Jovem Guarda (Portuguese for "young guard") was a Brazilian musical television show first aired by Rede Record in 1965, though the term soon expanded so as to designate the entire movement and style surrounding it. The members of the program were singers who had been influenced by the American rock n' roll of the late 1950s and British Invasion bands of the 1960s, though the music was often softer and more naïve, with light, romantic lyrics aimed at teenagers.
The style became popularly known as "iê-iê-iê", a term that, like French yé-yé, is most likely based on the frequent "yeah" cries heard in songs of the period (for instance, the Beatles' "She loves you/Yeah yeah yeah"). Iê-iê-iê was often considered a lesser genre, inferior to the more sophisticated bossa nova and MPB music of the period. Jovem Guarda also became a lucrative business thanks to merchandise that explored its theme, and even a couple of themed motion pictures were shot during the period, thus reinforcing the idea of its lack of artistic integrity. However, by the late sixties and early seventies, singers Erasmo Carlos and Roberto Carlos had shown a more mature side to their work and later, even MPB singers like Nara Leão, Maria Bethania, Gal Costa, and Elis Regina would add their material to their repertoires. .
