Bangalore is about to have one of it’s largest live concerts ever, courtesy of aging 1970s rockers Deep Purple.
Who are/were Deep Purple? For our readers who like to listen to music originally recorded in their lifetime, Deep Purple were part of the the holy Trinity that founded Heavy Metal, along with Led Zepplin and Black Sabbath.
Their biggest hit was probably “Smoke on the Water” which reached #4 on the Billboard charts in 1972, and which is “#426 on Rolling Stone Magazine’s The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time”. If you’ve got a friend learning to play electric guitar, you’ve probably heard him or her attempt to play it, along with Stairway to Heaven.
It is commonly the first song learned by many beginner guitarists, it’s also noted for it’s extreme difficulty. However, it’s main recognisable riff is not difficult and consequently is constantly played by learners.
In fact, it’s so popular, that one famous guitar store in Denmark Street, London, used to sport a sign on the wall reading ‘If auditioning a guitar, please refrain from playing Smoke on the Water, as this is causing our staff mental torture’… [Link]
Events like this contribute to this peculiar retro-quality that parts of Indian culture have. I suppose it’s good that Indians still appreciate the retro given that they’re still receiving visits from bands whose biggest hits were over 30 years ago. Heck, Deep Purple first broke up in 1976.
Bangalore is the only Asian stop on the reconstituted band’s tour. The group will fly in from South America to play one night in India before flying on to Europe, so in some ways it’s a big deal.
But (and I’m wrinking my nose here) … don’t you think that India should be receiving more up to date acts now? I know that tickets are expensive for the average Indian, but Bangalore should have more than enough young employees of multinationals that they’re willing to pay something close to international prices for a ticket. Why is it that, despite India Rising and all that, that India attracts only 3rd string western bands on international tour? I’m sure I’m missing something.
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Some classic Deep Purple:
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And a more recent incarnation of the band playing Smoke on the Water:
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They were 10 years ago. As was Firehouse. And Samantha Fox.
Really?? Firehouse was big in India? They were hardly big here! 🙂 {shamefully, I did sing listen to “love of a lifetime” with my first bf} Didn’t last much longer than 1st semester of freshman year in high school!)
When I was in Mumbai, this band called “Michael loves to rock” came there, and it was a huge show!
At the time, MTV Asia was playing a lot of their stuff. They were especially big in Thailand, Singapore etc. But I saw their vidoes constantly, sitting in my Aunt’s house in Tiruvanandapuram… a bit surreal, I’d say.
hoooraaay! kannada people and retro rock outfits?
a solid combination. hell yeah.
rock on, my people, rock on.
Actually, these same bands are really popular with the young English language music fans in Pakistan too. When I was growing up there in Lahore, there was a whole underground rock scene and they played a lot of Pink Floyd, Deep Purple, Jimi Hendrix etc. For me, growing up, there was the pop stuff I’d heard in the states before moving back and then once there, we didn’t have cable/satelite at the time so we’d pick up guitar magazines at old used book stalls, figure out who the really big rock legends were and then ask for them at the local pirate tape store. That’s how a lot of us got into Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, the Doors etc. Aaahhh…good times. Discovering all of that in a year or two (because it wasn’t on the radio) was sooooo much fun. It was like finding hidden treasure, over and over again!
Foo Fighters are touring India in oct-nov 07. Snoop is on his way to Goa next Dec..wht else u ask 4 ..thts fucin Big…Pseudo FUCS.
What’s the reaction to hip hop acts? I would imagine some acts — particularly some of Snoop’s racier stuff — would upset the more conservative uncleji’s. Are there ever problems with content?
If UnclejiÂ’s ever pay attention to content, yes. Sarvajanik Ganpati in my neighborhood used to blare Samantha Fox. I thought the god of arts deserved better.
Pink Flyod, Deep Purple, Ozzy, Sabbath, Jetrho Tull and Dylan still rule in Indian colleges (hostels). Every other guy whom I knew used to have a cult-like following for them. They can still sell out their shows in India.
Its not “Michael Loves to Rock”, but “Michael Learns to Rock”.
MLTR 🙂
MLTR :), yeah, i heart them.
