Soda Stereo
Soda Stereo was an Argentine rock band formed in Buenos Aires in 1982. The band's membership consisted of singer-guitarist Gustavo Cerati, bassist Zeta Bosio and drummer Charly Alberti. During their career, the band released seven studio albums before disbanding in 1997. Soda Stereo is the best-selling Argentine band of all time, having sold seven million records by 2007.
The band's 1984 self-titled debut album featured a new wave and ska influenced sound, which evolved into a post-punk style found on their subsequent albums Nada personal, Signos, and Doble Vida. The band's 1990 album Canción Animal featured the alternative rock anthem "De Música Ligera", their best-known song in Latin America. On their last two albums, Dynamo and Sueño Stereo, their sound evolved to incorporate genres such as shoegaze and art rock. Their farewell concert on 20 September 1997 at the Estadio Monumental in Buenos Aires was released later that year on the live albums El Último Concierto A and B.
All three members remained musically active following the band's split, with Cerati embarking a solo career. Soda Stereo reunited for the Me Verás Volver concert tour in 2007 and played their final concert on 21 December 2007. Cerati suffered a stroke after performing a solo show in Caracas, Venezuela, on 15 May 2010. He was hospitalized in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and fell into a coma for 4 years. He died on 4 September 2014 from respiratory arrest. Bosio and Alberti reunited Soda Stereo in 2020 for the Gracias Totales tour, which featured several guest singers including Cerati's son Benito and Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, before going into hiatus in 2022. In 2025 the band announced Ecos, a 2026 tour featuring a digital Cerati playing along on stage.
History
Formation and early years (1982–1984)
In the summer of 1981, Gustavo Cerati and Hector Zeta Bosio, then 22 and 23 respectively, met at Punta del Este, Uruguay, both studying majors and both part of rock bands, Cerati with his group Sauvage and Bosio with the Morgan. Cerati and Bosio, each drawn by the other's musical tastes, established a friendship and a musical bond that encouraged them to start playing together. Cerati first joined Bosio's group The Morgan, then formed Stress with Charly Amato and drummer Pablo Guadalupe, also working on the project Erekto with bandmate Andres Calamaro. Neither project met Cerati's expectations, however, and both fell through.Meanwhile, Cerati's sister, Maria Laura Cerati, got asked out by Carlos Ficicchia, a man she had met in River Plate, Argentina, who called repeatedly, all advances which she rejected. On one occasion, when Cerati answered the phone for his sister, he befriended Ficicchia, who mentioned that he was a drummer, and the son of famous Argentine jazz drummer and songwriter Tito Alberti. Interested in his talents after hearing him play, Cerati and Bosio would ask him to join the bandif he would cut his hair. During this time Ficicchia adopted the stage name "Charly Alberti".
The band, after experimenting with multiple names, eventually settled on Los Estereotipos, which referenced a song by the Specials which they enjoyed listening to. The band recorded a demo under this name, with Richard Coleman on backing guitar, a short-lived member of the band who was recruited to "beef up" the guitar sound. The songs recorded would include "Porque No Puedo Ser Del Jet Set?", which became a hit single for the band on their debut studio album. Other songs recorded included "Dime Sebastian" and "Debo Soñar" by Ulises Butrón, in which Ulises Butrón played guitars and Daniel Melero played keyboards; Melero, a growing figurehead of Argentina's electronic rock scene, would become an instrumental influence on the band's sound in its final years.
The trio, regretting using cliches in their band name, often brainstormed random words and wrote them down, a university pastime for Cerati and Bosioeventually coming up with Soda Stereo, thanks in part to Cerati's excessive soda consumption during band rehearsals.
The first show under Soda's new name occurred in December 1982, at Alfredo Lois birthday party, Cerati and Bosio's university classmate. Lois would go on to become Soda's video director as well as their visual and stylistic guru; he was later recognised by Cerati himself as "the fourth Soda member". Shortly after this first show, Richard Coleman, fourth member, left the band on good terms, recognizing that the band sounded better without him.
In July 1983 the trio made their debut at the Discothèque Airport in the Buenos Aires neighborhood of Belgrano, Buenos Aires. The band reminisced on this show:
Our debut was at a fashion show at the "Disco Airport", which was close to where we practiced in Buenos Aires. Nobody gave us so much as a nod. The three of us played on a very deficient sound system. But we were happy, even though no one paid attention. We really looked like a punk group, we didn't know how to play and the sound was loud, even though it was just that.
