Refried Elvis: The Rise of the Mexican Counterculture

by Eric Zolov

This powerful study shows how America's biggest export, rock and roll, became a major influence in Mexican politics, society, and culture. From the arrival of Elvis in Mexico during the 1950s to the emergence of a full-blown counterculture movement by the late 1960s, Eric Zolov uses rock and roll to illuminate Mexican history through these charged decades and into the 1970s. This fascinating narrative traces the rechanneling of youth energies away from political protest in the wake of the 1968 student movement and into counterculture rebellion, known as La Onda (The Wave). Refried Elvis accounts for the events of 1968 and their aftermath by revealing a mounting crisis of patriarchal values, linked both to the experience of modernization during the 1950s and 1960s and to the limits of cultural nationalism as promoted by a one-party state.

Through an engrossing analysis of music and film, as well as fanzines, newspapers, government documents, company reports, and numerous interviews, Zolov shows how rock music culture became a volatile commodity force, whose production and consumption strategies were shaped by intellectuals, state agencies, transnational and local capital, musicians, and fans alike. More than a history of Mexican rock and roll, Zolov's study demonstrates the politicized nature of culture under authoritarianism, and offers a nuanced discussion of the effects of cultural imperialism that deepens our understanding of gender relations, social hierarchies, and the very meanings of national identity in a transnational era.

Genres: Music, History, Nonfiction, Latin American History

364 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[Craig Werner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Densely detailed study of the role music played in the rise (and semi-fall after the massacre at Tlatelolco in 1968) in Mexican culture. Zolov uses a bit more academic jargon that I'd prefer--pretty clearly a "tenure" book--but if it doesn't slow you down, you'll learn a lot about the patriarchical underpinnings of Mexican politics, the Mexican counterculture's uneasy relationship with the U.S., and the crackdown against the 1968 protests.

[Cricket · Rating 3 out of 5]

Retried Elvis is a great historical account of Rock n Roll and it’s permeation throughout Mexico. If you’re a rock fan, you’ll like this book. It heavily focused on the counterculture movement, which is very similar to the movement in the US, only with a more pending fear of imperialism. A good read overall.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I used parts of this in a counterculture section in a Latin American pop culture class that I taught. It's accessible, well-researched, and the most comprehensive work of its kind in English on the long-neglected subject of Mexican counterculture.

[Mark Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this for a class on Rock n Roll and contracultura in Mexico. It was pretty interesting to read about the effects the Mexican "rocanroleros" had on Mexican social and political progress!