The Day the Music Died: An Indictment on the Tune of Today

Howdy once again, fellow bright Judenites! It’s been a long time since I have written a busted-out commentary, so I’ll take a dive and talk about my all-time favorite interest: music.

I have described myself as an ‘audiophile’ for probably the longest time in my so-called existence (having no other alternative options!) And why not? I like different types of music, I can’t stand a day without turning the radio on, and I have my mundane couch potato life in the presence of music videos. I have always believed that music is the universal language, it is life to many of us, and it gives our lives variety and an individual sense.

However, what has been happening to the music scene lately? Let me enumerate:

1) Proliferation of ‘novelty’ songs
I call this the ‘virus’ genre. Where have all the OPM gone? They were replaced instead by inane, mindless melodies that are double-entendred and are heavily played by novelty-friendly stations like Love Radio (ayokong i-memorize yan!) and Star FM. And let’s not even call it ‘novelty’! Novelty, in the truest sense, means ‘freshness’ - and these songs’ messages aren’t even decent! But sadly, they sell. No wonder the average Pinoy is unwittingly ‘dumbing down’, sedated to this crap. (Last time around, I heard the “Basketball” song on a children’s dance show! Yikes!)

2) Good songs getting overplayed
You hear a favorite new song of yours on this particular station, smiling to yourself at how the DJ can read your mind. You change the dial, and the same song is playing. Ok… Then after an hour, the same station AGAIN plays that same tune… you get the picture. Good songs turn horribly mind-snapping when it gets overplayed, and I’m sure everyone had that experience with *insert song title here*. Disc jockeys say they aren’t to blame; it’s because of the rampant requests of radio listeners! But would you mind tolerating your playlists?

3) Star Searches / ‘The Next Idol’ Hype
Not that there’s anything wrong with people with real talent joining these, but the case is the explosion of talent shows in such a short amount of time. Now the winners are flooding the limelight, all dishing out the same old rehashes on Sunday noon variety (I have to admit, they’re almost nakakasawa…) If they want someone to shine, let one have his place in the sun, not a dozen at the same time! I swear, we might just have a HUNDRED ‘idols’ or ‘divas’ in a year!

4) ‘Manufactured’ artists
A little-known girl suddenly having a ‘hit’ song and the album’s sold like pancakes? Wow! How did she do that?! Her song’s not even that good-sounding. More often than not, she’s the product of heavy advertisement by record executives. It’s a concerted effort by these ‘starmakers’ to coerce radio and television to shovel her latest song down our throats. And they’re everywhere…

5) Piracy
The biggest problem confronting the underdeveloped music industry in the country is the widespread piracy of movies and especially music. Progressive artists are afraid their careers might bomb out because these pirated CDs are selling dirt-cheap in the streets, and they’re not going to make any profit after marketing that hard-earned record. Thus, not much new artists arrive except those of the independent label, and thus no new material. And what do people like Sharon Cuneta and Martin Nievera release? Revivals… because it’s the safest route for their incomes! (oops!)

6) Do you even call that music?!
I don’t know whether you notice it, but in every 40 minutes that you watch MTV, there’s bound to be some rap/R&B video that’s going to be played. And it’s not the music that gets you hooked - it’s the video! Lots of ‘bling’ and bare skin all around! And add to that the unintelligible lyrics and swearing-swagger too. Now, that’s as worse as the ‘novelty nausea’ we experience here! *take a deep breath* … After the lame rap video comes a pseudo-pop-rock video that does actually nothing but whine, curse and bleat about broken lives and broken hearts… oh please! Will these people just GET A LIFE?!!?!?

I cannot say I have excellent taste in music (I have my own biases…), and there is always the freedom of choice - what you hate may be my uber-favorite (and that explains my ‘Relativity’ column name!) Or maybe, my tastes are just getting too old for me… Nevertheless, these are just my grievances on the current state of music… gone are the days where meaning and melody matched, and there were songs that gave you a ‘tingle’ because it sounded so darn good and it made you feel positive.

If this gratuitous game continues to the next decade, I’d better fly off to some deserted island and stuff my eardrums! Till then, we’d have to hope for a miracle!

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Note: This article appeared in The Judenites, Sept-Dec 2004 issue.
(as Associate Editor, “Relativity”)