Soda Stereo: One of the Most Influential and Popular Spanish-Language Rock Bands

Soda Stereo was an Argentinian rock band formed in Buenos Aires in 1982 by Gustavo Cerati (lead vocals, guitar), Héctor “Zeta” Bosio (bass) and Carlos Alberto Ficicchia “Charly Alberti” (drums). The band ventured into many styles, such as “música divertida” (“fun music”) in their beginnings, new wave, darkwave, hard rock, alternative rock and electronic rock during their final years.

Soda Stereo is the best-selling band in the history of Argentina, setting landmarks in record sales and concert attendances. The band has sold more than 25 million copies worldwide.

In 1995, the band won the Merit Diploma at the Konex Awards for their outstanding career in Argentinian music during the decade and the Platinum Konex Award for Best Argentinian Rock Band of the Decade. In 2002, they received the first MTV Legend Award for their musical career. In 2006, the American magazine Al Borde listed the best 500 Iberoamerican rock songs, in which they included “De música ligera” (no.1, considered as the best song in the history of Iberoamerican rock).

In 2002, Rolling Stone Argentina magazine together with MTV issued a list featuring the best 100 songs in Argentinian rock, including “De música ligera” (no. 4), “Persiana americana” (no. 31), “En la ciudad de la furia” (no. 48), and “Cuando pase el temblor” (no. 68). In 2011, Argentinian newspaper La Nación issued a list with the best music videos in Argentinian rock, awarding “En la ciudad de la furia” first prize.

After the band’s separation, all three of its members found separate endeavours – Gustavo Cerati continued a successful solo career after the band’s split, releasing five studio albums (most of which achieved Platinum and Gold status in Argentina), while Zeta Bosio worked for a time as bassist for several underground groups and is now touring as a DJ; Charly Alberti has also found moderate success, both with the foundation of his CybeRelations company, and his family band MOLE.

Here is a set of vintage photos that shows fashion styles of Soda Stereo in the 1980s.

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Vintage Photos of Art Works by the Mutoid Waste Company During the 1980s

The Mutoid Waste Company are a performance arts group founded in London, England by Joe Rush and Robin Cooke in collaboration with Alan P Scott and Joshua Bowler. It started in the early 1980s, emerging from Frestonia’s ‘Car Breaker Gallery’. They are probably best known for their recycled art installations at Glastonbury Festival and refer to themselves as the Mutoids.

Influenced by the movie Mad Max and the popular Judge Dredd comics, they specialized in organizing illegal free parties in London throughout the 1980s, driven at first by eclectic assortments of fringe music such as psychedelic rock and dub reggae, but then embracing the burgeoning acid house music movement by the late 1980s.

Described as “part street theatre, part art show and part traveling circus” in the 1986 LWT documentary South of Watford., the group became famous for building giant welded sculptures from waste materials and for customizing broken down cars, as well as making large scale murals in the disused buildings where they held their parties.

In 1989, after a number of police raids on their warehouse in King’s Cross, they left the country and travelled to Berlin, Germany where they became notorious for building giant sculptures out of old machinery and car parts, one of which was ‘Käferman’, a giant human figure with a Volkswagen Beetle for its chest, offering a Bird Of Peace sculpture that overlooked the Berlin Wall towards East Berlin and the regime of East Germany. They had a collection of scrap military vehicles, including a Russian MiG 21 fighter aircraft which 'followed' them around wherever they went, and a painted tank known as “the Pink Panzer”.

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Photographs of Michael Jackson and Eddie Van Halen Playing “Beat It” at Texas Stadium in Dallas, 1984

“Beat It” is a song by Michael Jackson from his sixth studio album, Thriller (1982). It was written by Jackson and produced by Jackson and Quincy Jones. Jones encouraged Jackson to include a rock song on the album. Jackson later said: “I wanted to write a song, the type of song that I would buy if I were to buy a rock song... and I wanted the children to really enjoy it—the school children as well as the college students.” It includes a guitar solo by Eddie Van Halen.

And while Van Halen didn’t appear in the track’s successful video, he did join Michael once more to play “Beat It” on an early stop on The Jacksons’ Victory Tour at Texas Stadium in Dallas on July 14, 1984.

When initially contacted by Jones, Van Halen thought he was receiving a prank call. “I went off on him. I went, ‘What do you want, you f-ing so-and-so!,’” Van Halen told CNN in 2012. “And he goes, ‘Is this Eddie?’ I said, ‘Yeah, what the hell do you want?’ ‘This is Quincy.’ I’m thinking to myself, ‘I don’t know anyone named Quincy.’ He goes, ‘Quincy Jones, man.’ I went, ‘Ohhh, sorry!’”

Having established that the call was genuine, Van Halen used a Hartley–Thompson amplifier borrowed from guitarist Allan Holdsworth and recorded his guitar solo free of charge. “I did it as a favor,” the musician later said. “I was a complete fool, according to the rest of the band, our manager and everyone else. I was not used. I knew what I was doing—I don’t do something unless I want to do it.” Van Halen recorded his contribution following Jones and Jackson arriving at the guitarist’s house with a “skeleton version” of the song. Fellow guitarist Steve Lukather recalled, “Initially, we rocked it out as Eddie had played a good solo—but Quincy thought it was too tough. So I had to reduce the distorted guitar sound and that is what was released.”

