"Pelados em Santos" (Portuguese for "Naked in Santos") was written by Alecsander Alves (better known as Dinho) and performed by the Brazilian comedy rock band Mamonas Assassinas. It was released in July 1995 on their sole studio album, Mamonas Assassinas, through EMI. The single became a hit in Brazil and several Latin American countries.
The band Mamonas Assassinas was originally founded by band members Bento Hinota and brothers Sérgio and Samuel Reoli with the name of Utopia; Dinho and Júlio Rasec later join the band. Originally, the band had the repertoire of serious songs and covers of famous artists at the time like Titãs.[1] The song that became "Pelados em Santos" originally was written in 1991, but at least one verse was written, the next year, during a Praia Grande trip. Dinho, the vocalist of the band, picked up a guitar and began to sing an excerpt of this song after he asked of his friends what will be the corniest car ever to add more lyrics to this song. The answer was a yellow Brasília with enlarged wheels.[2]
In 1992, Utopia contracted a Brazilian producer Rick Bonadio, the owner of a studio that recorded new or upcoming artists, to produce a self-titled debut album, with a circulation of 1 million copies. It was a big commercial failure, only selling about 100 copies. After that, Dinho continued doing small work at the studio until a sertanejo duo didn't arrive at the studio, leaving free time, and the vocalist asked to spend the night recording some novelty songs. Among these was a song called "Mina (Minha Pitchulinha)", an early version of the song that was slower and the vocals were cornier, similar to the singer Regidaldo Rossi, and the lyrics were only completed during the recording.[1][3] The producers Bonadio and Rodrigo Castanho found the song funny and with the potential of success, they asked to re-record the song with a more rock sound. So, the group changed their style to be more comical and changed their band name to Mamonas Assassinas. The new reworked band re-recorded the song "Mina (Minha Pitchulinha)" to be more heavy sounding and changed the name of the song to "Pelados em Santos". Another two songs, "Robocop Gay" and "Vira-Vira", were also recorded and all were placed in a demo tape to the big labels at the time, one of which, EMI, agreed to hire the group.[4]
Concerning the instrumental part, this song is very similar to a famous composition of Elton john (one of the inspirations of the band) titled Crocodile Rock.[5]
Music video
A customized yellow Brasília was a prominent feature in the original "Pelados em Santos" music video.
The song got a music video,[6][7] being only one of two music videos that the band made, along with "Vira-Vira".[8]
In the video, members appear with the clothes they usually wore in shows and on TV. In parts of it, Júlio appears characterized as a mariachi representing the happiness and the humorous intention of the members. The music video also mixes live-action elements with animated elements.[9]
The blonde woman with a red dress that appears in the music video is model Nereide Nogueira.[10][11]
Reception and legacy
It was the third most executed song on Brazilian radio in the year of release.[2] According to the Escritório Central de Arrecadação e Distribuição, "Pelados em Santos" was the most played song by the band and was the top song that was played, among other artists, between the period of 2004 and 2015.[12]
The Brasília car model 1977 belonged to the grandmother of Mirella Zacanini, the then-wife of Dinho. The original car was auctioned in the TV show Domingo Legal. Later, the car was seized by road cops for lack of documentation, but the family of Dinho ended up recouping it in 2015, in a very bad state. A new model was modified to have pieces of the original car and was subsequently used in events about old cars.[2]
In the middle of the video, a brand of giant cigarettes ("Titãs lights") is introduced by the Bombril man, and a warning on the upper left edge says: "Os Titãs advertem: O Ministério faz mal à sua saúde" (Titãs warn: the Ministry is unhealthy for you), a parody of the similar warning placed in all cigarettes' packs in Brazil, as well on cigarette advertisings in television: "O Ministério da Saúde adverte: fumar é prejudicial à saúde" (The Ministry of Health warns: smoking is unhealthy)".
Other shots include Tony Bellotto pretending sex with a sex doll, some band members hugging the naked women, and the final shot of the clip, with all the band members and the Bombril man singing the song.
According to the band, the idea of inviting Washington Olivetto was "to play with our fame of being a commercial band. We thought of singing as if we were doing an advertisement for the song, which is the reason for a music video exist".[13]
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
