Stuff You Gotta Watch: Break It All
Every once in a while, a music documentary is so captivating and informative you find yourself constantly hitting pause so that you can take notes and make a playlist later. That’s the case with the six-part series Break It All (Rompan Todo in the original Spanish), which details the fascinating history of Latin American rock from the 1950s to the 2010s through first-person testimonies of musicians, producers, and DJs.
The journey begins with Ritchie Valens’ 1958 hit “La Bamba” and traces a comprehensive and immersive trajectory that highlights groundbreaking artists like Los Jaivas, Almendra, Tanguito, Manal, Los Saicos, Aterciopelados, Café Tacvba, and many more. Needless to say, social and political contextualization play a key part in this narrative: “In many ways, we’re not telling the story of rock in Latin America but we’re telling the story of Latin America, through the point of view of rock,” series creator Nicolás Entel told NPR in 2020. As such, Break It All not only discloses the immense role Latin American rock played in terms of a broader cultural revolution, but also offers a singular perspective of world history through the eyes of those who helped soundtrack it.
Review by Ana Leorne. Check out the full archive of the Stuff You Gotta Watch column.