In 1982 if you didn’t own this album, you were uncool. Menudo ruled the early 80’s and sold-out concerts wherever they went. This album contained some of the best hits of Menudo of all time, and might even be close to being my all-time favorite record. If someone were to tell me this wasn’t in their Top 5 albums, I would just think they were plain crazy. Just in the Reencuentro concert tour, eight of the ten songs were sung.
The album marked the debut of Charlie Masso, who replaced famous member Rene Farrait that year. His addition to Menudo’s history is a grand one. He had one of the longest lives next to Ricky Melendez. He also has the largest number of albums recorded by any member of the group since he was the bridge between the Golden era, all the way to the rock era.
Do you think Menudo Por Amor could be one of the best albums of the ’80s?
Musically, this album is far superior to any album during that golden era that many fans love. Two of the songs from this album have gone on to be re-recorded by others with an updated sound. “Quiero Rock” was covered by the metal hairband, Moderatto. Ex-Menudo member, Robi Rosa recorded “Cuando Pasara” for his album, Frio. For those of you who don’t pay attention to the songwriters of albums, you might find this piece of trivia fun. The writer of “Cuando Pasara,” “Formula,” and “Susana” is Luis G. Escolar. Listed as L. Gomez Escolar, he wrote music quite a bit of music for Ricky Martin’s A Medio Vivir album, including the popular song, “Maria.”
One of the reasons I love owning the actual media formats of records is because I like to look for interesting facts and correlations between various albums and artists. There is also a version of “Dulces Besos” that Hermanos Duncan in Panama recorded, which I am dying to hear. As you can see, Menudo’s Por Amor album could be considered one of the most celebrated albums of the band’s career.
What’s your opinion of Menudo Por Amor? Better yet, what do you think is the best Menudo album of all time?
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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This record is certainly in my list of favorites. It’s hard to pinpoint an exact song that is better than the others because this album, as you wrote, is one big hit after another. Now I have to find the cover version of Quiero Rock.
https://youtu.be/4YJ7kN9rPAM Here is the video of just the song.