Spanish Rock or Rock en Espanol is a music genre that originates in Latin America and belongs to the wider category of Ibero-American rock. Successful artists from this branch are often described as being crossover musicians as this genre bridges linguistic and cultural boundaries at the same time.
Spanish Rock emerged in the late 1950s with the first Spanish Rock song being ‘La Bamba’, played by Ritchie Valens in 1958. This song was the one to open the door to further rock in Spanish. Soon after ‘La Bamba’ a song called ‘Tequila’ and performed by Daniel Flores quickly became a hit and popularized this genre of music even more, not only in Latin America but also in the Northern America and in countries all over the world, especially Europe. Another success was the hit song ‘Maravilloso, Maravilloso’ interpreted by the band known as Los Cinco Latinos that came from Argentina. This song was also met with great success in both Americas.
The first rock bands were created in the late 1950s. Latin American rock was at first played by bands such as the Mexicans from Los Teen Tops, Los Blue Caps and Los Locos del Ritmo. These bands mainly recorded and played rock versions of famous creations of Elvis Presley, Little Richards, Chuck Berry and Buddy Holly.
Commercial Spanish Rock emerged in the 1960s when the so called Nueva Ola (the new wave) music style was created. This genre gained popularity in several Latin American countries and then had spread to Spain. In Europe, Spain produced several Spanish Rock bands in the mid 1960s among which Los Bravos, Los Brincos, Los Cheyennes and Pop Tops were the most famous. Also in the 1960s, but in another part of the world, the Mexican rock artists Carlos Santana started rising in fame by combining traditional Latin music with the rhythm of the rock guitar.
The late 1960s brought a movement in Argentina in what concerns the Spanish Rock and which was called the ‘rock nacional’. This style quickly became the most popular in the country and exponential rock bands adopting it were Arco Iris, Los Gatos and Sui Generis. This type of Spanish Rock is associated with the sexual revolution that took place in Argentina at that time.
A reborn of the Argentinian Rock took place in the 1980s when rock bands such as Soda Stereo (with Gustavo Cerati as a guitarist and composer), Los Fabulosos Cadillacs (with Vicentico as a vocalist) and singers such as Andres Calamaro and Fito Paez have started promoting a new movement in the rock music of Argentina.
Argentina can be considered the place where Spanish Rock originates from, although the genre has been populated in other countries around the world such as Spain through the creations of Enrique Bunbury and Chile through the voice of Beto Cuevas.