35 years ago Soda Stereo launched “Animal Song”, one of the most emblematic records of national rock

He August 7, 1990, Soda Stereo He released an album that would change his history and that of rock in Spanish forever. Animal songthe fifth studio album of the trio composed of Gustavo Cerati, Zeta Bosio and Charly Alberticondensed as few record works a time of musical transition, a new aesthetic search and a raw energy that contrasted with its previous productions.

Away from the synthetic pulse and aesthetics New Wave that had dominated their first steps, the members of the band turned to a more visceral soundsoaked with seventist influences of national rock. In that turn, songs like On the seventh day, Between cannibals either Man to water They captured a different sensitivity: more physical, less brain, as if music had stopped hiding behind the artifice to speak from the body.

Animal song Not only was it a change in the sound. He also marked a turn in the visual and symbolic narrative of the band. It is enough to remember the Original Disco Coverwith two lions in full intercourse, which was censored in several countries. The image spoke of desire, power and instinctive, axes that also crossed the letters and energy of the album. As if everything, from music to iconography, said: “This is real, this is happening now.”

The influences of Animal song

To shape this new sound universe, Soda Stere Argentine rock referents such as rabid fish, vox dei and human color. The result was an album More guitar, direct and corporealthat I did not fear to put aside the synthesizers or postpone the entry of the voice until the music found its own channel.

Andrea Álvarez, percussionist who participated in the recording, described Animal song As a “very touched” album, with long instrumental introductions and structures away from the radial format. “It was a return to rock and by really playing,” he said in an interview with Télam, where he also recalled that Cerati had already been devising the album since the time of Languis.

In that process, he was not alone. The keyboardist Tweeth González, saxophonist Gonzo Palacios and musician and producer Daniel Melero They joined to reinforce the sound. With Melero, Cerati shared more than music: A deep, almost esoteric connectionin Álvarez’s words. “Gustavo needed it to certify his belief,” he said, suggesting the weight that ideas and sensations shared with Melero had in the album’s gestation.

The album was recorded in Recording Studios Criteria, in Miamiunder the production of Cerati himself with Zeta Bosio. Although the recording process was fast and organic, the most arduous came later. The trials for the official presentation, made in a room in the Buenos Aires neighborhood of Belgrano, were strenuous. But there was a clear intention: bring a work to be defended with the same force that showed in study.

The result was reflected in the Animal tourwhich toured Latin America and culminated in December 1991 with a free show on 9 de Julio Avenue, compared to more than 250,000 people. A milestone that consolidated Soda as the most convening group of rock in Spanish.

Soda-Stereo-Cancion-Animal

Light music was about to be out of the album: Cerati considered the song too simple. Then, the song would become the one chosen to close its 2007 tour.

Of light music: The hit that is almost out of the album

As sometimes happens with the songs that become hymns, Of light music He was about not entering the album. Cerati I considered it too simple, almost superficialand came to present it with some guilt, according to Andrea Álvarez. “It was as if he were asking for forgiveness,” said the drummer about that model that, despite everything, ended up occupying a central place in the album.

The subsequent history is known. With its immediate guitar riff and its sticky chorus, Of light music became The great Soda Stereo classicchanted by crowds in each presentation. It was also the theme chosen to close the last concert of the group in 2007, at the River stadium, in a version that culminated with the mythical “Total thanks” by Cerati, already turned into a vintage phrase.

But Animal song He did not live only from that hit. The album has other pieces that were marked on fire in the history of local rock, such as Tea for three “With an obvious emotional burden,” The sun falls, You usually leave me alone either One million light years. Of the ten songs that compose it, six were released as simple and all achieved, to a greater or lesser extent, a notable impact.

The recognition also came from critics. In 2006, Of light music The best Latin American rock song was chosen by the magazine On the edgeand the album was second in the list of the 250 best albums of the same ranking. Rolling Stone ArgentinaFor its part, the album located among the top ten of Argentine rock.