Tehelka's article about the Indian rock scene did trigger a Tehelka in the music circles and no doubt re-in forced traditional Indian views about rock being the domain of screechy voices, tattoo's and long unkempt hair.
It could not be further from the truth. It's a lie. I was not only incensed, but quite rightly disappointed that such a reputed magazine will slag off such a promising area in the country. This is my rebuttal to the article. My word. Indiecision and TAAQ posted their highly lauded responses as well. Do read them. I won't be repeating points that they've already said, but here we go. And please forgive the amateur writing.
Indian Rock.
Samar Grewal states “Music journalism lacks balls in our country. You only have 10 bands that are popular when you launch a magazine — and if you were really honest about them, you’d be trashing eight of them. There’d be nothing left to talk about. You have to work in euphemisms.” This may be true, but it holds water all across the world. Does Mr. Grewal think that every band in the UK or US are lauded? No, they are not. Infact, record label bosses and music journalists have a widely held belief that only once in 5-10 years does a band come along that truly changes the world. The rest make up the numbers. And India should be no different. So what if their music is “bad”? If bands have the confidence [or as Mr. Grewal put it, ‘balls’] to play them, then why shouldn’t a new music magazine give them a chance? And moreover, bad & good are a matter of opinion. What one person may think about a band, another might not. Siddharth Srinivasan also says something along the lines of the media having to package a scene, since it’s impossible to sell shit. This might be personal bias, but Lady Gaga is a packaged piece of nothingness that displays everything wrong with modern culture and she still managed to sell 8 million records last year. So why is it suddenly blasphemous for an Indian media to do the same to a band, that despite not wearing revealing clothes, not having a multimillion dollar team of songwriters and a PR company that has a budget bigger than Greece’s state deficit, are considered rather good?
The basic problem with Indian Rock is not the presence of discouraging journalists, but rather the lack of finances and awareness. Most bands that do have a presence in the rock scene have more talent in an eyelid than the judges of various Indian singing competitions. Yet they get paid in the lacs by people for *ahem* creating shabby pop “tunes” with an unashamed injection of “kewl” hip hop. How come anyway? Has any Indian music movie soundtrack come closer to the greatness of Indian Ocean’s ‘Bandeh’ that accompanied Black Friday? Has any music director in this country have the amount of talent and perseverance of Amit Kilam, Rahul Ram, Susmit Sen? Do they? Have they?
Can they ever hope to create a piece of music so beautiful, so stunning that it breaks your heart, and still puts it back together in a mere 8 minutes? The answer is an overwhelming no.
The outdated statistics that Inder Sindhu provides, saying that 80% of all music sales go to Bollywood is another indicator. Why can’t directors and produces of swanky movies take on a young band to write them a song? Is it so difficult? Vishal Dadlani, lead singer of Pentagram seems to be doing alright in Bollywood, singing along with the man responsible for Lady Gaga, Akon.
The movie that many claim is responsible for India’s rock music revival, ‘Rock On!!’ was ultimately a money making racket. Javed Akhtar who wrote the lyrics himself admitted he barely knew about the Indian rock scene but still managed to slag it off. [Seriously, do ALL rock bands have tattoos and long hair?] Also, Samar Grewal states that we’re not serious about our music, as we’re too infatuated with out western idols. True, but that can also be termed “inspiration”. And speaking of western idols and ‘Rock On!!’ Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, who did the music, would they kindly explain how they totally ripped off the beginning of Black Eyes Peas song ‘Don’t Phunk With My Heart’ in “their” song, ‘Yeh Mera Dil’ in Don?
The writer, also states that since Rock originated with crime, sex and intoxication and politics in the west, our version of rock doesn’t really qualify as rock. He states that it lacks any sort of character, and is a reversal of the genre’s origins. He says that more often than not, “musicians” in this country are bankrolled by indulgent parents. This argument holds water to a certain level, but come on; Elvis’s mom bought him his first guitar! I don’t see anyone deriding him or his momma? However, how is it the fault of musicians that they don’t have to work for a year or so to buy a guitar? [Think John Mayer.] If they have an instrument and know how to play it, then all is well and good, but being in a band these days is more about impressing your peer group than to follow what you fell in love with in the first place, the music. Some bands these days have a Facebook fan page before they have their first rehearsal.
