Los Prisioneros
Encyclopedia
Los Prisioneros was a chilean
rock band
formed in San Miguel
, Santiago
, Chile
in 1982. They began as a local band during the early 1980s, playing small shows in their neighborhood and high school. After selling a limited press number of their first album in Chile under the independent Fusión producciones label, they signed to EMI
in 1985, re-releasing the same album on an LP record
and Cassette
. From that point on they reached mainstream success in Chile
, then Peru
.
Most of Los Prisioneros song lyrics have substantial social critique
s which made them popular as Chile was under Pinochet's military dictatorship
in the 80s. In terms of musical development in Chile Los Prisioneros marked the beginning of a new era by leaving behind folk inspired music that emerged with Victor Jara
and Violeta Parra
in the 60s. Los Prisioneros legacy has been recognised by bands such as Glup!
, Javiera y Los Imposibles
, Lucybell
, Los Tetas
and La Ley
who together made the tribute album
Tributo a Los Prisioneros
.
Eventually in the early 90's their albums were re-released completely in remastered Compact Disc form, this is when Chile was no longer run by a military regime which oppressed their music in the late 1980s. Throughout the 1990s their music spread out, reaching all of South and Central America as well as some parts of the U.S., Canada
and Europe
.
According to the magazine Rolling Stone Chile, "La voz de los '80" is in the third place of the best Chilean albums. In addition, "Corazones
" is in the ninth place, and "Pateando piedras
" in the fifteenth place.
(bass
and vocals), and Miguel Tapia
(drums
) decided to start their own band while still high school students. They began to practice in Jorge's mother's house. Jorge and Miguel were very good friends and Jorge helped Miguel write one of their songs which is now a hit, "¿Quién mató a Marilyn?
". Jorge spent lots of time reading as a young teenager and dedicated a lot of his time to writing lyrics. In the neighborhood lived Claudio Narea
, who was going to the same school as them but was a year under them, they knew he was a "rocker" and played, albeit sloppy, the (guitar
).
They asked him if he would want to play guitar with them. Impressed with the music Jorge composed, he accepted. During 1979-1982 they went through various name changes before settling on "Los Prisioneros", the longest name they had previous to Los Prisioneros was the name "Los Vinchucas". By 1983, they had already played a number of shows in their high school and neighborhood. Around 1983, Jorge went to the university to study music, that's where he met Carlos Fonseca, a young student, although a bit older than Jorge, who was the son of a small record label owner. Through him, they managed to score a record deal with Fusión Producciones.
During this time, they finally decided to settle on the name "Los Prisioneros". Carlos became their manager, getting the funds to let the band record in his father's studio. They recorded a demo which impressed Carlos and the owner of the label, so they decided to record a full length album.
In December 1984, their first album titled "La voz de los '80" was released. The album hardly received any radio airplay, but became emblematic in the Chilean music scene later on. The only song to make the Chilean pop music rankings was "Sexo
". It never reached a top ten rank, but was around the 20's which propelled them enough to begin to spread out in some radio airplay. During 1985, when they had signed to EMI, they began to play more shows with around 200+ in attendance. They also had some Chilean television presentations, one of them being Sábado Gigante
.
". It became a double platinum album in Chile. By that time, the group was invited to perform at Argentina
's Chateau Rock Festival and later to a similar event in Montevideo
, Uruguay
. On this album, the recording quality had improved vastly compared to "La Voz De los '80". This album marked the change in their sound. While in "La Voz De Los '80" they had the typical guitar/bass/drums rock outfit (they did have synthesizers on the songs, they were just very low or far in the mix) in "Pateando Piedras" the first song on the album showed the new Los Prisioneros.
"Muevan Las Industrias" has nothing but synthesizers and electronic drums, showing that Los Prisioneros were moving on into the more electronic sound of the 1980s rather than staying in the rock genre. Still, the album was a mix of their political and social ideas lyrically with their familiar rock sound and newly flourished synthesizer-layered pop rock. They released a number of singles for the album, and some of them include "Muevan Las Industrias", "Por Qué No Se Van" and "Quieren Dinero". During this time, they toured extensively all over Chile and they reached mainstream success in the Chilean rock scene.
". After nearly two months of recording sessions, the album was released. It was strongly opposed by the military regime and Los Prisioneros were blacked out of the mainstream media, affecting sales.
Much tension yet relief was accomplished during those two months, the band had never sounded so unified. They put out many singles like "Pa Pa Pa", "Maldito Sudaca", "Que No Destrocen Tu Vida" and others. This album was by far their most socially & politically active album lyric wise since "La voz de los '80".
