Portuguese Rock - History

History

Rock music arrived to Portugal in the late 1950s with Joaquim Costa.

Portugal was home to an underground progressive rock scene in the 1970s, which included bands like Petrus Castrus (Misterios E Maravilhas), Quarteto 1111 and their vocalist Jose Cid (author of 10,000 Anos Depois Entre Venus E Marte, who would later turn to pop music). Tarantula, arguably the first Portuguese metal band, also surfaced in this period.

The scene hit mainstream in 1980 with the release of Ar de Rock by Rui Veloso, which was the first popular Portuguese rock album.

In the 1980s, Veloso's success lead to the creation of several rock and roll bands, which became popular with youths growing up in the post-1974 modernized Portugal. Bands like Táxi, Heróis do Mar and Trabalhadores do Comércio, solidified the need for a solid rock scene, as they were all ephemeral bands. Others would be luckier.

Xutos & Pontapés are arguably the biggest success case in the Portuguese rock scene, having become the first band in the country to celebrate 30 years of career. Their early works had close roots to punk and rockabilly, but later incorporated folk influences into their sound, becoming more diverse. UHF was another band that started in the early 80s. Visually, they resembled the hard rock-playing hair bands that popped up in America and Europe, but, like Xutos, their sound used a lot of punk and folk influences.

Other major projects from this period include GNR, Taxi and Peste & Sida, which turned to ska as an inspiration and would later switch to punk. GNR abandoned ska after two years when they changed vocalists, adopting poetic, and nonsensical lyrics, and a bigger use of synth pop sounds.

During the mid 80s, synth pop became even more prevalent in Portuguese rock. Following the success of Sétima Legião and Heróis do Mar, which were heavily influenced by acts such as Joy Division and Gary Numan. Combining the modern synth sounds with lyrics exalting the virtues of Portuguese history, they attracted controversy by being accused of being political reactionaries and supportive of the extinct dictatorial regime. Heróis do Mar disbanded in 1990, but their momentum was taken by other projects, from Rádio Macau to Mler Ife Dada. With each band having their own signature sound, Portuguese rock became very rich, spanning a wide variety of themes, not reaching the homogenisation seen in most English language international projects.

The 1990's were notable for the rise of very active heavy metal, underground and alternative rock scenes. Successful bands from this period whose activities continued into the 21st century include Moonspell (a gothic metal band from Lisbon who went on to achieve international success), Mão Morta (alternative and experimental rock project from Braga with a big cult following) and Blasted Mechanism (a sci-fi themed band that mixes rock with electronica, reggae and dub). Punk Rock's popularity also rose with bands like Censurados, Peste & Sida or Mata-Ratos, followed by hardcore-oriented Tara Perdida. On the more mainstream front, two bands rose to prominence: Silence 4, an English-singing pop/rock act from Leiria, and Ornatos Violeta, an alternative rock band from Porto. Both disbanded after the second album, at the turn of the millennium.

The decade starting in 2001 also saw the appearance of some popular groups as Toranja (pop/rock, Lisbon), Wraygunn (a blues-tinged rock collective from Coimbra) and Pluto (considered the follow-up to Ornatos Violeta).