The history of Mecano: early years, albums, hits

Mecano - one of the most popular and most successful Spanish pop groups of all time! The team still holds its position with more than 25 million worldwide circulation, despite the fact that it officially ceased to exist late 90s, at the height of its popularity… Mecano's work can be divided into two periods: the first period covers 1982-1986, when the group released a series of techno-pop albums that won recognition from the Spanish public. Second period starts since 1986, after Mecano released the album Entre el Cielo y el Suelo: together with him, the team gained international fame! Such success was due to a charming mixture of pop, rock, flamenco and traditional Latin rhythms ... The most famous hits of the group were the tracks "Me cuesta tanto olvidarte", "La fuerza del destino", "Hijo De La Luna" and others. The unprecedented success of Mecano has also amazed countries such as Italy and France! In many ways, this was due to the adaptation of some songs to other languages ... And their hit "Une femme avec une femme" still holds the record for the most weeks spent at the top of the French charts! So: let's remember the history of this amazing pop team together ...

Where did it all begin?

One of the most influential pop groups in Spain was founded in 1981 singer Ana Torroja and brothers Jose and Nacho Cano. In total, the trio released eleven albums, which sold over 25 million copies worldwide ... To record Mecano tracks, session musicians were invited to the studio, among which we can highlight Oscar Astruga. In addition to his native Spain, Mecano enjoyed great popularity in other countries. So, their most famous song in Germany was the tragic ballad "Hijo De La Luna". Post-Soviet listeners know her very well! In the home country of the group, the most popular single was "La fuerza del destino": a video was shot for the song, in which the then-unknown Penelope Cruz played the main role. In addition to all this, the repertoire Mecano includes foreign language versions of many hits! But more on that later.

Mecano was part La Movida Madrilena, an artistic movement that took hold in major Spanish cities such as Madrid, Bilbao and Barcelona, in the years following the death of the Spanish dictator Francisco Franco in 1975 and led to the country's cultural break with the past... Initially, the band played New Wave and Synth-Popbut in the middle 90s refined and enriched her music with influences from the Latin American character and contemporary pop music. According to the participants themselves, they were influenced by the English group Spandau Ballet. So, in 1981 in Madrid, Mecano started as a synth-pop ensemble! During a period of cultural experimentation in the new democratic Spain, the band made their long-awaited breakthrough with their debut single "Hoy no me puedo levantar":

And their self-titled album became a classic of Spanish pop music of the 80s…

The main stages of creativity: albums, singles, clips

Another big hit for Mecano composition became "Me cuesta tanto olvidarte"! Soon, in the same 1986, the group changes its musical approach: this becomes obvious with the release of the album Entre el cielo y el suelo… Now the sound of Mecano is dominated by pop, not techno. It was this experiment with style that made the trio from Spain popular in Latin America ... The biggest breakthrough of this period was the touching composition "Hijo De La Luna". Remarkably, with this angelic track, Mecano wanted to represent the country on Eurovision 1986! However… another group was chosen instead. Well, okay, because the influence of "Hijo De La Luna", as well as the love for this song in many countries of the world, did not fade away with time ...

Album released later Descanso dominical gave fans several hit singles at once! One of them became "La fuerza del destino", in the video for which the famous actress debuted today, but only then an actress Penelope Cruz! It is noteworthy, but later she had an affair with Nacho Cano, which lasted several years ...

The second hit was the track "Mujer contra mujer" with a very unusual message, a reference to minorities. The composition was recorded in three languages: French, English and Italian! That's why "Mujer contra mujer" became for Mecano her first global hit... In France, the song topped the charts for seven consecutive weeks! Today "Mujer contra mujer" is one of the biggest hits in the history of the country...

At the beginning of 90s group releases Aidalai Another album that has won great success! Composition "El 7 de septiembre", dedicated to the ex-girlfriend of Nacho Cano, was released in the summer 1992: for Mecano it was their last Ibero-American number one hit...

The song would have an attractive music video inspired by a German silent film "Metropolis" 1927. As for Aidalai, it was Mecano's last original album...

Later years of activity and collapse

It all started with in 1993 Mecano announced a creative break ... And only five years later the album was released Ana | Jose | Nacho is a collection of the band's greatest hits. As expected, the band announced the breakup in the same year ... Yes, Mecano broke up in 1998 at the height of its popularity. However, all three members of the group have built a worthy solo career! This is especially true for Ana… Mecano was a truly unique band… It is worth noting that Nacho Cano was one of the first Spanish musicians to play keyboards Fairlight! In 2005 In the same year he directed a very successful musical named after their first single...

Interesting Facts

• Almost all songs Mecano were written by one of the Kano brothers, of course, from a male perspective. It was for this reason that Ana's performance gave the lyrics a completely new mood and character...
• As their work shows, Mecano members were fond of the history of the Soviet Union! Yes, the instrumental of the track "1917" from the album Aidalai is addressed to the revolution in Russia, and the composition Laika, presented on the Descanso dominical album, to the Soviet cosmonaut dog, the first living creature to travel into space!

• Musical mentioned above "Hoy no me puedo levantar" turned out to be very successful! In 2005, his productions opened in Spain and Mexico, and a few years later it was announced that he had a total of 1.5 million viewers! This made it the most successful original work in Spanish ever...