Rocktrospectiva: Soda Stereo's Historical Debut Studio Album Turns 40

Released on 27 August, 1984, "Soda Stereo" was the debut studio album of an unknown-then Argentine rock band named Soda Stereo, with a total amount of 11 tracks that would mark a before and after in the history of rock in Español thanks to its curious mix of post-punk, ska and new wave. 

 

Released under the CBS label, this album featured the production of another great, Federico Moura, the late leader of the band Virus, as well as clear sound influences from bands like The Police, The Cure and Men at Work, both in music and image, especially within the hits that this album had like "Tele-Ka", "Por Qué No Puedo Ser Del Jet Set", "Te Hacen Falta Vitaminas", "Trátame Suavemente" "Un Misil En Mi Placard" and "Sobredosis de T.V.".

 

The album had danceable songs, full of rhythm and strong power although it seemed to be a collection of meaningless and frivolous songs, deep down it was a criticism against the consumerism and hedonistic Argentine society of the time. According to Moura, the work was simple because the band already had the arrangements ready with everything and the sound of the instruments and details like the voices, although they had their problems with the rotating schedules and different technicians, but in the end they gave the flavor to the album today considered a key piece in the Ibero-American rock culture. 

 

The curious cover showed a diagonal drawing of the band, although that was not the original theme, it would be three individual photographs but Alfredo Lois in charge of the design did not like them and decided to replace it with this theme, along with the lines that were cut in a special way, and were going to go somewhere else and not on their faces which was left as a printing error but in the end it served Bosio to draw it on their faces before each concerts back then. 

 

The album featured the group's first big hit, "Trátame Suavemente," but also classics like "Un Misil En Mi Placard," masterfully covered during the pseudo Unplugged that the band did for MTV, giving it new life.

  

Soda Stereo Track List: 

 

1. ¿Por Qué No Puedo Ser Del Je Set? 

2. Sobredosis de T.V. 

3. Te Hacen Falta Vitaminas 

4. Trátame Suavemente 

5. Dietético 

6. Tele-Ka 

7. Ni Un Segundo 

8. Un Misil En Mi Placard 

9. El Tiempo Es Dinero 

10. Afrodisíacos 

11. Mi Novia tiene Bíceps