Re: musical @ 92
Thanks for the update on the “yaaahoooo koi mujhe junglee kahe” Kapoor. I must have gotten him mixed up with the others in the Kapoor clan.
MadGuru, among the younger (let’s say late 20s or below), elite generation in Lahore, is the Punjabi language still surviving? My impression is that Urdu and English have all but taken over. Apart from that demographic group, do you hear much Punjabi in general on the streets of Lahore? Is it less now than 20-30 years ago? I’ve heard that whatever Punjabi is spoken there these days is very watered-down compared to even a generation ago. Thanks in advance (and sorry for going off-topic everyone, although it’s sort of a related tangent if you think about the general cultural trends we’re discussing).
Maybe the impression of huge popularity of the classic rock bands relates more to the buying power of the fans in India (compared to the others). In just numbers I am sure there are more fans of Zeppelin and Floyd here in the US than in India (for example the people who grew up in that era). Their buying power is much bigger here too but they are only a drop in the bucket.
Admittedly, i have not been to India in a while. Not to sound mean, but the last time i was there, people my age were still listening to AC/DC with great enthusiasm. So maybe Deep Purple is not too untimely.
and what, my friend, is timely music?
musical:
Yes, that is a valid explanation. At the same time, rock has many subgenres, and I feel that if you are sure of what you like within three months of being introduced, and never feel the need to change your opinion, or even explore other forms or bands, you are really not interested in music (not that I am a music guru or something, just my personal opinion). I am particularly suspicious if it is hard metal, as hard metal has strong macho connotations, which teenage males are highly susceptible to.
You’d be surprised at what young men (me included) are willing to do to seem cool or macho. Rock and heavy metal are music as well as lifestyle choices, and even if some people do not immediately dig the music, they are often willing to pretend they do, to convince their peers they have a ‘cool’ lifestyle.
Well, actually it has changed now. All those battles in vain 😉 .
Even with a lot of Western Rock/pop streaming in through the TVs and now internet, I got the feeling from my cousins and other friends living in India that they had great difficulties connecting to it. Somehow, the western artists never lyrically or vocally appealed to them as much as Indian pop/Bollywood songs. It seems that western acts are more of a curiousity rather than having musical appeal.
This is an interesting post and discussion. As people have said on this thread, one thing that explains the particular tastes of desis in the subcontinent is that they (used to) have a lot less new music to choose from and many acts that are big in the US/Europe did not think it worth their time marketing themselves to the relatively small subconti market. And so desi kids depend on the musical tastes of their friends (and college seniors ?) rather than music stores. Also in my experience the old Indian music stores that sold western music were not very responsive to demand. You used to find some pretty random collections of cassettes in those music stores (of the 90s) and it seemed like there was a lot of dumping of old/not-so-“hot” music from the catalogs of US/European music companies.
The other interesting thing is how hip-hop is much less popular in the subcontinent than among ABDs. I wonder if this has something to do with the fact that subconti-kids are not exposed to the racial dynamics of the US. I was a really-fresh-FOB when the movie “Goodwill Hunting” came out and I went to see it with some ABD companions. When I commented that I liked the music in the movie they said (to paraphrase) that they thought it was too “white-sounding” (i think the term used was “from honkytown”). My ABD friend’s favourite musician was Wyclef Jean at the time. As a fresh-FOB I was unaware of that racial subtext and, perhaps, was freer to like whatever sounded good to me. Does this make sense to anybody ? Or am I misreading it ? If you go to a Mark Knopfler or Pink Floyd concert in the US and see a desi, it’s much more likely that the person is 1/1.5-gen rather than ABD.
Also interesting to note that Pink Floyd, Dire Straits, Led Zeppling, Deep Purple, The Who, Beatles, Black Sabbath etc. were all British Bands. Majoirty of western music used to come to India via England.
