Latin Boogaloo for Beginners: New York's 1960s Soul-Latin Sound

In short: Wikipedia describes boogaloo, or Latin boogaloo, as Latin music and dance “popular in the United States in the 1960s” that “originated in New York City mainly by stateside Cubans and Puerto Ricans with African American music influences.” It calls the style “a fusion of popular African American jazz, rhythm and blues (R&B) and soul music with mambo and son montuno, with songs in both English and Spanish.” It says the term was “probably coined in about 1966 by Richie Ray and Bobby Cruz,” calls the Joe Cuba Sextet’s “Bang Bang” “the biggest boogaloo hit of the 1960s,” and lists Pete Rodríguez’s “I Like It Like That” among the hits. The “Boogaloo” article dates the end differently in different paragraphs: the dance craze “only lasted until 1968/69,” boogaloo “faded from popularity by the end of 1969,” and the craze “was mostly over by 1970.” Why it ended is “in dispute.” In the 2000s, Wikipedia says, Latin boogaloo “has seen a resurgence in popularity.”

If you have seen the word “boogaloo” on a Latin playlist or an old record sleeve and wondered how it differs from salsa or mambo, this is a good place to start. This post looks at where Latin boogaloo came from, the hits the sources name, and how it faded and came back, in plain English and in time order.

Please read this first: I am a curious local in Sapporo, not a musician or a dance instructor, and I am not affiliated with any studio or school. This post organizes what I read in the sources listed at the end. Music history is told in different ways, and the sources below don’t all date boogaloo’s story the same way, so if a teacher or DJ you trust explains it differently, follow their lead.

Latin boogaloo in a few words

Wikipedia’s article “Boogaloo” gives several other names for it: “bugalú (also: shing-a-ling, Latin boogaloo, Latin R&B).” It says American Bandstand “introduced the dance and the music to the mainstream American audience.”

	Latin boogaloo	What the sources say
Where	New York City	Wikipedia, “Boogaloo”
When	“Popular in the United States in the 1960s”	Wikipedia, “Boogaloo”
Who	“Mainly by stateside Cubans and Puerto Ricans with African American music influences”	Wikipedia, “Boogaloo”
The mix	“African American jazz, rhythm and blues (R&B) and soul music with mambo and son montuno”	Wikipedia, “Boogaloo”
Language	“Songs in both English and Spanish”	Wikipedia, “Boogaloo”
Famous songs	“Bang Bang” (Joe Cuba Sextet), “I Like It Like That” (Pete Rodríguez)	Wikipedia, “Boogaloo”
A close cousin	Latin soul, “occasionally used synonymously with boogaloo”	Wikipedia, “Latin soul”

One thing to know before searching: Wikipedia says that, except for the name, this dance “is unrelated to the boogaloo street dance from Oakland, California and the electric boogaloo, a style of dance which developed decades later under the influence of funk music and hip-hop dance.”

The sound: soul meets mambo

Wikipedia’s “Boogaloo” article says that in the 1950s and 1960s, African Americans in the United States listened to rock and roll, jump blues, R&B, doo-wop, and jazz. Latinos in New York City “shared these tastes,” but also listened to genres like mambo or cha cha chá. Puerto Ricans, Cubans, African Americans, and others mixed in clubs, “whose bands tried to find common musical ground.” The article calls boogaloo “a result of this search, a marriage of many styles including Cuban son montuno, guaguancó, guajira, guaracha, mambo, and American R&B and soul.” It adds that doo-wop “also left a sizable influence.”

On language, the same article says two things. Its opening says boogaloo had “songs in both English and Spanish,” and its history section says “boogaloo was the only Cuban-style rhythm which occasionally acquired English lyrics.”

If the Cuban side of that mix is new to you, my posts Mambo for Beginners: From Havana to New York’s Dance Floors and Son Cubano for Beginners: The Roots of Salsa in Eastern Cuba give the background.

