The ''Rolingas'' (also known as "''stones''") are an

Argentine Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, s ...

urban tribe A subculture is a group of people within a culture that differentiates itself from the parent culture to which it belongs, often maintaining some of its founding principles. Subcultures develop their own norms and values regarding cultural, poli ...

comprising fans of

The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, rhythmically d ...

and Argentine bands influenced by the aforementioned band. The musical genre associated with such bands is known as "rock rolinga" and also known as "Rock Chabón" (which is roughly translatable as "Dude Rock").

Origins

Ratones Paranoicos Ratones Paranoicos is an Argentine people, Argentine rock band, formed in 1983 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The group is influenced by rhythm-and-blues music, and their prime influence were The Rolling Stones, with whom they have shared Andrew Loo ...

, with a style similar to that of

, was the band that started the "rock rolinga" genre and "rolinga" urban tribe during the 1980s. The Rolling Stones had not influenced many

Argentine rock Argentine rock (known locally as ''rock nacional'' , "national rock" in the sense of "local", "not international") is rock music composed or performed by Argentine bands or artists mostly in Spanish. Argentine rock began by recycling hits of Eng ...

bands before that point, and during the period there was a boom of

pop music Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms ''popular music'' and ''pop music'' are often used interchangeably, although the former describe ...

and

glam rock Glam rock is a style of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom in the early 1970s and was performed by musicians who wore outrageous costumes, makeup, and hairstyles, particularly platform shoes and glitter. Glam artists drew on diver ...

. Their style soon became a success. The "rolinga" urban tribe flourished between the mid-1990s after The Rolling Stones first played in Argentina in 1995, during the

Voodoo Lounge Tour The Voodoo Lounge Tour was a worldwide concert tour by the Rolling Stones to promote their 1994 album ''Voodoo Lounge''. This was their first tour without bassist Bill Wyman, and their first with touring bassist Darryl Jones, as an additional m ...

. The 1990s also saw an increased number of "rolinga" bands, such as

Los Piojos Los Piojos were an Argentine rock band. Extremely popular, it became one of the seminal bands of the 1990s Argentine music scene. Unlike most suburban outfits, however, their style evolved significantly with each successive album, not only deve ...

, Viejas Locas, La 25, Los Gardelitos, Jóvenes Pordioseros, Los Guasones and

Callejeros Callejeros (streetwise or stray dogs) was an Argentine rock band that gained international notoriety when the nightclub where they were playing, República Cromañon, was set on fire during one of its shows, killing 194 attendees, in 2004. Hi ...

. Their lyrics slowly departed from the classic topics of rock and roll music and focused instead on localism and the customs of poor people; but not to the point of talking about idealistic struggles or purported revolutions.

Decline

During the early to mid 2000s, the "rolinga" urban tribe started to lose popularity at the advent of the

cumbia villera Cumbia villera ( or ) (roughly translated as " slum cumbia", "ghetto cumbia", or " shantytown cumbia") is a subgenre of cumbia music originating in Argentina in the late 1990s and popularized all over Latin America and Latin communities abroad. ...

genre and the subculture associated with it. The subculture's decline was rather slow until it was accelerated by the República Cromañón nightclub fire, which took place during a concert of Callejeros. Most of the leading bands broke up or changed their style, and new music styles became prominent. The political reactions to the República Cromañón nightclub fire included increased safety controls at nightclubs in Buenos Aires, which made the concerts of small bands very expensive. The subculture remained in the suburban areas of the

Gran Buenos Aires Greater Buenos Aires ( es, Gran Buenos Aires, GBA), also known as the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area ( es, Área Metropolitana de Buenos Aires, AMBA), refers to the urban agglomeration comprising the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires and the adjac ...

urban area, especially the western zone, which are under the administration of the

Buenos Aires Province Buenos Aires (), officially the Buenos Aires Province (''Provincia de Buenos Aires'' ), is the largest and most populous Argentine province. It takes its name from the city of Buenos Aires, the capital of the country, which used to be part of th ...

and do not enforce the same controls as the city.

References

Bibliography

* {{cite book , last= Hernandez, first= Deborah Pacini, title= Rockin' Las Américas, url= https://archive.org/details/rockinlasamerica00paci, url-access= registration, access-date= August 9, 2013, year= 2004, publisher= University of Pittsburgh Press, location= United States, isbn= 0-8229-4226-7 Argentine rock music Musical subcultures The Rolling Stones 1990s in music