• agrohimgjt
• 23 Dec 2024
• Музыка, театр, кино
• 14 Прочтений
• 0 Комментариев

Punk-rock of Mexico !

My initiation into the collecting of Punk- Rock of Mexico (hereafter abbreviated PROM) came in a greasy restaurant in Carson California. I had just bought a pile of records at the local Salvation Army and I had hardly put them down when Emanuel, the busboy, came by and dropped an additional 45 atop the other discs and said "Para listed. Amigo I checked it out and saw that he had given me a copy of "Hey Lupe"2 by Los Rockin' Devils, which turned out to be a much sought after item among PROM enthusiasts, at least as good as "Watcher of the Skies" by Genesis and twice as rare.

From then on I’ve been making regular excursions into East LA and even Tijuana, to find the records I so desperately need for my collection. Believe me, it's a lot cheaper to take the short drive across the Rio Grande than to sell your stereo, TV and car and go to Europe, only to find all the Focus singles were already bought up by a guy from Japan.

The main PROM band is Los Rockin' Devils. So far seven 45's, an EP and three LPs have turned up in California. Their debut single was "Juego de Amor"3 on the formidable Orfeon label. According to Emanuel, "Juego" bombed in most of the markets in Mexico, except the city of Oaxaca where it received minor airplay. When a DJ in Mexico City started playing the flip side, "Todos Queremos a Lupe" , the record shot up to the top of Las Cartas in early 1965 and Los Rockin' Devils became big stuff.

This hit was followed by a wild version of James Brown's "Soy Feliz"5 which bashed its way up to "El Numero Uno" position on Las Cartas late that summer. As "Soy Feliz" descended Las Cartas, the long-awaited LP was released, to "mucho albanzo" by the fans, but "Los Criticos" hated it. And with good reason. Exitos A Go Go is awful, com prised for the most part of popular tunes from the US charts, like "You Soy Enrique VIII", "Los Pajaros у Las abejas" and "Hey Lupe." The main reason Los Criticos hated the LP was because one song, "Todo El Dia у Toda la Noche" was sung in English instead of Spanish. You must understand that Los Criticos of Mexico are devout purists and would even object to eating at Taco Bell.

Nonetheless, Exitos A Go Go did quite well and another 45 was let loose. "Sigue Asi"” was the biggest selling single in the state of Chihuahua in 1966. There was a huge promotion campaign featuring the distribution of cardboard tortillas with photos of Los Rockin' Devils on them.

A tour was set up which took the band to key Mexican cities such as Merida, Vera Cruz, Pachuca, Monterey and reaching as far north as МэхісаІІ. While in Mexicali, the drummer (Jengibre Pastelero) crossed the border into the USA where he was arrested as an illegal alien near San Clemente. Disillusioned, Los Rockin' Devils returned to Mexico City to find a new drummer.

Later in 1966, they recorded their second LP. The new drummer, Alphonso Robles, proved to be a gifted translater of songs into Spanish, and every BOMP reader should recognize tunes like "Chichardos Dulces", "Caperucita Roja", "La Patita" and "Regressas a Mi."

The single pulled from the LP was "Gorda A Go Go" which flopped. The flip was "La Pequena Lupe Lu" . a fine rocker which now fetches from 90 to 125 pesos from the collectors who invade Tijuana every record season.

From 1967 until 1973, the band remained fairly inactive, except for a 1971 single done by Robles, lead singer Jose Martinez and a group of studio musicians in Tijuana. "Mujer de Honky Tonk" was released late that year as a Los Rockin' Devils 45. The percussion intro sounds like a monkey beating on stale taco shells and Joe's voice fails to match his earlier high standards. The gatos estudios failed to measure up to the former Devils sound. Of course it was a big hit anyway, topping Las Cartas in Durengo, La Paz, Toluca, Guadalajara and even the jukebox at Hombre Facil, a popular burrito palace in East LA, known for its generous portions of Montezuma's Revenge.

They went on to release another album featuring the vocals of Elena Palma, and several singles, the last-known being their 1974 "Gritos", a rocker in true Question Mark & Mysterians style, which had moderate success throughout Mexico.

Another Mexico City band was Los X-5 who had a more Anglo sound. On their album A! Compas de la Nueva Ola they perform 3 Beatle songs, 3 Dave Clark Five songs, some originals sounding like Gerry & the Pacemakers on reds, and a sped-up version of "Apache.”

When Jengibre Pasterlero, Los Rockin’ Devils’ old drummer, got out of jail in San Diego, he went straight to Tijuana where he formed Los Babys. Although Los Babys have released many albums, the only one worth mentioning is Sabor Ritmo у Sentimeinto. It has one killer song called "Esos Ojitos Negros”, a psychedelic rave-up much like the third Chocolate Watchband LP run through hot sauce.

From Oaxaca came Los Freddys. Their first LP is classic, but after that they sort of gave up. Their three follow-up LPs consisted of Mexican folk-songs; no rock & roll. But that first one was boss. It contained a couple Beatle songs, "Tengo un Corazon", "Dime Que Quieras" and two Gary Lewis & Playboys tunes—all done up with a certain ineptitude that, well, if you like the Ramones…

One of my favorite PROM bands is Los Hitters who have a firecracker of an LP on the Primvox label. The songs include "Por Tu Amore", "Tratala Bien" and "Ven a Mi." Also of note is a version of Travis Wammack's "Scratchy" and a surf instrumental called "Mary у Juana" — now THAT'S punk.

