Mexico Rocks The 60s

EricPandora
Pandora
Pandora

For lack of a better moniker, it’s National Hispanic Heritage Month (I prefer Latin Heritage Month). And being that I’m half Mexican (the good half!), I wanted to celebrate the present by rocking out to the past. More specifically, my ears were craving some Mexican garage rock, beat bands, and cumbia from the 1960s. So I programmed a playlist: Mexico Rocks The 60s.

 

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Admittedly, I didn’t grow up on a lot of Latin music. My mom, born and raised in Chihuahua, Mexico, was more into Styx and the Eagles. But every now and then she’d put on some Julio Iglesias and Luis Miguel. And even though my music obsession began at age six, nobody in my family (except my uncle Carlos who used to play “Mr. Bojangles” to us on his acoustic guitar when we were little kids) seemed to be nearly as enthusiastic about it. In fact, I had already been a recording and touring artist for over three decades before anyone in my family cared to share with me that we had another singer in the family.

 

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Way back in the 1920s, my grandfather’s cousin José Mojica recorded some songs for Edison and the Victor Talking Machine Company. He also did some acting – his debut role was a Spanish outlaw in the 1930 romantic musical One Mad Kiss, starring Mona Maris. Mojica also wrote a book and did some opera singing and then became an ordained Franciscan priest. He and I are the only people in my family to have released our music on vinyl.

 

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Try as I might, my music tastes veer very far from the recordings that my grandfather’s cousin made in the 1920s. Ever since getting caught up in the mod revival of the 1980s, much of my attention span still belongs to recordings of the 1960s. I think that’s because this was the decade when a lot of subculture and underground proto punk ethos started to seep into songs that were recorded around the world, even though much of it was inspired by UK beat bands.

 

 

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When people talk about the British Invasion of the 1960s, most of these discussions tend to reflect on how bands like the Beatles, the Stones, the Kinks, etc. influenced music in the United States. But beat bands from this era also inspired much of the Latin underground music scene, especially Mexico. As with most other garage rock bands around the world, many of Mexico’s teen scenesters started off playing covers of their favorite songs. But listen closely and you can hear how artists like Los Yaki, Los Dug Dug’s, Los Belmonts, and others found their sound through taking on songs by the Yardbirds, the Coasters, the Zombies, and of course Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich.

 

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Dig deep into the pebbles and rubble of any ‘60s garage rock scene and you’ll hear how much of it was still rooted in the late 50s. Mexico was no exception – the DNA of underground rock in the 60s wasn’t far from the denim and leather neer-do-wells and nogoodniks of rock ‘n’ roll delinquency from the 50s (except in Mexico, “Runaround Sue” was named “Susy la Coquetona”). Still, some of my favorite recordings from Mexico in the 60s leaned less on aural assimilation. Whether playing funk, psych, rock, or cumbia – I’ll always favor Mexican music that sounds like the Mexico I’ve experienced. After all, having grown up a half-Mexican “pocho” child of the 80s, it is Mexican instrumentation, Mexican rhythms, and Mexican lyrics that still transport me to those bygone backyard parties and family reunions in Chihuahua where the food, music, stories, and love are all swirled into some of my favorite memories.

 

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