They toured around South America for months, using the tours to help promote the "No" [on Pinochet] vote in the Chilean national plebiscite of 1988
. In 1988, due to not so high of what the label expected in sales, they re-released "La Cultura De La Basura
" for the Latin America
n market with most of the songs re-recorded. They also included the song that would become the first video to be ever aired on MTV Latin America
, "We Are Sudamerican Rockers
". With all this, Los Prisioneros gained a lot of mainstream attention. Towards the end of 1988 personal conflicts began growing between Jorge and Claudio.
discovered love letter
s from his bandmate Jorge González
to his wife in his room. According to Claudio "the letters were only about sex, when I read them I got mad". Jorge (who also was married at the time) recognized his adultery
with Claudio's wife, and when Claudio had reconcilled with his wife, Jorge proposed that they have a threesome. Claudio refused, and the day after Jorge tried to commit suicide by taking 16 pills of valium and cutting of his wrists.
In 1990 due to the conflicts between Claudio and Jorge, Claudio decided to leave the band. They no longer got along musically, or personally. Miguel Tapia has said he always tried to keep the band together, but this time, he couldn't. It was a bigger problem than could be fixed. The exact reason for why Claudio left is still a little bit unclear to this day. Los Prisioneros went through a rough time without Claudio, but they continued to move forward. Without Claudio Narea, Jorge González had the responsibility of recording the next Los Prisioneros album, since he was the main composer and Miguel Tapia was not present. He went to the United States
to record their following album, "Corazones
". It was recorded in Los Angeles, California
. After the album was mixed and edited, Los Prisioneros released "Corazones
" in South America. When the first single was released, "Tren al Sur", the song became an instant classic and was a heavily played song on the radio as well as its video on MTV Internacional. The album was very different compared to the first three Los Prisioneros' albums, this album was filled with ideas and stories of love and romance, heartbreak, and lust. They released other singles like "Amiga Mía", "Corazones Rojos", and another huge success, "Estrechez de Corazón". It seemed they had left their politically heavy lyrics and rock sound but the truth was, the songs that appeared on "Corazones" were actually the ones Jorge didn't expect to put on the album. Los Prisioneros by now had reached the most mainstream success in their whole career. After a year of non-stop touring, they decided to do a "farewell" tour and the group played for the last time in January of 1992 in the Estadio Playa Ancha
.
went on to form Jardín Secreto, an electronic dance band formed with former Los Prisioneros keyboardist Cecilia Aguayo. They put out two albums with some success. Jorge González went on to become a solo artist releasing three albums under his name and one called "Gonzalo Martínez". His solo albums under his name are "Jorge González" self-titled in 1993, "El Futuro Se Fue" in 1994, and "Mi Destino (Confesiones de una Estrella del Rock)" in 1999. Claudio Narea formed a rock band called Profetas y Frenéticos
.
They put out two albums and had success, but when comparing success between the three members during their time apart, Jorge González maintained most of the success. Narea also put out a self-titled solo album in 1999, rutling in the hit single "Amar es Complicado" which became very popular on the radio. During the defunct Los Prisioneros years, a two-disc compilation titled "Ni Por La Razón, Ni Por La Fuerza" was released in 1996 which was quite a success. It contained their greatest hits and included unreleased songs by the group. Los Prisioneros saw how big they had gotten throughout the years and during the late 90's they would secretly put past problems aside and decide to reunite the group when the time was right, this happened in 2001 announcing the return of Los Prisioneros.
. The first concert completely sold out so they added a second night at the stadium, on each night over 70,000 fans came to watch the reunited band play again. A total of over 140,000 fans came to the concert, which culminated on a double disc CD and later DVD release of the famous concert. From then on until 2002 they continued touring and played sold out shows all over Chile, South America, U.S., and Canada
.
The same year, Los Prisioneros played in the famous music festival of Viña Del Mar
in Chile. This was a live broadcasted show and a very controversial one. Jorge González changed or added lyrics expressing his anger towards George W. Bush
, about the Iraq and Afghanistan invasions, and other major things happening in Chile. By this time, Jorge was becoming very outspoken which caused controversy and tension began to become noticeable between Jorge and Claudio.
In September, Claudio Narea was dismissed by the band, the remaining members said they talked it out like gentlemen, and decided to keep the reason of his dismissal between the three, and then until the band's final break up in 2006, Los Prisioneros would face on and off disrespect from certain newspapers and sometimes even Claudio. During a press conference to announce Claudio's departure, his replacement, who was called "guest of honor on guitar", and the recording a covers album that would be coming out that same year, the press kept bringing the subject up of Claudio's departure; Los Prisioneros became annoyed and told several of the press members that they would not give any details regarding the breakup between Los Prisioneros and Claudio and would not talk about it anymore. Eventually, Jorge lost his temper and knocked down all the microphones and threw a glass jar of water which was on the table onto the ground, then he left the conference and so did Miguel and guest of honor on guitar: Álvaro Henríquez with a big smile on his face and waved goodbye.
fame. The album En Las Raras Tocatas Nuevas De La Rock & Pop features only two original Los Prisioneros songs while the rest are but covers. Some of the covers include "Es La Lluvia Que Cae" originally by Los Iracundos, "Birthday" by The Beatles
, "Alone Again (naturally)" by Gilbert O'Sullivan
and many others. The album had a limited production and is now a hard to find collector's item.
