Pop, theater and comics: how the Blitz redefined the aesthetics of music in the 1980s

THE blitzchanged the history of Brazilian music. And as if that weren’t enough, the group of vocalists Evandro Mesquita, Fernanda Abreu and Marcia Bulcão also ushered in a new era in the country’s entertainment. without the blitzthe 1980s would be quite different.

The elements were already in the air. In addition to the theater group that worked as a base for the band – Hasdrubal Brought the Trombonethat in addition to Evandro and guitarist Ricardo Barretowould also reveal names like Luis Fernando Guimaraes, Regina Case and Patricia Travassos –, other artists already carried characteristics that transformed the blitz in a success. both the gang 90 in Júlio Barroso how much the Rumo Group or the pop opera Clara Crocodile in Arrigo Barnabas already flirted with the collision between pop and avant-garde languages, mixing references such as comics, classical music and vocals spoken and sung by both men and women. But blitz carried the spirit of a specific time – that of Rio de Janeiro in the early 1980s.

The group took the country by storm with a single on one side (on the other side of “Você Não Soube Me Amar” you could only hear Evandro repeating “Nada, nada, nada”) and, from one moment to the next, became up the sound of a new era. The dictatorship project imposed by the military had its days numbered, while a new generation forced the entry of light by force.

THE blitz was born from this movement, materialized as a symbol-band of another pop and avant-garde experiment of the time, the Flying Circusand from the meeting of members of the group Asdrúbal with musicians who accompanied Marina (among them the veteran wolf on battery). The Adventures of Blitz(EMI-Odeon, 1982) presented the sextet as a comic book band, superheroes of a new pop everyday life, which updated Brazil with the novelties that were far away due to the cultural retraction of the country in relation to foreign culture. It was an album that knocked down the door of the decade with a circus kick and introduced the concept of pop culture to Brazil by force, in addition to serving as ground zero for generations of artists that emerged in the following years.

Highlights from the album include “Você Não Soube Me Amar”, “Mais Uma de Amor (Geme Geme)” and “O Beijo da Mulher Spider” (listen to above). Below, the The Adventures of Blitzcomplete:

The 80 greatest albums of Brazilian Rock

Part of Dossier 40 years of National Rockspecial collector’s edition Rolling Stone Brazilthe list “Os 80 Maiores Discos do Rock Nacional” brings together the main works of what seems to have been an artistic, unified and continuous uprising initially mobilized by the youth of Rio de Janeiro in the 1980s – the generation 82. In the magazine, now available on physical and digital newsstands, you can check out the curation carried out by the editors of Rolling Stone Brazilwith the 80 most important albums of national rock, separated into four categories and organized in chronological order of release.

Blitz: Evandro Mesquita recalls the band’s trajectory (video)

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