Titãs (; ) are a Brazilian rock band from São Paulo. Though they primarily are classified as a rock band, the band have also experimented with genres such as new wave, punk rock, ska, grunge, MPB and electronic music throughout their career.
Titãs's initial nine member lineup was composed of vocalists Branco Mello, Ciro Pessoa, and Arnaldo Antunes, guitarists Marcelo Fromer and Tony Bellotto, keyboardist and vocalist Sérgio Britto, multi instrumentalist and vocalist Paulo Miklos, bassist and vocalist Nando Reis, and drummer André Jung, with each member (except for Jung, Fromer, and initially Bellotto), alternating between lead and backing vocals. By 1985, both Pessoa and Jung had left the band, with Charles Gavin replacing Jung shortly after the release of the band's debut album Titãs.
Following a string of critically acclaimed albums, most notably Cabeça Dinossauro (1986), and Jesus não Tem Dentes no País dos Banguelas (1987), Antunes left the band in 1992 to pursue a solo career. The band continued as a seven piece, releasing Acústico MTV in 1997 and Volume Dois in 1998, both of which were commercially successful. Fromer died in 2001 after being hit by a motorist, and Reis left the band a year later. Gavin and Miklos left in 2010 and 2016 respectively, turning the band into a trio. From 2023 to 2024, Reis, Gavin, Miklos, and Antunes briefly rejoined the band as touring members.
Titãs are one of the most successful rock bands in Brazil, having sold more than 6.3 million albums as of 2005. The band's songs have been covered by several well-known Brazilian artists and international singers.Titãs' covers by other artists at País dos Banguelas They were awarded a Latin Grammy in 2009 and have won four Imprensa Trophies for Best Band.
History 1981-1982: Background and previous activities Most of the band members (except for guitarist Tony Bellotto, who came from Assis to live in São Paulo while studying Architecture in Santos; and drummer Charles Gavin) met at Colégio Equipe in São Paulo at the end of the seventies. The first to be enrolled was vocalist/keyboardist Sérgio Britto, followed by vocalists Arnaldo Antunes and Paulo Miklos and lastly vocalists Branco Mello, Ciro Pessoa and Nando Reis and guitarist Marcelo Fromer.
Most of the members were in other projects prior to the band's formation. Antunes and Miklos were part of Aguilar & Banda Performática; Reis was the percussionist and crooner in Sossega Leão; Mello, Fromer and Bellotto formed Trio Mamão. Fromer was also part of the band Maldade with Fernando Salém, Beto Freore and Macalé (unrelated to Jards) and Reis was a member of Camarões with Cao Hamburger and Paulo Monteiro, among others; the band played "O Cheiro da Beterraba" (written by Reis's cousin Vange Leonel) on the album A Feira da Vila, with finalists of the second Festival da Vila Madalena (in the same album, Miklos sang "Desenho", which he wrote with Antunes).
1982-1982: Formation and first shows After watching performances by Novos Baianos, Alceu Valença, Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil at the school's courtyard, the members started a band and recorded a tape with pick-up lines. The group's initial lineup originally included members such as Nuno Ramos, who would later become an artist.
Their first live performance was in 1981 at an event at the Mário de Andrade Library called A Idade da Pedra Jovem (The Young Stone Age). The group presented a pop opera centered around Johnny Cristell, who was supposed to be some sort of Brazilian Tommy. In this first version of the band, Miklos and Britto alternated between bass and keyboards, Reis played the drums, Bellotto and Fromer played the guitars, and there were six lead vocalists (including Antunes and Pessoa) and five backing vocalists (still not including Mello, who was getting married at the time).
After a trip to Rio de Janeiro, where he closely followed the rise of his then brother-in-law Billy Forghieri's band Blitz, Pessoa suggested to Bellotto that they officially formed the Titãs do Iê-Iê. The name has its roots in their early sessions, at Bellotto's parent's home library, where there were books such as Titãs da Ciência, Titãs do Esporte, Titãs da Literatura (Science Titans, Sports Titans, Literature Titans), among others.
Their first shows happened on 15 and 16 October 1982, at Sesc Pompeia. It was described by Mello as a "damned session" due to the session being held late at night. (after midnight). During the band's initial sessions, the band's attire included make-up and colorful suits. The first line-up under their official name had nine members, six of them being vocalists: Arnaldo Antunes, Branco Mello and Ciro Pessoa were solely vocalists; Paulo Miklos sang and shared the bass with Nando Reis and the keyboards with Sérgio Britto; Britto sang and played the keyboards; Reis played the bass and sang; Tony Bellotto and Marcelo Fromer played the electric and the acoustic guitar respectively and André Jung played the drums. The nine-member band would usually go on stage with about 30 original songs.
After these initial performances at Sesc, the group embarked in a city tour around alternative venues such as Lira Paulistana, Hong Kong (by Júlio Barroso), Napalm and the gay bar Village Station. In the meantime, they would distribute some demo tapes, some of which ended up in the hands of Lulu Santos, Liminha, Billy Forghieri and the program Fábrica do Som. Both live and in studio, they were playing later hits such as "Bichos Escrotos", "Marvin", "Sonho Com Você" and "Sonífera Ilha".
