So I’m here at a Bamboo gig and I’m wondering where all their fans are,” said a text message from a friend of mine recently. Then he added: “Rock is dead!”
Again? So soon. Somehow it seems like just yesterday that we were reveling in the return of Pinoy Rock. (Didn’t the Eraserheads reunion sets remind us all of how it’s done? Or were they just the proper send-off to an era now well and truly done with?) Here’s something I wrote online about rock three years ago:
“Like many music fans, I’m happy about the strong return of rock music — and good rock music, at that (Itchyworms, Up dharma Down, Urbandub and Sugarfree, just to name a few) — to the local record charts. One wonders how long it will last, though. It’s interesting to look at (music store) Odyssey’s Top 10 album sales charts over the years.
“By the tail end of 1999, the likes of Regine Velasquez, Jose Mari Chan, Pops Fernandez and Martin Nievera ruled their charts (Martin had two albums in the Top 10, apparently). December 2000’s chart was more diverse, with Wolfgang and Slapshock rubbing elbows with Andrew E, Gary V and Regine. 2001’s year-ender was probably the most disheartening for rock fans, with two Sharon Cuneta albums, two Martin Nievera albums, Lani Misalucha, and of course, Regine again. The year 2002 saw novelty take over, with three Sex Bomb Girls projects (but at least Kamikazee and Slapshock charted too). It was 2003’s year-end list that saw the tide beginning to turn: Parokya ni Edgar and Rivermaya got into the Top 10 (which was dominated by no less than four “acoustic” albums — remember that trend?).
“Kitchie Nadal, Bamboo, Parokya and the Eraserheads’ ‘Anthology’ stormed the chart in 2004, signifying that Pinoy pop-rock was back (along with chart mainstays Martin Nievera and Regine Velasquez, plus a minor R&B revolution, with Kyla and South Border). 2005 continued the trend, with Orange and Lemons, Hale, Cueshe, a Rivermaya best-of and an E-heads tribute all in the Top 10, and Urbandub and Bamboo not far behind. However, a look at last Dec. 15’s Top 10 is quite alarming — no less than four Pinoy Dream Academy releases crowding the Top 10, and the odious Willie Revillame at the very top! Two versions of the APO tribute, that unkillable Jose Mari Chan Christmas album, Sitti’s ‘Cafe Bossa’ and something called ‘Mark Herras Dance Party’ fill out the rest of the Top 10.”
It suddenly occurs to me that adding “Dance Party” to anyone’s name is a surefire recipe for happiness. Quark Henares Dance Party. Jessica Zafra Dance Party. RJ Ledesma Dance Party... Okay, maybe not RJ Ledesma Dance Party. Anyway, in that online rant, I ended up urging those who call themselves rock fans to “Get out there and buy good stuff!” I added: “For God’s sake, don’t get your copy of Dong Abay’s ‘Flipino’ or Narda’s ‘Discotillion’ (like I said, this was three years ago) from your local pirate vendor! If I catch you doing that while I’m browsing through pirated DVDs, I will punch you in the face. Get the real thing. Help get the good artists paid. Or wallow in sappy balladry and excruciating novelty songs forever.”
A quick visit to titikpilipino.com now reveals the year-end Odyssey charts for 2008: the Eraserheads back in the rankings with the live recording of their reunion gig, Bamboo butting heads with a gone-solo Rico Blanco, and the rest pretty much a wasteland of that sappy balladry I warned against, except for the persistent Revillame and “Marian Rivera Dance Hits.” 2009’s Dec. 15 chart has Urbandub’s “The Apparition” as the lone rock entry, though the presence of Noel Cabangon’s covers album “Byahe” is heartening, But you also have not one, not two, but three Revillame releases, and something called, depressingly enough, “Just Dance To The Boom Boom Christmas Medley.”
It’s not that people aren’t listening to rock music anymore — they still are, perhaps in even greater numbers these days. But they’re spoiled for choice, in a way. With practically all of recorded history at their downloading fingertips, why wouldn’t they listen to a pristine remastering of The Beatles or The Smiths instead of, say, anything else out there? Of course, new releases have an allure entirely their own, even if they don’t do anything actually new. But even then, stacked up against shiny new Western offerings which are essentially (if illegally) free, how much time and money are young listeners going to invest in what’s going on here? And arguably the best rock releases of recent months — like T.S.A.’s “Back to Kindergarten” or Throw’s latest (thanks to Erwin Romulo for blasting them at me in his car) — aren’t even readily available in stores, and that’s entirely by design. They don’t want casual fans, they want lifers.
And maybe that’s the good thing about local rock dropping off the charts again. The people who are still into it, who still seek out and buy the albums, who still go to the gigs, not to mention the bands who still throw themselves into it with everything they’ve got — they’re doing it out of sheer love.
Yeah, it would be nice if people got paid more, and that’s still something to fight for. But for now it’s time to stop perusing the sales figures perhaps, and just enjoy the Sunday morning listening sessions and Saturday nights out.