Soda Stereo: Present at the Re-Creation

If you wonder where all this rock en espanol is coming from, look no further than the Argentine trio Soda Stereo--even if they don’t want to take any credit.

“We didn’t invent anything--rock en espanol began many years ago,” says the group’s singer, guitarist and main songwriter, Gustavo Cerati.

True, Soda Stereo didn’t invent anything, but the modern story of the Pan-American Spanish-language rock movement that has been in high gear since the mid-’80s is divided into before and after Soda Stereo.

Following the socially conscious pioneers of Argentine rock’s golden era of 1967-76, Soda Stereo offered a lighter, more fun-oriented approach, characteristic of the bands of the new democracy that was established in their country in 1983.

“We needed to do a more uninhibited, dance-oriented thing, a different thing meant to open heads up,” says Cerati, 36, speaking by phone from his home in Chile. The band’s concert Thursday at the Grand Olympic Auditorium will be its first show here since two sold-out concerts at the Palace in 1989.

Soda Stereo originated when Cerati met bassist Zeta Bossio, 37, while both were studying publicity at a Buenos Aires university in 1979. Drummer Charly Alberti, 32, joined the group in 1983, one year before their debut album, “Soda Stereo.”

Cerati grew up listening to the Beatles, David Bowie, Roxy Music and local hero Luis Alberto Spinetta. Eventually, the new wave of XTC, the Police, Elvis Costello and Joe Jackson inspired him to form what soon became the most influential Latin rock band of the ‘80s. In its seven eclectic albums, Soda Stereo explores everything from simple pop songs to raw electricity and even radio-unfriendly alternative indulgences.

With total album sales of almost 2 million, Soda Stereo was the first rock en espanol group to attain both commercial and critical success, not only in its native land, but in all of Latin America and in the U.S. Latin market. Along with fellow Argentine Miguel Mateos, Soda Stereo’s tours in ’86 and ’87 gave tremendous impetus to the various underground rocanrol markets, especially in Mexico.

“Soda’s presence [in the late ‘80s] was a key factor for Mexican rock,” said Rogelio Villarreal, editor of underground magazine La Pusmoderna. “After Soda, many [bands]--including Caifanes--began to look and play like them.”

After 1992’s “Dynamo,” Soda Stereo stopped touring and began a hiatus that seemed to indicate the end of the road.

“We needed to stop to be in touch with ourselves, to stop running after the carrot,” explains Cerati, who moved to Santiago, Chile, and recorded a critically acclaimed solo album. “We needed to know that we could be able to stop any time we wanted.”

They eventually got back together, and last summer they released “Sueno Stereo” (Dream Stereo), an album that ranks among the band’s best works.

“ ‘Sueno Stereo’ looks ahead but doesn’t break with the past,” Cerati says. “We used to catch people off-balance every time with a completely different album, but now we didn’t care. We’re just more relaxed and spontaneous now.”

And what about returning to the United States for the first time this decade?

“The U.S. challenge is interesting because so many things happened there since ‘89,” Cerati says. “It all looks like a new carrot for us.”

* Soda Stereo performs Thursday at the Grand Olympic Auditorium, 1801 S. Grand Ave., 8 p.m. $25 and $30. (213) 749-5171.