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The Story Behind the Portraits of Ozzy Osbourne in a Pink Tutu, Shot by Mark Weiss for Circus Magazine in 1981

In April 1984, photographer Mark Weiss was assigned to shoot with Ozzy Osbourne for a cover and feature in Circus magazine.

Mark recalled his time with the rock star: “I knew this one would be a blast—news had just come out that Ozzy had bit the head off a dove at a record company meeting the month before. He was in NYC promoting his first solo album Blizzard of Ozz. I spent a few days with Ozzy, shooting him around New York City and at his hotel room at the Plaza where I set up a background for the cover shoot. Circus was planning on using his image on a few different covers as well as in multiple spreads, so we tried a few different looks during the session.

“We just hit it off right from the start with my first shoot with him for the cover of Circus magazine, I was young and didn’t know crap. When I asked him to do something he did it he made it easy for me. He gave me my confidence. He was up for anything... from my first shoot with him in a pink tutu, to a shaved head, dressing up in drag or hoping around in a Easter bunny outfit. When Ozzy needed a new guitar player, I found him one.”

Ozzy Osbourne in a pink tutu, 1981.

Ozzy Osbourne, 1981.

Circus magazine cover, June 1981.

“Ozzy was a great subject. When I asked him to try something, he would always do it, and more. At the time, I didn’t always speak up. One of the things I kept telling him was to lean his head forward, because he had a bit of a double chin when his head was relaxed.

“He couldn’t understand my direction, but instinctively he would lean his head forward to hear me better. Ozzy would keep saying, “What? I can’t hear you, Mark!” So I would yell, “Yes, that’s it!” He would answer, “What’s it? What the fuck are you saying?” It was like an Abbott and Costello routine. We had a good laugh about that.”

Ozzy posing for the 12th Anniversary for Circus magazine, 1981

Ozzy at the Circus magazine office in New York City, 1981

Ozzy Osbourne in the bath at the Palza Hotel, NYC in 1981.

Ozzy Osbourne in the bath at the Palza Hotel, NYC in 1981.

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20 Lovely Childhood Photos of Britney Spears From the 1980s and Early 1990s

Britney Spears was born on December 2, 1981, in McComb, Mississippi, and raised in Kentwood, Louisiana. For more than two decades, Spears has been one of the most successful—and sometimes controversial—solo acts in popular music. For a time, however, she was better known for her personal struggles.

At age three, Spears began attending dance lessons in her hometown of Kentwood, Louisiana, and was selected to perform as a solo artist at the annual recital. Aged five she made her local stage debut, singing “What Child Is This?” at her kindergarten graduation.

During her childhood, she also had gymnastics and voice lessons, and won many state-level competitions and children’s talent shows. In gymnastics, Spears attended Béla Károlyi’s training camp. She said of her ambition as a child, “I was in my own world, ... I found out what I'm supposed to do at an early age.”

When Spears was eight, she and her mother Lynne traveled to Atlanta, Georgia, to audition for the 1990s revival of The Mickey Mouse Club. Casting director Matt Casella rejected her as too young, but introduced her to Nancy Carson, a New York City talent agent. Carson was impressed with Spears’ singing and suggested enrolling her at the Professional Performing Arts School; shortly afterward, Lynne and her daughters moved to a sublet apartment in New York.

Spears was hired for her first professional role as the understudy for the lead role of Tina Denmark in the off-Broadway musical Ruthless! She also appeared as a contestant on the popular television show Star Search and was cast in a number of commercials.

In December 1992, she was cast in The Mickey Mouse Club alongside Christina Aguilera, Justin Timberlake, Ryan Gosling, and Keri Russell. After the show was canceled in 1994, she returned to Mississippi and enrolled at McComb’s Parklane Academy. Although she made friends with most of her classmates, she compared the school to “the opening scene in Clueless with all the cliques. ... I was so bored. I was the point guard on the basketball team. I had my boyfriend, and I went to homecoming and Christmas formal. But I wanted more.”

Below is a collection of 20 adorable photos of Britney Spears when she was a kid from between the 1980s and early 1990s:

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The Bread and Puppet Theater

Peter and Elka Schumann began The Bread & Puppet Theater in 1962–1963 in New York City. It was active during the Vietnam War in anti-war protests, primarily in New York City, prompting Time reviewer T.E. Kalem to remark in 1971, “This virtual dumb show is as contemporary as tomorrow’s bombing raid.”

Many people remember it as central to the political spectacle of the time, as its enormous puppets (often ten to fifteen feet tall) were a fixture of many demonstrations. A Sicilian puppet show had inspired Schumann, and TB&PT inspired other groups across the continent, including Gary Botting’s Edmonton-based People & Puppets Incorporated, which in the early 1970s also used effigies yards-high to depict political themes and social commentary in radical street theatre.

