RPM (Brazilian band)

RPM's members, as depicted in the cover of the album Revoluções por Minuto

RPM ("Revoluções por Minuto", Revolutions per minute in Brazilian portuguese) is a Brazilian pop rock band. It was started in 1983 by singer/bassist Paulo Ricardo, keyboardist Luiz Schiavon, guitarist Fernando Deluqui and drummer Paulo Antônio "P.A." Pagni.

RPM played soft techno-pop with strong, paradoxical influences of Progressive rock and European Synthpop. Their lyrics were pessimistic, ironic and full of literary (Arthur Rimbaud, Surrealism and books like Christiane F.) and political references with a strong leftist tone.

The band was very successful in the mid-1980s, being considered the Rolling Stones of Brazil: the live album Rádio Pirata ao vivo was the best-selling ever recorded in Brazil with more than 2.2 million copies sold.[1] Its success did not limit itself to CD sales: RPM starred a phenomenon that was compared with the Beatlemania, with ravenous fans that filled the stadia, stopped traffic, evaded security, and bought all products that were launched with the RPM brand.

After 2 years, the band took a leave and returned in 1988 with the album ¨4 Coiotes¨. The album had a mix of progressive, jazz and dark sounds and sold 250.000 copies: a good number, but far from the what was expected. Problems like ego crisis and drugs started to increase, at the end of the tour the band did not reach an agreement as how would be the sound of the next album, so the tension between members killed the band in 1988.

Paulo Ricardo, however tried to revive the band a few times in the following years. In the early 90's, he and Deluqui put together a new band under the name "Paulo Ricardo & RPM", this time trying a harder rock style to fit the current trends of the time. With no significant commercial success, the project went under.

However, in 2002, the original lineup reunited for a very successful tour and live album "Acústico MTV". The album was a reinterpretation of the successful songs of 80's plus 5 new song, including a Brazilian version of the reality show "Big Brother Brazil", which was later considered by the Big Brother show world director as the best theme of all countries). Again, shortly after the band split because of internal differences.

In 2011, Paulo Ricardo post in Twitter a new return of RPM. The band record a new album called Elektra with two CDs (one CD with remixes—RPM was the first band in Brazil to record a remix of the 80's smash hit "Louras Geladas"). The record was released in December 2011 with a paradoxical song like an electronic rock album, where the synthesizer has a fundamental place. The lyrics are mature than 80's with themes like the elektra complex, night life and seduction... but with space to protest to our lifestyle, the media influence and even for a romantic ballad. The album is receiving many cheers, include the indication to the best rock album in the Latin Grammy.

During 2012 the tour Elektra traveled across all Brazil and in some cities in Argentina. In 2013 the band plans to record a DVD of the tour with successful songs of its career, songs of the Elektra album, and a reinterpretation of (Pink Floyd)'s "Wish you were here".

Discography

References

  1. ↑ Dapieve, Arthur (2000) [1996]. BRock: o rock brasileiro dos anos 80 (in Portuguese) (3rd ed.). Rio de Janeiro: Editora 34. ISBN 85-7326-008-4.

External links

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