IN THE BEGINNING it was Elvis, Dylan, the Beatles and the Stones – the power of psychedelia and protest songs. Followed by Seventies prog-rock, Eighties new wave, Nineties grunge, and trip-hop. Generations of young Latin American artists fell hopelessly in love with the sounds arriving from England and the U.S., then set out to make music that shimmered with the spirit of their idols.
But something happened when the outside influences merged with local song formats–from Brazilian samba and Argentine balada to Colombian cumbia and Mexican bolero. Since its inception, Latin rock had its feet planted firmly on two contrasting worlds and visions.
Spanning six decades from the Sixties to the present, these 50 albums encapsulate the rock & roll sounds of Latin America at their most ambitious and transcendent.
