Who ever said that nothing good came out of beer, porn, and rock n’roll? These three elements which resulted in some of rock history’s greatest legends, also gave birth to Mexico’s pride and joy…Molotov.
Composed by Ismael “Tito” Fuentes on vocals, Miguel Angel “Mickey” Huidobro and Javier de la Cueva on bass, and “La Quesadillera” on drums, Molotov came in to the world with the mayhem of rock n’roll flowing through its veins. With rock n’ riffs and risqué rap lyrics, Molotov began to take the stage in cities all throughout Mexico after winning a competition á la battle of the bands.
In 1995 Randy “El Gringo” Ebright came in as the band’s new drummer and in 1996, de la Cueva was replaced by Paco Ayala on bass.
In spite of the fact that the group was without a record deal, or even a record for that matter, Molotov managed to elicit a following of fans. In no time, their fans were rapping and moshing along. Their popularity soon drew the interest of major record labels all throughout Mexico and Molotov received various offers regarding record deals. Now consisting of the current Molotov lineup, the band continued to play throughout México promoting “Donde Jugaran las Niñas”, which legend has it, was supposed to be called “Donde Jugaran los Niños” but that title was taken by another Spanish rock band. Hmmm… I wonder who?
Anyhow, the release received mixed reviews from both their fans and from government and religious officials. Due to the sexual, explicit, and political lyrics that accompanied the history that followed this beer, porn, and rock n’roll loving band, Molotov was banned in México and was taken to court in Spain.
Molotov left a memorable first impression when they released “Donde Jugaran las Niñas”. Aside from the rebellious tracks that made up the album such as “Voto Latino” and “Gimme tha Power”, the album cover itself gave much to talk about. It showed a young girl in a schoolgirl uniform with her legs spread apart and her underwear down to her ankles. According to Molotov, the cover was chosen very tastefully with the idea of drawing attention to the fast growing rate of prostitution in Mexico. Misunderstood, as rock stars tend to be, the cover was interpreted as vulgar and obscene. It led to so much controversy that even a Catholic school sued Molotov arguing that the uniform on the cover resembled the uniform that their students wore, and that they refused to be affiliated with the band.
Regardless of the bad publicity that the band received after the release of “Donde Jugaran las Niñas”, the album went on to receive a Grammy nomination for “Best Latin Rock-Alternative Performance”. In July of ’98, the band went platinum in Spain, Chile, and in the U.S. They went platinum twice in Spain, gold in Argentina, Colombia, Chile, and the U.S., and four times in Mexico.
Having received so many awards in such a short period of time, Molotov quickly began to work on more music. In 1998, the band released “Molomix” and “Apocalipshit” in 1999, which was produced and recorded by Mario Caldato, Jr. of the Beastie Boys.
With such releases under their belt, Molotov began to break language barriers throughout the world. In 1999, the band was the only Spanish language group to perform in the Vans Warped Tour. “Voto Latino”, off of their first release, also broke language barriers when it was played on one of L.A.’s leading English language rock radio stations, 106.7 f.m. KROQ.
"Voto Latino" | video from: maroskirsch
By the time “Dance and Dense Denso” was released, Molotov was already recognized as one of México’s most influential rock bands even after just 5 years of performing. Amongst their prestigious recognitions, Molotov was also invited to co-host the first MTV Latino Video Music Awards in 2002. The band has not only shared the stage with artists such as Cáfe Tacuba, Rabanes, and Illya Kuryaki & The Valderramas, but they have also contributed in the “Y tu mamá también” and “Atlético San Pancho” soundtracks. Finally, they released their fourth and last album, “Con todo Respeto” in 2004.
After the band’s break-up in 2007, each member released his own EP. Individualistic in their own realm, each EP offers the artist’s own take on music, yet screams MOLOTOV! Considering their history as musicians, evidently as solo artists and as a quartet, the artist’s that make up Molotov are the prodigy of this misunderstood world of rock.
