Los Prisioneros

Biography

Los Prisioneros ("The Prisoners") was a Chilean rock band formed in San Miguel, Santiago, in 1982. Considered one of the most influential Latin-American bands of all time, they've been evaluated as pioneers of Rock en español (Rock in Spanish) by Latin American media and musicians, and one of the strongest socio-political impactful bands in Chile. The group developed a new wave sound that had its roots in British punk rock, in particular the Clash, and incorporated rockabilly, reggae and ska influences, and later synthpop. They became known for their controversial, witty and subversive lyricism that criticized the socio-economic structures, education and societal attitudes of dictatorship-era Chile and Latin America as a whole. This would cause their music to be banned by the Chilean mainstream media between 1985 and 1990, but their music would continue to spread there, aided by word of mouth and shared homemade cassette tapes. The band initially met in high school, studying at San Miguel's Liceo 6, and formed as "Los Vinchukas" (a play on the Beatles, one of their biggest influences), with Miguel Tapia on the drums, Claudio Narea on guitar and Jorge González serving as their lead vocalist, bassist, main songwriter and de-facto leader. After changing their name to Los Prisioneros, they recorded their first album, La voz de los '80, and released it on the independent record label Fusión Producciones. It initially struggled to achieve mainstream popularity before signing to EMI Records in 1985 and re-releasing their first album on vinyl records and cassettes. Throughout the 1980s, the band saw an increased popularity in Latin America, in particular in Chile and Peru. Starting with the release of 1986's Pateando piedras and 1987's La cultura de la basura, González began to experiment with synth pop, influenced by the growing popularity of Depeche Mode. Tensions between González and Narea escalated during the production of their 1990 album Corazones, when Narea learned

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