Before the Breakthrough: Los Lobos

In 1987, “La Bamba” shot Los Lobos to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart, but that success came at a price for the band.

“Suddenly, this group from East LA that had spent over a decade building this whole catalog of music was getting typecast as a novelty,” says World Cafe producer Miguel Perez. “They became sort of the ‘La Bamba’ band.”

Every week for Hispanic Heritage Month, World Cafe is charting a Latin American act’s journey before their big mainstream hit. It’s a series called Before the Breakthrough.

This week, Miguel takes you beyond “La Bamba” and talks about how Los Lobos blended different musical traditions, like Mexican folk music and American rock.

“They’re Mexican, but they’re also American,” he says. “It’s sort of the quintessential Chicano experience.”

This episode of World Cafe was produced and edited by Miguel Perez. Our senior producer is Kimberly Junod and our engineer is Chris Williams. Our programming and booking coordinator is Chelsea Johnson and our line producer is Will Loftus.