Chicano, or Chicana, is a chosen identity for Mexican Americans in the United States. Chicano or Xicano are sometimes used interchangeably with Mexican-American, and both names exist as chosen identities within the Mexican-American community in the United States.
The punk subculture includes a diverse array of ideologies, fashion, and other forms of expression, visual art, dance, literature and film. It is largely characterised by anti-establishment views, the promotion of individual freedom, DIY ethics, and is centred on a loud, aggressive genre of rock music called punk rock.
Chicano rock is rock music performed by Mexican American (Chicano) groups or music with themes derived from Chicano culture. Chicano Rock, to a great extent, does not refer to any single style or approach. Some of these groups do not sing in Spanish at all, or use many specific Latin instruments or sounds. The subgenre is defined by the ethnicity of its performers, and as a result covers a wide range of approaches.
In the United States, California is commonly associated with the film, music, and arts industries; there are numerous world-famous Californian musicians. Hardcore punk, hip hop, country, and heavy metal have all appeared in California. Furthermore, new genres of music, such as surf rock and third wave ska, have their origins in California.
Queercore, is a cultural and social movement that began in the mid-1980s as an offshoot of the punk subculture. It is distinguished by its discontent with society in general, and specifically society's disapproval of the LGBT community. Queercore expresses itself in a D.I.Y. style through magazines, music, writing and film.
Latin rock is a term to describe a music subgenre consisting in melting traditional sounds and elements of Latin American and Caribbean folk with rock music. However, it is widely used in the English-language media to refer any kind of rock music featuring Spanish or Portuguese vocals. This fact led to controversy about the scope of the terminology.
Limp Wrist is an American punk rock band, who formed in 1998. Featuring members of Los Crudos, Hail Mary, Devoid of Faith, By The Throat, and Kill the Man Who Questions, the band plays short, fast hardcore music, and covers themes concerning the gay community in their live performances and lyrics. They identify as part of the "queercore" punk subculture: referring to their style of music, the band declared in Frontiers magazine, "We put the 'core' back in 'Queercore'". The band are featured on the cover of My Brain Hurts, Liz Baillie's comic about queer teenagers in New York City.
Los Crudos is an American hardcore punk band from Chicago, Illinois active from 1991 to 1998 and from 2006 onward. Comprising all Latino members, the band paved the way for later Spanish-speaking punk bands in the United States and helped to increase the presence of Latinos in the country's predominantly white punk subculture.
Los Illegals is an American Chicano punk band from Los Angeles.
Robert Alan Lopez, better known by his stage name El Vez, is a Mexican-American singer-songwriter and musician, who performs and records original material and covers classic rock songs. Mixing the styles of Elvis Presley and many other American rock artists with his own Latin-American heritage and music, he is known for expressing revolutionary views through the satire and humor in his songs.
The Chicano Movement of the 1960s, also called the Chicano civil rights movement or El Movimiento, was a civil rights movement extending the Mexican-American civil rights movement of the 1960s with the stated goal of achieving Mexican American empowerment. Similar to the Black Power movement, scholars have also written about the repression and police brutality experienced by members of this movement which some connect to larger government-organized activity such as COINTELPRO.
Latino punk is punk music created by Latino people in Latin America and the United States.
Chicana/o studies, also known as Chican@ studies, originates from the Chicano Movement of the late 1960s and 1970s, and is the study of the Chicana/o and Latina/o experience. Chican@ studies draws upon a variety of fields, including history, sociology, the arts, and Chican@ literature. The area of studies additionally emphasizes the importance of Chican@ educational materials taught by Chican@ educators for Chican@ students.
Quetzal is a bilingual (Spanish-English) Chicano rock band from East Los Angeles, California.
Since the late 1970s, California has had a thriving regional punk rock movement. It primarily consists of bands from the Los Angeles, Orange County, Ventura County, San Diego, San Fernando Valley, San Francisco, Fresno, Bakersfield, Alameda County, Sacramento, Lake Tahoe, Oakland and Berkeley areas.
Martin Sorrondeguy is the singer of hardcore bands Los Crudos and Limp Wrist, the founder of the DIY record label, Lengua Armada Discos, documentary film director and a prominent figure in both the straight edge scene and the queercore scene. He currently does vocals in the band Needles.
A number of overlapping punk rock subgenres have developed since the emergence of punk rock in the mid-1970s. Even though punk genres at times are difficult to segregate, they usually show differing characteristics in overall structures, instrumental and vocal styles, and tempo. However, sometimes a particular trait is common in several genres, and thus punk genres are normally grouped by a combination of traits.
Manic Hispanic is a punk rock/Chicano rock band from Orange County and Los Angeles, California. They are a semi-parodic act that plays cover versions of punk rock and hardcore punk "standards" by slightly renaming songs and adjusting lyrics to address Chicano culture. The band's members are all Mexican or part Mexican and use stage names further marking the Mexican/Chicano image of the band. Manic Hispanic is a punk supergroup made up of former and/or current members of The Adolescents, The Grabbers, Punk Rock Karaoke, The X-Members, 22 Jacks, Final Conflict, Agent Orange, Death by Stereo and The Cadillac Tramps.
The Brat was a Chicano punk rock ensemble originating from the barrios of East Los Angeles, California. Its three core members consisted of lead singer Teresa Covarrubias, lead guitarist Rudy Medina, and alternate lead and rhythm guitarist Sidney Medina. From their conception in late 1978 to their eventual break-up in 1985, The Brat contributed to the customization and intermeshing of multiple musical and cultural models that culminated in the distinct East Los Angeles, Chican@ punk sound.
This is a Mexican American bibliography. This list consists of books, and journal articles, about Mexican Americans, Chicanos, and their history and culture. The list includes works of literature whose subject matter is significantly about Mexican Americans and the Chicano/a experience. This list does not include works by Mexican American writers which do not address the topic, such as science texts by Mexican American writers.