Another point, Mr. Sidhu says is the fact that rock bands in the country do not have an identity. They don’t say anything. They don’t do anything [apart from making shitty music, according to the writer.] This is complete and utter bullshit, especially when you compare Indian bands to the ones abroad. Do all of the bands in US and UK write lyrics about AIDS, the recession, the Taliban and the deterioration of modern culture? Let’s get serious, not everything in this world serves a higher purpose and similarly not every song should be a shining beacon of hope. Basically, why the fuck do we take ourselves so damn seriously? So what if Them Clone’s lyrics are middle school poetry? Zephyretta is a good song anyway! Secondly, bands do often write a social commentary in the form of lyrics. Did you forget “Voice” by Pentagram? That became the [excuse the pun] Voice of the Indian youth against the injustice of quotas? Or again Bandeh by Indian Ocean as Indiecision put it “infused humanity into one very horrific incident.” Or how about bringing up Swarathma? Their song ‘Yeshu Allah Aur Krishna’ is a moving song about corruption? They incorporate poetry written in 1469 and yet Indian Bands do not have an identity? What a load of utter tosh. All of these songs were in the Top25 of the decade according to Indiecision, so it clearly seems someone, somewhere, is doing something right? And let’s be honest as well, Song lyrics from abroad aren’t as great as well. As Indiecision expertly pointed out, hey! Some of the Beatle’s lyrics suck as well! But moving back, not all songs that are worshipped by the faithful have earth shattering lyrics or rhymes. For example, Zero’s song [it’s wrong to call it a song. It should be called an Anthem] PSP 12 tops Indiecision’s list. But does it mean anything? Does it have to? Look back to Hotel California. How difficult is it to rhyme ‘wine’ with 1969? Get real. Not all the people who are multimillionaire’s in music are the best songwriters around. There aren’t many Thom Yorke’s or Alex Turner’s out there. And that’s a good thing. Akon’s song ‘Beautiful’ has lyrics along the lines of “When I see you, I run out of words to say, I wouldn't leave you, 'Cause you're that type of girl to make me stay” and the gem “Can I be your baby father?” and yet it was one of the biggest hits last year. Does anyone need reminding of TikTok by Kesha? Even great bands fall victim to the odd lyrical atrocity. Take Beatle’s ‘While my guitar gently weeps’ for instance. Does “I look at the floor and see it needs sweeping” signify anything? I highly doubt it. Basically, lyrics aren’t the be all and end all of music. They don’t have to be. Sure, great lyrics are fantastic and they do increase the appeal of a song, but to expect every band, every song and every word to have a meaning is frankly, a frivolous thought.
The writer also attacks Indian Ocean’s music style. Apparently, if you make music the way you’ve been making it for 30 years, it’s bad. Infact it’s shocking. I’m sure the writer wouldn’t mind mentioning the fact that we love Indian Ocean because they make the music now, the way they did it then? That we trust them because we know it’ll be something that’ll melt out hearts and dazzle our minds? Why, Oasis, Pink Floyd, Iron Maiden and ACDC made music within the same “framework” for quite some time, and they’ve done more than well, haven’t they?
Mr. Sidhu reserves praise for Indigo Children [they were called that last week, what are they called now?] He says that the fact that Indigo Children songs are loose, has an ever-changing rhythm section and that their “effects panel” is as weird as the accent in which the singer *ahem* sings, is a good thing. While these are brave and certainly praise worthy moves, they aren’t exactly good or great. The fact is they’re doing something already done before abroad, but not in India. Ultimately they’re just the best in a bad bunch.
The writer also states that Indian rock shows do not pull enough audiences. That they lack in numbers. Sure, big bands in the UK can hope to pull anywhere from 15,000 to 40,000 people for a show, it’s still few and far between. The truth is, they have more bands than they count, and if you look at it in a statistical way, their average attendance for a rock show isn’t much better than ours. If we pull 100, they might pull 300. Big difference. Big fucking difference.
Finally Mr. Sidhu finishes off the sham that is the Indian Rock Scene by saying that bands have abandoned publishing CD’s because of high costs. Junkyard Groove’s guitarist laments the fact that they had only 50,000 downloads in a year. This should be a success story, not a cause of dejection. In a country like India, 50,000 downloads is quite a figure, and no doubt many bands, even abroad, would give a testicle or two to be on the receiving end of such an accomplishment. Even the Arctic Monkeys, who came to the fore via MySpace and Facebook didn’t manage 50,000 downloads. Come on! MySpace and Facebook are good things! Bands certainly can’t afford the cost of publicity like Bollywood can for a gig or a CD launch, so why not use Facebook’s event option? Chances are, you hit more people through it than you ever do with a advertising hoarding. And it’s free too!
The writer says that Indian Rock “is still wandering around with its umbilical cord, trying to find some place to plug it in”. Not true. At all. We have more bands than ever now. We have more people listening to the music now. We have more gig venues now. We have better gig venues now! We have rich sponsors now! Hell, we’ve even got better music now, certainly better than Bollywood’s same old musical tales of love, rich daddy’s, poor heroes and song videos in Switzerland.
Ultimately, YOU need to get involved. The listener. The consumer. The fan. The groupie. Whatever category you fall under. Trash a band you don’t like, stalk one you do. Sing along, play air guitar. Because in the end, that’s the weapon we have against ignorant journalists and a country that someday will wake up, to the golden pot that is the Indian Rock Scene.
PS – The article in question is here. http://www.tehelka.com/sto
Other responses.
i) Indiecision - http://www.indiecision.com
ii) Thermal And A Quarter - http://www.facebook.com/no
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