They specifically attacked El Mercurio
in the song "Mr. Right" about how that newspaper created propaganda against Allende and hinted the Chilean coup of 1973
where Chile's current president (Salvador Allende
) of that time was mysteriously killed by (depending on the sources) himself or the army Pinochet commanded. They made a video "El Muro" and began a tour that same year to play in South and Central America, Mexico, the U.S.A. and Canada. During the tours, two more videos followed "Manzana" and "Eres Mi Hogar".
which has seen a very well received first full length album in Europe.
Original 1980s/Reunion 2001-2003
"Corazones
"/1990s
Other
This formation was used during the time Claudio Narea left/was kicked out of the band but before they re-grouped with Gonzalo Yanez and Coti to record "Manzana".
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
rock band
Rock Band
Rock Band is a music video game developed by Harmonix Music Systems, published by MTV Games and Electronic Arts. It is the first title in the Rock Band series. The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions were released in the United States on November 20, 2007, while the PlayStation 2 version was...
formed in San Miguel
San Miguel (municipality)
San Miguel is a commune of Chile located in Santiago Province, Santiago Metropolitan Region. It was founded on August 10, 1896.-Administration:...
, Santiago
Santiago, Chile
Santiago , also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile, and the center of its largest conurbation . It is located in the country's central valley, at an elevation of above mean sea level...
, Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
in 1982. They began as a local band during the early 1980s, playing small shows in their neighborhood and high school. After selling a limited press number of their first album in Chile under the independent Fusión producciones label, they signed to EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
in 1985, re-releasing the same album on an LP record
LP record
The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...
and Cassette
Compact Cassette
The Compact Cassette, often referred to as audio cassette, cassette tape, cassette, or simply tape, is a magnetic tape sound recording format. It was designed originally for dictation, but improvements in fidelity led the Compact Cassette to supplant the Stereo 8-track cartridge and reel-to-reel...
. From that point on they reached mainstream success in Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
, then Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
.
Most of Los Prisioneros song lyrics have substantial social critique
Social criticism
The term social criticism locates the reasons for malicious conditions of the society in flawed social structures. People adhering to a social critics aim at practical solutions by specific measures, often consensual reform but sometimes also by powerful revolution.- European roots :Religious...
s which made them popular as Chile was under Pinochet's military dictatorship
Chile under Pinochet
Chile was ruled by a military dictatorship headed by Augusto Pinochet from 1973 when Salvador Allende was overthrown in a coup d'etat until 1990 when the Chilean transition to democracy began. The authoritarian military government was characterized by systematic suppression of political parties and...
in the 80s. In terms of musical development in Chile Los Prisioneros marked the beginning of a new era by leaving behind folk inspired music that emerged with Victor Jara
Víctor Jara
Víctor Lidio Jara Martínez was a Chilean teacher, theatre director, poet, singer-songwriter, political activist and member of the Communist Party of Chile...
and Violeta Parra
Violeta Parra
Violeta del Carmen Parra Sandoval was a notable Chilean composer, songwriter, folklorist, ethnomusicologist and visual artist...
in the 60s. Los Prisioneros legacy has been recognised by bands such as Glup!
Glup!
Glup! was a Chilean rock-pop band active in the period 1996-2003. In 1999 the band performed at the Viña del Mar International Song Festival, coming soon afterwards into mainstream popularity in Chile due to their adolescent lyrics and sticky melodies. Freebola, released in 1999, was the groups...
, Javiera y Los Imposibles
Javiera y Los Imposibles
Javiera y Los Imposibles is Chilean pop band led by Javiera Parra, granddaughter of Chilean folk musician Violeta Parra. The band was formed when Álvaro Henríquez from Los Tres met Javiera and helped her to produre the first album corte en Trámite together with other musicians....
, Lucybell
Lucybell
Lucybell is a Chilean rock band formed by four students from the Universidad de Chile's Faculty of Art in 1991, in Santiago de Chile. The original four members were:* Francisco González: drums, bass, percussion, keyboards...
, Los Tetas
Los Tetas
Los Tetas was a Chilean Funk band formed in 1995 by four musicians: Pepino , Rulo , C-Funk and Tea Time ....
and La Ley
La Ley
"La Ley" is Spanish for "The Law"*For the Chilean rock band, see La Ley .*For the Argentine publishing company, see La Ley .*For the Spanish-language radio station in Goldsboro, North Carolina, see WYMY....
who together made the tribute album
Tribute album
A tribute album is a recorded collection of cover versions of songs or instrumental compositions. Its concept may be either various artists making a tribute to a single artist, a single artist making a tribute to various artists, or a single artist making a tribute to another single artist.There...
Tributo a Los Prisioneros
Tributo a Los Prisioneros
Tributo a Los Prisioneros is a tribute album is a 2000 album recorded by various artists in tribute to Chilean rock band Los Prisioneros. It's the only official tribute album to Los Prisioneros.- Track list :# Mentalidad Televisiva" — Canal Magdalena...
.
