Inútil

The song Inútil by Ultraje a Rigor is not just another track from their debut album: it’s the sharp blow that defined the sound of a band and, in passing, Brazilian rock of the 80s. Clocking in at exactly 3:36, the song is built on a riff that doesn’t ask permission to stick in your head, the kind of melody that sounds just as good in a home rehearsal as it does blasting from a bar speaker filled with people screaming the lyrics. What’s curious is that this wasn’t the original plan: the band arrived at the Nas Nuvens studio in São Paulo intending to record an album that, according to producer Pena Schmidt, was a direct provocation to the bands from Rio de Janeiro. The album’s title, Nós Vamos Invadir Sua Praia, makes it clear: it was the moment for the Paulistas to take over the territory previously dominated by groups from Rio de Janeiro, and Inútil became the unintentional anthem of that invasion.

The song emerged among the band’s early hits: the singles Inútil/Mim Quer Tocar and Eu Me Amo/Rebelde Sem Causa had already made it clear that Roger Moreira and his group had something different. With the original lineup — Roger on vocals and guitar, Leonardo Galasso on drums, Edgard Scandurra on lead guitar, and Maurício Defendi on bass — they recorded this album in 1985, and the result was historic: the album not only went platinum in Brazil, but it became the first national rock LP to receive that certification. What’s most striking is that Carlo "Carlinhos" Bartolini, a guest guitarist in these sessions, left the band before the recordings for their next work, Sexo!!, in 1987, were finished. But Inútil had already done its job: to be the cry of a generation that refused to apologize for existing.