- Source: Rolinga
Rolinga, rollinga or stone are the names of an Argentine subculture based on the fanaticism for The Rolling Stones and also, secondarily, for other rock and roll artists (mainly those of rock stone and rock barrial).
It began in the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area in the 1980s and its names come from the name of the British band (rolinga or rollinga being Hispanicizations of rolling).
Rolingas are characterized by their aesthetics based partially on the style developed in parts of the 1960s and 1970s by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, such as the use of jeans and canvas sneakers, as well as having a characteristic straight fringe in the middle of the forehead like the British vocalist had in the past. They also added their own characteristics or those from other influences, such as a greater sloppiness, the use of long or medium-long hair, a scarf tied around the neck, etc.
It should be noted that 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, in the urban agglomeration of the Greater Buenos Aires, some Argentine fans of The Rolling Stones began to call themselves stones in reference to the band. They were young people ranging from the upper middle class to the lower middle class, they felt rivalry towards The Beatles (a band that was dominant in the musical taste of Argentine rockers at that time) and also towards those considered snobs (bourgeois), who in some cases were of their same social class but dressed and behaved in a more refined manner.
Many of these young stones gradually began to try to emulate the clothing of the members of The Rolling Stones, looking for references through photos available in music magazines. It should be noted that some of them were hippies or had been, and others were not but were equally influenced by the aesthetics of this subculture, from which they took elements and incorporated them into their own aesthetics that were not yet well defined. It was common for some to wear suede shoes or boots, colorful clothing and the use of overalls also became popular. In addition to listening to The Rolling Stones, these youngsters also listened to various rock and roll, blues and country artists, and attended concerts of the local scene of these music genres. A clothing store called Little Stone also became popular among them. It opened in 1979 in Buenos Aires and sold the styles of clothing they wore, as well as being the first in Argentina to offer T-shirts with the tongue and lips logo printed on them.
On the other hand, in this same decade there were certain followers of some Argentine rock and roll and blues artists who were nicknamed firestone or firestones due to an advertising sign of the homonymous company that was located back then in the Llavallol Roundabout (in front of which there is a factory of that firm since 1932), their clothes (they wore black jackets and decorative chains) and their liking for cars and motorcycles. They were generally lower middle class (unlike much of the local rock audience of the time, which was better off), aggressive, disliked hippies and listened primarily to hard rock, heavy metal, garage rock, blues rock and blues. Some of them shared with the early proto-stones the liking for The Rolling Stones (a band that locally was considered rebellious, as opposed to The Beatles, which was seen as clean-cut) and certain local bands like Carolina and Avalancha (both underground and with a short period of activity), which had a much more marked influence from the British group than the mainstream Argentine rock artists of that time. In this way, in the concerts of these groups, firestones and the original stones began to mix.
Journalist Alfredo Rosso said in this regard:
Avalancha and Carolina had very different audiences than Spinetta or La Máquina de Hacer Pájaros. That's where the rollingstoner rock crowd started to grow. They were guys with more or less long hair, middle to lower-middle class people, beer-drinking guys (…) There were also girls around with a lot of style, girls that today you would surely define as rolingas. Hair with bangs, tank tops, with a very 'hood vibe and sexy at the same time…
Already in the 1980s, the Argentine fanbase of The Rolling Stones grew greatly due to the success of the 1981 album Tattoo You (and especially the song «Start Me Up», which also had a video clip) and the 1983 documentary Let's Spend the Night Together. In addition to this, that same year in Buenos Aires, Ratones Paranoicos was formed, a rock and roll band strongly influenced by the British group and whose singer also had a great influence in finishing defining and spreading the aesthetic that was partially taken from Mick Jagger and Keith Richards (although more sloppily), but also with certain elements of his own and from the stones that had existed since the previous decade, from whom inherited their name the new stones that emerged shortly after. Among them were those who until then had been hippies or part of the so-called firestones, so there was also an influence from both groups in the image and attitude (while the ex-hippies contributed with their bohemian imprint, the ex-firestones were those who added the proletarian, aggressive and street-wise vibe). On the other hand, several of the original stones continued to call themselves that way but without being part of this new homonymous urban tribe, and in certain cases they even disliked it due to the more scruffy appearance and quarrelsome attitude of its members (aspects that became more accentuated over the years).