Eventually in the early 90's their albums were re-released completely in remastered Compact Disc form, this is when Chile was no longer run by a military regime which oppressed their music in the late 1980s. Throughout the 1990s their music spread out, reaching all of South and Central America as well as some parts of the U.S., Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
.
According to the magazine Rolling Stone Chile, "La voz de los '80" is in the third place of the best Chilean albums. In addition, "Corazones
Corazones
Corazones is an album by Chilean band Los Prisioneros, first released in 1990. It was produced by Gustavo Santaolalla for EMI Odeon Chilena...
" is in the ninth place, and "Pateando piedras
Pateando piedras
Pateando piedras is the second album by Chilean rock band Los Prisioneros. According to the magazine Rolling Stone Chile, Pateando piedras is in the fifteenth place of the best Chilean albums.- Side A :...
" in the fifteenth place.
Beginnings and "La Voz De Los '80"
Los Prisioneros started when Jorge GonzálezJorge González (musician)
Jorge González is the former lead singer, main songwriter and sole composer of the Chilean band Los Prisioneros, and is currently the frontman of Los Updates. Los Prisioneros enjoyed a huge level of popularity and success initially in Chile and eventually all of Latin America beginning in 1984...
(bass
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
and vocals), and Miguel Tapia
Miguel Tapia
Miguel Tapia is a Chilean musician and former member of Los Prisioneros together with Jorge González and Claudio Narea. During the first hiatus of Los Prisioneros, from 1991 to 2006, Miguel Tapia was engaged in other music projects among the Jardín Secreto....
(drums
Drum kit
A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
) decided to start their own band while still high school students. They began to practice in Jorge's mother's house. Jorge and Miguel were very good friends and Jorge helped Miguel write one of their songs which is now a hit, "¿Quién mató a Marilyn?
¿Quién mató a Marilyn?
"¿Quién mató a Marilyn?" is a punk rock song by Chilean rock band Los Prisioneros featured as the first track on the B side their 1984 debut album La voz de los '80...
". Jorge spent lots of time reading as a young teenager and dedicated a lot of his time to writing lyrics. In the neighborhood lived Claudio Narea
Claudio Narea
Claudio Narea is a Chilean rock musician, singer, and songwriter who is best known as the guitarist and back-up vocalist of the Chilean rock band Los Prisioneros from 1982–1989 and from 2000-2003....
, who was going to the same school as them but was a year under them, they knew he was a "rocker" and played, albeit sloppy, the (guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
).
They asked him if he would want to play guitar with them. Impressed with the music Jorge composed, he accepted. During 1979-1982 they went through various name changes before settling on "Los Prisioneros", the longest name they had previous to Los Prisioneros was the name "Los Vinchucas". By 1983, they had already played a number of shows in their high school and neighborhood. Around 1983, Jorge went to the university to study music, that's where he met Carlos Fonseca, a young student, although a bit older than Jorge, who was the son of a small record label owner. Through him, they managed to score a record deal with Fusión Producciones.
During this time, they finally decided to settle on the name "Los Prisioneros". Carlos became their manager, getting the funds to let the band record in his father's studio. They recorded a demo which impressed Carlos and the owner of the label, so they decided to record a full length album.
In December 1984, their first album titled "La voz de los '80" was released. The album hardly received any radio airplay, but became emblematic in the Chilean music scene later on. The only song to make the Chilean pop music rankings was "Sexo
Sexo
"Sexo" is a punk rock song by Chilean rock band Los Prisioneros featured as the fifth track on their debut album La voz de los '80. After being released in 1984 "Sexo" became one of better known songs by Los Prisioneros and has been frequently covered by Chilean rock bands...
". It never reached a top ten rank, but was around the 20's which propelled them enough to begin to spread out in some radio airplay. During 1985, when they had signed to EMI, they began to play more shows with around 200+ in attendance. They also had some Chilean television presentations, one of them being Sábado Gigante
Sábado Gigante
Sábado Gigante is a Spanish-language television show that is Univision's longest-running program and the longest-running variety TV show in the world. Sábado Gigante is an eclectic and frenetic mix of various contests, human-interest stories, and live entertainment...
.
Commercial success and "Pateando Piedras"
In 1986, their fanbase grew and their second album became a long awaited album. It was titled "Pateando piedrasPateando piedras
Pateando piedras is the second album by Chilean rock band Los Prisioneros. According to the magazine Rolling Stone Chile, Pateando piedras is in the fifteenth place of the best Chilean albums.- Side A :...
". It became a double platinum album in Chile. By that time, the group was invited to perform at Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
's Chateau Rock Festival and later to a similar event in Montevideo
Montevideo
Montevideo is the largest city, the capital, and the chief port of Uruguay. The settlement was established in 1726 by Bruno Mauricio de Zabala, as a strategic move amidst a Spanish-Portuguese dispute over the platine region, and as a counter to the Portuguese colony at Colonia del Sacramento...
, Uruguay
Uruguay
Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...
