Mecano

Mecano was a Spanish band . It existed officially from 1981 to 1998, with the members taking a break from 1992 to 1997. With an estimated 25 million records sold, the band is one of the most successful Spanish bands. It is seen as defining the music and fashion of the 1980s. Your often ambiguous texts should be jointly responsible for removing taboos from z. B. Homosexuality , drugs, alcohol etc. have been in Spain.

Band history

The band was founded in 1981 by the singer Ana Torroja and the brothers Ignacio "Nacho" Cano and José María Cano . Her first single was Hoy no me puedo levantar , it reached number nine in Spain. The following four singles could all reach at least fourth place in the charts, two of them even the top spot. The same applies to the first studio album Mecano . The two following albums were able to build on the success of their predecessor in terms of sales figures, but the third album only reached position ninth in the Spanish music charts . The style of the first creative phase from 1981 to 1985 can be found in the field of synthpop and the new romantic / new wave trend. The band is also seen as a representative of the Movida madrileña .

With the fourth studio album Entre el cielo y el suelo , the band turned more to pop and Latin music. This made a kind of comeback for the band , which also led to first placements in the Billboard Hot Latin Songs , the US singles chart for Latin American music. The album stayed in the Spanish charts for more than two years and eventually went triple platinum. With this album, Mecano was the first Spanish band to sell more than a million units of a single sound carrier.

Because of this success, the band decided to go outside their home country and Latin America. The fifth studio album Descanso dominical , first published by BMG Ariola , was released in other European countries in 1988 and was particularly successful in France and the Netherlands. This was also due to the fact that in 1989 and 1990 the song Hijo de la luna , published two years earlier in Spain, was also able to enter the charts in Germany and the Netherlands, where it even climbed to third place. There were later several cover versions of this song by other musicians, including one of the opera singer Montserrat Caballé . In 1998 the pop singer Loona achieved a number one hit in Germany with a cover version of this song . For the music video for the 1988 single La fuerza del destino , the group selected the then unknown, 14-year-old Penélope Cruz from more than 200 applicants as the leading actress.

The sixth and final studio album Aidalai , published in 1991, was able to build on the success of its predecessor and also entered the charts in Germany and Switzerland for the first time. In the Netherlands, however, the album was far less successful than its predecessor. In 1992, the last hit single came in Spain, El fallo positivo reached seventh place. Then the band gave a farewell tour on the occasion of the 1992 Summer Olympics and the Expo 92 . It was then announced that the band would take a break for two to three years in order to escape the stress of the previous years. In the following years, the group was quiet for the time being. Meanwhile, the band members, especially Ana Torroja, followed more or less successful solo careers.

In 1998 the compilation album Ana, José, Nacho was released , for the release of which the band recorded three new songs after a six-year break. The accompanying single El club de los humildes once again reached first place in the Spanish charts. Shortly afterwards the band split up for good.

On April 7, 2005, the musical Hoy no me puedo levantar , whose story is told using 32 hits by the band, premiered. It was written by Nacho Cano.

In 2009 the compilation Siglo XXI appeared , which also contained new songs. The previously unreleased single Un año más reached number 19 in Spain.

In 2012 a reunion of the band with new singles and a world tour was announced by several media . The band's management announced, however, that this was not intended. Since then, Ana Torroja has repeatedly rejected speculations about a possible reunification.

Discography

Albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)						Remarks
year	title	DE	CH	Latin	IT	FR	NL	Remarks
1982	Mecano	-	-	-	IT1 gold (47 weeks)IT	-	-
1983	¿Dónde está el país de las hadas?	-	-	-	IT1 (27 weeks) IT	-	-
1984	Ya viene el Sol	-	-	-	IT9 gold (24 weeks)IT	-	-
1986	Entre el cielo y el suelo	-	-	-	IT2 × 3 Triple platinum (114 weeks)IT	-	-
1988	Descanso dominical	-	CH- gold CH	-	IT1 × 11 Eleven times platinum (114 weeks)IT	FR7th platinum (57 weeks)FR	NL9 (18 weeks) NL
1991	Aidalai	DE93 (4 weeks) DE	CH29 (4 weeks) CH	-	IT1 × 10 Tenfold platinum (100 weeks)IT	FR21st × 2 Double gold (55 weeks)FR	NL43 (7 weeks) NL

