In spite of the public’s dismay over the moral content of Quintero’s songs, and an unofficial airplay ban in Mexico for the more controversial of his writings, los Tucanes de Tijuana became one of the best-selling norteño group of the late ’90s. That’s not to say that Quintero wrote only drug-related songs; he also wrote love ballads and dance songs, which did help broaden los Tucanes’ appeal-in particular the smash dance hits La Chona and El Tucanazo. More controversy arose when a 1997 magazine article emerged which suggested that the band los Tucanes de Tijuana was the favorite of the Arellano Felix brothers, Sinaloa’s most notorious ‘alleged’ drug kingpins. Quintero took it in stride and continued doing what his audiences loved, and in 1998 he won a Songwriter of the Year award in his home country. Two years later, he shared a BMI award for Latin music’s Songwriter of the Year with several other hit-makers.