. On this album, the recording quality had improved vastly compared to "La Voz De los '80". This album marked the change in their sound. While in "La Voz De Los '80" they had the typical guitar/bass/drums rock outfit (they did have synthesizers on the songs, they were just very low or far in the mix) in "Pateando Piedras" the first song on the album showed the new Los Prisioneros.
"Muevan Las Industrias" has nothing but synthesizers and electronic drums, showing that Los Prisioneros were moving on into the more electronic sound of the 1980s rather than staying in the rock genre. Still, the album was a mix of their political and social ideas lyrically with their familiar rock sound and newly flourished synthesizer-layered pop rock. They released a number of singles for the album, and some of them include "Muevan Las Industrias", "Por Qué No Se Van" and "Quieren Dinero". During this time, they toured extensively all over Chile and they reached mainstream success in the Chilean rock scene.
La cultura de la basura
In 1987 Los Prisioneros recorded their third album, "La cultura de la basuraLa cultura de la basura
La cultura de la basura is the thirth album by Chilean rock band Los Prisioneros.Due to the heavy censorship of the military regime in Chile Los Prisioneros focused in promoting the album outside Chile in other Latin American countries, for this purpose a special Latin American edition was...
". After nearly two months of recording sessions, the album was released. It was strongly opposed by the military regime and Los Prisioneros were blacked out of the mainstream media, affecting sales.
Much tension yet relief was accomplished during those two months, the band had never sounded so unified. They put out many singles like "Pa Pa Pa", "Maldito Sudaca", "Que No Destrocen Tu Vida" and others. This album was by far their most socially & politically active album lyric wise since "La voz de los '80".
They toured around South America for months, using the tours to help promote the "No" [on Pinochet] vote in the Chilean national plebiscite of 1988
Chilean national plebiscite, 1988
The 1988 Chilean national plebiscite was a national referendum held to determine whether or not dictator Augusto Pinochet would extend his rule for another eight-year term in office. It was held on October 5, 1988...
. In 1988, due to not so high of what the label expected in sales, they re-released "La Cultura De La Basura
La cultura de la basura
La cultura de la basura is the thirth album by Chilean rock band Los Prisioneros.Due to the heavy censorship of the military regime in Chile Los Prisioneros focused in promoting the album outside Chile in other Latin American countries, for this purpose a special Latin American edition was...
" for the Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
n market with most of the songs re-recorded. They also included the song that would become the first video to be ever aired on MTV Latin America
MTV Latin America
MTV Latin America is a cable television specialty service aimed at residents in Hispanic American countries. It was launched on October 1, 1993 as MTV en Español. The channel is a Hispanic American version from MTV...
, "We Are Sudamerican Rockers
We are sudamerican rockers
We are sudamerican rockers is song by Chilean rock band Los Prisioneros. It came out into airplay as a single the year of 1987. In 1993 MTV Latin America begun its airplay with We are sudamerican rockers. The word sudamerican is a mock Anglicisation of the Spanish word for South America,...
". With all this, Los Prisioneros gained a lot of mainstream attention. Towards the end of 1988 personal conflicts began growing between Jorge and Claudio.
The way to the breakup
In February of 1989 Claudio NareaClaudio Narea
Claudio Narea is a Chilean rock musician, singer, and songwriter who is best known as the guitarist and back-up vocalist of the Chilean rock band Los Prisioneros from 1982–1989 and from 2000-2003....
discovered love letter
Love letter
A love letter is a romantic way to express feelings of love in written form. Delivered by hand, by mail or romantically left in a secret location, the letter may be anything from a short and simple message of love to a lengthy explanation of feelings...
s from his bandmate Jorge González
Jorge González (musician)
Jorge González is the former lead singer, main songwriter and sole composer of the Chilean band Los Prisioneros, and is currently the frontman of Los Updates. Los Prisioneros enjoyed a huge level of popularity and success initially in Chile and eventually all of Latin America beginning in 1984...
to his wife in his room. According to Claudio "the letters were only about sex, when I read them I got mad". Jorge (who also was married at the time) recognized his adultery
Adultery
Adultery is sexual infidelity to one's spouse, and is a form of extramarital sex. It originally referred only to sex between a woman who was married and a person other than her spouse. Even in cases of separation from one's spouse, an extramarital affair is still considered adultery.Adultery is...
with Claudio's wife, and when Claudio had reconcilled with his wife, Jorge proposed that they have a threesome. Claudio refused, and the day after Jorge tried to commit suicide by taking 16 pills of valium and cutting of his wrists.
In 1990 due to the conflicts between Claudio and Jorge, Claudio decided to leave the band. They no longer got along musically, or personally. Miguel Tapia has said he always tried to keep the band together, but this time, he couldn't. It was a bigger problem than could be fixed. The exact reason for why Claudio left is still a little bit unclear to this day. Los Prisioneros went through a rough time without Claudio, but they continued to move forward. Without Claudio Narea, Jorge González had the responsibility of recording the next Los Prisioneros album, since he was the main composer and Miguel Tapia was not present. He went to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
to record their following album, "Corazones
Corazones
Corazones is an album by Chilean band Los Prisioneros, first released in 1990. It was produced by Gustavo Santaolalla for EMI Odeon Chilena...
