Rolinga, rollinga, or "stones" are names of an

Argentine Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...

subculture A subculture is a group of people within a culture, cultural society that differentiates itself from the values of the conservative, standard or dominant culture to which it belongs, often maintaining some of its founding principles. Subcultures ...

comprising fans of

the Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pione ...

and Argentine bands influenced by the aforementioned group. The musical genre associated with such bands is known as "rock rolinga". The term "stone" in Argentina is also used to refer to any fan of the Rolling Stones, regardless of whether they belong to this particular subculture or not.

History

Origins and heyday

In the 1970s, Argentine fans of

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

began to call themselves "stones" and tried to emulate the style of clothing worn by the English band.

Ratones Paranoicos Ratones Paranoicos () is an Argentine rock band, formed in 1983 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The group is influenced by rhythm and blues music, and their prime influence were the Rolling Stones, with whom they have shared Andrew Loog Oldham as ...

, who played a style similar to the Rolling Stones, launched the genre that became known as "rock rolinga" in the 1980s. The rolinga subculture flourished starting in the 1990s, after the Rolling Stones first played in Argentina, in 1995, during the

Voodoo Lounge Tour The Voodoo Lounge Tour was a worldwide concert tour by the Rolling Stones to promote their 1994 album '' Voodoo Lounge''. This was their first tour without bassist Bill Wyman, and their first with touring bassist Darryl Jones, as an additional ...

. A number of rolinga bands emerged at this time, including

Los Piojos Los Piojos (Spanish: ''The Lice'') is an Argentine rock band. Extremely popular, it became one of the seminal bands of the 1990s Argentine music scene. Unlike most suburban outfits, however, their style evolved significantly with each successi ...

, Viejas Locas, La 25, Los Gardelitos, Jóvenes Pordioseros, Los Guasones, and

Callejeros Callejeros (streetwise or stray dogs) was an Argentine rock band that gained international notoriety when the nightclub where they were playing, República Cromañon, was set on fire during one of its shows, killing 194 attendees, in 2004. H ...

. Their lyrics slowly departed from the classic topics of rock and roll music and focused instead on

localism Localism may refer to: * Fiscal localism, ideology of keeping money in a local economy * Local purchasing, a movement to buy local products and services * Conflict in surf culture, between local residents and visitors for access to beaches with lar ...

and the customs of poor people—but not to the point of talking about idealistic struggles or purported revolutions. Other bands whose music has been classified under the rolinga moniker include

Riff A riff is a short, repeated motif or figure in the melody or accompaniment of a musical composition. Riffs are most often found in rock music, punk, heavy metal music, Latin, funk, and jazz, although classical music is also sometimes based ...

, Memphis la Blusera or

Patricio Rey y sus Redonditos de Ricota Patricio Rey y sus Redonditos de Ricota, also known simply as Patricio Rey, Los Redondos or Los Redonditos de Ricota, was a rock band formed in La Plata, Argentina. The group was active from the mid 70s up to the early 2000s. They are known for ...

Bersuit Vergarabat Bersuit Vergarabat (Commonly referred to as La Bersuit) is an Argentine rock band that formed formally in 1987. History The previous name of the band (from 1987 to May 1989) was ''Henry y la Palangana''. By the end of 1989, the band had chang ...

La Renga La Renga is an Argentine hard rock band, formed in 1988. They had moderate success with the albums ''A Dónde Me Lleva La Vida'' and ''Bailando en una pata'', between 1993 and 1995, but it was the release of Despedazado por Mil Partes, in 1996, ...

Divididos Divididos ("Divided") is an Argentine rock band.El Polaco Goyeneche fue el pr ...

, and

Las Pelotas Las Pelotas (in English: ''The Balls'', or more idiomatically, ''Bollocks!'', since the band name is a play of words between those two meanings); is an Argentine rock and reggae band from Córdoba. This band was formed after the separation of Su ...

Decline

During the early- to mid-2000s, the rolinga urban tribe started to lose popularity with the advent of the

cumbia villera Cumbia villera () (roughly translated as "slum cumbia", "ghetto cumbia", or " shantytown cumbia", from '' villa miseria'', "slum") is a subgenre of cumbia music originating in Argentina in the late 1990s and popularized all over Latin America an ...

genre and the subculture associated with it. The subculture's decline was rather slow, until it was accelerated by the

República Cromañón nightclub fire Republica is an English alternative rock band formed in 1994. Republica may also refer to: Companies * Republica A/S, a Danish advertising company * República, LLC, an advertising company headquartered in Miami, Florida Conferences * re:publica ...

, which took place during a Callejeros concert. Most of the movement's leading bands broke up or changed style, and new musical genres became prominent. Political reactions to the fire included increased safety controls at nightclubs in Buenos Aires, which made the concerts of small bands very expensive. The subculture remained in the suburbs of the

Gran Buenos Aires Greater Buenos Aires (, GBA), also known as the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area (, AMBA), refers to the urban agglomeration comprising the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires and the adjacent 24 '' partidos'' (districts) in the Province of Buenos Ai ...

urban area, especially the western zone, which the

Buenos Aires Province Buenos Aires, officially the Buenos Aires Province, is the largest and most populous Provinces of Argentina, Argentine province. It takes its name from the city of Buenos Aires, the capital of the country, which used to be part of the province an ...

administers, and where the same controls as in the city are not enforced.

References

Bibliography

* * {{cite book , last= Pierri, first= Diego, title= República Stone: Diario de viaje con los Rolling Stones por el mundo, trans-title= Stone Republic: Travel diary with the Rolling Stones around the world, language= es, url= https://www.smashwords.com/extreader/read/314620/1/republica-stone-diario-de-viajes-con-los-rolling-stones-por-, access-date= 16 December 2024, year= 2012, publisher= Music Brokers Argentina, location= Argentina, isbn= 978-987-98873-8-7 Argentine rock music Musical subcultures The Rolling Stones 1990s in music