The Spanish summer hit

   
I'm sure that we have all hummed songs like “Eva María”, “Help”, “María Isabel” or  have danced to “Macarena” “Asereje” “Bomba” or the conventional dance records of Georgie Dann. All these songs  form  part of the tradition of  the “Spanish summer hit”.

The Spanish summer hit first appeared in 1959 at the Benidorm Festival; Benidorm’s Mayor and the General Radio and Communication Secretary  decided  to create this award. So, from the middle of  the sixties to 2000, every summer had its own hit.

The main factors that influenced in the creation of summer hit were:

1.- The tourist boom during the sixties.

2.- The arrival of American and English pop music to Spain.

3.- The arrival of TV.
4.- Radio was a very important way of promoting the record industry and began to appear the hit parade and the top ten as in United States or in England.

Summer hits are those comercial songs that record companies release during the summertime and promote in various communication media. They have a huge impact on the society during the summmer months and you can hear them at the beach, in discos, pubs, radio stations and in every place of amusement you go. There isn´t any official organism  that gives  the award. It is the communication media  that decides who is the winner.

 All of the songs have common characteristics. They have ryhthm that is very easy to remember and a catchy chorus; the lyrics range from the shoody and stupid to the silly and dreadful; they are about the beach, late -  nights parties, beautiful girls, frivolous, fleeting love  affairs or more vulgar topics like the subject of  “La Ramona”, or simply nothing as  in “Asereje”. In some cases, the songs have their own choreography. For instance, “La Yenka” or the famous Georgie Dann summer songs; every year  he surprised us with a new performance and a spectacular show with  French girls dancing and showing us how to move our hips in an insinuating way. “Koumbo” “El Bimbo, “Mama qué será lo que tiene negro” ” El chiringuito” are some examples. Quite honestly, can’t you imagine the lyrics  after reading these titles?

The big problem is that this music and the ridiculous and senseless lyrics are, as I said,  very easy to remember and grips you; suddenly you discover that you are singing on your own  the hit even if you don´t want to because you are hearing on every radio station or watch it  on TV programmes in a bar when you are having a snack or on those  warm summer nights  at a “terraza”.

The quality is non-existent. Record companies publish and promote this kind of music and  many people accept it  and vote for it. Many times, the singers or the rock groups disappear without having any other hits. Nowadays, many of these groups are appearing on special TV revival programmes once again.

As time goes by, summer hits have begun to disappear. During the sixties and seventies, “Los 40 Principales” was the only radio program that  played fashionable songs to the public, but with the irruption of INTERNET and  many radio stations, you have many choices for listening to different music styles,  and not only commercial music.

Let’s have a brief look at some summer hits

The sixties - “The Yé-yé age”
 

“La Yenka” was 1965’s summer hit. This record came from Germany. It was a dance where people had to jump for  four minutes; you ended up exhausted, but it was an excellent way to maintain your weight!

Perhaps some of us remember rock groups like Los Brincos, Los Bravos, Los Pekenikes, and  Los Payos. Not only did Los Bravos have great sucess in Spain, but they also got to number two on the American hit parade. Although their most famous song was “Black is black”,  “La moto” was the summer hit in 1966.

Another important rock group was Los Brincos, referred to the Spanish Beatles. Their song “Lola” was the summer hit in 1967.

In 1968 Spain won the Eurovision Festival for the first time  with “La, la,la”. It was very important both musically and politically. “La la la” was also the 1968 summer hit. 

It’s also worth  remembering “Get on your knees”, by Los Canarios, which was become another smash. 

We conclude this period  with “Maria Isabel”. I don´t know who Maria Isabel was;  she wasn´t the  blond  Californian girl of the Beach Boys  but  she  caused a furor all over Spain the summer of 1969.

The seventies - “The pop age”

From 1970 to 1976,  several new rock groups appeared  that  had sucess with their own summer songs. For example,  Los Diablos with  “Un rayo de sol”,  (the 1970 summer hit), Formula V with “Eva María” “(the 1972 summer hit).

We also had popular Spanish songs such as “¡Qué viva España!”  by Manolo Escobar (1974). You could even  hear this song in other countries; foreign people were dancing this “Spanish pasodoble” after drinking some whiskies in the english pubs of  Benidorm and  Torremolinos or  on Mallorca’s beaches.

In 1975, came “Saca el guiski, Cheli”, but I think it isn’t worth saying anything about it.

After the death of Franco, disco music from other countries began to be played on many radio stations. Tequila with its song “Rock en la plaza del pueblo” announced an important change in pop music; “La movida”. This movement was part of an urban underground trend and its music was rebellious and provocative.

Also, foreign singers won the  summer hit as well, such as  Tony Ronald  with “Help” in 1971 and the italian singer Rafaella Carra with  “Hay que venir al sur”.  Not only did she sing, but she also danced in a tight, sexy dress and tried to show Spanish women how to liberate themselves from “machismo”.

The eighties - “La Movida”

“La movida” was a movement  of young people who  want to break from the past . It was time of change. Orquesta Mondragón and Alaska y los Pegamoides were important rock groups representative of this movement.  “Bailando” was the summer hit in 1982. Other important groups were La Union, Radio Futura, Gabinete Caligari and Mecano. In 1984, the summer hit was “Escuela de calor”  by Radio Futura.

 

Georgie Dann and Rafaella Carra continued  to score with their songs  every summer. Do you remember “El Bimbó”, “Paloma blanca”, “Fiesta” and  “Explotame”. Fortunately, new Spanish  rock groups released songs like “Venecia” by Hombres G, or “Un hombre in Paris” by La Union.  The music offer began to be fragmented and there were many more options  in this decade.
 

In 1988, “la movida”  ended with the song “Aquí no hay playa”.

After that a new musical style inffluenced by Latin American rhythms came to Spain.  Tropical songs like “Devorame otra vez” were the beginning of  a new music genre.

It was also at this time that private TV channels appeared and the televisión monopoly was broken. DJs began to mix  different songs and rhythms and new styles arose such as bacalao and new flamenco with groups like Ketama. The commercial songs kept coming with Los del Río, Azúcar Moreno and Los Manolos. The revival phenomenon appeared again.

The nineties and…. the end.

The  summer hit began to disappear.  But there were songs like “Mi limón, mi limonero (1991) with its caribbean rhythm,  tacky songs like  “El tractor amarillo” (1992). “El chiringito” y “La barbacoa” (1993 and 1994).

“Amigos para siempre” was written for the Olympic Games in Barcelona and was performed by José Carreras and Sarah Brightman at the closing ceremony;  this song also was played at the funeral of Samaranch, the president of Olympic Committee. But sucess  came with the versión by Los Manolos who gave it a rumba rhythm. It was 1992’s summer hit.

By the way, do you know what the most famous summer hit during the nineties was?  “Macarena” by Los del Rio. It was a worldwide sucess, selling 10 million copies. It was the official theme song  during Clinton’s electoral campaign and number one for  fourteen weeks on the Billboard hit parade.

It was the most sold and listened to song in the world. The lyrics are very stupid and silly and it also has its own choreography.

Let's dance!

THE LIFE SAILOR