A timeline of boogaloo

1963: the hits that came first

Wikipedia says that although boogaloo “did not become mainstream nationwide until later in the decade,” two early Top 20 hits came in 1963: Mongo Santamaría’s cover of Herbie Hancock’s “Watermelon Man” and Ray Barretto’s “El Watusi.” Inspired by these, “a number of bands began imitating their infectious rhythms (which were Latinized R&B), intense conga rhythms and clever novelty lyrics.”

1965: Joe Cuba’s first crossover hit

Wikipedia’s article on Joe Cuba says he was “widely regarded as the ‘Father of Latin Boogaloo’.” It says that in 1965 his Sextet “got their first crossover hit with the Latin and soul music fusion of ‘El Pito (I’ll Never Go Back to Georgia)’,” and that Cuba was “one of the key architects behind the emerging Latin boogaloo sound, which became a popular and influential Latin style in the latter half of the 1960s.”

1966: a name, a big hit, and the Palladium closes

• The name. The “Boogaloo” article says the use of “boogaloo” for a musical style “was probably coined in about 1966 by Richie Ray and Bobby Cruz.”
• “Bang Bang.” The two articles describe the song’s success in different ways (see the table below).
• The Palladium. The “Boogaloo” article says 1966 also “saw the closing of New York City’s Palladium Ballroom,” the home of big band mambo for years, when it lost its liquor license. It says the closing “marked the end of mainstream mambo, and boogaloo ruled the Latin charts for several years before salsa began to take over.”
• Joe Bataan. Wikipedia’s article on Joe Bataan says he formed his first band, Joe Bataan and the Latin Swingers, in 1966, and that his music was influenced by “the Latin boogaloo and African American doo-wop.” He signed with Fania Records in 1966 and released Gypsy Woman in 1967.

Source	What it says about “Bang Bang”
Wikipedia, “Boogaloo”	“The biggest boogaloo hit of the 1960s was ‘Bang Bang’ by the Joe Cuba Sextet, which sold over one million copies in 1966”
Wikipedia, “Joe Cuba”	In 1966 the band “scored a hit on the United States Billboard Hot 100” with “Bang! Bang!”; it “peaked at No. 63 on the Hot 100, and No. 21 on the R&B chart”

The first is about sales, and the second is about chart positions, so the two articles measure the song’s success in different ways.

1967: “I Like It Like That”

Wikipedia’s article on the song says “I Like It Like That” “is a song written by Tony Pabon and Manny Rodriguez.” It says the song “was initially a hit for boogaloo musician Pete Rodriguez in 1967, and was one of the most influential boogaloo songs of the era.” The article on Pete Rodriguez says his band, Pete Rodríguez y Su Conjunto, “specialized in Latin boogaloo,” and that “I Like It Like That” (1967) “made it to the national Billboard charts.” The “Boogaloo” article simply calls it “a famous boogaloo song.”

Late 1960s: everyone records a few boogaloos

The “Boogaloo” article says Latin boogaloo “was popular enough that almost every major and minor Latin dance artist of the time recorded at least a few boogaloos on their albums,” including mambo-era veterans such as Eddie Palmieri with “Ay Que Rico” and Tito Puente with “Hit the Bongo.” It also says the music spread through the wider Latin music world, “especially in Puerto Rico,” and to scenes in Peru, Colombia, Panama, and elsewhere.

Most of the bands, the same article says, “were mostly led by young, sometimes even teenage musicians from New York’s Puerto Rican community.” It quotes René López calling Latin boogaloo “the first Nuyorican music.” (Joe Bataan is on that list of bands; his own article describes him as a Filipino-American born to a Filipino father and an African-American mother, who grew up in Spanish Harlem.)

How boogaloo faded

The “Boogaloo” article gives three slightly different endings in different paragraphs:

Where in the article	What it says
On the spread of boogaloo	“The dance craze only lasted until 1968/69”
On the end of its reign	“The boogaloo faded from popularity by the end of 1969”
On the older bands	“The craze was mostly over by 1970”

On why it ended, the article says the cause “is in dispute” and gives two views:

• Pressure from the establishment. “According to several sources, jealous older Latin music artists colluded with record labels (in particular, Fania Records), radio DJs, and dance hall promoters to blacklist boogaloo bands from venues and radio.” Another paragraph says the craze ended “perhaps because of the hostility of established bands and key booking agents; the reason is uncertain.”
• A fad that ran its course. “Alternatively, it was a fad that had run out of steam.”

