“People kind of disregard punk and I try to explain to people that in communities like the ones I grew up in, you gotta understand that punk in these communities has saved kids lives,” says Martin Sorrondeguy, lead singer of Los Crudos. The band’s sloganeering songs became anthems for a generation of Latino punks looking for something to identify with. Twenty-five years later, we look back at the history and legacy of one of punk’s most respected bands.
Editor’s note: The original headline for this piece has been edited from “Los Crudos, Hardcore’s First Latino Band” to “Los Crudos: Hardcore’s Latino Pioneers.”
This band changed my life when I was a teen in Chicago. Thank you for featuring them.
Here are two longer audio docs on Los Crudos; produced by a native of the Little Village/Pilsen community (both were featured on Vocalo about 3 years ago):
https://soundcloud.com/illvillskill/los-crudos-1
https://soundcloud.com/illvillskill/los-crudos-2
Wasn’t 1 of the Sanchez brothers in that group?
Wasn’t 1 of the Sanchez brothers in that group?
As fantastic as Los Crudos are (I am a huge fan and they are friends) it is a great disservice to us as Latin American punks to call them the first or even pioneers as you changed your title to, they are very important to say the least but the history of Chican@, Mexican, Carribean, Central and South American punks goes back to the very roots of the music, Alice Bag, The Zero’s, The Plugz, The Stains, and an neverending parade of other musicians that comprised members of other great and diverse punk and hardcore bands like Millions Of Dead Cops, The Dictators, etc. etc…. Please reconsider whose toes will be stepped on when writing these things…Salud!