Hmm.. There was an IIT in Banglore in 70’s? Wonder why they shut it down :D. And yeah..I am just happy that unlike Germany David Hasselhoff music is not popular in india 🙂
Amitabh: It’s hard to say. I haven’t lived there in years and I feel like I had a pretty limited exposure to a wide range of people while there. That being said, a lot of the really rich kids I knew tended to speak better English than Urdu, much less any Punjabi. I don’t think this crowd represents a majority even amongst the rich though. I know of lots of younger people whose Urdu is fantastic (I mean in the literate sense, beyond casual conversation) and those who speak it poorly. As for Punjabi, many people speak it, though in Lahore, generally it was Urdu and if Punjabi, then a more Urdu version of it (depends where in Lahore you go though). Lots of people I knew in my age group were not necessarily Punjabi either, so that kind of changes things a bit. People come from all over to live and work in Lahore, like any big city. However, I went to Kasur during the summer of last year and it was all thaitte Punjabi. So I think it varies a lot and it’s very easy to color ones perceptions based on limited exposure. Sometimes I feel like the languages are really going down the drain, with English words being used in place of any terms for complex concepts etc when people speak, but then I’d run into young people who were very articulate in English, Urdu and Punjabi. I went to all English medium schools, so I’m still working on my Urdu and then Punjabi as well. I do lots of reading to try and learn those big words now.
I dunno, I always associated love of hip hop, particularly mainstream hip hop, with more “traditional”, usually Indian-born Desis. My favorite music was grunge, then indie rock. When I listened to hip hop it was either old Native Tongues stuff or underground rappers. That’s changed more recently but, not coincidentally, that old socially conscious Native Tongues-style sound has become popular again too. I feel like that’s more of a traditional “upper middle class white” pattern of music consumption, which kind of makes sense since I was more of a “loner Desi” and most of my friends were white. Most of the Desis who really hung out with the larger group of Desi kids in my hometown were really into stuff like Snoop, Ludacris, Wu Tang, and other mainstream rappers.
ashvin, brown, you both make good points. As others have said Indian tastes in western music have developed under a different context. That context could be availability, economics, marketing, chance or anything… The sold out Deep Purple concert could just be the better acoustics compared to what people have seen in India.
I have observed that one major difference between (good)Indian and western music is the emphasis on lyrics. Indian music wether its old movie songs or 90’s bands like Euphoria ,put a lot of emphasis on lyrics. The name of the lyrics writer (gulzar, Javed Akhtar, Nida fazli)has a significant influence on the CD buyer back home. In America a lot of times lyrics take a backseat and the song is propelled by its great music. A lot of bands which are popular in India seem to have nice and easy to understand lyrics (I mean easy in a placeless manner, like less racial conotations )like Bryand Adams,Beatles etc or have placeless but very abstract lyrics (Bob Dylan). Other variety which is popular is great music with a single popular line.
I lived in one of the engg college hostels in an (what I call) elite university in India during the late 80s and early 90s. Every university/college had annual cultural festivals (runs 5 days and the events range from Fashion parades, choreography, classical indian dancing, light music contests etc and the major attraction at the last night of the festival was a Rock Contest. Amateur bands from colleges all over India participated and those who rock the best get the first prize. These bands always played classic rock with a sprinkling of heavy metal. Doors, PF, DP, Tull, Zepellin, Rush, Queen were popular. In our univ Metallica became hugely popular after their Black Album.
I was never into Western pop/rock before I entered the University, but when I left I was a classic rock/hard rock afficianado:) during those days i was listening to Megadeth, Slayer, Poison , Dokken etc etc..
desi_brawn:
That is interesting analysis. Some of it has to do with the quality of the average music player in India, specially in one’s college years. For example, I could not appreciate the elaborate instrumentation of bands such as The Who on the cheap player I had in my hostel. That was partly the reason I preferred Dylan, etc, as they lost little in that transition.
I am still very partial to lyrical quality and also the vocals, perhaps a habit from ye old times.
So true, when I first bought my first Creative 5 speaker sorround sound system and played the songs I knew by heart before, I got a shock on how different and better even the MP3 versions sounded as compared to my old tape. I am a lil ashamed to admit that I used to listen to Boney M but I just couldnt get over the fact how music will kinda travel from one speaker to another in the starting sequence of “sunny” :D. Sigh..good old days!
