ABSTRACT
What is Chicano rock? First we have to understand “Chicano”: as a word, a concept, an expression of a people’s history. Nobody is sure of the exact genesis of the term, although it can be traced back to the state of Chihuahua in Mexico, where the upper classes used it as a term of contempt for the poor. But “Chicano!” as an epithet was transformed into “Chicano!” as a statement of pride and defiance by student activists in the sixties. Where Hispanic, Mexican-American, and Latino are neutral, purely descriptive words-census talk-Chicano not only says what you are but that you’re proud to be it. It doesn’t mean Latino in general but the Southwest in particular. The best of many worlds rolled into one.
