During the early 1990s, there was a resurgence of Latin Rock music in South America starting with Argentina. There, such bands as Los Brujos, Peligrosos Gorriones, and Babsonicos were formed singing Latin rock, Latin pop, funk rock, and alternative rock that partially mirrored what was happening in the US and Europe at the time. The band Babasonicos was one of the more popular bands and spent a lot of time playing in the underground rock movement of Argentina. There were a lot of large venues in many cities made from old warehouses, theaters, and other old buildings that were used to put on shows. These venues added to the ambiance and were a hit among the followers of the bands too.
The Start And The Early Days Of The Band
The curious part about their name was that it partially came from the old cartoon, the Jetsons, whose Spanish name was the Supersonicos and they were quite popular in Argentina when some of the band members were younger.
The original members of the band, Adrian Rodriguez who sang vocals, and Diego Tuñón that was a keyboard player, started out wanting to do “new wave” music, such as Duran Duran in the US. At the time there weren’t any bands of that type at all in Argentina or South America for that matter. They then added members, Diego Rodriguez a lead vocalist and guitar player, Diego Castellano the drummer, Mariano Dominguez also a guitarist, and Gabriel Manelli the bass player.
In the beginning, the band experimented with several different sounds and didn’t seem to have one in particular that they could call their trademark type of music. However, after they released the hit song, “Jessico” in 2001, they seemed to settle into that form of music spurred on by their success. Some of their critics would go on to point out that their music became more commercial and less original, while others will say that they adjusted to what their audience wanted and success followed.
Babasonicos’ Album “Infame” Of 2003 Named #5 On Billboards Latin Rock List
This was considered quite an accomplishment at the time, being #5 of all time best Latin Rock Albums according to Billboards was quite notable. They were compared to Roxy Music of the US in style and Julio Iglesias in musical composition by reviewers. If you only have one album to represent their best, this would be where to start.
During the 2002-2003 time period, they enjoyed a lot of success being nominated for the Best Rock Artist in South America at the MTV Video Music Awards in 2002. Then also nominated for the Best Group and Best Artist Argentina for the year 2003. Their Album “Infame” won the best album of the year in addition to best rock group for the year 2004 at the Premios Gardel Awards.
On MTV, the group went on to rack up a series of awards and nominations for the best rock group, the best rock artist, best artist in South America showing that their move to accommodate the audience they had was the right choice back in 2001. They were again nominated best rock artist for the MTV Latin America Awards in 2006 and then won the award in 2007. They were nominated again in 2007 for artist of the year and again in 2008 plus they were nominated for best song of the year, and the best group as well.
In early 2008 tragedy struck the band when their long-time bass player Gabriel Manelli died of Hodgkin’s disease. The band released another album in 2008 called “Mucho” and it was more rock-oriented than previous albums.
This is a great rock-Latin rock band that is well worth seeking out. Their 2003 album “Infame” is a rock and roll classic with plenty of good songs from start to finish and none that you’d want to skip. Their later albums are also really good, if you find you love their sound on “Infame” you’ll most likely want to get “Anoche” and “Mucho” because you’ll like those as well.
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