Movida Madrileña is the Spanish music-and-culture movement that erupted in Madrid after Franco's 1975 death, mixing new wave, synth-pop, and punk with a specifically Spanish shot of newly permitted sexual and political freedom. Instrumentation follows the direct influence of Depeche Mode, Blondie, and Talking Heads: synths, drum machines, electric guitar, bass, vocals, in five- or six-piece line-ups. Tempos are 120-140 BPM upbeat four-on-the-floor with some punk-tempo tracks. Lyrics are in Spanish; the subject matter of adolescence, sex, urban night life, and — notably — gay and lesbian visibility runs distinctively hotter than in contemporary Spanish rock. Pedro Almodóvar's films from the same period are the movement's parallel visual document.

Franco died on 20 November 1975, and the 1978 Spanish Constitution restored democracy. Forty years of dictatorship censorship suddenly ended, and Madrid's youth erupted. Kaka de Luxe (formed 1977, including future Alaska, Nacho Canut, and Fernando Márquez) was the first spark; after its dissolution its members formed Alaska y los Pegamoides (1979-82), Radio Futura (1979-1992), and Nacha Pop (1978-88). Around 1980-82 Madrid's mayor Enrique Tierno Galván ('the Old Professor,' Socialist Party) formally backed the movement as city cultural policy; the Rock-Ola club and La Vía Láctea bar became the movement's nightlife hubs. Filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar (born 1949; Law of Desire, 1987; Dark Habits, 1983) sat at the movement's centre — his films visualised Movida's aesthetic. Mecano (formed 1981; the Cano brothers plus Ana Torroja) took a more polished pop direction; their 1986 'Hijo de la Luna' became an international hit, and their 1988 'Mujer contra Mujer' — a tender ballad about a lesbian couple — was formally radical for its time.

Mecano's 'Mujer contra Mujer' (1988) delivers a lesbian love song entirely without moral commentary, in Ana Torroja's restrained, gentle voice — a formally radical act in the Spain of 1988, and the track landed as a hit in Mexico and Argentina before Spain caught up. Radio Futura's 'Escuela de Calor' (1984) captures Santiago Auserón's urban Madrid Spanish over springing synth-bass — the movement's 'sophisticated cosmopolitan' pole. Nacha Pop's 'Chica de Ayer' (1980) is Antonio Vega's guitar-pop breakup anthem, the generation's shared heartbreak reference. Alaska y los Pegamoides' 'Bailando' (1982) is the punkiest pole — cheap synth, Olvido 'Alaska' Gara's detached deadpan delivery, all raw energy.

One track: Mecano, 'Hijo de la Luna' (1986) — the international breakout. Then Radio Futura, 'Escuela de Calor' (1984); Nacha Pop, 'Chica de Ayer' (1980); Alaska y los Pegamoides, 'Bailando' (1982); Mecano, 'Mujer contra Mujer' (1988). Watch Pedro Almodóvar's Law of Desire (1987) alongside to see the Madrid nights the songs came from.

'Movida' is Spanish for 'shake-up' or 'commotion,' street slang for 'something happening' or informally 'a drug transaction' — the young Madrid slang of the late 1970s got picked up as the movement's name. Alaska (Olvido Gara, born 1963) was born in Mexico and moved to Madrid at 13; her career runs from Kaka de Luxe through Alaska y los Pegamoides, Alaska y Dinarama (1982-89), and Fangoria (1989-present), unbroken. She has been a public LGBTQ ally throughout her career. Almodóvar himself performed in a punk cabaret duo (Almodóvar & McNamara) before his filmmaking took off, roughly 1980-82. Mecano's Cano brothers (Nacho and José María) both studied theoretical physics before becoming musicians, and their synth arrangements' mathematical precision reflects that training.