Hey anyone remember watching November Rain play over and over again on MTV India when it first came? VJ Nonie on Most Wanted and Danny McGill on Headbangers ball…high points of teenage lust and angst, repectively 🙂
Remembered all this while holding a burning Bic to “Patience” at the Guns n Roses concert this weekend. Bought the cheapest tickets on the day of the show itself. Wondered to myself, if Axl could sell out a Bangalore arena without Slash.
I think you make a good point about the influence of the advent of MTV. That might explain the popularity of Bryan Adams (and Summer of 69 in particular) and Bon Jovi and, perhaps, “November Rain” and a few others. We might actually be able to trace a lot of this back to the particular tastes of a handful of 20-somethings in Hong Kong in the early 90s 🙂
hey, don’t hate! bryan adams played in bengaluru just a few years back. nothing like flashbacks to late-80s/early-90s pop icons!
Traditional perhaps, but still american-bred in my experience.
I also agree with the comment (risible and MD) about Bollywood-loving ABDs and how Bollywood-uninterested 1/1.5-genners having to often explain themselves and their tastes. There is also a generational thing here as razib has pointed out before; younger ABDs are more likely to be into Bollywood ?
brownAlso interesting to note that Pink Floyd, Dire Straits, Led Zepplin, Deep Purple, The Who, Beatles, Black Sabbath etc. were all British Bands. Majoirty of western music used to come to India via England.
Not necessarily true for India alone. A generation or two before mine (born in the late 60s) was exposed to Elvis, Danny Kaye, Pat Boone (shudder), Dean Martin and Sinatra. They really enjoyed that stuff. My generation picked this up (along with Ella, Sarah, Dinah etc) when we grew up, got married and switched to Napa Valley wine from Old Monk, Hercules XXX and other things that shall not be mentioned in a blog. The English dudes were popular because they were darn good. Sadly, this meant that Indians by and large missed out a tremendous amount of good blues stuff, which remains confined to an eclectic elite in India. Mention John Lee Hooker to a college crowd and you will get maybe one response – from a 40-odd year old drunk professor who probably did his Ph.D in the US.
Hip Hop is quite popular amongst those (desis in desh) who go for rhythm. i.e. if you can’t decipher what the heck the chap is saying, you’d gravitate towards Michael Jackson in the 80s or hip hop during the 90s. Imagine gujju [or any regional stereotypical] guy singing nananananana I’m Bad, I’m Bad nanannaana I’m bad. Q: What is nanananana, bhai? Ans: Maalum nahin kya gaa rahaa hain yaar, lekin dinchak dinchak tune solid hain).
Um, did this person grow up under a rock? Granted, s/he must have been about 5 years old when the song came out, but it was rereleased 6 years later for the Immaculate Collection. Really.
tamasha in the dark: Clearly, you discount the chance that JOAT’s singing may have had something to do with it. Maybe her rendition made the song unrecognizable.:-)
As SM’s (self-appointed) resident rawk scholar, I feel compelled to add my academic insights about a subject so close to my heart.
First off, I cannot express how elated I am to see so many desis talking about rawk! Discovering Sepia Mutiny marked a sea change in how I viewed the diasporic community and my relationship with it: perhaps I wasn’t the only desi passionate about music and culture that didn’t involve listening to anodyne Top 40 or a bizarre appropriation of street culture I could not rightfully claim to be connected to. Knowing you guys exist makes me want to rawk out with my cawk out. (Oh yea, I’ll do it!)
Secondly,I’m surprised that no one, especially the Bangaloreans, mentioned Rock Street Journal. Ennis, this is what you’re seeking, the “central repository,” the finger on the pulse of the rock scene in India. I’m an AB(C)D and I had no idea how strong rock was in India, I assumed the majority (to some degree of veracity) were like those I grew up with stateside, the wanna-be thug desis who’s talked and acted like they grew up on the streets but had never talked to a black person in real life. I’m telling you, I nearly split a side after overhearing a Bombayite refer to his friend as “his n*gga.” (Not that it isn’t ridiculous when American desis use it to.) Dire Straits is apparently huge in Dehli too, a pretty wicked desi guitarist I know claims to have been inspired to pick up the axe simply because the solo from “Sultan of Swing” rawked him so hard.
