- published: 12 Dec 2013
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Soda Stereo were an Argentine rock band that achieved fame and international success throughout the 1980s and 1990s. They were a power trio made up of Gustavo Cerati on vocals and guitar, Héctor "Zeta" Bosio on bass, and drummer Charly Alberti. The band is widely considered as the forerunners of the Latin American / Ibero-America / Rock En Español movement that emerged during the mid-1980s. Soda’s early sound was influenced by new wave bands such as The Police. The band gradually evolved into a heavier sounding alternative rock band, eventually drawing influences from classic rock, progressive rock, shoegaze, neo-psychedelia, britpop, and electronic music.
Soda played an important role in the development and diffusion of Latin American / Ibero-America rock. They were the first Latin American rock group to achieve mainstream success in South and Central America and helped popularize the Rock En Español scene of the 1980s. The band established what would become the template for Spanish-speaking rock music groups and in the process broke numerous ticket and sales records, especially in their native Argentina. They are considered by critics to be the best Latin American /Ibero-America rock band of all time. Soda has sold over 7 million of albums in Latin America and their back catalog continues to sell to this day. In 2002 Soda Stereo was awarded the "Legend Prize" by MTV Latin America, the first prize to be awarded of its kind.
The term stereophonic sound or, more commonly, stereo, refers to any method of sound reproduction in which an attempt is made to create an illusion of directionality and audible perspective. This is usually achieved by using two or more independent audio channels through a configuration of two or more loudspeakers in such a way as to create the impression of sound heard from various directions, as in natural hearing. Thus the term "stereophonic" applies to so-called "quadraphonic" and "surround-sound" systems as well as the more common 2-channel, 2-speaker systems. It is often contrasted with monophonic, or "mono" sound, where audio is in the form of one channel, often centered in the sound field (analogous to a visual field). Stereo sound is now common in entertainment systems such as broadcast radio and TV, recorded music and the cinema.
The word stereophonic derives from the Greek "στερεός" (stereos), "firm, solid" + "φωνή" (phōnē), "sound, tone, voice" and it was coined in 1927 by Western Electric, by analogy with the word "stereoscopic".