Following that gig, Soda Stereo slowly gained traction throughout the underground rock scene of Buenos Aires, making a name for themselves alongside other emerging bands at the time, such as Sumo, Los Twist, Los Encargados, and other bands. Soda would take up residency at the traditional and deteriorated Cabaret Marabú club in Maipú 359. At these early shows, Soda would play songs like "Héroes de la Serie", "La Vi Parada Allí", and "Vamos a La Playa", along with other songs that appeared on their second demo.
Throughout 1983, the band would become notorious for their sound. Beginning at a pub show for a no-show band, Soda performed constantly; at their third show, Horacio Martinez, a historic Argentine rock producer and "talent hunter", heard them and invited them to record for CBS Records. This came to fruition in 1984 when Soda signed to the Rodríguez Ares agency.
First album and Chateau Rock '85 (1984–1985)
Soda Stereo recorded their debut during the second half of 1984. The album was produced by Federico Moura, the vocalist for Virus. By that time, Moura and Cerati had developed a fruitful artistic relationship. The recording took place in the defunct studios of CBS Records on Paraguay street. The end result was a cooler sound than from the live shows, which the bands were pleased with. The trio was aided by on keys and on sax. Both were listed as "guest musicians", a practice which would become common for Soda throughout their career. Such guest musicians would be recognized by the public as the "fourth Sodas".The attention garnered by Soda enabled them to play at larger and larger venues. First was "La Esquina Del Sol" in Palermo. Their show at "El Recital De Los Lagos" on 1 and 2 December was their first to headline along with top Argentine acts. The show was hosted by Argentine television personality.
Soda Stereo presented their debut album at El Teatro Astros on 14 December 1984, their first show at the venue. The TVs there were turned on and out of sync with each other to the theme of "Sobredosis de TV", creating a captivating visual effect.
On 26 January 1985, Soda played the Rock in Bali festival in Argentine port city of Mar del Plata. On 17 March, they played the Festival Chateau Rock '85 at the Estadio Olímpico Chateau Carreras in front of a claimed audience of fifteen thousand. However, Córdoba media outlets claim that, "only half the number of people actually showed up" and that Soda were "hardly noticed because their first record had was just released a few months earlier." They also added "Raul Porchetto was the biggest draw of the night". Regardless, their presence at Chateau sparked a personal relationship between the band and the youth of Córdoba, it marked the moment that the band began to move toward national stardom.
The success of the band began at a very peculiar time, related to the return of democracy to Argentina, but also to increasing notions of postmodernism, particularly in the way the 1980s youth found their role in a newly democratic society that had just emerged from bloody dictatorship and war.
Years later, Zeta Bosio would reflect on this juncture:
The democracy produced the adrenaline of something new, something was occurring, I knew I was going to make changes without knowing how. There was more air for us to make things and to wander, and we were a band of kids that wanted to make trouble. Our attention was on punk and on trying to show that there was something else that was more direct
On 13 October of that year, Soda played in front of a large audience in Buenos Aires as part of the third night of the Festival of Rock and Pop Held at the José Amalfitani Stadium home of the soccer club Velez Sarsfield. They shared the stage with INXS, Nina Hagen, Charly García, Virus, and Sumo, among others. By then Fabian "Vön" Quintero and Gonzo Palacios were "stable guests".
''Nada personal'' and Obras (1985–1986)
Soda's second album Nada personal was edited in October 1985. During the summer the group toured Argentina, playing in Mar de Plata, Villa Gesell, and Pinamar, and ending the tour at the Festival De la Falda in Córdoba, which featured Andres Calamaro and Charly García on keyboards on "Jet Set".In April the band decided to present the album at a concert at the Estadio Obras Sanitarias in Buenos Aires. There they did four shows with a total attendance of 20,000 spectators. Footage from the first show was edited into a long play video. After these concerts records sales began to accelerate, quickly passing the gold certification that they achieved during the summer, platinum certification, and finally double platinum in the following months. Without abandoning the danceable rhythms, the second LP resulted in more depth in the lyrics and a melodic maturity.