Mainstream

It's sad when good bands sell out: Barbie's Cradle, True Faith, Rivermaya. Actually, True Faith's Nescafe add was okay, kasi in good taste naman. BC's Nescafe ad is too much. It doesn't sound like they'd actually write a song like that. Rivermaya's ka-pizza is way over. That's just too much for me. Sell out na talaga yan. Maybe they've reached a point where there's no turning back anymore sort of like what happened to Parokya who actually admit to selling out.

Parokya is so kalog that they can get away with it. It's not art for them, it's just about having fun. Having money in your pocket is fun. They don't take things seriously and just do what they want. Irony of it of course, is that they end up having more control over their music. They end up dictating what they should or should not sound like. Or maybe, it's just because Parokya is that damn special that they can't do anything wrong. People will love them no matter what—because people accept them for who they are. Is it okay for them to sell out because they've lost it anyway, or are they more mature because of all the exposure they've received? Or maybe , they really are in a class of their own. The more I think about it, the more it seems like it's the latter.

I was immersed in the underground scene a long, long time ago. It was the time when LSFM was the pop music station and LA 105.9 was the source for alternative music. It was the time when bands like Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Faith no more, Alice in chains, and STP were starting. Locally, Rivermaya was still headed by Bamboo, Ultraelectromagneticpop was the shiznit, Afterimage was cool for all the kids, and the Juan De La Cruz band was back in fashion. That was when being a rocker was being a rocker. Those were the good old days. Check that: when I say rock, I don't mean glam rock. I mean alternative rock.

My brother—who currently has a band without a clear musical genre—doesn't appreciate early 90's rock music. I'd think that he's more into the underground scene than I am, but sometimes I know more about it than he does.

On a side note, NU isn't what it used to be. It gets downright annoying at times. The perfect station for pseudo-rockers trying to find an identity. Unfortunately, unkown to them, they're individuality is as commercial as German Moreno. More on radio stations in some other post.

Anyway, what does the underground scene look like these days? Of course I wouldn't know cause I'm not hard core anymore. But the funny thing about the scene is how the people immersed in it diss bands who go mainstream. For them it's a bad thing. It's the death of the soul of the band. Yeah, as if bands really exist just for the sake of creating music. All bands want to get mainstream eventually. Dissing is just crab mentality. Yes, it does in one way or another hurt the essence of a band's music, but that's the way it is.

Some of my friends are with me on disliking bands that become uso. Baduy na kasi. Their songs get overplayed, everyone starts singing misheard lyrics, and they start to get too commercialized. It's a fact of life. Good ol' bands start to suck, dozens of good up-and-coming bands emerge, several make an impact, a few actually make it to the top 40 charts, and the cycle starts again.

Don't fight the system. