My favorite female cousin and I had an interesting discussion a few days back. She asked if I was familiar with the current roster of local artists and bands that are quite popular nowadays. Although I’ve heard of decent songs from Kitchie Nadal, Hale, and that cornball “truly, madly, crazy in love with you” band from Cebu (see, I can’t even remember the group’s name), I shrugged and admitted that I’ve been quite busy lately, and is obviously not attuned with the times.
Back in high school, I used to sneak into my older brother’s collection of tapes and listen to such bands like Guns n’ Roses, Metallica, and Poison. In my sophomore year, my buddies and I were belting out “Ligaya” and “Toyang” from the Eraserheads months before our other classmates took our cue. Those were the days, the grand 90’s, when the measure of being cool was being familiar with the material of the dominant musical force: the Pinoy rock bands.
If you’re somewhere near my age, you probably dedicated Alamid’s “Your Love,” True Faith’s “Perfect,” or The Teeth’s “Prinsesa” to a puppy crush. You may have scratched your head why couples would consider Color It Red’s “Paglisan” as their song, and why Bamboo and his zombie eyes could score so many shrieking admirers when he belted out “Ulan” for Rivermaya. The more social conscious guys probably consider The Youth and Yano as their favorite bands, while the happy-go-lucky and the fun-loving types could count on Parokya ni Edgar and Grin Department. The list, as you see, goes on and on.
Our parents were typically concerned with our own brand of popular music back then. Why would Ely Buendia blurt out a cuss word in “Pare Ko?” Was that really necessary? The oldies didn’t approve that home-cooked meals should be called “putahe ng ina mo” or didn’t think that free “tooot-paste and tooot-brush” is a good bargain deal. Rumors about prevalent alcoholism and drug use among local bands also made our oldies lose sleep: “Are these musicians shaping our children’s minds?” That thought must have crossed their minds a thousand times.
Raging hormones made all of us a tad bit rebellious back then. We were forging our own identities, and we found it obtrusive that the oldies would have the gall to question our tastes in stuff. After all, what did they know? They were nothing but boring grown ups who are hopelessly out-of-date, baduy, and shamefully ignorant of popular culture.
Zoom in a mere few years later and I find myself in the same position that I once resented. Somehow, watching the current hits on MTV and MYX is becoming a bit boring for me now. I really don’t get it why the songs featured in these channels are popular with the young crowd. However, after thoroughly enjoying an episode of “classic reruns” (or songs that were huge in the 90’s), I suddenly became scared. Am I really that old now?
Apparently, yes. I had this eerie realization just lately, and it took my 15-year old brother to whack me off my senses. One morning, I was awaken by my brother’s radio playing in full volume blast. Normally, I would’ve been annoyed and shake the bejeezus out of him (that’s one fringe benefit of being an older sibling). However, I heard a song that I really liked for the longest time, but still didn’t know the title of. Obviously, I also wasn’t aware of the band that played the song, and it gave salespeople from Tower Records and Music 1 a migraine when I inquired about the CD. Take this for example –
ME: Miss, may hinahanap akong CD pero di ko alam ang pangalan nila (ng banda)…
SALESLADY: May alam po ba kayong song nila, sir?
ME: Meron. Kaso di ko alam ang title…
SALESLADY: Naku, mahirap po yan…
ME (except for the begging part): Basta, sure ako na OPM band sila. Wait, alam ko yung isang stanza ng song nila… Pwede kong kantahin na lang? Pinakinggan ko na kasi ang buong CD ng Kamikazee at Sugarfree pero hindi sila yung nagkanta… Tulungan mo ako… PUH-LEEEZEEE!!!
SALESLADY (in her mind, but I’m just imagining this): WHAT THE HECK IS WRONG WITH THIS NUTJOB?
And so I’ve totally given up on ever finding out about the song’s identity. That is, until that same morning when I heard the song on my kid brother’s radio. And wait, he was actually singing the song! I wanted to jump out of bed that instant, and like a Scooby begging for a treat, ask him intently about the song. Not wanting to look too eager, however, I restrained myself and decided that it would be better if I just asked my brother casually over breakfast.
“I heard you singing a song this morning,” I told my brother while I ate some Hunt’s Pork and Beans. “Which song?” he asked back, sounding rather irritated that I’m disturbing him from watching the latest episode of “Naruto.”
“It’s sort of jologs but it has a great melody… the lyrics are quite intense, too,” I answered back. A look of confusion stretched his face, and I had no choice but to sing the only lines that I knew of the song: “Ngumiti kahit na napipilitan/ Kahit pa sinasadya/ Mo akong masaktan paminsan-minsan/ Bawat sandali na lang…”
If not for our age difference that spans a decade, my brother would certainly have given me an acerbic Simon Cowell-like comment for even bothering to use my pipes. But still, the smoke cleared and he gave me the answer that I’ve been vainly searching for weeks.
“The title of the song is Nobela,” he said. “Which band is that,” I inquired further. “Hmmm… let me see. I’m pretty sure it’s “Join The Club.”
“Join The Club?! That’s a lousy name for a band!” I mentioned, feeling heart broken that the band that I liked can be a bunch of geniuses with their music, only to falter with their choice of name. “Well yeah, it’s sort of lame,” my brother responded.
“I’ve been trying to look for their CD but I can’t find it anywhere. They’re probably a new act so their album is not yet available in the market, right?” I continued. “Well, no. That song is quite old. It’s been out since the end of last year. You probably didn’t get the CD since record bars are no longer selling it. Where have you been all this time?” My brother shot me a look of disbelief for the first time.
So where was I really? Well, I was probably in my den of uncoolness, slowly hibernating to become this hideous being of everything out-of-date, baduy, and shamefully ignorant of popular culture.
