tropicália's coming-out party was the televised third brazilian pop music festival in october of 1967, though it would prove to be a moment of short-sighted shock and anger whose ultimate significance would not be recognized until later.

hard-line students and musical purists saw the new trend, with its electric guitars and foreign sounds, as nothing short of the usurpation of brazil's heritage by american imperialism.

despite the force of the movement, opponents still criticized it as being vague and without a clear political commitment, challenging some tropicalistas' idea that the purely aesthetic experience was in itself socially and politically revolutionary - public opinion ultimately moved to support the fresh approach that proved to be completely in tunes with the times.