The Los Hitters LP came out in 1966. In 1967, they broke up due to an excessive amount of drug overdoses among the band members, as well as roadies, las sangui- juelas and management.

Chihuahua is the home of Los Apson. Although they made 3 albums, only the second, Satisfaccion can be considered a true PROM record. The outstanding feature of the first album was the fact that the keyboard player had no legs and was pictured on the cover with a pair of synthetic legs, sitting on a railroad track as the bass player and drummer help him up, while the two guitarists mimic him by clowning with fake crutches. The second LP featured a great fuzz-tone revamp of the Stones classic "Satisfaccion." Somehow they screwed up the lyrics and lines like "Yo tengo solo cinco pesos yella quere seis" were added with spectacular results. And on "Croscopio Bikini" they prove themselves to be as capable as Hermans Hermits.

But the real Standells of Mexico is Los Ovnis. I don't know how they’re set for singles, but I've got three monster albums by them. The first features "Muchacha", "Repitelo Repitelo", and "Un Hombre Respetable''26 , each having been a sizable hit down home. Even the cover was a classic in the Punk Rock mold: a black & white photo of the five Ovnis, each wearing a pinstriped long-sleeve shirt with buttoned collar and black vest.

Los Ovnis got a great sound out of their obviously.Woolworths amplifiers and Emeny guitars, too. Their sense of humor is aptly portrayed in their version of "Sacudiendo Todo" , doing the German band The Lords one better by singing the entire song in Spanish.

The real gem is their odd rendition of "Baby Please Don't Go" (here called "El Ovni”a). They must have been very knowledgeable rock fans; in the middle of this song they break into Jimi Hendrix' "Third Stone From the Sun", strange voices and all.

A second and third LP were released by Los Ovnis, but both were relatively disappointing, although still better than the vast majority of PROM. A fourth album is rumored to exist. The story on that is that by the time Los Ovnis were in the recording studio for their third try, the ECO label decided to drop them, and the fourth LP was pressed only in small promotional quantities. Entitled Boracho, the LP received minor airplay on an Army base radio station in Fresnillo and never touched Las Cartas. Disillusioned, Los Ovnis went their separate ways in 1968.

I hope to be writing more about the Punk Rock of Mexico as more data comes in—all info is eaqerlv sought, naturally. Let the above serve as an introduction only, along with the following incomplete yet eccentric discography.

Thanks for material aid to Emanuel. Miguel Jimenez, Juan Llescas. Julio Bendejo, Ricardo Ovideo, Jose Manon and Los Mermanos at Hombre Facil.

1. Translation: For you, friend.
2. "Hang On Sloopy."
3. "Game of Love"
4. "Everybody Do the Sloopy."
5. The charts.
6. "I Got You."
7. Much praise.
8. The critics.
9. "I'm Henry the Eighth", "The Birds & the Bees."
10. "All Day and All of the Night.”
11. "Go Ahead On", written by Chris Montez
12. According to Miguel Jimenez of Chico's Car Wash in San Pedro.
13. These items are quite rare now and fetch from
45 to 80 pesos each.
14. "Sweet Pea", "Little Red Riding Hood","The Duck" and "Together Again."
15. "It's Going to Rain."
16. "Little Latin Lupe Lu."
17. "Honky Tonk Women."
18. Studio cats.
19. According to Juan Llescas, "Gritos" was number one in Peru for 18 months in a row in 1974-75. selling a total of 523 copies.
20. "Heart Full of Soul", "My Girl."
21. "For Your Love", "Treat Her Right", "Stand by Me.”
22. The groupies.
23. Take that.Moulty.
24. "I only have five pesos and she wants six."
25. "Dizzy Miss Lizzy.”
26. "Girl", "Over and Over" and "A Well Respected Man."
27. "Shakin' All Over"
28. I don't know what the hell this means.

DISCOGRAPHY OF MEXICAN PUNK ROCK

LOS ROCKIN DEVILS

Orfeon 45's
1803 Juego de Amor/Todos Queremos a Lupe 1807 Soy Feliz/Dime
1876 Sigue Asi/Otro Amor
1906 Gorda a Go Go/La Pequena Lupe Lu
???? Mujer de Honky Tonk! Azucar.Azucar
2038 Georgina/Chula lu (Sugar,Sugar)
2309 Estos Fueron Los Dias/Gitos
Orfeon EP 843 - Estos Fueron Los Dias/Un Paso al Amor/Gritos/Pilotos Orfeon LP 472 - Exitos a Go Go Dimsa LPs (subsidiary of Orfeon)
1021 - Nuevos Exitos Con 1061 - Esos Fueron Las Dias Also of note: Orfeon 2017 - Los Grande Anos de Rock 'n'Roll Vol. 1 (various artists) includes "Diablo con Vestido Azul 7 la Plaga"

Other noteworthy PROM LPs:
X-5 Al Compas de la Nueva Ola (Kristal 2020) Los Hitters - Hey Lucy (Primovox 030)
THE ECO LABEL
The ECO label is the largest independent record company in Mexico. They dealt with a variety of Mexican noises, therefore only the rock & roll LPs will receive mention.
388 Los Aspen - Por Eso Estamos Como Estamos
400 Los Aspen - Satisfaccion
453 Los Ovnis
493 Los Ovnis - Somos Amantes
522 Los-Freddys
601 Los Babys - Sabor Ritmo Y Sentimento
798 Los Aspen - El Compadre Vadilador
895 Los Freddys - Sin Tu Amor
921 Los Babys - Carino

By Phast Phreddie, 1976-1977

***