Los Crudos - Discografia 2LP

LOS CRUDOS were a hardcore punk band from Chicago formed in the same year the Soviet Union was formally dissolved, and one year before Francis Fukuyama wrote The End of History and the Last Man: they are very, very good.

The politically charged lyrics of LOS CRUDOS covered topics that ranged from the disappearance of radicals under military dictatorships in Latin America in Asesinos, racism in We're That Spic Band (the band's only English-language song), and class in Tiempos de la miseria. Although hard to imagine now, when Uruguayan-born vocalist Martin Sorrondeguy chose to sing in his native language, Spanish, it was a novel and political choice in the anglophone-centric American hardcore underground of the 90s. Today, however, singing in a language other than English is often little more than the musical equivalent of using a new guitar pedal, rather than an act of linguistic necessity or defiance (there are obvious exceptions, but I write this from the perspective of a monolingual Australian who has been in several bands with lyrics written predominantly in another language). My point is, when Martin chose to sing in Spanish it was a decision of personal and political intent; today it has become something that's 'cool', and I think this is something worth reflecting on.

To be fair, identity has always been political; however, with the fall of the Soviet Union and Fukuyama declaring the 'end of history', what was once the vanguard of an economic project (ie arguing for economic and political equality for minority groups) became unshackled from class and became a politics in its own right—many would argue to the detriment of the minority groups it purported to represent. While I'm not here to write about the cultural turn, neoliberalism, and the rise of this new form of capital-friendly identity politics, I do think it's interesting that these politics came to prominence about the time LOS CRUDOS began to take shape.

If you'll permit a white boy to sneak a bit of dialectical materialism into this review, as a treat—as I swear I've done in about half of these write-ups—Marx's dialectical method states that all things can be positive and negative at the same time: history is driven forward by the resolution of these contradictions. While we live in a time where American podcasters tell us that 'woke is dead', and we collectively come to terms with the shortcomings of the liberal embrace of identity politics, LOS CRUDOS remind us that bathwater often contains babies that should not be thrown out. Also, if you choose to make political punk music in the year 2026, please strive for the same sense of purpose and intent Martin Sorrondeguy applied to his lyrics, whatever language you choose to sing in. –Oli