gray hatching : no chart data available for this year

Live albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)						Remarks
year	title	DE	CH	Latin	IT	FR	NL	Remarks
1985	Mecano en concierto	-	-	-	IT61 (2 weeks) IT	-	-	Placement only when re-released in 2006

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Compilations

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)						Remarks
year	title	DE	CH	Latin	IT	FR	NL	Remarks
1989	20 grandes canciones	-	-	-	IT3 × 2 Double platinum (18 weeks)IT	-	-
1998	Ana, José, Nacho	-	-	Latin28 (11 weeks) Latin	IT1 × 3 Triple platinum (35 weeks)IT	FR4th gold (12 weeks)FR	-
2005	Obras completas	-	-	-	IT5 gold (17 weeks)IT	-	-
2005	Grandes éxitos	-	-	-	IT2 × 2 Double platinum (69 weeks)IT	-	-
2009	Siglo XXI	-	-	-	IT4th gold (40 weeks)IT	-	-
2013	Esencial Mecano	-	-	-	IT49 (20 weeks) IT	-	-

gray hatching : no chart data available for this year

Singles

Spanish speaking singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)				Remarks
year	Title album	DE	Latin	IT	NL	Remarks
1982	Hoy no me puedo levantar Mecano	-	-	IT9 (5 weeks) IT	-
	Perdido en mi habitación Mecano	-	-	IT2 (16 weeks) IT	-
	Me colé en una fiesta Mecano	-	-	IT1 (23 weeks) IT	-
	Maquillaje Mecano	-	-	IT4 (17 weeks) IT	-
1983	Barco a Venus ¿Dónde está el país de las hadas?	-	-	IT1 (19 weeks) IT	-
1983	La fiesta nacional ¿Dónde está el país de las hadas?	-	-	IT13 (7 weeks) IT	-
1984	Japón Ya viene el Sol	-	-	IT2 (15 weeks) IT	-
1984	Busco algo barato Ya viene el Sol	-	-	IT12 (16 weeks) IT	-
1985	Hawaii-Bombay Ya viene el Sol	-	-	IT11 (16 weeks) IT	-
1986	Ay qué pesado Entre el cielo y el suelo	-	Latin17 (9 weeks) Latin	IT22 (8 weeks) IT	-
	Cruz de navajas Entre el cielo y el suelo	-	Latin49 (1 week) Latin	IT7 (13 weeks) IT	-
	Me cuesta tanto olvidarte Entre el cielo y el suelo	-	-	IT29 (4 weeks) IT	-
1987	No es serio este cementerio Entre el cielo y el suelo	-	-	IT31 (3 weeks) IT	-
1987	Hijo de la luna Entre el cielo y el suelo	DE45 (17 weeks) DE	-	IT29 (10 weeks) IT	NL3 (10 weeks) NL	Publication: DE 1989, NL 1990
1988	No hay marcha en Nueva York Descanso dominical	-	-	IT17 (10 weeks) IT	-
1989	Los amantes Descanso dominical	-	Latin32 (4 weeks) Latin	-	-
1991	Dalai Lama Aidalai	-	-	IT19 (1 week) IT	-
1991	Tú Aidalai	-	-	-	NL36 (3 weeks) NL
1992	El fallo positivo Aidalai	-	-	IT7 (8 weeks) IT	-
1992	Una rosa es una rosa Aidalai	DE94 (1 week) DE	-	-	-
1998	El club de los humildes Ana, José, Nacho	-	-	IT1 (12 weeks) IT	-
2009	Un año more Siglo XXI	-	-	IT19 (3 weeks) IT	-

gray hatching : no chart data available for this year

French speaking singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChartsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)	Remarks
year	Title album	FR	Remarks
1990	Une femme avec une femme Descanso dominical (édition Française)	FR1 gold (23 weeks)FR
1991	Hijo de la luna (Dis-moi Lune d'Argent) Descanso dominical (édition Française)	FR6th silver (26 weeks)FR
1991	Nature morte (naturaleza muerta) Descanso dominical (édition Française)	FR39 (9 weeks) FR

