Salsa music had some difficulty hitting mainstream markets, with one exception, Carlos Santana. He first gained popularity from playing at Woodstock in 1969 where the band, named Santana after their lead guitarist, played “’Soul Sacrifice’ and the catchy hit single ‘Evil Ways,’ [but] the tunes are just excuses for jamming” say David Wilson and John Alroy (Alroy and Wilson). Then in 1970 Santana recorded a Tito Puente song, “Oye Como Va,” which propelled Latin music, and especially Salsa music, into the national mainstream spotlight. The lyrics of the song say talk about sabor, the Spanish word for flavor, which fits perfectly with the spicy metaphor of salsa the food to Salsa the dance. The words also encourage the “mulata,” a biracial woman of Caucasian and African ethnicity to listen to the rhythm of the song (Tone Fuse Music). Another throwback to the cultural mix celebrated by salsa music and dance. But in 1999, “the uncanny chart dominance of this so-so album by a semi-retired geezer [Santana]. It's definitely got its moments: the single "Smooth," a deliberate throwback to early 70s salsa-plus-electric guitar Santana written and sung by Rob Thomas of Matchbox 20, is undeniably catchy, and it topped the charts for months” (Alroy and Wilson). Whether the popularity of the song, “Smooth,” came about because of the revival of interest in Salsa dance or the revival in Salsa dance came about because of “Smooth,” nobody knows, but Salsa dance had a recovery in the same time period.

Salsa has become imbued with more meaning than just a fun hobby or means of exercise. Priscilla Renta, writing in Centro Journal says, “Many Latinos/as in the U.S. combine salsa dance performance with language and music to construct and affirm an individual and collective sense of cultural identity” (142). An entire style of dance known as “Latin” embraces style, movement and rhythms from all over the world. The Latin culture includes people from all over the world. The same goes for Salsa, which not only fuses several different types of Latin culture into its music and moves, it also appeals to many different cultures all over the world.