Los Lobos

973–79: Formation and early releases[edit]

Vocalist and guitarist David Hidalgo and drummer Louie Pérez met at Garfield High School in East
Los Angeles, California, and bonded over their mutual affinity for obscure musical acts such
as Fairport Convention, Randy Newman and Ry Cooder.[2][3] Pérez recalls, "We’re looking at each
other, 'You like this stuff? I thought I was the only weird one.' So I went over to his house one day
for about a year, which we spent listening to records, playing guitars, and starting to write
songs."[2] The two borrowed reel-to-reel recorders from a friend and created multitrack
recordings of music spanning from parody songs to free-form jazz.[2] They later enlisted fellow
students Frank Gonzalez, Cesar Rosas and Conrad Lozano to complete the group's lineup, in
1973.[3] Their first album, Los Lobos del Este de Los Angeles, was recorded at two studios in
Hollywood in 1977 over a period of about four months. At that time, they all had regular jobs, and
it was hard to get together for the sessions. To accommodate that situation, their producer Louis
Torres would call the engineer, Mark Fleisher, who owned and operated a high-speed tape
duplicating studio in Hollywood, to find a studio when he knew all the band members could get off
work that night. Most of the songs were recorded at a studio on Melrose Avenue, located next to
the Paramount studios at the time, and a low-priced studio on Sunset Boulevard.

The band members were unsatisfied with playing only American Top 40 songs and began
experimenting with the traditional Mexican music they listened to as children.[3] This style of
music received a positive reaction from audiences, leading the band to switch genres, performing
at hundreds of weddings and dances between 1974 and 1980.[3] However, Los Lobos took notice
of the popular groups on the Hollywood music scene and added influences of rock to its sound.[3]

Originally, they called themselves Los Lobos del Este (de Los Angeles) ("The Wolves of the East [of
Los Angeles)]"), which was a play on the name of the norteño band Los Tigres del Norte; also,
there was another conjunto band at the time named "Los Lobos Del Norte", who had released
several albums already, and in fact Los Lobos del Este were from east L.A. The name was quickly
shortened to Los Lobos.[4]

1980–88: How Will the Wolf Survive? and commercial success[edit]

The band's first noteworthy public appearance occurred in 1980 at the Olympic Auditorium in Los
Angeles, when they were hired by David Ferguson and CD Presents to open for Public Image Ltd. In
1983, the band released an extended play entitled ...And a Time to Dance, which was well received
by critics but sold only about 50,000 copies.[5] However, the sales of the EP earned the group
enough money to purchase a Dodge van, enabling the band to tour throughout the United States
for the first time.[5] Los Lobos returned to the studio in the summer of 1984 to record its first
major-label album, How Will the Wolf Survive?, in 1984.[6] The album's title and the title song
were inspired by a National Geographicarticle entitled "Where Can the Wolf Survive", which the
band members related to their own struggle to gain success in the United States while maintaining
their Mexican roots.[5]

The film Colors includes "One Time, One Night" in the opening credits, although the song was not
included on the soundtrack album. In 1986, members of Los Lobos appeared alongside Tomata du
Plenty in the punk rock musical Population: 1. In 1987, they released a second album, By the Light
of the Moon. In the same year, they recorded some Ritchie Valens covers for the soundtrack of the
film La Bamba, including the title track, which became a number one single for the band. In 1988
they followed with another album, La pistola y el corazón, featuring original and traditional
Mexican songs.

1988–94: The Neighborhood and Kiko[edit]

In the late 1980s and early 1990s the band toured extensively throughout the world, opening for
such acts as Bob Dylan, U2 and the Grateful Dead.

Los Lobos returned with The Neighborhood in 1990, and the more experimental Kiko (produced
by Mitchell Froom) in 1992. In 1991, the band contributed a lively cover of "Bertha", a song which
they often performed live, to the Grateful Dead tribute–rain forest benefit album Deadicated. In
1994 they also contributed a track, "Down Where the Drunkards Roll", to the Richard
Thompson tribute album Beat the Retreat.

On the band's twentieth anniversary they released a two-CD collection of singles, outtakes, live
recordings and hits, entitled Just Another Band from East L.A.

1995–98: Papa's Dream and Colossal Head[edit]

In 1995, Los Lobos released the prestigious and bestselling record Papa's Dream on Music for Little
People Records along with veteran guitarist and singer Lalo Guerrero. The band also scored the
film Desperado. The album track "Mariachi Suite" won a Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental
Performance and stands as their last Grammy Award to date (the other two Grammy Awards were
in the category of Best Mexican-American Performance in 1983 and 1989 for the song "Anselma"
and the album La Pistola y el Corazón).

In 1996, they released Colossal Head. In spite of the fact that the album was critically
acclaimed, Warner Brothers decided to drop the band from their roster. Los Lobos spent the next
few years on side projects. The band contributed along with Money Mark to the AIDS benefit
album Silencio=Muerte: Red Hot + Latin, produced by the Red Hot Organization, on which they
performed "Pepe and Irene."