lyrics sound like induction to suicide, and the music and singing are kind of obnoxious. Skip these song...

Mas Vale Cholo is much better. Its a funny story told in the language of so-called “cholos” (Mexican thugs?). They are pretty much mocking the posing of some people, using some ridiculous terminology and voice tones that its too stupid to be used by cholos. Hollow, but still hilarious. At the end the song accelerates into a guitar solo and has a great outro.
Use It or Lose It is the other song in English. Its as carefree and nonchalant as Molotov Cocktail. Nah, its worse. You won’t find nothing interesting lyrically, but has kind of a cool rhythm in the chorus. There’s a brief solo at the middle but nothing breathtaking.

Then comes the most polemic song of the album (and they wanted to make it the first single!), Puto. Its the shortest and fastest song of the album, and its just a series of harsh insults at some one, calling him a “puto”, which is one of the many Spanish terms for “gay”. The song is awesome, but the lyrics will surely turn off many people. Not for everyone definitely.

Porqué No te Haces Para Allá al Más Allá is a little more than a lame song with a long title. Much along the lines of Mataté Teté is only consists of insults and profanities toward random people and things, followed by a weak chorus that consists in repeating the title many times.

Next comes Cerdo (“Hog”, “Pig”, “Boar”, you name it), the fourth single released for this album. It talks about some amazingly fat guy who never stops eating. I hate repeating myself, but this one song is extremely funny, and amazingly doesn’t feature a single profanity. It has a disco beat that makes it very different from all the other 11 tracks.

The close the album we have Quitate que Ma’sturbas (Spanish-only pun that I can’t translate). Its a cool hard rocker with endless attacks toward some easy woman (Molotov’s style is putting the guy screaming insults at someone). The only quote I can from the lyrics without having to bypass an offensive song is: ”Pensaste que yo quería contigo, pero andaba buscando el anillo que se le perdió a un amigo” (“you thought that I wanted to get laid with you, but I was just looking for a ring my friend lost” (in your *****). That should sum it all.

Just Adding...

Don’t tell me I didn’t warn you. This album can be extremely offensive for some people, specially the tracks Puto and Quitate que Ma’sturbas. Its great both sonically and lyrically (except for 2 tracks), but only people that don’t get offended easily should get it.


Recommended: Yes

Great Music to Play While: Hanging With Friends