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1975: The fascist dictator Franco dies after almost forty years of fierce rule over Spain. Spain reopens and quickly catches up culturally: the so-called "Movida", a movement that not only comprises movie directors, painters and novelists but also rock bands. Among the first bands that took the stage were the

The Basque Country has a traditionally strong music culture. Songwriters like Mikel Laboa, Lete Lertxundi and Armatola protested against the dictatorship in the beginning of the 70ies. A couple of years later the first Basque rock bands get together, for example Orquesta Mondreagón, Brakaman, Parálisis Permanente and Poch.

1977: With London as its epicenter, punk spreads allover Europe and rules the European youth for a couple of years.

The Basque country, which always had strong ties to England, suffers from a severe economic, political and societal crisis. The old large-scale industry, that had made the region Spain's richest, goes bankrupt quickly because the post-Franco government opens the Spanish market: unemployment surges up massively. Calls for more autonomy intensifies and get stronger accompanied by mass strikes, permanent riots, and political assassinations. Drug abuse among youths goes up, too.

This is a very fertile soil for the punk movement, which almost instantly catches on: There's a massive "squatter" movement (the squats are called "Gaztetxe" in Basque), that leads to a thick network of "alternative" counterculture. This movement is especially strong in the old industrial areas, where the economic crisis due to the structural change is especially severe.

Four bored teenagers from Bilbao, the Basque country's biggest city, found the band MCD end of 1978. Their idols are the Sex Pistols.

After a show with The Clash in San Sebastián (1980) 16-year old Fermín Muguruza buys a guitar. His first musical influences are 2-Tone-Ska, Reggae and British punkrock - Clash, SLF, Undertones, Sham 69 etc. US-hardcore bands like the Dead Kennedys, Millions of Dead Cops, Minor Threat or the Bad Brains follow.

MCD play live the first time in 1981. They play a festival with other Basque bands like Vulpess, Médanos and Singapur de Corrupción. In 1982 they play the festival "Nuevos sonidos de los 80" ("New sounds for the Eighties").

In 1983 "Zona Especial Norte", a split mini-lp by R.I.P. and Eskorbuto, is published. This record is an important milestone with its sing-along 77 punk consisting of songs like "Mucha policía, poca diversión" or "No hay futuro" ("No future") - authentic no future punk! With this and their subsequent outputs Eskorbuto become the big dissidents of Basque punk, they are "Anti todo" – "Against all". The two core members die of an overdose in the early nineties.

There is a big anti-NATO festival the same year, where the term "Rock Radical Vaso" is coined for the performing bands. With La Polla Records and their charismatic singer Evaristo in the front row, "Rock Radical Vasco" is the starter for punk in the rest of Spain and Latin America: "Nada nos mueve, no hay esperanza ¡vengeanza!" - "Nothing interests us, there is no hope, only vengeance!". The term "Rock Radical Vasco" was not limited to punk though, but it was also used as a label for rock and ska bands.

1984: Fermín Muguruza forms Kortatu, together with his brother Iñigo and friend Treku Armendariz, the band that becomes the other "big band" of "Rock Radical Vasco". Extensive tours bring the band to many European countries, for example two trips to Germany, where I caught one of their great shows.

The band played a furious mixture of punk and ska with lyrics sung in Spanish and Basque. The first self-titled record from 1985 is a gem, and the following records keep that level.

Punk rules the Basque country! The scene was very well organized and there were shows with 2000-3000 people even in small towns. The bands supported the gaztextes, left organizations and the movement for independence. The party "Herri Batasuna", until their ban the ETA's political arm, organizes a tour "Martxa eta Borroka" ("Rhythm and fight") for an election campaign. More than 5000 people attend the last show in San Sebastián.

Lots of European bands tour the Basque country because of the brilliant punk infrastructure, for example Lärm, BGK, Gepopel, or the German bands Torpedo Moskau, Vellocet, and Emils.

Some other important bands formed beginning/mid of the Eighties are:

• B.A.P.!!: Founded in 1984 they play hardcore/punk and sing only in Basque. The band's still together and has published only 3 records in its 15-years long band history. I do know only a couple of songs on some compilations and the fantastic record "...bidehuts eta etxehuts": catchy and aggressive hardcore punk.
• M-AK: One of the bands, that was widely ignored throughout the Eighties. They were the first to crossover hardcore and hiphop and anticipated a development that many bands went through later. The band's two head members, Xabier Montoya and Kaki Arkarazo are still active and take part in many projects.
• Barricada: Play a mixture of hardrock and punk with very political lyrics like "Barrio Conflictivo" ("Conflictive area"). Founded in 1981 by their singer "El Drogas", the anti-NATO festival 1983 is their first public performance. They publish their first record ("Noches de Rock’n’roll" – " rock’n’roll nights") the same year. After many live shows they're the first "Rock Radical Vasco" band to sign to a major label in 1985, which causes an outcry in the Basque scene.
  The band does not exist anymore. Still, their records sell quite well, so the best songs from their early era have been published on CD ("Barricada 83-85").
• Cicatriz: Were on the most important "Rock Radical Vasco" compilation together with Kortatu, Kontuz Hi!, Jotaki. Their first lp "Inadaptados" is another milestone of the Rock Radical Vasco: raw, rockish punk with sing-along lyrics.
• Hertzainak: The Clash in Basque, very skaish.

