August 21, 2024 • 21 mins
Today we are kicking off the journey of one of the biggest bands to come out of Mexico’s rock scene of the 70s and 80s: Maná. It all started with a cover band called Sombrero Verde, who played the biggest English hits by bands like The Police, The Beatles, and The Rolling Stones. In the midst of a countercultural movement and government restrictions, their talent prevailed, and these rockstars began their rise to international success.
Lilliana Vazquez and Joseph Carrillo are the hosts of Becoming An Icon with production support by Nick Milanes, Santiago Sierra, Rodrigo Crespo, Evelyn Uribe and Edgar Esteban of Sonoro Media in partnership with iHeart Radio's My Cultura Podcast network.
If you want to support the podcast, please rate and review our show.
Follow Lilliana Vazquez on Instagram and Twitter @lillianavazquez
Follow Joseph Carrillo on Instagram @josephcarrillo
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Joseph, have you ever been on the receiving end of
a mixtape?
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Unfortunately, I'm a loser, and I'm gonna say no, because
I was someone that I really did give someone a
mixed tape and he was straight. What did he say?
He was my brother's friend and it was for us.
I was just like, oh, hey, I really like like
this some music, and it was it had like songs
(00:29):
of pieces of me from two I just remember, and
there was a song called Foolish Games and it was
like with this really heavy like love song, no stop it. Yeah,
and that song was dedicated to like him. But there
were lots of other stuff on there. But I remember
that's the only person I ever gave it to, and
he became a pastor. So whatever, what about you, I'm
sure you got a whole bunch.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
I think my high school boyfriend gave me a mixtape,
if I remember correctly. I never made anybody a mixtape.
I would make mixtapes for like cheerleading dances, sure, sure,
but no, I never did like a love song mixtape.
But yeah, my exoyfriend in high school made me one.
I don't think I liked him that much, so I
feel like I was like cool, cool, and then I
(01:12):
was like totally cheesed out. But I will say there's
so many good like love songs that could go on
a mixtape if you had to make another one. Is
there a love song from like the eighties or nineties
that you feel is just like represents your ALMOI for anybody? Like,
is there a one that you can call out?
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Honestly? No, right now I can't, just because I am
just getting over a breakup, Like I'm finally over it,
and I don't want to think of any fucking love songs. Okay,
you know what one.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
That always comes to me that I cannot forget is
take my breath Away?
Speaker 2 (01:47):
Do you know?
Speaker 1 (01:47):
Did you ever see the money?
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Not? You bring me back to falling in love? Like no,
I love taking my breath Away? Wow? I know it
made my heart warm.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Like that is like, and I believe that was like
a one hit wonder for them, Like I don't think
that they ever went on to like do anything. And
I think there's so.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Many Because they took our breath away, we weren't able
to sing anything else, if I'm being honest.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
We couldn't breathe again. And I think that there's some
artists like Berlin who made Take My Breath Away, who
just can't help but like leave out one song, whether
their love songs or not, like think about it, like
George Michael, what was that song that he had, Oh My.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
God, Careless whisper God?
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Yes, this, And then Oasis obviously with Wonderwall, which in
twenty twenty four, by the way, you can still empty
out of bar at the end of the night. And
today's artists that we are going to be talking about
and what I'm gonna call the defining song for quote
unquote guitar guys in Mexico through the mid nineties.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
We're talking, of course about Manna.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
The band who's claimed to fame formed the soundtrack for
countless teen Romances across the Spanish speaking world.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
But don't get it twisted. Mana aren't one of those
many one hit wonders of the Nikes.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
That's right. They are hands down the biggest band to
emerge from the Mexico City rock scene of the seventies
and eighties, but.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Rock stardom would come only after a decade of rejection
and too many lineup changes to count these rock bands.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
Joseph like they're always making us meet their new friends.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
It's like, Hey, I've read so much about you.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
Anyway, We have covered one other rock artist this season, Santana,
who of course is one of the defining artists of
that Woodstock generation and an eventual collaborator of man Nuts.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
And wouldn't you know it, Mana came out of a
similar countercultural moment in the seventies in Mexico. But lots
of people question whether they're true o genies.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
The band's relationship with the Mexican rock scene, and it's
tied to age old debates about what rock music even
is in the first place.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Haters are gonna hate, but do they have a point?
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Well, we'll get into that eventually, but first let's meet
the band. I'm your host, Lilianavoscuez.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
And I'm Joseph Carrio and this is Becoming an Icon.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
A weekly podcast where we give you the rundown on
how today's most famous latinv stars have shaped pop culture.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
And given the world some extra tubble.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
Sit back and get comfortable.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Because we are going in the only way we know how.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
With buenas buenasriesas and a lot of opinions as we
relive their greatest achievements on our journey to find out
what makes them so iconic.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
It is nineteen eighty in Guadalajara, and in the back
room of a cit bar a little known band named
Sombrero ver is playing their hearts out.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
The crowd here aren't exactly fans so much as regulars.
If there's a bar where they can hear drums and
electric guitars, they'll be there, and.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
Sombredo Verde are just happy to have the stage time.
The frontman is vocalist Ferrol Vera, backed by lead guitarists
Gustavo a Rosco and the Gajetos brothers, one on bass,
Ulisi's on rhythm guitar and Abraham on drums.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
These college aged boys have made the rounds playing weddings,
baptisms and quintanas for cash. You know, celebration gigs for
straight least crowds. But the dive bar gigs are a
different story.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
Because that's where they get to play covers by bands
that had defined the counterculture of the seventies. I'm talking
about the Beatles, the Stones, Led Zeppelin, plus then newcomers
the Police.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
For the past stay here in Mexico, rock music like
this has been off limits music yank contrabando, and tonight
the popo is shutting it down, just.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
Like at several bars, and just like the regulars are
used to, a police squad is entering the back room
and giving Green Hat the red light, ordering them to
cease playing, back up and go.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
If you're a loyal listener, you might remember that Carlos
Santana got shut down in Peru and deported by the
dictatorship for playing subbursive music aka music that young people
liked like.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
Us, we are young. And in Mexico, the government enforced
a similar policy towards Western rock music for more than
a decade, beginning in nineteen seventy one. In September of
that year, Mexico's first ever festival of rock music went
up al festival the Avan that.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Not long afterwards, Dot popped offs in the US. In
nineteen sixty nine, rock music had exploded in Mexico, along
with hippie Stea's and the thirst for social change dubbed hipitekas.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
The counter called Buristas of Mexico quickly came under fire
by the government's Rule Party. And I'm not just saying
this figuratively.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
First, the government restricted rock bands. Then they came for
Los Dramaticos. They banned the musical hair.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
No they didn't, they did, Yes, they did, y'all. It
was like a true footloose moment. The Mexican government banned
the show after one performance in Acapulco, deported the show's
American producers, and launched investigations into Mexican citizens involved with
the production.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
All of this was happening in the aftermath of an
event that shook Mexico's young generation in nineteen sixty eight,
La Masatre de Tlatelorco, a violent crackdown at several universities
in Mexico City, which had taken the lives of reported
one thousand, three hundred and forty five people.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
By the time the Kipteka music promoters were putting together
the Festival Les Avandro in the fall of nineteen seventy one,
tensions were at a high. In fact, another assault on students,
this time by a paramilitary group, had happened in the
summer of that year, known as El al Conaso.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
And Festiva la Bando ended up drawing between one hundred
and five hundred thousand attendees. The Mexican government and the
army were keeping a close watch.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
Fortunately, the festival didn't end up becoming the site of
another violent crackdown, but the countercultural songs and slogans that
were sung there prompted backlash from church and state alike,
and the government moved to formally banned certain songs and
doubled down on the repression of rock music.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
So by the time soon Bredro Verde hit the scene,
the scene had been driven underground to the CD bars
and the basements.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
Now, to clarify, Sombredo Verte, that was hardly rage against
the machine, let alone the police.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
There were just a group of cuities with long hair
singing love songs. But unfortunately all you got to do
is look and sound the part.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
And the combo of the long hair plus guitars equals
looking and sounding the part. So Sombredover and their peers
struggled in the dark, but the band would get their
first chance at rising from the underground in nineteen eighty.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
That's when a small German record label named Ariola was
scouting Mexican bands, and against the odds, Sombrero Verde got noticed.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
Now this was the precursor to a campaign called Rock
and Thuivioma, a major push for Spanish language rock music
by Ariola later in the decade, when the Mexican government
reopened the economy and loosened its grip on rock music.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
Aka the Change is on the Way, and for som
Breta Verde getting signed felt like a big step up.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
For the first time, they shelved the led Zeppelin covers
and penned original songs in Espanol, although they still mostly
just sounded like the Police.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
The record label put a tour across different regions of
Mexico and even managed to get them some national TV appearances.
After toiling away in the backs of CD bars, Sombrero
Verde saw the light of day. It's like Los Digre said,
if you banned something, it just makes people want it.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
Except Sombre Verde did quite move units the way the
label had hoped. Rock music itself might have been sexy,
but nobody knew who these guys were.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
So after one self titled album and one tour, the
label droppedmre Verde.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
But they did get another chance in nineteen eighty two,
and this time they got to work with Ricardo Maga Yannis,
a producer who had arranged songs for Juan Gabrieed.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
Working with someone who worked with Royalty like that is
a step.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
Up and under Maga Yannis Wing, a songwriting partnership blossom
between bandmates Ferrero Lvera and Gustavo or Rosco. The results
nineteen eighty three's at Temple de Rock.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
The tour for this album takes them to some of
Mexico's most iconic rock venues. This time, it looks like
Sombrero Verde is about to pop off.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Wait, hold on a second, That is until drummer Abraham
Gajetro's hangs up his hat and decides to pursue music
in the States.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
Wait did they literally wear green hats?
Speaker 1 (11:06):
Jo, So sweetheart, it's just a saying Oh, I.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
Was going to say if that was their look, no
wonder why they had trouble making it okay. So the
drummer leaves and his brothers Juan and Ulisses stay in,
which is going to make it real? Ox years later,
when Manna hits it big and the brothers all have
to see each other. Adam much of Whenna, but.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
For now, Sombrero Verde was down one member, and that
was the beginning of the end, It's nineteen eighty four
and an ad appears in the newspaper in guer La.
It reads, drummer wanted under twenty years old with ten
(11:47):
years of experience.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
Wow, that's a kind of your child. I mean.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
Also, do the math, like, did you start drumming when
you were in fourth grade? I mean, I know that
kids do, but like, let's be real with our expectations.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
I'm going to tell you, for real, I actually started
playing the cello when I was like six, So so.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
Maybe you should have been in Mana. Okays, all right,
So the deal is sore Verde needs a drummer and fast.
But surprise, surprise, they're a very tall. Ask in the
paper does not help them find one. The band's momentum
SAgs as the day's dragon.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
Finally someone shows up, what at least checks the under
eighteen box. Alex Bunzalez, a fifteen year old drummer who's
new in town.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
Alex's Cuban Colombian family had just moved to Guaera Lahada
from Miami. Here's this little kid with no friends or connections,
and he impresses Sombrero Verde and the band becomes like family.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
For him, Greenhead lives to fight another day, at least
until another departure finally sinks the ship.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
Gustavo Rosco, guitarist and songwriter, calls it quits and heads
for university. And it's then that Ferro Verda, lead singer
and songwriter, also decides to call it quits.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
On what but not on music. Fedu decides to christen
a new band from the ashes of the old and
this time he's done trying to copy the Ginghos.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
Yeah, don't copy the Ginghos, Like, let's not do that
gospel for life. Right, We're done, he would say. I
wanted to evolve the music to make a much more
original and Latin form of rock instead of copying the
Americans and the English.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
So fed baby Boy drummer Alex and the remaining Cayta
brothers Ulyssi san Juan start to make music under the
name Manap.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
The meaning of the name is well, it's a little
Catholic and a little bit kind of like out there
away no man mis the word mana in the biblical
sense being mana from heaven, the bread that falls from
the sky. Remember that when God had to feed the
Israelies and the second meaning draws from a Polynesian word
(13:56):
for the forces of nature, or, in Fair's interpretation, positive energy.
She wanted the new group sound and message to be
uplifting and optimistic.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
But Manett didn't find themselves in a very optimistic situation.
Before Sombreto Vetda that disbanded, they had once again been
dropped from their label, but not Tori. It turned out
a friend from their past had their back. Chila Rios,
a high school friend of Vettis and fellow musician, brought
a Sombretto Veda the cassette to her Hollywood music producer
(14:28):
Beppe Kintani.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
Bebbe saw what label scouts and executives couldn't see and
immediately flew the band out.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
To Lasm holly Wood.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
And there in nineteen eighty seven, Managet signed to PolyGram Records,
future home of big name artists like Soundgarden and Ryl Crowe.
They released their self titled album with a major label.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
Back, Third Times a Charm Babe, Everything is coming up
from Ane. Well don't you like? Don't don't tell me?
The brothers left the fucking band.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
More like PolyGram left Latin Music. What the label closed
its Latin Music division. Shortly after, Mana dropped their self
titled album, and as with the division, so went the
promo budget. Mana's debut record flopped.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
Damn these boys cannot catch a break. And let me guess,
with the Latin Music Division gone.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
Mana are yet again without a label, and this time
the band really looks like it's on the ropes.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
Two years past without a peep from Mana, not on
the stage, not on the airwaves. So much for positive nge.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
The bandmates decided to focus on their studies, as Abraham
Gaedel's had done years prior. Shortly before from Breddoverta they went.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
Meanwhile, remember that rock in Duidyoma campaign. It was in
full swing after from Bredo Verda's former label got acquired
by a major company, which meant bands like gay Fans
were about to take off well.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
Mana, after missing their moment time and time again, seemed
destined to become a footnote in Mexican rock history.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
But their guy in Hollywood wasn't going to take that.
Shies lying down, Well, the boys of Mana are off
writing their thesis or whatever.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
Beppa Hollywood, Beppekindana.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
Right, Bepper Hollywood Quintana, the execu who signed Bana to PolyGram,
gets a new gig, a talent scout for Warner Music.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
Mexico, and just a few days later, Beppa's driving down
Santa Monica.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
In a shiny new may Bag.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
Let's say, okay, definitely not a Mayback, more like a Mazda,
but let's go with that. Beppa Hollywood is in his
Mayback making a right turn on a red because yes,
we can do that here in La and he screeches
to a halt as a young couple cuts across him
on the crosswalk. He leans on the horn. Then the
couple turns their heads.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
And look who it is, fair or Vera and his girlfriend.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
They must have thought they hut the ride away because
you can't turn right on red in Mechile.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
Honey speak, pedestrian. I'm begging you.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
Everyone listening to this while driving knows exactly what I
am talking about. I'm not the weird one here, okay.
Joseph so Peppe pulls over the Mayback, which probably took
a minute, because hello, Hollywood, if you've ever tried to park,
you know, jumps out of the car and gives fair.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
Wow, and Fed tells Pippitt that he's got the band
together to record some music in a rented house.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
Also not just any house, Chuck Norris's house.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
Who I don't know who that is?
Speaker 1 (17:44):
Honestly, I cannot believe that you and I host a
music and pop culture podcast, Like how do you not
know Chuck Norris? Like the guy who comparalletl park a train?
Speaker 2 (17:53):
Is that another car? People joke?
Speaker 1 (17:56):
It's a joke for people. Our producer's age. Anyway, Beba
Hollywood drives out to Chuck Norris's Ouls to hear the
band's first new material in two.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
Years, including There's Soon to be Classic, Riyandro Ressoul and Beta.
Hollywood gets on the phone with Warner Music and says,
you don't.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
Know new sound you're looking for?
Speaker 2 (18:17):
Well listen to this, And just like that, MN I
get signed to Warner Music Mexico and Henny I'd be
shooting looks over at the label. By now, Nubu, who
did we got money?
Speaker 1 (18:30):
Things are looking up? Mana self produces our second album
with Warner Music distributing. The album drops in nineteen ninety
and this time m is the same as every other time.
The label doesn't give it the support it needs and
it languishes an obscurity for about a year.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. I
hate that these guys can't just jump on TikTok and
make a cool video to move the needle.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
I mean it was different times back then. It shows
you how important media is the success of these bands today,
like so many people we love would not exist without that.
But you know what different times?
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (19:08):
Remember though, the band still has an ally in Beppa Hollywood,
so they beg him to tap Warner Music Mexico for
more support.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
And instead Beiby goes to a radio promoter and hence
him the single he heard at old Chuck Norris's house, Rayandrosl.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
He tells the promoter give it a chance for two weeks.
If it's not a hit, throw the record in the trash.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
The radio promoter takes the bet and Ryan Rossol makes
it FM debut. The next day, Beppa drives his may
back into the Warner Music parking lot like any other
day and takes the elevator up to the office.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
The elevator reaches his floor, the doors open, and what
he finds is absolute chaos. Rayando and Sol had dominated
the airwaves all morning, assistants are running back and forth
looking for every promotional material they can find, from anat.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Photos of the band, bios, one shoot, all the stuff
that was probably buried in the bottom of someone's store
since they never believed the group would make it.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
It's a classic overnight success story, which is to say
not overnight at all. After roughly a decade of lineup changes,
flops and disappointing labels, Mana were finally off to the races.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
So Werner Mexicol gets its ass off off the couch
and follow up singles came quick better than mbarco esto uscandola,
a hit parade that carried fata More to gold record certification.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
And technically their first international tour. The band played one
hundred and twelve dates across Mexico and a one show
in Keith the Wegubber at a twenty thousand seat stadium.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
When Mana saw that they could fill that many seats,
the boys were shook. This was a level of success
they had never.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
Imagined, especially not Fer and the Cajo's brothers, who had
I Don't Off playing CD bars that were regularly raided
by police who were determined to stop them. From being
heard in Mexico.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
But seeing the crowd before their eyes, they realized that
they were destined to be heard across the whole world.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
But rising to the top doesn't mean leaving rock star
Shenanigans behind. I know, then, what's the point of being
a rock star?
Speaker 2 (21:21):
Hello?
Speaker 1 (21:25):
On the next Becoming an Icon, Mana escapes obscurity and
crosses musical borders, but not without a little messy miss.
Becoming an Icon is presented by Sonodol and Iheart's Michael
Duda podcast network. Listen to Becoming an Icon on the
iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcast
Joseph, have you ever been on the receiving end of
a mixtape?
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Unfortunately, I'm a loser, and I'm gonna say no, because
I was someone that I really did give someone a
mixed tape and he was straight. What did he say?
He was my brother's friend and it was for us.
I was just like, oh, hey, I really like like
this some music, and it was it had like songs
(00:29):
of pieces of me from two I just remember, and
there was a song called Foolish Games and it was
like with this really heavy like love song, no stop it. Yeah,
and that song was dedicated to like him. But there
were lots of other stuff on there. But I remember
that's the only person I ever gave it to, and
he became a pastor. So whatever, what about you, I'm
sure you got a whole bunch.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
I think my high school boyfriend gave me a mixtape,
if I remember correctly. I never made anybody a mixtape.
I would make mixtapes for like cheerleading dances, sure, sure,
but no, I never did like a love song mixtape.
But yeah, my exoyfriend in high school made me one.
I don't think I liked him that much, so I
feel like I was like cool, cool, and then I
(01:12):
was like totally cheesed out. But I will say there's
so many good like love songs that could go on
a mixtape if you had to make another one. Is
there a love song from like the eighties or nineties
that you feel is just like represents your ALMOI for anybody? Like,
is there a one that you can call out?
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Honestly? No, right now I can't, just because I am
just getting over a breakup, Like I'm finally over it,
and I don't want to think of any fucking love songs. Okay,
you know what one.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
That always comes to me that I cannot forget is
take my breath Away?
Speaker 2 (01:47):
Do you know?
Speaker 1 (01:47):
Did you ever see the money?
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Not? You bring me back to falling in love? Like no,
I love taking my breath Away? Wow? I know it
made my heart warm.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Like that is like, and I believe that was like
a one hit wonder for them, Like I don't think
that they ever went on to like do anything. And
I think there's so.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Many Because they took our breath away, we weren't able
to sing anything else, if I'm being honest.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
We couldn't breathe again. And I think that there's some
artists like Berlin who made Take My Breath Away, who
just can't help but like leave out one song, whether
their love songs or not, like think about it, like
George Michael, what was that song that he had, Oh My.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
God, Careless whisper God?
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Yes, this, And then Oasis obviously with Wonderwall, which in
twenty twenty four, by the way, you can still empty
out of bar at the end of the night. And
today's artists that we are going to be talking about
and what I'm gonna call the defining song for quote
unquote guitar guys in Mexico through the mid nineties.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
We're talking, of course about Manna.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
The band who's claimed to fame formed the soundtrack for
countless teen Romances across the Spanish speaking world.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
But don't get it twisted. Mana aren't one of those
many one hit wonders of the Nikes.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
That's right. They are hands down the biggest band to
emerge from the Mexico City rock scene of the seventies
and eighties, but.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Rock stardom would come only after a decade of rejection
and too many lineup changes to count these rock bands.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
Joseph like they're always making us meet their new friends.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
It's like, Hey, I've read so much about you.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
Anyway, We have covered one other rock artist this season, Santana,
who of course is one of the defining artists of
that Woodstock generation and an eventual collaborator of man Nuts.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
And wouldn't you know it, Mana came out of a
similar countercultural moment in the seventies in Mexico. But lots
of people question whether they're true o genies.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
The band's relationship with the Mexican rock scene, and it's
tied to age old debates about what rock music even
is in the first place.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Haters are gonna hate, but do they have a point?
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Well, we'll get into that eventually, but first let's meet
the band. I'm your host, Lilianavoscuez.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
And I'm Joseph Carrio and this is Becoming an Icon.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
A weekly podcast where we give you the rundown on
how today's most famous latinv stars have shaped pop culture.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
And given the world some extra tubble.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
Sit back and get comfortable.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Because we are going in the only way we know how.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
With buenas buenasriesas and a lot of opinions as we
relive their greatest achievements on our journey to find out
what makes them so iconic.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
It is nineteen eighty in Guadalajara, and in the back
room of a cit bar a little known band named
Sombrero ver is playing their hearts out.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
The crowd here aren't exactly fans so much as regulars.
If there's a bar where they can hear drums and
electric guitars, they'll be there, and.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
Sombredo Verde are just happy to have the stage time.
The frontman is vocalist Ferrol Vera, backed by lead guitarists
Gustavo a Rosco and the Gajetos brothers, one on bass,
Ulisi's on rhythm guitar and Abraham on drums.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
These college aged boys have made the rounds playing weddings,
baptisms and quintanas for cash. You know, celebration gigs for
straight least crowds. But the dive bar gigs are a
different story.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
Because that's where they get to play covers by bands
that had defined the counterculture of the seventies. I'm talking
about the Beatles, the Stones, Led Zeppelin, plus then newcomers
the Police.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
For the past stay here in Mexico, rock music like
this has been off limits music yank contrabando, and tonight
the popo is shutting it down, just.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
Like at several bars, and just like the regulars are
used to, a police squad is entering the back room
and giving Green Hat the red light, ordering them to
cease playing, back up and go.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
If you're a loyal listener, you might remember that Carlos
Santana got shut down in Peru and deported by the
dictatorship for playing subbursive music aka music that young people
liked like.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
Us, we are young. And in Mexico, the government enforced
a similar policy towards Western rock music for more than
a decade, beginning in nineteen seventy one. In September of
that year, Mexico's first ever festival of rock music went
up al festival the Avan that.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Not long afterwards, Dot popped offs in the US. In
nineteen sixty nine, rock music had exploded in Mexico, along
with hippie Stea's and the thirst for social change dubbed hipitekas.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
The counter called Buristas of Mexico quickly came under fire
by the government's Rule Party. And I'm not just saying
this figuratively.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
First, the government restricted rock bands. Then they came for
Los Dramaticos. They banned the musical hair.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
No they didn't, they did, Yes, they did, y'all. It
was like a true footloose moment. The Mexican government banned
the show after one performance in Acapulco, deported the show's
American producers, and launched investigations into Mexican citizens involved with
the production.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
All of this was happening in the aftermath of an
event that shook Mexico's young generation in nineteen sixty eight,
La Masatre de Tlatelorco, a violent crackdown at several universities
in Mexico City, which had taken the lives of reported
one thousand, three hundred and forty five people.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
By the time the Kipteka music promoters were putting together
the Festival Les Avandro in the fall of nineteen seventy one,
tensions were at a high. In fact, another assault on students,
this time by a paramilitary group, had happened in the
summer of that year, known as El al Conaso.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
And Festiva la Bando ended up drawing between one hundred
and five hundred thousand attendees. The Mexican government and the
army were keeping a close watch.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
Fortunately, the festival didn't end up becoming the site of
another violent crackdown, but the countercultural songs and slogans that
were sung there prompted backlash from church and state alike,
and the government moved to formally banned certain songs and
doubled down on the repression of rock music.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
So by the time soon Bredro Verde hit the scene,
the scene had been driven underground to the CD bars
and the basements.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
Now, to clarify, Sombredo Verte, that was hardly rage against
the machine, let alone the police.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
There were just a group of cuities with long hair
singing love songs. But unfortunately all you got to do
is look and sound the part.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
And the combo of the long hair plus guitars equals
looking and sounding the part. So Sombredover and their peers
struggled in the dark, but the band would get their
first chance at rising from the underground in nineteen eighty.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
That's when a small German record label named Ariola was
scouting Mexican bands, and against the odds, Sombrero Verde got noticed.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
Now this was the precursor to a campaign called Rock
and Thuivioma, a major push for Spanish language rock music
by Ariola later in the decade, when the Mexican government
reopened the economy and loosened its grip on rock music.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
Aka the Change is on the Way, and for som
Breta Verde getting signed felt like a big step up.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
For the first time, they shelved the led Zeppelin covers
and penned original songs in Espanol, although they still mostly
just sounded like the Police.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
The record label put a tour across different regions of
Mexico and even managed to get them some national TV appearances.
After toiling away in the backs of CD bars, Sombrero
Verde saw the light of day. It's like Los Digre said,
if you banned something, it just makes people want it.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
Except Sombre Verde did quite move units the way the
label had hoped. Rock music itself might have been sexy,
but nobody knew who these guys were.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
So after one self titled album and one tour, the
label droppedmre Verde.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
But they did get another chance in nineteen eighty two,
and this time they got to work with Ricardo Maga Yannis,
a producer who had arranged songs for Juan Gabrieed.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
Working with someone who worked with Royalty like that is
a step.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
Up and under Maga Yannis Wing, a songwriting partnership blossom
between bandmates Ferrero Lvera and Gustavo or Rosco. The results
nineteen eighty three's at Temple de Rock.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
The tour for this album takes them to some of
Mexico's most iconic rock venues. This time, it looks like
Sombrero Verde is about to pop off.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Wait, hold on a second, That is until drummer Abraham
Gajetro's hangs up his hat and decides to pursue music
in the States.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
Wait did they literally wear green hats?
Speaker 1 (11:06):
Jo, So sweetheart, it's just a saying Oh, I.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
Was going to say if that was their look, no
wonder why they had trouble making it okay. So the
drummer leaves and his brothers Juan and Ulisses stay in,
which is going to make it real? Ox years later,
when Manna hits it big and the brothers all have
to see each other. Adam much of Whenna, but.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
For now, Sombrero Verde was down one member, and that
was the beginning of the end, It's nineteen eighty four
and an ad appears in the newspaper in guer La.
It reads, drummer wanted under twenty years old with ten
(11:47):
years of experience.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
Wow, that's a kind of your child. I mean.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
Also, do the math, like, did you start drumming when
you were in fourth grade? I mean, I know that
kids do, but like, let's be real with our expectations.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
I'm going to tell you, for real, I actually started
playing the cello when I was like six, So so.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
Maybe you should have been in Mana. Okays, all right,
So the deal is sore Verde needs a drummer and fast.
But surprise, surprise, they're a very tall. Ask in the
paper does not help them find one. The band's momentum
SAgs as the day's dragon.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
Finally someone shows up, what at least checks the under
eighteen box. Alex Bunzalez, a fifteen year old drummer who's
new in town.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
Alex's Cuban Colombian family had just moved to Guaera Lahada
from Miami. Here's this little kid with no friends or connections,
and he impresses Sombrero Verde and the band becomes like family.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
For him, Greenhead lives to fight another day, at least
until another departure finally sinks the ship.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
Gustavo Rosco, guitarist and songwriter, calls it quits and heads
for university. And it's then that Ferro Verda, lead singer
and songwriter, also decides to call it quits.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
On what but not on music. Fedu decides to christen
a new band from the ashes of the old and
this time he's done trying to copy the Ginghos.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
Yeah, don't copy the Ginghos, Like, let's not do that
gospel for life. Right, We're done, he would say. I
wanted to evolve the music to make a much more
original and Latin form of rock instead of copying the
Americans and the English.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
So fed baby Boy drummer Alex and the remaining Cayta
brothers Ulyssi san Juan start to make music under the
name Manap.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
The meaning of the name is well, it's a little
Catholic and a little bit kind of like out there
away no man mis the word mana in the biblical
sense being mana from heaven, the bread that falls from
the sky. Remember that when God had to feed the
Israelies and the second meaning draws from a Polynesian word
(13:56):
for the forces of nature, or, in Fair's interpretation, positive energy.
She wanted the new group sound and message to be
uplifting and optimistic.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
But Manett didn't find themselves in a very optimistic situation.
Before Sombreto Vetda that disbanded, they had once again been
dropped from their label, but not Tori. It turned out
a friend from their past had their back. Chila Rios,
a high school friend of Vettis and fellow musician, brought
a Sombretto Veda the cassette to her Hollywood music producer
(14:28):
Beppe Kintani.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
Bebbe saw what label scouts and executives couldn't see and
immediately flew the band out.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
To Lasm holly Wood.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
And there in nineteen eighty seven, Managet signed to PolyGram Records,
future home of big name artists like Soundgarden and Ryl Crowe.
They released their self titled album with a major label.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
Back, Third Times a Charm Babe, Everything is coming up
from Ane. Well don't you like? Don't don't tell me?
The brothers left the fucking band.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
More like PolyGram left Latin Music. What the label closed
its Latin Music division. Shortly after, Mana dropped their self
titled album, and as with the division, so went the
promo budget. Mana's debut record flopped.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
Damn these boys cannot catch a break. And let me guess,
with the Latin Music Division gone.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
Mana are yet again without a label, and this time
the band really looks like it's on the ropes.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
Two years past without a peep from Mana, not on
the stage, not on the airwaves. So much for positive nge.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
The bandmates decided to focus on their studies, as Abraham
Gaedel's had done years prior. Shortly before from Breddoverta they went.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
Meanwhile, remember that rock in Duidyoma campaign. It was in
full swing after from Bredo Verda's former label got acquired
by a major company, which meant bands like gay Fans
were about to take off well.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
Mana, after missing their moment time and time again, seemed
destined to become a footnote in Mexican rock history.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
But their guy in Hollywood wasn't going to take that.
Shies lying down, Well, the boys of Mana are off
writing their thesis or whatever.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
Beppa Hollywood, Beppekindana.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
Right, Bepper Hollywood Quintana, the execu who signed Bana to PolyGram,
gets a new gig, a talent scout for Warner Music.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
Mexico, and just a few days later, Beppa's driving down
Santa Monica.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
In a shiny new may Bag.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
Let's say, okay, definitely not a Mayback, more like a Mazda,
but let's go with that. Beppa Hollywood is in his
Mayback making a right turn on a red because yes,
we can do that here in La and he screeches
to a halt as a young couple cuts across him
on the crosswalk. He leans on the horn. Then the
couple turns their heads.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
And look who it is, fair or Vera and his girlfriend.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
They must have thought they hut the ride away because
you can't turn right on red in Mechile.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
Honey speak, pedestrian. I'm begging you.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
Everyone listening to this while driving knows exactly what I
am talking about. I'm not the weird one here, okay.
Joseph so Peppe pulls over the Mayback, which probably took
a minute, because hello, Hollywood, if you've ever tried to park,
you know, jumps out of the car and gives fair.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
Wow, and Fed tells Pippitt that he's got the band
together to record some music in a rented house.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
Also not just any house, Chuck Norris's house.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
Who I don't know who that is?
Speaker 1 (17:44):
Honestly, I cannot believe that you and I host a
music and pop culture podcast, Like how do you not
know Chuck Norris? Like the guy who comparalletl park a train?
Speaker 2 (17:53):
Is that another car? People joke?
Speaker 1 (17:56):
It's a joke for people. Our producer's age. Anyway, Beba
Hollywood drives out to Chuck Norris's Ouls to hear the
band's first new material in two.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
Years, including There's Soon to be Classic, Riyandro Ressoul and Beta.
Hollywood gets on the phone with Warner Music and says,
you don't.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
Know new sound you're looking for?
Speaker 2 (18:17):
Well listen to this, And just like that, MN I
get signed to Warner Music Mexico and Henny I'd be
shooting looks over at the label. By now, Nubu, who
did we got money?
Speaker 1 (18:30):
Things are looking up? Mana self produces our second album
with Warner Music distributing. The album drops in nineteen ninety
and this time m is the same as every other time.
The label doesn't give it the support it needs and
it languishes an obscurity for about a year.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. I
hate that these guys can't just jump on TikTok and
make a cool video to move the needle.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
I mean it was different times back then. It shows
you how important media is the success of these bands today,
like so many people we love would not exist without that.
But you know what different times?
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (19:08):
Remember though, the band still has an ally in Beppa Hollywood,
so they beg him to tap Warner Music Mexico for
more support.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
And instead Beiby goes to a radio promoter and hence
him the single he heard at old Chuck Norris's house, Rayandrosl.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
He tells the promoter give it a chance for two weeks.
If it's not a hit, throw the record in the trash.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
The radio promoter takes the bet and Ryan Rossol makes
it FM debut. The next day, Beppa drives his may
back into the Warner Music parking lot like any other
day and takes the elevator up to the office.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
The elevator reaches his floor, the doors open, and what
he finds is absolute chaos. Rayando and Sol had dominated
the airwaves all morning, assistants are running back and forth
looking for every promotional material they can find, from anat.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Photos of the band, bios, one shoot, all the stuff
that was probably buried in the bottom of someone's store
since they never believed the group would make it.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
It's a classic overnight success story, which is to say
not overnight at all. After roughly a decade of lineup changes,
flops and disappointing labels, Mana were finally off to the races.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
So Werner Mexicol gets its ass off off the couch
and follow up singles came quick better than mbarco esto uscandola,
a hit parade that carried fata More to gold record certification.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
And technically their first international tour. The band played one
hundred and twelve dates across Mexico and a one show
in Keith the Wegubber at a twenty thousand seat stadium.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
When Mana saw that they could fill that many seats,
the boys were shook. This was a level of success
they had never.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
Imagined, especially not Fer and the Cajo's brothers, who had
I Don't Off playing CD bars that were regularly raided
by police who were determined to stop them. From being
heard in Mexico.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
But seeing the crowd before their eyes, they realized that
they were destined to be heard across the whole world.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
But rising to the top doesn't mean leaving rock star
Shenanigans behind. I know, then, what's the point of being
a rock star?
Speaker 2 (21:21):
Hello?
Speaker 1 (21:25):
On the next Becoming an Icon, Mana escapes obscurity and
crosses musical borders, but not without a little messy miss.
Becoming an Icon is presented by Sonodol and Iheart's Michael
Duda podcast network. Listen to Becoming an Icon on the
iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcast
Hosts And Creators
Lilliana Vazquez
Joseph Carrillo
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