Playlist: Early Spanish Rock

We all know there’s a group of specific songs that are guaranteed to make everyone’s heads turn. The classics, the ones even your grandparents know. But there’s a variant for these songs in every culture, not just in English. These are those songs, but for Spanish speakers. 

These are the Spanish versions of the songs you passionately sing at the top of your lungs with your friends or family on a road trip. These are the songs I play when I’m cleaning my apartment, when I’m singing in my car alone, when I’m singing in my car with my friend, my brother, my mom, my dad — anyone. The songs that start playing when the party has died down to around ten people and when one of them comes on, someone has to say, “Ay no, me habia olvidado completamente de la existencia de este tema!” and we all collectively travel together to the early 2010’s, or even earlier. 

I’ve unexpectedly come across some of these songs on my TikTok For You page. I was especially surprised when I came across a TikTok of an American guy doing a fit check to “Tren Al Sur” by Los Prisioneros, a Chilean rock band my mom and I sing along to every time we’re in her car going anywhere. You’ve probably heard the catchy bass synth that plays throughout at least once. Use this song as a starting point to dive into this playlist full of nostalgic songs that us Spanish-speaking students treasure at the very bottom of our hearts. 

(Listen in order.)