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After Avándaro:
the black hole of the mexican rock |
Avandaro's festival poster |
Introduction:
Without a doubt, the history
of Mexican rock of the 1970s is more salted than a fish. In the
first place, the dates on which Avandaro took place, the 11th
and 12th of September of 1971, coincide with the anniversary
of the Battle of Chapultepec, in which six military students
threw themselves from Chapultepec Castle to their deaths, instead
of surrendering to an attempted invasion by the US Army (deleted
from history textbooks in that time and later made legendary
in complementary books). September 11 coincided later on with
the coup d'etat of Chile in 1973, compared now with Allende's
fall and the ascent to the power of the authorized dementia of
Pinochet, which practically made it taboo for the left to celebrate
the anniversary of a rock concert.
The biggest blow was September 11, 2001, with the terrorist attacks
against the cities of New York and Washington, and the whole
sequel of war and fear.
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But Mexican rock can be compared
to a missing person of the régime of Mexican President
Luis Echeverría Alvarez, due to its politics against the
youth in general and of Mexican rock in particular.
Why this statement?
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Entrance to the town of Avándaro, state of Mexico |
Any transport was good |
In
any party where veterans of the galactic wars gather, those who
were golden youth in those times and and are now of mature age,
ask for "La Plaga," "Popotitos," "Pólvora,"
"Hiedra Venenosa" and other songs of the so-called
"golden years of rock and roll." But on the other hand,
nobody requests "Nasty Sex," "Latin Feeling,"
"For Losing You," "Viva Zapata," "Avándaro,"
"Coming Home," "Back," "Bajo el Signo
de Acuario," "No Te Voy a Rogar," "Easy Woman"
or "Caminata Cerebral" to be played. |
| Los
Locos del Ritmo, los Rebeldes del Rock, Hooligans, Teen Tops,
and even the Apson Boys, Rocking Devils, Belmonts, Yaki and Hitters
are very well-known. But very few people remember Peace and Love,
Love Army, Bandido, La Tribu, 39.4, Tinta Blanca, The Spiders,
Dug Dug's or even more obsucre groups like Hardy Phlox or the
Hangar Ambulante (great groups that never recorded albums). |
A ticket to ride... |
| There are survivors
of those times, such as the heroic Javier Batiz, Baby Batiz,
Rafael Acosta, Fito de la Parra, Armando Nava and La Borrega
of the Dug Dug's) Lalo and Ricardo Toral, Guillermo Briseño
and Kiko Rodríguez of Bandido, now in the band Old Days,
and others. And in some way, we all must create some kind of
history to understand what happened. |
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