Brazilian rock would die in the 1990s without MTV, says Nasi

Nobody doubts the importance that the MTV Brazil had on the Brazilian music scene. In its original version, operated by Abril Groupthe station existed between 1990 and 2013 and was for a long time the main vehicle for communication about music in the country.

In the view of Nasi, MTV’s relevance was even greater. In an interview with Igor Miranda websitethe vocalist of Will! declared that Brazilian rock would have died in the 1990s without the television channel.

The subject was addressed while the artist reflected on the impact of the works recorded by Ira! in partnership with MTV. First, the band launched in 2000 the live MTV Live: Wrath!. Four years later, it was the turn of the Unplugged MTV: Wrath!, which became the best-selling album of the group’s career, with 300,000 copies sold. However, instead of talking about his own merits, the singer highlighted all the magnificence of the scene in general-in his opinion, on account of the broadcaster.

“Manguebeat, all its talent and genius, would not have happened if it weren’t for MTV Brasil. It wouldn’t be a song that would dominate pop/rock radio or any other genre. What was played on the radio in the 1990s? Sertanejo, lambada, pagode. If it hadn’t been for MTV, Brazilian rock would have died in the 1990s. MTV gave that gas not only to the 1980s generation, but to the 1990s generation as well.”

Success of Acústico MTV in Brazil

Also during the interview, Nasi highlighted the success of the entire Acústico MTV franchise in Brazil. The initiative stems from MTV Unpluggedwhich began in the United States as a feature of the channel’s programming.

There, the project developed to the point of generating exclusive releases that also broke sales records. To give you an idea, the best-selling live album in the entire history of music is unpluggedrecorded by Eric Clapton in 1992 as part of the project: over 26 million copies worldwide.

here the MTV acoustic yielded best-sellers such as albums by kid bee (about 2 million copies), Titans (1.7 million), Cassia Eller It is Lulu Santos (both 900 thousand). Considering only one country, Brazil, the numbers are impressive. And in the view of the lead singer of Ira!, there is a cultural explanation.

“In Brazil it became a phenomenon because the guitar is the king of Brazilian music. Chorinho, samba, MPB, bossa nova. So, Brazilians, when they see those rock songs, like the ones from Ira!, being played on guitar, made them [o Acústico MTV] go mainstream.”