my thoughts on Gustavo Cerati's passing (admittedly copied from my FB)... probably be of interest to two people but what the heck..
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Gustavo Cerati died today. some off the cuff thoughts...Somebody dies every day but when the people you "grow up with" die it just means so much more...He was 55... had suffered a stroke that put him into a coma about four years ago....Cerati was the lead singer, guitarist and songwriter for Argentine rock band Soda Stereo formed in the early 1980s...heavily influenced by the post-new wave sounds of bands like the Police, U2 and the Cure (on early album cover pics Cerati looks uncannily like Robert Smith) while also being heavily influenced by some great 70s Argentine artists like Luis Alberto Spinnetta... its a little known fact that in the 1970s Argentina produced, far away from the music capitals of the world and in a different language, some of the more exciting rock music... bands like Spinetta's Pescado Rabioso put an original Argentine bent on Led Zeppelin, Pappo on blues rock in general, Seru Giran and others on progressive rock (Genesis, Yes, etc.) which was highly influential down there, etc... Cerati grew up on that stuff and what was coming in from overseas and together with drummer Charly Alberti and bassist Zeta Bosio and putting it all together, at their earliest with a definite overriding Cure influence, came up with an interesting hybrid which was the sound of Soda Stereo...formed in late 1982 they were a definite outgrowth of the artistic freedom that swept through Argentina after the military lost the Malvinas War and gave up power....sort of like in the early 80s in the US/England and anything goes aesthetic permeated the Argentine rock scene...and like the rock mother countries the music videos of Soda Stereo played a role.. but what was particularly important about Soda Stereo is that they were the first spanish rock band to be popular all over Latin America.. be it Chile, Peru, Venezuela or Mexico, all markets with far less evolved rock and roll music scenes, Soda conquered them in 1986.... before that all rock in espanol was distinctly local..still today if I meet someone from Latin America of my generation give or take I know Soda Stereo will be a very important band to them... a band back then could be popular in their home country but that was about it....that is the way it had always been.. the other interesting thing, distinguishing characteristic of Soda Stereo, was that they were not simply following worldwide trends...sure, their early albums (the first two) seemed a bit "naive" lacking the production chops and even their breakout album, Signos, in 1986 which contained mega-anthems still wasn't quite at the technical level..it was still arguably a "third world" album, but at a certain point about 1990 or thereabouts Soda Stereo began to be as interesting, primal, unique, crisp, original as any other band in the world...the Cancion Animal album in 1990...some of it going as far as including a distinct Jorge Luis Borges influence (and that ain't chopped liver folks), they embraced the Nirvana revolution about as quickly as possible (the spectacular 1992 release Dynamo), they embraced electronica before most rock bands in the world (1995 incredible swan song Sueno Stereo)...there was a feeling with them, a sense, that here was a band that was on the same level as any "first world" band despite all the disadvantages that came with being from Argentina.....they were that good...that flawless.... eventually the band broke up... in my estimation at their peak after Sueno Stereo.. Cerati went solo and found some success although never to the degree he'd had with Soda... eventually, again following the arc most bands have these days, they regrouped for a very succesfull tour in 2007... I wasn't able to make the Miami show...I caught Cerati live twice... indicative of his tremendous range, the first time, at the Colon Opera House backed by a large symphonic orchestra reprising his solo and group hits about 2002.. the second time at a relatively small club about a mile and a half or two from where I type (the State Theatre 2006)...the shows were exemplary both times... the truth is his solo material didn't have the reach of Soda but what could? and by that point the legend was cemented and he could record anything he wanted....the word on the street is that his stroke came as a result of adopting an anything goes lifestyle during the Soda Stereo reunion...its not too hard to imagine.. playing stadiums...feeling on top of the world...a couple of packs a day cig smoker starts partying hard in their late 40s after a few health scares...a stroke ensues..coma....eventually end...I can remember the first time I heard Soda Stereo very clearly.... after about 8 years overseas we had moved back to Buenos Aires...early 1987... I was at my grandmother's house trying to go to sleep .. the neighbours or somebody in the hood was having a party and songs by the Cure or whoever kept playing.... but also songs by a band I didn't really know yet, Soda Stereo, and they spoke to me on the same level as the American and English bands and that was unique at the time...songs like Profugos (Runaways) or Persiana America (American shutters) subsequently I fell in love with the great Argentine rock of the 70s and 80s , and boy is it a rich history, but like for many all over Latin America Soda Stereo helped open up that door for me..RIP Cerati. Gone much too soon.