Awards for music sales

Golden record

Switzerland Switzerland
- 1992: for the album Une femme avec une femme

Platinum record

Mexico Mexico
- 2006: for the album Grandes Éxitos

Note: Awards in countries from the chart tables or chart boxes can be found in these.

Country / Region	silver	gold	platinum	Sales	swell
Awards for music sales (country / region, awards, sales, sources)
France (SNEP)	silver1	4 × gold4th	platinum1	975,000	infodisc.fr snepmusique.com
Mexico (AMPROFON)	0! S.-	0! G-	platinum1	100,000	amprofon.com.mx
Switzerland (IFPI)	0! S.-	2 × gold2	0! P-	50,000	hitparade.ch
Spain (Promusicae)	0! S.-	4 × gold4th	31 × platinum31	3,230,000	elportaldemusica.es ES1 ES2 ES3 ES4
All in all	silver1	10 × gold10	33 × platinum33

Web links

Biography of the band at grupomecano.com
Official website

Individual evidence

↑ http://fotos.practicopedia.lainformacion.com/musica-y-baile/rock/como-es-la-historia-de-mecano-en-imagenes-14879
↑ ^a ^b http://de10.com.mx/top-10/2018/02/21/mecano-desde-la-censura-hasta-simbolo-polisexual-y-androgino
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Chart sources: DE CH US ES from 2005 FR1 FR2 NL albums NL singles
↑ ^a ^b https://www.allmusic.com/artist/mecano-mn0000403454/biography
↑ http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2005/04/22/madrid/1114155049.html
↑ https://elpais.com/cultura/2009/11/09/actualidad/1257721203_850215.html
↑ https://elpais.com/cultura/2011/11/25/actualidad/1322175601_850215.html
↑ http://www.latintimes.com/mecano-reunion-ana-torroja-says-no-reveals-who-she-wants-collaborate-318321
↑ http://jenesaispop.com/2017/10/03/309805/ana-torroja-ve-vez-mas-lejos-una-reunion-mecano/
↑ ^a ^b ^c Fernando Salaverri: Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959-2002 . 1st edition. Fundación Author, Madrid 2005, ISBN 84-8048-639-2 .

[1] ttp://fotos.practicopedia.lainformacion.com/musica-y-baile/rock/como-es-la-historia-de-mecano-en-imagenes-14879

[de10-2] ttp://de10.com.mx/top-10/2018/02/21/mecano-desde-la-censura-hasta-simbolo-polisexual-y-androgino

[charts-3] ↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Chart sources: DE CH US ES from 2005 FR1 FR2 NL albums NL singles

[allmusic-4] ttps://www.allmusic.com/artist/mecano-mn0000403454/biography

[5] ttp://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2005/04/22/madrid/1114155049.html

[6] ttps://elpais.com/cultura/2009/11/09/actualidad/1257721203_850215.html

[7] ttps://elpais.com/cultura/2011/11/25/actualidad/1322175601_850215.html

[8] ttp://www.latintimes.com/mecano-reunion-ana-torroja-says-no-reveals-who-she-wants-collaborate-318321

[9] ttp://jenesaispop.com/2017/10/03/309805/ana-torroja-ve-vez-mas-lejos-una-reunion-mecano/

[salaverri-10] Fernando Salaverri: Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959-2002 . 1st edition. Fundación Author, Madrid 2005, ISBN 84-8048-639-2 .