GNR

In the early 1980s GNR helped launch Portugal’s rock movement by steering toward spare pop/rock textures and eventually ranked among the country’s veteran musical landmarks. Their uncommonly poetic lyrics, carried by eccentric pop rhythms, steadily enlarged the group’s following. Rehearsals began in 1979 in Oporto with guitarist Alexandre Soares, bassist Vítor Rua and drummer Toli César Machado. The next year the trio issued its debut single, the Portuguese classic “Portugal na CEE” (“Portugal on the EEC”), whose political message also opened fresh routes for the emerging local rock scene. Vocalist Rui Reininho joined in 1981, and the following year the band’s first album, Independança, reached stores with disappointing sales. After internal clashes Vítor Rua departed and spent years attempting to control the group’s name and force its dissolution; Jorge Romão took over on bass that same year. The second album, Defeitos Especiais, appeared in 1984 and again charted modestly. A well-received 1985 concert in Spain preceded the third release, Os Homens Não se Querem Bonitos, which succeeded chiefly through the single “Dunas.” Momentum built further with 1986’s Psicopátria, whose hit “Efectivamente” became another enduring anthem. Alexandre Soares exited in 1987 and was replaced by Zeze Garcia just as GNR played its first American dates for the Portuguese community in New Jersey. The live album GNR -- In Vivo arrived in 1990, documenting the band’s performances at Lisbon’s Coliseu dos Recreios nearly a year earlier. Rock in Rio Douro, issued in 1992, became the breakthrough, holding the top of the Portuguese national charts for more than nine months; that same year the Oporto band became one of the few Portuguese acts to sell out a stadium, drawing over 40,000 fans to Lisbon’s Estádio de Alvalade. Sob Escuta in 1994, Mosquito in 1998 and Popless in 2000 kept the group’s profile intact.