People often confuse Rock music for something which it’s not. People suffer from a prejudice that only those who like parties and no feelings like rock music. I don’t want everyone to like Rock, nor want to advocate it as the best genre of music. I just want to say that every genre of music has it’s own followers and people should respect that.
By Tridiv Sinha, New Delhi
Being a rock fan, I’m asked many a times as to why I listen to these ‘Meaningless Craps’, to put in their words. One should understand that each and every creation has a value of it’s own and cannot be neglected as anything.
I first started my journey with ‘Scorpions’ – a German band. I liked the sound of the guitars which led me to try the genre which involves the greatest guitar players the world has ever seen. At the initial stages, I stuck to the music just because of the guitars, but soon it turned out that they have excelled in lyrical contents too. Anyone who doesn’t agree may compare the lyrical contents of Rock with any other genre of their liking.
I’ve often seen that if a song doesn’t have the romantic contents and a slow music, people often confuse it for useless music. Most of the people have slow and romantic music as their favorite songs.
Rock music has few bands that do follow romance as their lyrics, whereas majority of other bands use other human feelings as the theme. To put it in easier words, Romantic Music is Shakespeare and Rock Music is Franz Kafka or Leo Tolstoy.
The major pioneers in Rock Music have always tried to express human feelings other than just love. Bands like Metallica have always criticized war and modern globalization through their music. Rock is about bringing out the depression building inside you, and I don’t think that these feelings should be melodious in anyways. There is more to say, little space to continue. So, the next time you see a Rock fan, don’t have a prejudice that he has a bad taste of music. Try to experience the music and then decide whether it’s just another waste of time or a precious Jewel you have missed all these years.
I first started my journey with ‘Scorpions’ – a German band. I liked the sound of the guitars which led me to try the genre which involves the greatest guitar players the world has ever seen. At the initial stages, I stuck to the music just because of the guitars, but soon it turned out that they have excelled in lyrical contents too. Anyone who doesn’t agree may compare the lyrical contents of Rock with any other genre of their liking.
I’ve often seen that if a song doesn’t have the romantic contents and a slow music, people often confuse it for useless music. Most of the people have slow and romantic music as their favorite songs.
Rock music has few bands that do follow romance as their lyrics, whereas majority of other bands use other human feelings as the theme. To put it in easier words, Romantic Music is Shakespeare and Rock Music is Franz Kafka or Leo Tolstoy.
The major pioneers in Rock Music have always tried to express human feelings other than just love. Bands like Metallica have always criticized war and modern globalization through their music. Rock is about bringing out the depression building inside you, and I don’t think that these feelings should be melodious in anyways. There is more to say, little space to continue. So, the next time you see a Rock fan, don’t have a prejudice that he has a bad taste of music. Try to experience the music and then decide whether it’s just another waste of time or a precious Jewel you have missed all these years.
I completely agree with you Tridiv, though I like it more for its music. I find it difficult to understand the words as the music is too loud and the way pronounce the words. But I have read a lot of their lyrics. They have more social message and other issues compare to the Indian lyrics.
ReplyDeleteI was a die hard fan of Scorpions, Roth was just great with the guitar, still cant get over the lyrics of "winds of change" or "send me an angel"...
ReplyDeleteLemme tell ye my motivation of how I got hooked to those “meaningless crap.” Being born an brought up in uber cool L.A. (not Los Angeles but Lower Assam i.e. in Guwahati), I grew up on a diet of Assamese numbers of Jayanta Hazarika, Bhupen Hazarika, Jitul Sonowal and much later the neo rock variety of Zubeen Garg. But by high school innocence waned when hormones took a quantum change, we realized the importance of impressing dames. In Guwahati City, St. Mary’s and Holy Child Girls School had a reputation of having the smartest, coolest, and highly sophisticated lass (they still do) among all academic excellence. Such were their sophistication and arrogance that even the most jaw dropping beauty who is otherwise fit to be Miss Beautiful Chimpanzee would not easily get impressed unless one has loads of dynamic excellence (i.e. good looks, interests in western music, poems, novels and most importantly a thick American Accent). Well that’s when we boys got introduced to the world of Elton John, Sheryl Crow, Celine Dion, Bony M, Aqua and all. Their music were somber, soothing and soft (something which even my grandma would approve) and that was good enough start for us to blabber on irrelevance, impress, make friends and thereby capture the attention of a dumb Brunette.
ReplyDeleteIn those pre hypercongested days of Guwahati, everything seemed rosy, beautiful and magical till we met some die hard ex-Hippies (for whom time seems to have stopped in the seventies) who made us realize our taste in music was absolutely amateurish. I asked a hippie if he can play the guitar to which he gave me a stern look and curtly told me “you never ask a guy of Shillong if he can play the guitar.” Boy those blokes took their cult and the legacy of Shillong to heart but for us Shillong became the buzzword for ultimate Rock land.
As if on cue we young guns soon arranged for a picnic trip to Barapani (midpoint of Ghy and Shillong) and by sheer chance met lads from Shillong with Guitar in hands and soon we all became friends. Music was all in the air and if we grooved on a “My Heart Will Go On,” “I am a Barbie Girl” or a “Brown Girl in the Ring” they would get high strung on a Judas Priest’s “Turbo Lover,” Uriah Heep’s “There I was on a July Morning” or Rainbows “Temple of the King.” For having advertised ourselves as rock music denizens, it was a bizarre embarrassment of the highest order but the agony did not end there till one of our smart lad played Govinda’s “I AM A STREET DANCER.” That was it! We just took to heels kicking the smart lad’s Butt all the way downhill, however, that was not before a Dimapur guy among the Shillong lads in his own inimitable style and Naga accent introduced us to his pheforite ruck bands like Bank Fluid; Tap Burble; Mester Peck; Cuns in Rooses; Plick Sapat; Irun Meeten;. Meekateeth; EC / TC ; Tire Istreet ; Iscorfion along with its finer nuances of how it goes well with …ahem… DOPE. Since then we guys took to rock music and suicide advocating heavy metal albums with a renewed vigor and hope along with a silent prayer to Lord Shiva and all gods who had a fancy for dope.