Mamonas Assassinas

Mamonas Assassinas
Origin	Guarulhos, São Paulo, Brazil
Genres	Comedy rock, heavy metal, hard rock, progressive rock, alternative metal
Years active	1994–1996
Labels	EMI
Associated acts	Utopia
Past members
Dinho Samuel Reoli Júlio Rasec Sérgio Reoli Bento Hinoto

Mamonas Assassinas (translated as "Murderous Castor oil plants") was a satirical Brazilian rock band. Their lyrics, music and live performances were as famous as their tragical end: on March 2, 1996, the plane in which they were crashed into the Cantareira mountain range, near São Paulo, killing all band members.

The band's name carries a double-entendre as, in Portuguese mamonas can be either the name of the Castor oil plant, which contains the highly toxic comount ricin (their logo incorporated a castor bean) or the augmentative for mamas, meaning breasts (which were prominently pictured on the album cover). The band even translated the name into English as "Killer Big Breasts".^{[citation needed]}

Mamonas Assassinas members employed a humorous mixture between a wide range of styles. They often borrowed elements from other music, among which were the main riff of the Portuguese Vira ("Vira-Vira"), Northeastern Brazilian rhythms like forró ("Jumento Celestino"), Mexican music ("Pelados em Santos"), heavy metal ("Débil Metal"), sertanejo ("Bois Don't Cry"), and even pagode ("Lá Vem o Alemão"). This combination can be easily checked at their videos, where various references to many cultures were found.

History

Early years and major era

The band started its activities in 1989 without Dinho, in a band called Utopia, performing covers of Legião Urbana and Rush. Soon Dinho was incorporated, and Utopia performed in the suburbs of São Paulo. They even did released an album, but it sold less than 100 copies.^[1] The group was critically acclaimed with their first album and as soon as they realized that satirical lyrics were much well-received by the audience, they decided to change their name. Their first demo was listened by Rafael, son of the artistic director of EMI-Odeon, João Augusto Soares. João Augusto hired the band afterwards.

The plane crash

The band's successful 8-month career came to an end along with all band members' lives, on March 2, 1996, due to a plane crash. After a show in Brasília, the band was flying to São Paulo-Guarulhos International Airport, in Guarulhos. The aircraft was a Learjet LR-25D.^[2] The jet was on final approach to land on the runway 09R,^[2] but went-around. As it flew around the runway for a second attempt to land, it crashed into the Cantareira mountain range, at 23:16, instantly killing all crew and passengers.

After the disaster

After the band's sudden end, their label released one live album and one posthumous album. They continued to be very famous in Brazil, and kept being influential to the culture. They were, for instance, parodied several times by the humorous site [Charges].^{[3][4][5][6][7][8]}

Members

All of them were born in Guarulhos, except Dinho, who was born in Irecê, a town from Bahia state.

• Alecsander Alves (known as Dinho) - vocals
• Alberto Hinoto (Bento Hinoto) - guitar
• Samuel Reis de Oliveira (Samuel Reoli; "Reoli" is a contraction of the last names Reis and Oliveira) - bass guitar
• Júlio César Barbosa (Júlio Rasec; Rasec is "César" spelled backwards) - keyboards, backing vocals
• Sérgio Reis de Oliveira (Sérgio Reoli; Samuel's older brother) - drums

Discography

Studio albums

Year	Album
1992	A Fórmula do Fenômeno, as Utopia Released: 1992 Label: Independent
1995	Mamonas Assassinas Released: 1995 Label: EMI

Compilation albums

Year	Album
1998	Atenção, Creuzebek: A Baixaria Continua (1998, posthumous album) Released: 1998 Label: EMI

Live albums

Year	Album
1998	Mamonas Ao Vivo (2006, posthumous album) Released: September 24, 2006 Label: EMI

Singles

Year	Single	Album
1995	"Pelados em Santos"	Mamonas Assassinas
	"Robocop Gay"	Mamonas Assassinas
	"Vira-Vira"	Mamonas Assassinas
	"1406"	Mamonas Assassinas

References

1. ^ Mamonas Assassinas profile at CliqueMusic
2. ^ ^{a b} "Acidentes Aéreos - Mamonas Assassinas" (in Portuguese). http://www.acidentes.org/mamonas_assassinas.htm. Retrieved 2008-03-31. 
3. ^ Charges.com.br - Indecisos - Bois Don't Cry
4. ^ Charges.com.br - Elias - Lá Vem o Alemão
5. ^ Charges.com.br - Português canta Vira, vira
6. ^ Charges.com.br - Telespectador do BBB e da Casa - Vira-Vira
7. ^ Charges.com.br - Marombeira canta - Robocop Gay
8. ^ Charges.com.br Cariocas cantam - Sábado de Sol

External links

• Cometa Mamonas - Unofficial website, currently out or service.
• Band's profile at CliqueMusic (Portuguese)