Independent record labels are founded to put out all those bands: Discos Suicidas publish the Eskorbuto/RIP mlp, later classics like MCD, and they are still going strong. Other important labels are Basati Diskak, RIP and B.A.P.!!, and Soinua, that published the first records from Kortatu, La Polla Records and Cicatriz. Soinua was bought by a label called Elkar and renamed to Oihuka later, where the back catalogue is still available.

Kortatu's last show - 1989 in Pamplona - is the end of this era of "storm and stress". They disband because they see themselves in a creative dead end: they want to avoid under all circumstances to become conservative rock dinosaurs. This last show is available as a live record ("Azken Guda Dantza" - "Last wardance").

Public Enemy's first record "Yo! Bum rush the show" (1987) has a similar influence on the Kortatu singer Fermín Muguruza like the Clash show. The lyrics and the fact that they consider themselves to be the "CNN of the blacks", rap as a means of communication for the underprivileged, have opened Kortatu towards rap music. The rap influence is audible on Kortatu's last studio LP "Kolpez Kolpe" and their live record.

The Muguruza brothers quickly form Negu Gorriak. They want to continue breaking schemes and stop the scene from boredom. In 1990 they publish their first record, a wild mixture of hiphop, hardcore, thrash metal, traditional Basque music and "musíca latina".

From that moment on all their lyrics are in Basque, resulting in that Negu Gorriak is a band with a message that is understood only by a few. They play the whole world, a couple of times in Germany, in Cuba, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, USA and for the zapatistas in Mexico. After seven years and six records the group disbands in 1996 due to reasons similar to Kortatu.

In 1991 Negu Gorriak form the label Esan Ozenki, American labels Dischord and Alternative Tentacles being the references. The label only publishes records by Basque-language bands! In 1995 they create the sublabel "Gora Herria" for non-Basque bands, bands need to use their own native language for that label.

Esan Ozenki organizes a big solidarity show - "Hitz Egin" - in 1995 together with the Basque newspapers Egin and Egunkaria. 13 bands perform, among them Negu Gorriak and Mikel Laboa. The show is put up to raise funds for a libel/freedom of expression case that threatens the economic existence of the label: Galindo, a general of the nationwide Spanish police ("Guardia Civil"), sues the label and Negu Gorriak for a compensation of 15 million pesetas (about .000). The case is still undecided.

The Basque country has still the best scene - most bands, venues, fanzines etc. - in the Spanish-speaking world. Nowadays bands are technically superior to the old bands, still they lack the charisma and the rawness of the "early years". Besides, today there are other youth cultures apart from punk, many young bands chose to crossover styles.

Soziedad Alcoholika is Spain's most known hardcore band today. Their first demo tape "Intoxikazión Etílika" from 1990 makes their metallic hardcore known nationwide over night. They play some shows in Germany in 1992, where I caught one which was brilliant. Many kids allover Spain like to pose with their t-shirts. They create their own label ("Mil a gritos") in 1995, which also publishes records by other bands.

La Polla – nowadays without the Records – are still together and have published their 13th record. They and Kortatu are still the reference for many younger bands. Their three records "Salve" (84), "Revolución" (85) and "No somos nada" (88) are their best, but the others are blind-buys, too. There's a new live record from 1998 ("La Polla en tu recto") and a best of CD ("14 Anhos!! De...") which might be an introduction to that great band. They still play many shows, mostly in Spain and some in Latin America.

The former Kortatu/Negu Gorriak singer Fermín Muguruza remains musically active, too. He put out a "crossover record" with the band Dut, they mix dub, ragga, jungle, drum’n‘bass and punk.

Gor, with former Soinua people, is another new label. They have published records by old "cult bands" like La Polla or MCD, but also many new bands like Beer Mosh, Kaos Etiliko or Urtz.

The New York label "Grita" has specialized on "Latin Rock" and makes a lot of those records available for you American folks for reasonable prices. They have licensed the La Polla record "Bajo Presión" and Negu Gorriak's last output "Ideia Zabaldu" for the American market. They have a couple of more interesting bands like Todos Tus Muertos or Niños Con Bombas, that say that Basque bands are their key reference.