In 1970 the Theater moved to Vermont, first to Goddard College in Plainfield, and then to a farm in Glover where it remains. The farm is home to a cow, several pigs, chickens, and puppeteers, as well as indoor and outdoor performance spaces, a printshop, store, and large museum showcasing over four decades of the company’s work. TB&PT has received National Endowment for the Arts grants, awards from the Puppeteers of America, and other organizations.

Until 1998, Bread & Puppet hosted its annual Pageant and Circus (in full, Our Domestic Resurrection Circus), in and around a natural amphitheater on its Glover grounds. In the 1990s, the festival began drawing crowds of tens of thousands, who camped on nearby farmers’ land during the annual, summer weekend of the pageant. The event became unmanageable, and concerned itself less with the theater’s performance.

In 1998, a man was killed by accident in a fight while camping overnight for the festival, forcing director Peter Schumann to cancel the festival. Since then, the theater offers smaller weekend performances all summer, and traveled around New York and New England, with occasional tours around the U.S. and abroad. The theater runs a program where apprentices help produce and act in performances. In New York City, Bread & Puppet performs at Theater for the New City during the holiday season each year.

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Jay Ohrberg’s Double-Wide Limousine From the 1980s

You may not know his name, but you know his cars. Jay Ohrberg is Hollywood’s favorite car designer, having built hundreds of experimental vehicles with an incredible range of features. His creations have appeared in more than 100 movies, TV shows and videos, earning him the title “The King of Show Cars.”

The “wide limousine” was just one of longtime custom car impresario Jay Ohrberg’s crazy concoctions, which spanned 2.5 cars wide and 30 feet long. Powered by two ’75 Cadillac FWD engines with eight wheels per side, the limo had to be disassembled to be transported from show to show. Amazingly, each half could be driven separately.

Amazing Black and White Photos Capture Everyday Life of Burma in 1986

Myanmar, formerly Burma, is a country in Southeast Asia, the largest country in Mainland Southeast Asia and the 10th largest in Asia by area. The country is bordered by Bangladesh and India to its northwest, China to its northeast, Laos and Thailand to its east and southeast, and the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal to its south and southwest. Its capital city is Naypyidaw, and its largest city is Yangon (Rangoon).

Myanmar is a country rich in jade and gems, oil, natural gas, and other mineral resources. It is also endowed with renewable energy; it has the highest solar power potential compared to other countries of the Great Mekong Subregion. The income gap in Myanmar is among the widest in the world, as a large proportion of the economy is controlled by supporters of the military government. As of 2020, according to the Human Development Index, Myanmar ranks 147 out of 189 countries in human development.

The name of the country has been a matter of dispute and disagreement, particularly in the early 21st century, focusing mainly on the political legitimacy of those using Myanmar versus Burma. Both names derive from the earlier Burmese Mranma or Mramma, an ethnonym for the majority Burman ethnic group, of uncertain etymology.

In 1989, the military government officially changed the English translations of many names dating back to Burma’s colonial period or earlier, including that of the country itself: Burma became Myanmar. The renaming remains a contested issue. Many political and ethnic opposition groups and countries continue to use Burma because they do not recognize the legitimacy of the ruling military government or its authority to rename the country.

Just few years before renamed to Myanmar, these amazing black and white photos were captured by Dave Glass that show everyday life of Burma in 1986.

Bagan. Ananda Temple, Burma, 1986

Bagan. Young girl, Burma, 1986

Irrawaddy River, Burma, 1986

Mandalay public transit bus, Burma, 1986

Mandalay, Burma, 1986

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A Look Back at Stephen Sondheim Through the Years

Stephen Sondheim, the award-winning composer-lyricist who was said to have reinvented the American musical, has died at the age of 91 at his home in Roxbury, Connecticut. 

A giant of musical theater, Sondheim reinvented the Broadway show for his own generation. As a teenager, he had learned to compose music and lyrics at the knee of his mentor, Broadway great Oscar Hammerstein II. When Sondheim was hired by Leonard Bernstein to write the lyrics for the classic West Side Story, he was barely 25. by the time he was twenty-seven, he had already had his first show on Broadway.

1970s

In a career that lasted more than five decades, Sondheim created some of the greatest musicals of his time, including A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962), Company (1970), Follies (1971), A Little Night Music (1973), Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1979), Sunday in the Park with George (1984), and Into the Woods (1987).

Sondheim's accolades include eight Tony Awards, an Academy Award, eight Grammy Awards, a Pulitzer Prize, a Laurence Olivier Award, and a 2015 Presidential Medal of Freedom. He has a theater named for him both on Broadway and in the West End of London. Widely acknowledged as one of the most important figures in 20th-century musical theatre, Sondheim was praised for having “reinvented the American musical” with shows that addressed “darker, more harrowing elements of the human experience” with “music and lyrics of unprecedented complexity and sophistication”.

Take a look back at the titan of the American musical through these 21 pictures:

1957

1961. (Richard Avedon)

1962. (Michael Hardy)

1969

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