". It was recorded in Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
. After the album was mixed and edited, Los Prisioneros released "Corazones
Corazones
Corazones is an album by Chilean band Los Prisioneros, first released in 1990. It was produced by Gustavo Santaolalla for EMI Odeon Chilena...
" in South America. When the first single was released, "Tren al Sur", the song became an instant classic and was a heavily played song on the radio as well as its video on MTV Internacional. The album was very different compared to the first three Los Prisioneros' albums, this album was filled with ideas and stories of love and romance, heartbreak, and lust. They released other singles like "Amiga Mía", "Corazones Rojos", and another huge success, "Estrechez de Corazón". It seemed they had left their politically heavy lyrics and rock sound but the truth was, the songs that appeared on "Corazones" were actually the ones Jorge didn't expect to put on the album. Los Prisioneros by now had reached the most mainstream success in their whole career. After a year of non-stop touring, they decided to do a "farewell" tour and the group played for the last time in January of 1992 in the Estadio Playa Ancha
Estadio Playa Ancha
Estadio Regional Chiledeportes, formerly known as Estadio Playa Ancha, is a multi-purpose stadium in Valparaíso, Chile. It is currently used mostly for football matches and is the home stadium of Santiago Wanderers. The stadium holds 18,500 people and was built in 1931....
.
First dissolution and ensuing history
During the years when Los Prisioneros were a defunct band (1992–2000) the remaining band members continued pursuing musical careers. Miguel TapiaMiguel Tapia
Miguel Tapia is a Chilean musician and former member of Los Prisioneros together with Jorge González and Claudio Narea. During the first hiatus of Los Prisioneros, from 1991 to 2006, Miguel Tapia was engaged in other music projects among the Jardín Secreto....
went on to form Jardín Secreto, an electronic dance band formed with former Los Prisioneros keyboardist Cecilia Aguayo. They put out two albums with some success. Jorge González went on to become a solo artist releasing three albums under his name and one called "Gonzalo Martínez". His solo albums under his name are "Jorge González" self-titled in 1993, "El Futuro Se Fue" in 1994, and "Mi Destino (Confesiones de una Estrella del Rock)" in 1999. Claudio Narea formed a rock band called Profetas y Frenéticos
Profetas y Frenéticos
Profetas y Frenéticos was a Chilean rock band formed in 1991 by Luís González, Juan Pablo Rojas, Dagoberto González, Jorge Narea and Claudio Narea, a former Los Prisioneros band member....
.
They put out two albums and had success, but when comparing success between the three members during their time apart, Jorge González maintained most of the success. Narea also put out a self-titled solo album in 1999, rutling in the hit single "Amar es Complicado" which became very popular on the radio. During the defunct Los Prisioneros years, a two-disc compilation titled "Ni Por La Razón, Ni Por La Fuerza" was released in 1996 which was quite a success. It contained their greatest hits and included unreleased songs by the group. Los Prisioneros saw how big they had gotten throughout the years and during the late 90's they would secretly put past problems aside and decide to reunite the group when the time was right, this happened in 2001 announcing the return of Los Prisioneros.
Successful reunion and world tour
In the year 2001, Los Prisioneros announced that they would reunite, with the original guitarist, Claudio Narea. They announced that they would play a show as the reunion show at the estadio nacional de ChileEstadio Nacional de Chile
The Estadio Nacional Julio Martínez Prádanos is the national stadium of Chile, and is located in the Ñuñoa district of Santiago). It is the largest stadium in Chile with an official capacity of 47,000, and is part of a 62 ha sporting complex which also features tennis courts, an aquatics center, a...
. The first concert completely sold out so they added a second night at the stadium, on each night over 70,000 fans came to watch the reunited band play again. A total of over 140,000 fans came to the concert, which culminated on a double disc CD and later DVD release of the famous concert. From then on until 2002 they continued touring and played sold out shows all over Chile, South America, U.S., and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
.
Experimental new album, tension and one departure
In 2003 the band released their first new album since Claudio Narea left the band in 1990. It was titled self titled, "Los Prisioneros". The reviews for the album were quite mixed, some loved it while others didn't or thought that the band no longer sounded like Los Prisioneros. The album had a whole new sound, but it kept the political lyrics of the band in most of their songs. Basically the first half of the album is very centered in the rock genre while the second half moves into more of an electronic and acoustic folk guitar influence. They made two videos for the album, one for "San Miguel" and one for "Ultra-Derecha". They then began a tour to promote the album in 2003.The same year, Los Prisioneros played in the famous music festival of Viña Del Mar
Viña del Mar
Viña del Mar , is a city and commune on central Chile's Pacific coast. Its long stretches of white sandy beaches are a major attraction for national and international tourists. The city is Chile's main tourist attraction. Known as "La Ciudad Jardín" , Viña del Mar is a Chilean Municipality located...
in Chile. This was a live broadcasted show and a very controversial one. Jorge González changed or added lyrics expressing his anger towards George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
, about the Iraq and Afghanistan invasions, and other major things happening in Chile. By this time, Jorge was becoming very outspoken which caused controversy and tension began to become noticeable between Jorge and Claudio.