Neal, you’re a “loner desi” no more- you basically described the formative years of my life. I grew up listening (and still listen to) what I consider to the be some of the best music of the past 25 years: Nirvana, Soundgarden (look up Kim Thayil if you’re not familiar with him), Alice in Chains, Stone Temple Pilots, Nine Inch Nails, POTUSA, The Meatpuppets, (old) Metallica, Primus, Mr Bungle, etc. I was similarly disconnected from my desi peers: I abhorred their mindless sheep mentality and absurd hardcore posturing. I’ve now learnt to tone down my superiority complex and have begun to embrace hip-hop -albeit the underground stuff- but you’ll never catch me wearing FUBU, “talkin’ ’bout how pimpin’ hoes iz eazy.” (It ain’t.)
Loving the Beatles is compulsory for anyone who likes great music!
I discovered them when Junooni (Salman Ahmad’s latest project) played at the 2006 Pan-Asian Music Festival at Stanford earlier this year and was an instant convert. Their 1995 album “Azadi” is some serious desert island material, I’ve been listening to it almost nonstop since last February. Those who once scoffed at the idea of desis rocking out (myself included), scoff no more: these guys are the real f*cking deal.
Seriously.
During my first trip to India recenly, I was amazed that my cousins in Poonjab not only knew who Slayer and Megadeth were, but knew all the lyrics to all of their songs. I went to a music stores in Mumbai and Chandigardh and I was left with the impression that most people were buying UK based bhangra or filmi music, so you can imagine my surprise upon learning my dorky family were rawkers in secret…another stereotype I was sad to see disproven. @=)
DP isn’t an 80’s band, though Dave Coverdale ended up singing for Whitesnake, a ridiculously awesome (or awesomely ridiculous?) hairmetal band.
Whoa, speak for yourself, saucy! @=) The reasons you listed above are exactly why Bollywood doesn’t cut the mustard oil for me. If you’re feeling deracinated and searching for identity, pick up an instrument, educate yourself about the struggles of your fellow man, fight for what you think is right, and eschew the hegemony reinforcing pablum being shoved down your gullet. Facile escapism may be a great way to occupy 3 hours, but it is a poor way to occupy your life.
I saw Rush at Shoreline a couple years back (they played for 3 and a half hours! RAWK!) and was blown away by the desi engineer/nerd quotient. While my buddies and I were walking to the venue, some completely random Indian Google dude, fully decked out with an ID tag hanging around his neck and Palm Pilot holstered at his side, came up to me and started talking to me like we were old buddies, about how stoked he was and how he and his buddies only listened to Hemispheres back in Bangalore. I first attributed his friendliness to perhaps his surprise at seeing a fellow macaca at a rock show, but that theory was quickly discredited when I realized at least half of the venture capitalists, programmers, coders, admins, and what-have-yous in the Bay Area were already on the lawn. I’m amazed the internet didn’t grind to a halt that day. @=)
To those wondering why Pink Floyd and Deep Purple are so popular in India, remember that they’re still very popular globally. DP is playing 12 (!) shows in France in March and Roger Waters is playing 4 dates in Australia before rocking Mumbai in February 2007.
Ennis, no more posts about music please, I’ve got papers to write!
To those about to rock, I salute you!
DJ Drrrty, you just got yourself bookmarked.
I higher honor, I cannot fathom; I’m equally impressed by the commentary on your page. Let us unite to defeat the common enemy, the dreaded Cobra Commander!
Quizman, This crowd does not listen to classic rock for its great music alone; …. Ever so slowly, this crowd gets older – into their 30s and 40s – and then they add jazz to their collection. But never disco, never pop, never country.
That was hilarious. LOL. True, true. They need more variety, but with quizzing, there is a very good case that the themes ought to be the Beatles, Pink Floyd, and classical music, and not, say, Paris Hilton. Bach, the Beatles and Beethoven, y’know, are still the best.
While S. Kapoor is (maybe?) dead,
He’s very much alive!! Shammi Kapoor is my hero, dude! If he was in the US, I would totally go.
