Amy: A Life in Music

1990 – Nubeluz – Nubeluz

Oh yeah, baby. Nubeluz. Though I did almost pick Ole Ole’s La Chica Ye Ye [1], Nubeluz it is. Why? Because Nubeluz was so freaking huge that there were even plans to make an American version to be shown on ABC, with none other than Monica Potter!!! Don’t believe me? Check this clip of the English version of Papi Deja de Fumar (Daddy, Please, Stop Smoking).

Plus, I recently saw an ad in a magazine saying that they were celebrating the 20th anniversary, which makes me feel freaking old — and also makes me miss Monica Santamaria, who died in 1994 in an apparent suicide. Also, Almendra Gomelsky is suddenly gone from my television this year.

1991 – Los Nosequien y los Nosecuantos – Con el Respeto que se Merecen

Peruvian rock of the 80s and early 90s had a thing of only ever becoming huge in Peru, they never reached Los Prisioneros status of Latin American fame… maybe because they’re too inherently Peruvian and only true Peruvians get them. How else would you be able to understand a song like Magdalena from their debut, which talks specifically about a district in Lima playing with words in a very Lima way.

And it is with their sophomore album, roughly translated to “with all due respect,” that they truly explode into Peru’s popular culture with hits like Los Patos y las Patas (The Drakes and the Ducks), and possibly their biggest hit, Las Torres (The Towers) — a mocking political song about how cheap it is to buy political and religious figures.

Runner-up: Pandora – Con Amor Eterno because their Nadie Baila Como Tu (aka. El Noa Noa) [1] and their Juan Gabriel Popurri [1] are classics.

1992 – Michael Jackson – Dangerous

I was the kid imitating MJ’s Remember the Time. I’d pick my mother’s wardrobe for anything that might resemble MJ’s outfit on that video… because, man~ I wanted to disappear like sand. That music video probably changed my life forever.

Runner-up: Miki Gonzales – Akundun [MV]

1993 – Sister Act 2 OST

Do I really need to explain this?

Runner-up: Bjork – Debut, let’s be honest. I didn’t discover Bjork until I got cable in 1997.

1994 – Beck – Mellow Gold

More than the album, Loser was a staple on the radio.

amy

YAM Magazine editor, photographer, blogger, translator and part-time web designer. Film junkie, music junkie… and lately series (a.k.a. TV) junkie.

17 Responses

  1. amy says:

    Okay, my shame is out there. Never has been so public, at least the people that read my blog didn’t know me. Now? Now it’s official…

    • Julili says:

      @amy, Isn’t it scary? I know my brother will get it cus I have thought him about music. But he is going to be “Where’s the Beatles on this list”

      Btw, I owe the Rebelde Way album, the very first one. I love it to death, wanted to add it to my list but I couldn’t handle the shame…….

      • amy says:

        @Julili, yours is not as shameful as mine. LOL

        But no way in hell did I grow up with GNR xD I even had to leave out Bjork’s Debut. There was a lot of “nooooooo, i canNOT take this album out!!!” going on, and it took me forever.

        • Julili says:

          @amy, Two months due. Two months and me obsessing about it everyday. I had to check every single album I own. Do you have any idea how many albums I own? JFC&M.

          GNR I didn’t get to love until I moved to Sweden but that album… gaaaah I have it hard and sloppy for 80’s glam rock. I was this close to add Europe hahahaha

  2. Julili says:

    Aw god, I also wanted to add the Dangerous album cus “Remember The Time” is also a song and MV that changed me forever. God how I love it!

    Dude, Salserin? Hahah I laugh at your shame. I did listen to them and I remember the hysteria. My cousins that lived in Peru were so nuts about them.

    • amy says:

      @Julili, I laugh at your weakness for not showing your true self xD.

      I was a pre-teen girl in a world pre-internet, any girl would be lying if they didn’t tell you that they weren’t into Salserin. Pretty sure it was at that time that Servando and Florentino got in trouble with that concert from hell they did.

      I also liked Los Adolescent’s Orquesta buahaha. I was on a cab, and the driver was listening to a salsa station, when I heard this typical thing they do in the winds section. It struck me as familiar, and then I heard it – Adolescent’s! LOL I started giggling.

      Salsa music sounds so similar to me now.

  3. Rodrigo says:

    The only ones from your list that I really wanted to use were the MJ albums, especially Dangerous.

    I knew you would use Salserín and I’m not so surprised… but Torbellino? Lulz. Greatest thing Torbellino did was introduce Vanessa Terkes. :)

    • amy says:

      @Rodrigo, Dangerous had Will You Be There – OMG, the spoken bit makes me sad more than ever! MJ sounds so deeply hurt in that.

      Salserin is sooooo obvious if you were a teen girl in South America, while I was reading about it for this, found that they apparently they did a concert last year in Lima with 10,000 people? Did you hear about it? Because I didn’t…

      I was researching music to add in the earlier years, and when I heard Torbellino – LOL, I still remember the lyrics. The other day I was cruising Miraflores, and saw an ad promoting Stephanie Cayo’s debut album? xD

  4. ghost says:

    You have… no public shame.

    • amy says:

      @ghost, oh shut up. It’s just more official now. I had blogged about my shames before, just in a more “anonymous” way. Not like my blog is any less anonymous, but no one I knew was reading it…

  5. Camiele says:

    Dude… I’m gonna beat you up! You picked like three or four of the albums that I wanted to put on my list… HaHa. Just shows that we both have great taste in music, I suppose. I guess I’ll have to get creative and out-list you… HaHa.

    • Julyssa Diaz says:

      @Camiele, You’re planning to do a Life in Music article? Osm!

      • Camiele says:

        @Julyssa Diaz, You’re next on my ass-kickin list! You picked like five albums that I was gonna choose.

        But, yes, to answer your question, I’m doing a Life in Music thingy-majiggy. :P

        • Julyssa Diaz says:

          @Camiele, I wish I could post a pic as an answer but since I can’t: *MERONG*

          And yay! Going to be interesting to read your list!

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