In the ’80s, Menudo was the king of boybands. From 1983 to 1986, the group had released eleven albums in four languages – five if you count the single that is bilingual English/Japanese. One could say that is awesome, but honestly, it could be your downfall. Before 1983, Menudo focused on Latin America and Puerto Rico but the US Latin market was prime for the taking as there were almost no Latin artists hitting American radio. It made sense to move toward the US for Menudo. It was great for business and for music. Menudo opened the doors and eyes to Latin performers and invade the US.
It wasn’t long before Menudomania was literally everywhere. So why not take Menudo everywhere too? Oversaturation can be the downfall for artists and I think that is just what happened. Menudo no long was a commodity; the greed to make as much money as quickly as possible was on the rise. Edgardo Diaz didn’t know when the gravy train would end.
In the summer of 1986, Menudo released Can’t Get Enough, the group’s third English album. The album didn’t even get a US promotion before members began leaving the group. The album marked the final recordings of both Charlie Masso and Robby Rosa (Draco Rosa). I don’t think the plan was for both of those members to leave before the “Summer In The Streets” tour, but the lack of luster for this album, the saturation of the band, and the greed of management…This felt like the end of Menudo.
By far the worst musical album, Can’t Get Enough, featured half English versions of tracks from the album, Refrescante, with the other half brand new tracks. “Summer In The Streets,” the title track just didn’t have the marketability that songs like “Hold Me” had to grab a stronghold on the US market. While they did get a little promotion, they were still riding the wave of 1985’s success with their second English album. “We Have A Song,” “Tell Me How You Feel” and “Old Enough To Love” contain horrible lyrics and musically, just were not up to par with what Menudo represented.
Even the English translated songs of “Jumpin’ Over (Salta La Valla)”, “Stay With Me (Besame)”, “Marie I Need You (Amiga Mia)”, and “I Can’t Spend Another Day (Con Un Beso Y Una Flor)” were not horrible, but what do you expect from translated songs. They literally are never good. But when you have the manly Charlie Masso singing “Jumpin Over Jumpin Over, that wall, that wall…,” I sorted feel embarrassed for him. They could have given one of the most important members of the group a good send-off with a beautiful ballad or even a brand new song that could show off his talents.
Shortly after the album was released, Charlie Masso left the group, and his replacement, Ralphy Rodriguez came into the group. Shortly after that, Robby decided to leave. This left Menudo’s “Summer In The Streets” tour to wait almost a whole year. While ultimately the tour did very well in 1987, Can’t Get Enough felt like the end of Menudo’s reign on boyband music.
Since that day, I have been study Latin pop and rock music and have become a Latin pop music historian through the publishing of articles, fanzine, and websites. My goal is to teach people about Latin pop music and the history behind it with my website, Siempre En Domingo.
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