Ashvin, As people have said on this thread, one thing that explains the particular tastes of desis in the subcontinent is that they (used to) have a lot less new music to choose from and many acts that are big in the US/Europe did not think it worth their time marketing themselves to the relatively small subconti market. Maybe some of them also read some issues of Rolling Stone, whatever they could find, and learnt a bit about what the critics were saying?
Re: the footpath seller’s shop : piracy and all, you’ve got to admit it – that dude has taste. Two Lives, The Fountainhead, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Arundhati Roy, Tom Friedman. No, not Tom Friedman, but you know what I mean. Twice as good as the crap I see in HEB every time I go to the grocery store. I was on MG Road in Bangalore earlier this year, and I made a silent wish to myself that maybe, just maybe someone will do us all a big favor by keeping a regularly updated blog on what the dude on the footpath is selling. Ann Coulter’s latest book just doesn’t cut it.
There is a bit of both going on – snobbery and taste – but I think that when it comes to “anglicized desi snobbery”, things like accent discrimination (British/American accent good, Indian accent bad) are worse and more difficult to handle.
I go away for a few days and people are talking about western music in India and only one person mentioned BoneyM! Hello! My name is Anthony Gonzalvez. I was 3 years old, living in a crummy tenement in Dombivli, Thane District (Near Mumbai, take local on Central) and my father had just come from foren. He brought us Tang!, and other assorted things and most importantly three English tapes. My parents didn’t listen to any western music so I don’t know how my dad got these. This is 1983. Guess what the three were – 1. Boney M – The first song I ever heard was my handle…how can I forget 2. Abba – First song I heard was Money 3. It was some kinda mix tape – I remeber only one song from it – Eye of the Tiger
Apparently, my love for this veestern music was so great, that I would come home running from school, play them and dance like an ebola monkey. The other thing I also did at the time was listen to the Hindi movie Sholay on tape (pour watchman had a bottleg audio of the film) for 2 years before my parents would take me to watch it and I would finally get to say the lines (7 yr old me…how cute was I?). I was an auditory child.
Anyways, puberty happened, my family did well for themselves and some foren living happened. I spent the rest of the 80s listening to rock and metal but it was the early 90s that I remember fondly for its musical influence on me. It was an explosion. I was listening to NWA, Ice Cube (for some reason it was all west coast with the exception of Public Enemy) and Nirvana had just burst onto the scene. I was loyal to both.
Transcript of my conversation with my dad while I was listening to Amerikkka’s most wanted –
14 y.o. me rapping to Ice. My father walks in to the room to say something when the music goes down. A pause. A gunshot. Me squirm. Ice Cube – “All you Motherfuckers out there.”
Dad – What did he say? Me – what? Dad – Did he just say fucker Me – uh uh I don’t know Ice Cube repeats himself so that my dearest Dada has no doubt whatsoever. Dad – What are you listening to? Me – I don’t pay attention to the lyrics, I like the music. Insert desi uncle joke about hip hop and epilepsy here.
Anyways, in the mid 90s (late teens) in India, people would constantly ask me what music I listened to and I had a sneaking suspicion if it was to verify my coolness. It was like that scene from Miss Congeniality when Sandra Bullock says she wants maximum punishment for parole violation and as the expectant crowd holds their breath, she adds she wants world peace too. So I would always end it with the Doors or Santana or whatever else and my inquisitioners would heave a collective sigh of relief. They could actually talk to me.
I visited India two years ago and found the exact same songs playing. After 2 weeks, I could rattle off the playlist at every one of these places. Not one night would go by when ALL the following songs would not get played – Light my Fire, Brick in the Wall, Sultans of Swing, Summer of 69, Smoke on the Water, Riders on the Storm, Sweet Child of mine, Living on a Prayer, We didn’t start the fire, Black magic woman, Juliet.
It got rather tiring. I often wondered why the retro didn’t go back any farther. I mean I never hear any Elvis anywhere in India.
