OBK
Encyclopedia
OBK is a Spanish techno pop and electro Pop music group from Barcelona
(Spain
) composed of Jordi Sánchez and Miguel Arjona. The group was famous for introducing the electronic music in Spain.
, OMD
and specially, Depeche Mode
.
They debuted in the musical scene with Konga Music, an indie record label which supported all kinds of electronic music. In 1991, appeared their first release, a mini album called "Llámalo sueño..." (Call it a dream...). This album is the most successful of their career and sold over 400.000 copies in Spain. In fact, they entered in the history of the spanish pop music for being the first group that had such that sales with a debut album. Four singles were extracted from the album. The first one was "¿De que me sirve llorar?" (What can I do by crying?), "Oculta realidad" (Hidden truth), "La princesa de mis sueños" (The princess of my dreams), and the most famous hit: "Historias de amor" (Love stories), which is considered the icon song from the group.
Two years later, appeared their second album called "Momentos de fe" (Moments of faith), that was released with the label, Blanco y negro music. This time the album was highly promoted, but it didn't have the success of the first album. Anyway, it sold over 130.000 copies. The singles extracted from the album were: "Dicen" (They say...), "Robarle al tiempo" (To steal the time), "Lágrimas de soledad" (Loneliness tears) and "Todavía" (Still). The first single was very polemical because the titular song was directed to the musical criticists who used to make very bad critics about their music.
, the same label in which they would release their next albums. Trilogía was famous for its first single : "Mi razón de ser" (My reason for being), the first single that became an instantaneous hit. The following singles were: "Nada soy sin ti" (I'm nothing without you), "Dulce final" (Sweet end), and "Otra canción de amor" (Another love song). In spite of being under promoted, this album had a good reception, but the success of this album was only moderated: It sold 80.000 copies and was certified with gold album. The sales of the album were much lower than expected, and this was the start of a long bad relationship with their record label.
One year later, appeared the fourth album called "Donde el corazón nos lleve" (Were our heart made us go). The title of the album was an ultimatum to EMI in result of the bad relationship with this label. The sales of this album were a huge failure. In fact the album was not certified, which led to a quick decline of the popularity of the group.
In 1998 appeared the compilation album "Singles 91/98", This retrospective album was a "goodbye" to their fans because EMI lost totally the confidence with them. the album contained four new songs: "En medio de nada" (In the middle of nothing), "Juicio interior" (internal judgment), a cover of "De que me sirve llorar", and a remix of "Historias de amor". The unexpected and surprising success of this album (200.000 copies) was one of the reasons why the group regained popularity. This fact gave them an opportunity to stay with EMI.
, one of the big names of the spanish electronic music scene. This album had four singles: "Tu sigue así" (Keep it up), whose PV won the Ondas award for the best promotional video. The second single "El cielo no entiende" (Heaven doesn't understand it) was used as the main soundtrack of the Cyclist tour of Spain. The following singles were: "Falsa moral" (False morality) and "Lo tengo que dejar" (I have to stop this).
Babylon, Feeling and Ultimatum are the albums which complete their discography.
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
(Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
) composed of Jordi Sánchez and Miguel Arjona. The group was famous for introducing the electronic music in Spain.
The OBK boom
Jordi Sanchez and Miguel Arjona met for fist time in the Athletism club of Sant Feilu de Llobregat. They were fans of groups like YazooYazoo (band)
Yazoo are a British synthpop duo from Basildon, Essex. They had a number of Top 10 hits in the UK charts in the early 1980s...
, OMD
OMD
OMD may stand for:* Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark , British synthpop group* Ozark Mountain Daredevils, rock group* OMD , media agency owned by the Omnicom Group* Spider-Man: One More Day, a controversial 2007 Spider-Man storyline...
and specially, Depeche Mode
Depeche Mode
Depeche Mode are an English electronic music band formed in 1980 in Basildon, Essex. The group's original line-up consisted of Dave Gahan , Martin Gore , Andy Fletcher and Vince Clarke...
.
They debuted in the musical scene with Konga Music, an indie record label which supported all kinds of electronic music. In 1991, appeared their first release, a mini album called "Llámalo sueño..." (Call it a dream...). This album is the most successful of their career and sold over 400.000 copies in Spain. In fact, they entered in the history of the spanish pop music for being the first group that had such that sales with a debut album. Four singles were extracted from the album. The first one was "¿De que me sirve llorar?" (What can I do by crying?), "Oculta realidad" (Hidden truth), "La princesa de mis sueños" (The princess of my dreams), and the most famous hit: "Historias de amor" (Love stories), which is considered the icon song from the group.
