Apr

25

2012

Way Back Wednesday: Latin Music Mania

Written by Trent | Filed under Jennifer Lopez,Shakira,Way Back Wednesday

Jennifer Lopez, Shakira and Ricky Martin.

Do you remember the turn of the century when the airwaves were dominated by the sounds of Latin music? Well, if you’re too young to envision the age when Ricky Martin, Shakira and Jennifer Lopez ruled the world, this edition of Way Back Wednesday will remind you of that time!

Gloria Estefan and Selena scored several Latin music hits in the early 1990s but it wasn’t until Los del Rio’s inescapable ‘Macarena’ launched onto the charts in 1995 did the movement really gain momentum. Indeed, from that moment until about 2004, the hip-shaking flavour of the Latin music era was reigned.

Watch some of the leading artists of the Latin music mania in action below:

Enrique Iglesias – ‘Bailamos’

Jennifer Lopez – ‘Get Loud’

Los del Rio – ‘Macarena’

Marc Anthony – ‘I Need To Know’

Ricky Martin – ‘Livin’ la Vida Loca’

Shakira – ‘Objection Tango’

What was most enjoyable about the Latin music era was that it was a true expression of culture. Drums, guitars, rhythm and tempo were the foundation of that period, instead of the baseless synths and redundant auto-tune of today’s Pop music.

It is highly unlikely that we will witness a Latin music chart revival any time soon but there is so much that we could learn from the acts of that movement. Most importantly, artists could learn to appreciate having a sense of identity and culture rather than simply fitting in with the crowd to score a trendy hit.

Thoughts?

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Keys: enrique iglesias, jennifer lopez, los del rio, marc anthony, ricky martin, shakira

5 Comments

1. Jorge says:

   April 25, 2012 at 5:27 pm

   I like all of these artists except Jennifer Lopez. It’s not that I don’t like her music, it just seems that out of any of these artists she used her being Puerto Rican as a gimmick. It seemed like she was Puerto Rican when it was beneficial for her, and she was “from the block” when it was beneficial for her.
2. DRB says:

   April 25, 2012 at 6:57 pm

   DING DING DING!!
3. DOMOdotSCORE says:

   April 25, 2012 at 8:54 pm

   I love Latin Music! Bailamos is one of those songs that I didn’t realize that I knew until I heard it. Gloria Estefan wrote the hell out of Let’s Get Loud for JLo. Macarena was my jam when I was a kid. I just now realized how inappropriate that song was, talking about “my boyfriend was out of town so I slept with his two best friends”. Girl what?! All these rappers who had hits off of songs that came with a dance needs to pay homage to Los Del Rio, they paved the way. I Need to Know and Livin’ La Vida Loca are great songs. You can always count on Shakira and her hips to put on a show. Shakira is magnificent.
4. Justice198 says:

   April 25, 2012 at 9:08 pm

   Shakira and her movements in that performance! I remember that and how my girls tried to imitate it to no avail lol
5. Jasmine says:

   April 26, 2012 at 11:45 am

   too bad that Enrique, Pitbull and Jennifer had to resort to the dance pop thing. I really liked Latin music and i hope there is someone out there to help revive it