In 1982, Vital missed a gig at the Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro and was replaced by João Barone, which became the drummer after he decided to leave the band.
The song received substantial airplay in the summer of 1983, and the Paralamas made their first major appearance opening for Lulu Santos, another popular singer of their generation, in the Circo Voador.
It spanned the hits "Óculos", "Me Liga", "Meu Erro", "Romance Ideal", and "Ska", leading the band to perform at the first edition of Rock in Rio, in which Paralamas' concert was considered one of the best.
The album opposed the "manipulation" of the band's first release from its cover (featuring Bi's younger brother in the middle of the woods wearing only a shirt around his waist) and incorporated a bold mixture of reggae, rock and African rhythms.
Produced by Liminha (former bass player for Os Mutantes), it spanned the hits "Alagados", "A Novidade" (their first collaboration with Gilberto Gil, and the second track co-written with him), "Melô do Marinheiro", and "Você" (a cover version of a Tim Maia song), and sold over 700,000 copies.
The album has both social-political focused songs such as "O Beco" and more introspective tracks, such as "Quase Um Segundo" (thought to be about the end of Vianna's relationship with Paula Toller, the lead singer of Kid Abelha).
Big Bang, released in the following year, continued in the same vein, featuring cheerful songs with a deep critical social messages like "Perplexo" and poetical/lyrical ones like "Lanterna dos Afogados".
In 1988 Brazilian filmmaker Sandra Kogut directed a documentary honoring the group by sharing interviews with the musicians and their fans, and scenes of live shows at Ibirapuera Stadium in São Paulo and at Montreux, Switzerland.
After a small break, in which Vianna released his first solo album, the trio returned to live performances, which were sold out although the band was under heavy criticism from the press.
It was even more experimental than the band's last release, with overly elaborate arrangements, and was completely ignored by radio stations and the general public, selling only 55,000 copies—an all-time low for Paralamas.
They were in high demand for live performances, due to the great success of Dos Margaritas, their subsequent album released in the Hispanic market (a Spanish version of Severino).
It was accompanied by an EP featuring four unreleased tracks: "Uma Brasileira" (a collaboration of Herbert with Djavan), "Saber Amar", "Esta Tarde", and the controversial "Luís Inácio (300 Picaretas)", which drew the spotlight back to the band after it was banished from the Federal District.
The song was in reference to a statement made by former Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, at the time a Federal Deputy, that the National Congress was formed by some honored men and 300 quacks.
It featured songs from all the band's albums (except Severino), a re-recording of "Mensagem de Amor" and the new track "Aonde Quer que Eu Vá", the creation of a partnership between Herbert Vianna and Paulo Sérgio Valle.
A plane carrying Herbert and his wife, Lucy Needham Vianna, crashed en route to Dado Villa-Lobos's house in Angra dos Reis, Rio de Janeiro.
The crash became front-page news and the entire country followed Herbert’s fight for survival in the hospital Copa D’Or, in Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro.
[2] In their official Facebook page, the band published a message by the members, stating that they were sending "our higher thoughts for his wife, children and friends in this difficult time".
Throughout its 30 years of existence, the band has continuously produced successful albums as well as controversial discs, like Alagados, Selvagem and Perplexo, which exposed the social and political realities of Brazil.