1984-1985: Departures of Ciro Pessoa and André Jung and first album In 1984, Pessoa left the band, unwilling to exchange the local night clubs for popular TV shows. He also had a hard time with Jung, whom he deemed incapable of playing rock'n'roll; another version of the story behind his split with the group is that the tensions between the two culminated with him being asked to leave.
Soon after, the band signed with the WEA label to record their first album, Titãs, produced by Pena Schimdt, and featuring songs previously recorded with Pessoas's vocals. By then the dropped the "iê-iê" part of their name because it was usually mispronounced as "iê-iê-iê" by speakers or simply ignored. In order to sign the group, the label had to agree not to release any singles before the album, because the group didn't want to be represented by a single song. Although poorly promoted and hardly a success, the band spawned their first hit: "Sonífera Ilha", later recorded by singer Moraes Moreira. Following the release, Reis briefly left the band, willing to focus on another group he played at (salsa act Sossega Leão, in which he was a percussionist and crooner), but two weeks later he changed his mind and was accepted back.
After a show in Rio de Janeiro during the New Year celebrations from 1984 to 1985, Titãs announced to André Jung that they would go on with another drummer. They chose Charles Gavin, who had just left Ira! and was rehearsing with RPM. Mello would later admit that Jung was isolated within the band; the drummer, however, defined his firing during New Year as "cruelty" and "stab in the back". Two days later, back in São Paulo sooner than planned, he ended up invited by roommate Nasi to join Ira!, from where Gavin was coming.
In 1985, their second album, Televisão, produced by Lulu Santos, was released with tighter arrangements than their debut album. Not only was the title track a great hit, the album was more heavily promoted than the first one and brought more opportunities to the group. Still, it sold below expectations.
1985-1989: Into the spotlight Around the mid eighties, the band joined the circuit of TV presentations, including Chacrinha. They would sometimes perform five times a day and wouldn't always be able to have all members together, because their cars would sometimes get lost amidst the complex logistics.
In November 1985, Tony Bellotto and Arnaldo Antunes were arrested for heroin traffic and transportation. It is considered by the band as the climax of their first crisis, started with the first two albums low sales. Also, the episode made so much of an impact in the band that the next album, Cabeça Dinossauro, released in June 1986, contained a lot of tracks criticizing public institutions ("Estado Violência" and "Polícia"), as well as other "pillars" of the Brazilian society and indeed society in general ("Igreja" and "Família"). The heavy and punk-influenced rhythms and the forceful lyrics, characteristic of the band in this phase, are fully represented in this album which is considered by the critics one of the best works of the group and one of the landmarks of the Brazilian rock.
Jesus não Tem Dentes no País dos Banguelas, released in the end of 1987, continued in the same vein as the previous album in tracks like "Nome aos Bois", "Lugar Nenhum" and "Desordem", however adding samplers in tracks like "Corações e Mentes", "Todo Mundo quer Amor", "Comida" and "Diversão". After some international performances, the band recorded some of their hits in live Montreux Festival and released Go Back in 1988. The biggest hit to come out of Go Back was a live version of the song "Marvin" which is a re-invented version of "Patches" by Clarence Carter made famous by Elvis. Still in 1988, they guest performed on the song "Tempo" (written by Antunes and Miklos) of Sandra de Sá's 1988 self-titled album.
The producer Liminha (a former adjunct member of Os Mutantes) was always an important associate of the band since Cabeça Dinossauro, and this association arrived to its climax in Õ Blésq Blom (1989), one of the most popular productions of the band by that time. Some of the prominence tracks: "Miséria", "Flores", "O Pulso" and "32 Dentes". One of the prominent features of this work was the special guest appearance of a couple of improvisors, called Mauro and Quitéria, discovered by the band at a beach in Recife.
1990-1995: Antunes' departure and Jack Endino era The band had arrived to a decisive point in its history and the next album, Tudo ao Mesmo Tempo Agora marks a strong yaw at the musicians' style, searching for heavier, alternative and authorial sound, along with scatological lyrics. The members themselves produced the album.
Unhappy with the new direction taken by the band, Antunes left for a solo career on 15 December 1992, although he would continue to write occasional songs with them. The following album, Titanomaquia, in 1993, continued the previous work in a way, with heavy instrumentation and aggressive lyrics, only now produced by Jack Endino, producer of important bands like Nirvana, which contributed for the grunge-influenced sound.
In 1995 the band decided to take a break for one year during which many of its members decided to work solo. Miklos and Reis released their debut solo efforts, Paulo Miklos and 12 de Janeiro, respectively; Britto and Mello formed Kleiderman; and Bellotto wrote his first book, Bellini e a Esfinge.
The band released Domingo in the end of 1995, again with production by Endino.
1997-1999: Acoustic and tribute efforts
The band's commercial peak was reached once they released the commemorative work Acústico MTV (MTV Unplugged), their most successful album to date, released in 1997, which sold 1,7 million copies. Recorded Live, Acústico MTV not only revisited their career up to that point but it also had a song which became an immediate hit named "Pra dizer Adeus" (originally from Televisão). It also had a number of guest performers, including former member Arnaldo Antunes.
This record was followed by Volume Dois (1998), modeled in the same way of their unplugged album, only recorded in studio; and cover album As Dez Mais (1999), which did not sell well and was panned by critics, despite "Aluga-se" and "Pelados em Santos" becoming hits.