UNDER THE RADAR

Artists, bands, and labels meriting more attention

- Andy Meek

This month: Soda Stereo

It's a hot June afternoon in 1986, and three Argentine musicians are somewhere in the crowd at Glastonbury having the time of their lives. Charly Alberti, Zeta Bosio, and Gustavo Cerati had been in need of a getaway -- a respite from the pressures of their own rock group, Soda Stereo -- and they've found it here at the festival, soaking up the sounds of headliners like The Cure and The Psychedelic Furs. It's a particular thrill to be in the homeland of their idols, given that all three members of Soda Stereo are obsessed with British music.

Of all the days to be an Argentine in the UK, though, the members of Soda Stereo have picked one of the worst. The bass player from Lloyd Cole & The Commotions has just delivered the bad news to the crowdArgentina is leading England 1-0 in the World Cup quarter final then underway in Mexico City. An angry roar erupts around the three secretly delighted Argentines, who briefly panic over the possibility of attracting attention.

At that point in the summer of 1986, the three musicians were already well on their way to superstardom: Cerati, the frontman, primary songwriter, and lead guitarist; Bosio, the bass player whose riffs would grow increasingly inventive and McCartney-like; and Alberti, the powerhouse Soda Stereo drummer. Years later - thanks to their Brit-influenced workSoda Stereo would come to be regarded in the Spanish-speaking world as something akin to The Beatles of Latin America. By the time they broke up in 1997, they'd released seven studio albums of increasingly sophisticated pop-rock and sold around 17 million records.