Dude, I wasn’t really talking about myself; I don’t listen to or watch or otherwise consume much Bollywood product, and I recognize most modern Bollywood for the crap that it is (not all of it is bad though). Some older Bollywood was good in its way. Yes, UK bhangra (again, some of it is crap) is something I am passionate about and something I feel is very underappreciated as art. I was just explaining (in my view) why some people (ABDs) get so caught up in Bollywood. But to each his own; with the exception of the Beatles, I don’t like any of the bands you listed either. But tell me how the stuff you like helps you connect to your DESI side…probably it doesn’t, which is fine, and you’re not looking for it to do that…but many people who jump on to Bollywood (and bhangra) do it partly because of that reason.
MadGuru, thanks for your response.
Meenakshi (#32):
or the live version of Hotel California…
Recent Bangalore performances:
Roger Waters The Rolling Stones (I went to this SARS-preponed concert at the Palace Grounds in Spring 2003, it was AWESOME!) Elton John Def Lepperd Bryan Adams nxess (or however you spell that nastiness)
Most bands here, at least from what what I can tell (including the one which roped me into doing a sax solo over Floyd’s Another Brick in the Wall), either do really eclectic covers (anything from The Doors to Pink Floyd to The Eagles to Four Non-Blonds to Hootie & The Blowfish – yes, this band covered all of those artists in one gig), or they do self-composed, awful, death metal.
But a much more authoritative comment on the matter can be found here.
DJDP (#136):
HELL YEAH!!!
Re: Shankar @ 139
I already stand corrected on Shammi K. Yes, his nuttery made Bollywood much fun.
As for the “footpath” filter, I have always wondered how and who determines what books get pirated; I am guessing it boils down to bestselling fiction by “branded” writers (Roy, Seth, Rushdie), cult classics (Rand, Prisig), Indian specific non-fiction or more generally business guru writing (Friedman, Tom Peters) – not much depth there. I would move to desh in a jiffy if any of those gaint lumbering cities manage to get the library system of an average American city; perhaps in 20 years.
Meenakshi (#32): I wish clubs would close with “Summer of ’69”. I much prefer it to when they clear the house via that horrid “You’re the one that I want” bullshit from Grease. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Bring on the hatred. I’m the only girly-girl who wears pink, who rushed, who DOESN’T love Grease.
Also, I was born here and I never watched Bollywood in order to “connect” with my roots. I can count the number of Bollywood phill-ums I’ve seen on both hands (and they don’t include QSQT or even HAHK), so not all of us feel like Bolly = desi. That said, I agree with commenters who point out how something as simple as whether or not you care to watch _____ Khan overact is largely dependant on where you happen to fall generationally.
At GWU, my second gen friends were far more likely to call a bunch of friends over to all enjoy Kuch Kuch Hota Hai than my then-bf and his friends, who came here for grad school and wanted no part of such things.
NB: I think that some of the bitchier commenters who cited our banners as proof of…um…something are missing some critical subtext– Manish Vij is a huge fan of Bollywood– the kitsch-tastic version, which is what a lot of those pictures are meant to represent.
Sure you would Sashi. good luck with that.
Summer of 69,Sweet Child of mine, Living on a Prayer, Smells like Teen Spirit, Nothing Else matters : Every engineering college rock show/ farewell / booze party HAD to have this line up of songs or the band risked getting lynched…
Growing up in the 90s, GNR was HUGE in India, so was Nirvana , Pearl Jam, Metallica, Aerosmith, U2, REM…
Oh yeah Ennis, what is 1st sting in your opinion? Just looking at the Billboard list right now, I don’t think a single band would sell out in India.. i mean the Fray, Snow Patrol.., WTF is wrong with the USA? and don’t even think bout Justin..they should just credit that album to Timbaland……i’ll take Deep Purple over this “1st string” anyday…
This must be a Delhi Mumbai thing. In Kerala the hot book is the Hobbit, and the hot music is 80s New Wave: Erasure, New Order, Depeche Mode, etc.
Oh L’Amour Broke my heart and no I’m waitin for you More and more Whats a boy in life supposed to do?
Take that grungy Mumbai wallahs with your long greasy hair and Jethro Tull t-shirts.
In early eighties, aside from Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin, the biggest tunes in India were
There was some German techno music too.
Pink Floyd has larger than life hold on India
India will only be placed on the hip map when Spinal Tap plays there.