The article says the 2016 documentary We Like It Like That explores the blacklisting view. It adds that “the explosive success of salsa in the early 1970s” brought former giants like Tito Puente and the Palmieri brothers back to the top, “while most Latin boogaloo bands went out of business (Joe Bataan being a notable exception).” Wikipedia’s “Latin soul” article says that genre, although short-lived, “had a very great influence on the growing salsa movement which would dominate the New York Latin music scene in the 1970s.”

The revival

The “Boogaloo” article says that “in the 2000s, Latin boogaloo has seen a resurgence in popularity, with artists like Bataan experiencing renewed interest in their Latin boogaloo output, and new groups emerging to form a Latin boogaloo revival.” It calls boogaloo “an intense, if brief, musical movement” and says “the music is still highly regarded today.”

Two later moments from the sources:

1. 2017: the Joe Bataan article says he collaborated with Spanglish Fly, “the boogaloo revival group based in New York City,” on a song for their album Ay Que Boogaloo!
2. 2018: the article on “I Like It Like That” says Pete Rodríguez’s recording was sampled in “I Like It” by Cardi B, featuring Bad Bunny and J Balvin.

Tips for beginners

These are my own suggestions, not rules from the sources.

• Start with the songs the sources name. Listen to “Bang Bang,” “I Like It Like That,” and “El Pito,” and notice where English and Spanish appear.
• Listen for both sides of the mix. Try to hear the R&B or soul feel and the Latin percussion, such as the congas, in the same track.
• Compare with mambo. Play a mambo recording and a boogaloo back to back, and listen for how the feel changes.
• Ask a teacher about the steps. The sources say little about how the dance was done, so a teacher is the best guide if you want to move to it.

Latin boogaloo grew out of New York’s 1960s clubs, where soul and R&B met mambo and son montuno, peaked with hits like “Bang Bang” and “I Like It Like That,” and faded around the end of the decade before coming back in the 2000s. Next time a DJ plays one, you will know the story behind that sound.

FAQ

What is Latin boogaloo?

Wikipedia describes boogaloo as Latin music and dance “popular in the United States in the 1960s” that originated in New York City, “mainly by stateside Cubans and Puerto Ricans with African American music influences.” It calls it a fusion of African American jazz, R&B, and soul with mambo and son montuno, with songs in English and Spanish. Wikipedia says it is unrelated to the later Oakland boogaloo street dance and electric boogaloo, except for the name.

What are the most famous boogaloo songs?

Wikipedia’s “Boogaloo” article calls the Joe Cuba Sextet’s “Bang Bang” “the biggest boogaloo hit of the 1960s,” saying it sold over one million copies in 1966; Joe Cuba’s article says it peaked at No. 63 on the Billboard Hot 100. Wikipedia calls Pete Rodríguez’s “I Like It Like That” (1967) a famous boogaloo song and “one of the most influential boogaloo songs of the era.”

Why did boogaloo end?

Wikipedia’s “Boogaloo” article says the dance craze lasted until 1968/69 and that boogaloo faded from popularity by the end of 1969; another paragraph says the craze was mostly over by 1970. It says the cause “is in dispute”: several sources say older artists, record labels, DJs, and promoters blacklisted boogaloo bands, while others see a fad that ran out of steam. It says boogaloo saw a revival in the 2000s.

Sources checked: Wikipedia, “Boogaloo”, Wikipedia, “Joe Cuba”, Wikipedia, “Pete Rodriguez (boogaloo musician)”, Wikipedia, “I Like It Like That (Pete Rodriguez song)”, Wikipedia, “Joe Bataan”, Wikipedia, “Latin soul”. Checked on October 8, 2026. Music history is described in different ways by different writers. Corrections are always welcome.