Mana and Soda Stereo: The Invisible Line Between POP and Rock

Steve0126

I was born close to the sea where most people listen to tropical music, such as vallenato, merengue and salsa. Those kinds of music represent the Latin flavor. I was supposed to be like them. However, the 90’s changed me. When I was a teenager, I was just as well as Latin people. My room was my temple. My mom gave me a radio to listen to music. This black radio gave me the first different sounds that were not listened to in my traditional home. My brain changed when an electric guitar dug up into my ears. After that I will never be the same Latin person.  Mana (a Mexican band) introduced me to the rock style. I though Mana was just as much a rock band as Soda Stereo (an Argentina band). After listening to different rock bands, I understood that Mana is more a POP band than Soda Stereo because their music fits in a pop style. The line to make the difference between POP and Rock is nearly invisible.

MANA in Radioaciva (Colombia's Radiostation)

Mana represented in my life the first rock band. In school, my friends and I listened, and sang their lyrics. They changed our traditional way to see the Latin music, so we never have been the same. Being a rock person, our clothes, jewelry, and hair changed. In Mana, we saw an example to follow. The most representative Mana’s song was “Me vale” (I don’t care) that song represented the philosophy of

rock people. The electric guitar and drum strong sounds made people believe that Mana was a rock band. However, most of their lyrics were romantic with soft sounds. In contrast to “Me Vale”, Mana’s song “Te Llore Todo un Rio” (I cried a Whole River) represented more the real music style of the band. After listened almost all their songs, I understood that Mana is a POP band. According to the Inquisitor 77 “the focus in POP bands is making lyrics with beautiful phrases, and being popular.” Pop music is similar to Rock music in sounds and lyrics.

http://suburbano.net/a-proposito-de-signos-disco-de-soda-stereo/

Soda Stereo came to my life almost in the same time as Mana. In the beginning, I preferred to listen to Mana’s lyrics because that kind of music was more different than the traditional Latin music. I was most a romantic girl signing lyrics about love.  On the radio, I listened to other bands like Soda Stereo. One of the most popular song in that time was “De Musica Ligera” (Light Music). Stronger rhythms and sounds join a lyric about love. Soda Stereo’s music seems like a Pop style even though they elaborated lyrics with deep meanings, and strong sounds like rock music. This band has soft songs like “Te Para Tres” (Tea for Three) which could be a POP song. But Soda Stereo and Gustavo Cerati’s vocal created the most representative songs in the history of the Spanish rock whose lyrics have the most symbolic meaning.  According to Inquisitor 77 “Rock bands make songs that represents the essence of the band, and use deep content to make people think.”

https://myrna10.wordpress.com/2006/07/29/mana/

https://www.last.fm/music/Soda+Stereo

The line to separate Mana in the POP side, and Soda Stereo in the Rock side is almost invisible. Soda Stereo usually composed songs with harder sounds than did Mana, but in lyrics like '"Me Vale" by Mana, this lyric has all the rock style that Soda Stereo used in their songs. It is true that Mana's lyrics are more commercial than Soda Stereo. That is one of the reason to classify Mana’s music in the POP side. The rock style and deep composition made the difference between Soda Stereo and Mana. Soda Stereo with their complex lyrics are listening for a specific target audience who enjoy that kind of music. In contrast, Mana makes music with a common language that people can understand.

Angelica Williams

Mana and Soda Stereo were the first bands I listened to. They showed me with their lyrics a different style of life. “Me Vale” by Mana represented the rock teenager stage where people are rebellious, and they want to break society's rules. This song was the only almost close to be a Rock song. The lyric and the strong sounds fit in the rock category. In the other hand, Soda Stereo started like a POP band, but their music and deep lyrics transformed in a Rock band. It can be difficult to find difference between these two kinds of music. The principles cues to categorize a rock band are the complex lyrics and the rebellious attitude. Rock music represent a lot of things that are difficult to explain. Most of the time rock listeners are more susceptible to understand the difference between Rock and Pop.