Why has “Rock en Español” culture in the U.S. virtually disappeared?
Camilo Lara: I guess it never grew because there weren’t enough local bands. Most of the interesting bands were coming from Argentina, Spain or México. Since there was not a big live scene, there weren’t many radio or TV shows covering it. It’s hard to sell something without a large media presence. Elena Rodrigo: For some, the genre never blew up. For others, despite being a genre that didn’t get mainstream radio or TV play, “Rock en Español” achieved a lot on its own. Consider all the sold out tours and that it was recognized as a Latin genre by music stores and the media. In some cases, bands were able to reach gold or platinum status in record sales, so one could argue it was a success. But if the industry and general public expected to have the success of pop or Mexican regional music in this country without having invested the same amount of money and without having put in any work, then in their eyes, it is a failure. Ed Morales: The tastes of U.S. Latinos are different from the