Two years later, appeared their second album called "Momentos de fe" (Moments of faith), that was released with the label, Blanco y negro music. This time the album was highly promoted, but it didn't have the success of the first album. Anyway, it sold over 130.000 copies. The singles extracted from the album were: "Dicen" (They say...), "Robarle al tiempo" (To steal the time), "Lágrimas de soledad" (Loneliness tears) and "Todavía" (Still). The first single was very polemical because the titular song was directed to the musical criticists who used to make very bad critics about their music.
Decline in sales and popularity
The third album, called "Trilogía" (Trilogy), was released in 1995 and was the first album released with the Spanish branch of EMIEMI
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...
, the same label in which they would release their next albums. Trilogía was famous for its first single : "Mi razón de ser" (My reason for being), the first single that became an instantaneous hit. The following singles were: "Nada soy sin ti" (I'm nothing without you), "Dulce final" (Sweet end), and "Otra canción de amor" (Another love song). In spite of being under promoted, this album had a good reception, but the success of this album was only moderated: It sold 80.000 copies and was certified with gold album. The sales of the album were much lower than expected, and this was the start of a long bad relationship with their record label.
One year later, appeared the fourth album called "Donde el corazón nos lleve" (Were our heart made us go). The title of the album was an ultimatum to EMI in result of the bad relationship with this label. The sales of this album were a huge failure. In fact the album was not certified, which led to a quick decline of the popularity of the group.
In 1998 appeared the compilation album "Singles 91/98", This retrospective album was a "goodbye" to their fans because EMI lost totally the confidence with them. the album contained four new songs: "En medio de nada" (In the middle of nothing), "Juicio interior" (internal judgment), a cover of "De que me sirve llorar", and a remix of "Historias de amor". The unexpected and surprising success of this album (200.000 copies) was one of the reasons why the group regained popularity. This fact gave them an opportunity to stay with EMI.
Return to the preminence
In the 2000, two years after the compilation album appeared their fifth sutdio album, called "ANTROPOP", the second best selling album of the career of OBK (300.000 copies sold in Spain and 800.000 in Latin America). This album was producted by Carlos JeanCarlos Jean
Carlos Jean Arriaga is a Spanish DJ and record producer. He is the co-founder of the group Najwajean, and has been a producer for some of the most important Spanish and Latin-American artists of the 2000s, earning seven Latin Grammy nominations.-1973-1998: Early life:He was born on February 15,...
, one of the big names of the spanish electronic music scene. This album had four singles: "Tu sigue así" (Keep it up), whose PV won the Ondas award for the best promotional video. The second single "El cielo no entiende" (Heaven doesn't understand it) was used as the main soundtrack of the Cyclist tour of Spain. The following singles were: "Falsa moral" (False morality) and "Lo tengo que dejar" (I have to stop this).
Babylon, Feeling and Ultimatum are the albums which complete their discography.
Albums
| Kind | Name | Year | Peak | Kind | Sales | Seal/Company |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LP LP album 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... |
Llámalo sueño | 1991 | 2 | 3xPlat (300.000) | Blanco y Negro Music | |
| Momentos de fe | 1993 | 8 | Platin (100.000) | |||
| Trilogía | 1995 | 10 | gold (50.000) | 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... / Hispavox |
||
| Donde el corazón nos lleve | 1996 | 27 | - | |||
| Singles 91/98 | 1998 | 6 | Compilation | 2xPlat (200.000) | ||
| Antropop | 2000] | 2 | 3xPlat (+300.000) | |||
| Extrapop | 2001 | 10 | Remix album | Gold (50.000) | ||
| Babylon | 2003 | 2 | Gold (50.000) | 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... / Capitol Capitol Records Capitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine... |
||
| Sonorama | 2004 | 7 | 2nd compilation | Gold (50.000) | ||
| Feeling | 2005 | 5 | Gold (50.000) | |||
| Ultimatum | 2008 | 8 | - | Warner Music |
Singles
- 1991: De que me sirve llorar
- 1991: Oculta realidad
- 1992: Historias de amor
- 1992: La princesa de mis sueños
- 1993: Dicen!...
- 1993: Robarle al tiempo
- 1993: Lágrimas de soledad
- 1994: Todavía
- 1995: Mi razón de ser
- 1995: Nada soy sin ti
- 1995: Dulce final
- 1996: Otra canción de amor
- 1996: Si esto no es amor
- 1997: Un día gris
- 1998: A contrapié
- 1998: Historias de amor (ASAP mix)
- 2000: Tu sigue así...
- 2000: El cielo no entiende
- 2000: Falsa moral
- 2001: Lo tengo que dejar
- 2003: Lucifer
- 2003: Quiereme otra vez
- 2004: La herida
- 2005: Sin rencor
- 2005: A ras del suelo
- 2006: Yo no soy COOL♥
- 2008: Yo no me escondo