In September, Claudio Narea was dismissed by the band, the remaining members said they talked it out like gentlemen, and decided to keep the reason of his dismissal between the three, and then until the band's final break up in 2006, Los Prisioneros would face on and off disrespect from certain newspapers and sometimes even Claudio. During a press conference to announce Claudio's departure, his replacement, who was called "guest of honor on guitar", and the recording a covers album that would be coming out that same year, the press kept bringing the subject up of Claudio's departure; Los Prisioneros became annoyed and told several of the press members that they would not give any details regarding the breakup between Los Prisioneros and Claudio and would not talk about it anymore. Eventually, Jorge lost his temper and knocked down all the microphones and threw a glass jar of water which was on the table onto the ground, then he left the conference and so did Miguel and guest of honor on guitar: Álvaro Henríquez with a big smile on his face and waved goodbye.
New formation and a covers album
Los Prisioneros went into the Rock & Pop studios to record their live studio covers album with guest musician Álvaro Henríquez, of Los TresLos Tres
Los Tres is a Chilean rock band composed of four members: a rock/folk singer and three jazzmen. It was one of the noted bands in the Chilean nineties, together with La Ley and Lucybell....
fame. The album En Las Raras Tocatas Nuevas De La Rock & Pop features only two original Los Prisioneros songs while the rest are but covers. Some of the covers include "Es La Lluvia Que Cae" originally by Los Iracundos, "Birthday" by The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
, "Alone Again (naturally)" by Gilbert O'Sullivan
Gilbert O'Sullivan
Gilbert O'Sullivan is an Irish-English singer-songwriter, best known for his early 1970s hits "Alone Again ", "Clair" and "Get Down". The music magazine, Record Mirror, voted him the No...
and many others. The album had a limited production and is now a hard to find collector's item.
Re-awakened popularity and "Manzana"
In 2004, a new line-up with Gonzalo Yáñez (as guest musician) and Sergio "Coti" Badilla, released their new album called "Manzana". The album received great reviews, and sales, even though Jorge has said it's been hard to promote the album. The album featured a far more pop rock influence than the previous album. The album sounds as if Los Prisioneros were somehow realizing their roots and in some of the songs, it is evident of past Los Prisioneros albums that came out in the 80's. While the album has a lot of electronic synths and in general electronic influence, each song pretty much stayed in the Rock genre. Their lyrics were a lot more up front than their previous album.They specifically attacked El Mercurio
El Mercurio
El Mercurio is a conservative Chilean newspaper with editions in Valparaíso and Santiago. Its Santiago edition is considered the country's paper-of-record and its Valparaíso edition is the oldest daily in the Spanish language currently in circulation. El Mercurio is owned by El Mercurio S.A.P...
in the song "Mr. Right" about how that newspaper created propaganda against Allende and hinted the Chilean coup of 1973
Chilean coup of 1973
The 1973 Chilean coup d'état was a watershed event of the Cold War and the history of Chile. Following an extended period of political unrest between the conservative-dominated Congress of Chile and the socialist-leaning President Salvador Allende, discontent culminated in the latter's downfall in...
where Chile's current president (Salvador Allende
Salvador Allende
Salvador Allende Gossens was a Chilean physician and politician who is generally considered the first democratically elected Marxist to become president of a country in Latin America....
) of that time was mysteriously killed by (depending on the sources) himself or the army Pinochet commanded. They made a video "El Muro" and began a tour that same year to play in South and Central America, Mexico, the U.S.A. and Canada. During the tours, two more videos followed "Manzana" and "Eres Mi Hogar".
Final concerts and official dissolution.
In 2005, Gonzalo Yáñez left the band (he was only a guest guitarist) to continue on his next album as a solo artist. The band continued doing tours until the end of 2005, and Jorge González had relocated to Mexico, D.F.. After a dismal tour in early 2006 (of dates which the band were in contract to perform) the band announced on their official website that the band would be over in march of 2006. This proved to be true when Jorge announced his new group Los UpdatesLos Updates
Los Updates are a minimal dance group formed by Jorge González of Los Prisioneros. They began sometime in the summer of 2006 after Los Prisioneros had broken up. Throughout the year they recorded some songs which will be released as an EP .-History:...
which has seen a very well received first full length album in Europe.
Members
Current and final line up until their dissolution:- Jorge GonzálezJorge González (musician)Jorge González is the former lead singer, main songwriter and sole composer of the Chilean band Los Prisioneros, and is currently the frontman of Los Updates. Los Prisioneros enjoyed a huge level of popularity and success initially in Chile and eventually all of Latin America beginning in 1984...
