Los Lobos

Many bands find success by curating a single sound, but Los Lobos isn’t like most bands. During the same weekend that The Rolling Stones entertained 47,000 at the Cleveland Browns Stadium, I watched them play five minutes down the road at the Music Box.

If you’re not familiar with Los Lobos, let me tell you that they are one of the most adaptable, changeable bands that has ever existed. When you think you like one of their genres, they’ve already moved on to another. Made famous by their Richie Valens cover, La Bamba, they’ve also mastered other genres like Americana, zydeco, and the blues. They should be called the chameleons, not the wolves.

When they reached Bamba fame in 1987, Los Lobos did exactly what you’re not supposed to do: they drastically changed their sound. However, while they might not have a following that competes with the Stones’ (I mean, who does?), they have managed to make a living from being musicians for over five decades. Fans immediately recognize their music, yelling requests at live events for songs that stretch across all their musical styles.

It makes you wonder what a cohesive identity consists of when you’re trying to build recognition and affinity, especially when you’re told as marketers that it’s all about consistency: consistent messaging, consistent visuals, consistent experiences. Los Lobos’ 50-year-long career is a reminder that consistency doesn’t always mean sameness. Los Lobos is consistent, but by being consistently innovative, authentic, and surprising. This allows them to continually delight the same audience, even if the audience ends up being smaller than those of other, more “mainstream” bands.

We don’t all need to be behemoths.

(I do also like the Stones.)