Soda Stereo was born as the direct heir to the new-wave pulsated by The Police and Television. In its beginnings, it combined the energy of punk rock with the melodies of reggae and ska, and slowly moved towards rock/pop with each album. It isn't coincidental that the first repercussions of Soda Stereo's influence on Argentine "rock," in 1983, caused "serious rocker" Charly García to incorporate "danceable rhythms" into his music.

Once their popularity in Argentina had been consolidated, Soda Stereo tried their luck with an international tour, which made them the most popular rock group in Latin America. Preoccupation with image, musical style and even singing style marked almost all rock/pop bands that surged in Argentina after Soda Stereo came onto the scene.


Around 1980, Gustavo Cerati was performing at a nightclub in "Centenary Park" in Buenos Aires with a group consisting of two English chicks, going by the name of Sauvage. Its repertoire included covers and originals, more improvised than composed, and generally danceable. Gustavo, studying communications at the "University of the Savior," was friends with Zeta Bosio, who invited Gustavo to play with his group. Early 1982, the two attempt to form a trio a la The Police, but they were missing a drummer.

Carlos Ficcichia phoned Maria Laura Cerati for a date. Her brother, Gustavo, went too. The two struck a deal and ended up talking about Carlos' father, a famous jazz drummer: Tito Alberti. Within a week, Gustavo and Zeta visited Charly's house, to listen to him play on his dad's drum kit. Deciding to add more power to the band, they called Richard Coleman to accompany Gustavo on guitar. After a little while, Richard quit from the band upon recognizing that the band sounded better before he joined up.

In 1983 the band achieved some resonance with some demos in "Radio del Plata" and some nightclubs. One night, they were called by a pub to sub for "Nylon," who wouldn't be able to perform. Thus began a series of gigs that led to the Bar Zero. A record producer was at their third show, and had them record professionally for CBS, although all the little details weren't ironed out until the middle of 1984.

Image was important for Soda Stereo. Alfredo Lois directed a music video before the LP had been released, something common nowadays but rare at the time. The equipment was "borrowed" from Cablevisión, where Lois worked as a cameraman.

In October of '84, Soda Stereo played at the Rock & Pop Festival in Velez, sharing the stage with INXS, Nina Hagen, Charly García, Virus and Sumo, amongst others.

"Soda Stereo" (1984), the first album, was produced by Federico Moura. He limited himself to giving a small bit of advice, since all the songs were ready to record as-is. While the result was a colder sound than their live sound, the band was happy and, for the most part, they received a lot of media attention. The official presentation of the first album was at the "Astros Theater," and was an unusual and enchanting visual effect for a band used to small gigs.

With "Nada Personal" (Nothing Personal, 1985), Soda Stereo demonstrated being more than a "one-summer band." Without abandoning "danceable" rhythms, the second album achieved deeper lyrics and a maturity in the melodies, things which would be accentuated as time went by. Polls picked it as the top album of the year.

In 1986, they tour Latin America and sow unexpected success. But in 1987, in a second tour of Latin America, the repercussion is even larger: 22 shows in 7 countries and 17 different cities, in front of a total of approximately 200,000 spectators, thus opening new markets for Argentine artists.

"Signos" (Signs, 1986) was a key step for the band: given the growing success they had obtained, the risk of failure increased. Without repeating successful formulas, this work is more direct than the others. Richard Coleman returned to the group playing guitar, and two others joined adding keyboards and a wind section. "Signos" was the first Argentine rock album to be released in CD format.

"Ruido Blanco" (White Noise, 1987), was part of the old concept that the band sounded better live than in the studio. With material recorded throughout the second Latin American tour (without the objective of publishing it), eight songs eventually made their way to the final mix.

"Doble Vida" (Double Life, 1988) was the first Soda Stereo album recorded completely outside the country. With the production of Carlos Alomar (who worked with Mick Jagger, Paul McCartney and David Bowie), the band's most "technified" sound is perceived.

Over twelve months since their last show in Buenos Aires, Soda Stereo presents "Doble Vida" on the hockey field of "Obras Sanitarias" in front of 25,000 people. To crown a great year, they close the "Festival for Democracy" which took place at "Avenida del Libertador" and "9 de Julio", in front of 150,000 and together with Luis Alberto Spinetta, Fito Páez, Los Ratones, Man Ray amongst others.

The culmination of the "Animal Tour" in December of 1990 was in Velez in front of 40k in support of the album "Canción animal," (Animal Song, 1990). But the next year their free show in Buenos Aires attracted a quarter of a million people.

"Dynamo" 1992 saw the band take their deepest plunge into the "technified" sound. The album didn't sell as well as expected, because the band changed labels from Sony to BMG. Sony had no intentions of supporting an act that was leaving, and BMG couldn't market the product of another corporation. 1994 was the worst year for Soda Stereo. By unanimous decision, the band took a much-needed break to evaluate the possibility of a definite breakup.

Gustavo had embarked on solo projects, Zeta had dedicated himself to the production of other bands, and Charly disappeared from the music scene to meld into the jet-set magazine scene.

After three years of discographic silence, the trio returned with "Sueño Stereo" (Stereo Dream, 1995). Another long silence preceded the final goodbye. Soda Stereo announced its dissolution in mid-1997. The band faced the last tour, which passed through México, Venezuela, and Chile, before closing with two shows in the stadium of Argentine professional soccer club, River Plate. During the tour, live versions were recorded which would later be edited into two seperate CDs, under the title "El último concierto A y B," (The Last Concert "A" and "B", 1997).


Discography
"Soda Stereo", 1984
"Nada personal", 1985
"Signos", 1986
"Ruido blanco", 1987
"Doble vida", 1988
"Languis", 1989
"Canción animal", 1990
"Rex mix", 1991
"Dynamo", 1992
"Zona de promesas", 1994
"20 grandes éxitos", 1994
"Sueño Stereo", 1995
"Comfort y música para volar (MTV Unplugged)", 1996
"El último concierto A", 1997
"El último concierto B", 1997
"Chau Soda", 1997