- Lead Vocals/Guitar - Miguel TapiaMiguel TapiaMiguel Tapia is a Chilean musician and former member of Los Prisioneros together with Jorge González and Claudio Narea. During the first hiatus of Los Prisioneros, from 1991 to 2006, Miguel Tapia was engaged in other music projects among the Jardín Secreto....
- Drums/Background Vocals - Sergio "Coti" Badilla - Synthesizers/Programs/Pre-recorded bass
Original 1980s/Reunion 2001-2003
- Jorge González - Lead Vocals/Bass/Synthesizers
- Miguel Tapia - Drums/Background Vocals
- Claudio NareaClaudio NareaClaudio Narea is a Chilean rock musician, singer, and songwriter who is best known as the guitarist and back-up vocalist of the Chilean rock band Los Prisioneros from 1982–1989 and from 2000-2003....
- Guitar/Chorus Vocals/Synthesizers
"Corazones
Corazones
Corazones is an album by Chilean band Los Prisioneros, first released in 1990. It was produced by Gustavo Santaolalla for EMI Odeon Chilena...
"/1990s
- Jorge González - Lead Vocals/Guitar/Synthesizer
- Miguel Tapia - Drums/Background Vocals
- Cecilia Aguayo - Synthesizers/Background Vocals
- Robert Rodríguez - Bass Guitar/Bass Synthesizer
Other
- Jorge González - Lead vocals/bass guitar/synthesizer
- Miguel Tapia - Drums/background vocals
- Álvaro Henríquez - Lead guitar/background vocals
This formation was used during the time Claudio Narea left/was kicked out of the band but before they re-grouped with Gonzalo Yanez and Coti to record "Manzana".
Studio albums
- La voz de los '80 (The Voice of the 80s)
- Pateando piedrasPateando piedrasPateando piedras is the second album by Chilean rock band Los Prisioneros. According to the magazine Rolling Stone Chile, Pateando piedras is in the fifteenth place of the best Chilean albums.- Side A :...
(Kicking Stones) - La cultura de la basuraLa cultura de la basuraLa cultura de la basura is the thirth album by Chilean rock band Los Prisioneros.Due to the heavy censorship of the military regime in Chile Los Prisioneros focused in promoting the album outside Chile in other Latin American countries, for this purpose a special Latin American edition was...
(Trash Culture) - CorazonesCorazonesCorazones is an album by Chilean band Los Prisioneros, first released in 1990. It was produced by Gustavo Santaolalla for EMI Odeon Chilena...
(Hearts) - Grandes éxitosGrandes ÉxitosGrandes Éxitos may refer to:Compilation albums:*Grandes Exitos , a 1991 album by Los Prisioneros*Grandes Éxitos , a 2005 album by Luis Miguel...
(Greatest Hits) - Ni Por La Razón, Ni Por La FuerzaNi Por La Razón, Ni Por La Fuerza]...
(Neither By Reason, Nor By Force) - El Caset Pirata (The Pirate Tape)
- Antología - Su Historia y Sus Exitos (Anthology - History and Hits)
- Estadio Nacional
- Los Prisioneros
- Los Prisioneros En Las Raras Tocatas Nuevas De La Rock & Pop
- Manzana (Apple)
See also
- Jorge GonzálezJorge González (musician)Jorge González is the former lead singer, main songwriter and sole composer of the Chilean band Los Prisioneros, and is currently the frontman of Los Updates. Los Prisioneros enjoyed a huge level of popularity and success initially in Chile and eventually all of Latin America beginning in 1984...
- Los UpdatesLos UpdatesLos Updates are a minimal dance group formed by Jorge González of Los Prisioneros. They began sometime in the summer of 2006 after Los Prisioneros had broken up. Throughout the year they recorded some songs which will be released as an EP .-History:...
- Claudio NareaClaudio NareaClaudio Narea is a Chilean rock musician, singer, and songwriter who is best known as the guitarist and back-up vocalist of the Chilean rock band Los Prisioneros from 1982–1989 and from 2000-2003....
- Miguel TapiaMiguel TapiaMiguel Tapia is a Chilean musician and former member of Los Prisioneros together with Jorge González and Claudio Narea. During the first hiatus of Los Prisioneros, from 1991 to 2006, Miguel Tapia was engaged in other music projects among the Jardín Secreto....
- Rock en EspañolRock en EspañolRock en español is the Spanish-language rock music. While the term is used widely in English, it is used in Spanish mainly to distinguish such music from "Anglo rock." It is a style of rock music that developed in Latin American countries and Latino communities, along with other genres like...
DVDs/Documentary
- Grandes Exitos (1992)
- Antologia (2002)
- Lo Estamos Pasando Muy Bien - Estadio Nacional (2002)
External links
- Los Prisioneros Official Web Site (now redirects to Los UpdatesLos UpdatesLos Updates are a minimal dance group formed by Jorge González of Los Prisioneros. They began sometime in the summer of 2006 after Los Prisioneros had broken up. Throughout the year they recorded some songs which will be released as an EP .-History:...
official site)