This new stone subculture, also known as rollinga or rolinga, had a great boost with the growth of Ratones Paranoicos, since their style made them followed by many of the new stones and other fans of The Rolling Stones who in the concerts of the Argentine band came into contact with the new subculture, as did another part of the public that came to see the new band without knowing the context or influences. This last portion of the audience also came to know the British band through the covers that were played and the references that were made of them.
This is how the stones or rolingas, who were originally present only in the Greater Buenos Aires, became popular and expanded throughout the country. In the musical field, in a few years they were present not only in the concerts of Ratones Paranoicos but, to a lesser extent, in those of bands such as Riff, Memphis la Blusera or Patricio Rey y sus Redonditos de Ricota, in addition to dozens of ephemeral local artists who always remained in the underground circuit. Ratones Paranoicos, for their part, published their first three albums in 1986, 1988 and 1989, thus increasing their popularity and having more and more people at their performances, causing the rolinga subculture to continue expanding.
On the other hand, at the end of the 1980s Heróicos Sobrevivientes (1987), Blues Motel (1988) and Viejas Locas (1989) emerged, which were the next bands to take the same direction as Ratones Paranoicos by having a strong influence of The Rolling Stones both musically and aesthetically, causing a proper rolinga scene to gradually form. Also at that same time emerged bands that in the following decade became famous, were generally considered as part of the rock barrial (scene into the Argentine rock and roll which name can be roughly translatable as "'hood rock") and that, despite not having a great influence of the British band (in certain cases even null), they came to have an important presence of rolingas in their public (either from the beginning or with the passage of time), such as Bersuit Vergarabat, La Renga, Divididos, Los Piojos or Las Pelotas (all them formed in 1988).
In the 1990s, occurred certain events that led to the stone mass appeal. In 1992, as part of the Coca Cola Rock Festival held at the Estadio José Amalfitani, Keith Richards played with his side band, The X-Pensive Winos, and Ratones Paranoicos (with Pappo as a guest) was the first group to play on that date of the festival. In addition, this band continued to release albums and make appearances in the major media (such as, in the case of television, on the show Ritmo de la noche, which was one of the most watched in the country). At this time, the presence of rolingas was already very noticeable in places such as high schools, public parks, football stadiums (for example, with most barras bravas having rolingas among their members), concerts, discos, etc. In this decade, a large number of "rock stone" (translatable as "stone rock", which it's a scene into the Argentine rock and roll comprising artists strongly influenced by The Rolling Stones) bands emerged, among which Guasones, Jóvenes Pordioseros and La 25 stand out (while many others always remained underground). Many bands from the rest of rock barrial (that includes most rock stone into it) were also formed (while others consolidated their success). Their lyrics slowly departed from the classic topics of rock and roll music and focused instead on localism and the customs of poor people—but not to the point of talking about idealistic struggles or purported revolutions.
In 1995, The Rolling Stones came to Argentina for the first time as part of the Voodoo Lounge Tour, and in 1998 they returned with the Bridges to Babylon Tour, which caused the rolingas to be the centre of attention of the press many times (both intentionally and accidentally). In addition, in these years Viejas Locas released three albums, which were successful and were the first considered mainstream to be made by a "rolinga band" with a clear low-class imprint. At that time, the rolingas were no longer only the largest urban tribe in the country (since some years ago), but they became the most representative of the urban youth of the lower and lower middle classes, in a context of economic recession that caused a rapid increase in unemployment and poverty and, as a consequence, crime and illegal drug use (especially among young people).
= Decline
=During the early- to mid-2000s, the rolinga urban tribe started to lose popularity with the advent of the cumbia villera genre and the subculture associated with it. The subculture's decline was rather slow, until it was accelerated by the República Cromañón nightclub fire, 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 urban area, especially the western zone, which the Buenos Aires Province administers, and where the same controls as in the city are not enforced.
References
Bibliography
Hernandez, Deborah Pacini (2004). Rockin' Las Américas. United States: University of Pittsburgh Press. ISBN 0-8229-4226-7. Retrieved 9 August 2013.
Pierri, Diego (2012). República Stone: Diario de viaje con los Rolling Stones por el mundo [Stone Republic: Travel diary with the Rolling Stones around the world] (in Spanish). Argentina: Music Brokers Argentina. ISBN 978-987-98873-8-7. Retrieved 16 December 2024.