Molotov Band

The Top Hip Hop/Rock Band Molotov

The Mexican band Molotov has a mixture of hard rock and rap that is different than most of the other Spanish speaking bands. They have lots of songs that incorporate both English and Spanish in the same song. At the same time, they have been very controversial with many of their lyrics with themes of sex, violence, racism, and other topics. However, they’re no different than US rock bands of the 60s in that respect, only the topics have changed over the passing decades.

The Band Consists Of Four Main Members

The two original members, Tito Fuentes on guitar and Chicho Huidobro on bass have been with the band since the beginning in 1995. They also had Javier De La Cueva and Ivan Jared in the beginning, with Cueva leaving after just one year, and Jared as well. They were replaced by Randy Ebright a US-born band member and Paco Ayala. This has been in the lineup since late 1996 until today with only a few extras that play in live situations.

The band began playing in the underground live rock/rap scene in Mexico City. There are quite a few venues that attract large crowds and the bands play 4 nights in a row with plenty of alcohol and wild fans. The first big break for Molotov came when they opened for Heroes del Silencio in Monterrey, Mexico which brought more exposure and a larger fan base. They went on to open for La Lupita, another larger band at the time, and since then have become their own main attraction.

Their Debut Album Was Controversial

Latin rock superstar Mana has an album titled “Donde Jugaran Los Ninos?” or “Where do the boys play?” Molotov, deciding to be humorous, came up with “Donde Jugaran Las Ninas?” which wasn’t well received because of the connotations involved. Many stores, worried about pressure from parents and refused to sell the album at the start. The album also had many swear words, racial remarks, and songs about sex and politics that weren’t considered mainstream either.

However, the hip-hop and rap genre of music was in its infancy in the Spanish speaking world and many of Molotov’s songs resonated well with those fans. Many of the songs about politics were pointed at the Mexican federal government that had quite a few detractors at the time, especially among young urban Mexicans in the larger cities. The song “Gimme the Power” was all about changing the government by force if necessary and giving the power to a new generation. This didn’t gain them a lot of fans among people in government, but it played well with a whole generation of young people.

Many Of Molotov’s Most Popular Songs Are Parodies

When you start to read the names of the songs on the albums you can start to notice a trend. Many of their songs are cleverly named after other rock songs from the US with Spanglish names that are part English part Spanish. They did a cover of the Queen song “Bohemian Rhapsody” and named it “Rap, Soda y Bohemia” which when you say it fast enough sounds very similar.

Other top songs that they are well known for are “Puto” which is the male form of the word prostitute in Spanish, “Apocalyshit” easy to see the English in that one, and “Frijolero” which means “Beaners” in English, a racist word used to describe Mexicans working in the US. The song is sung half in English and half in Spanish with the chorus being quite catchy and hard to forget.

Molotov does a really good job of incorporating Spanglish rap lyrics into basically rock and roll music. There are controversial in both English and Spanish, but only to the point where their music isn’t just a waste of time, like so many other bands these days. People that enjoy rock or rap will surely like Molotov even if they don’t understand the point behind the music, which could be sexual, political, or anti-establishment, just like back in the 1960s rock era in the US.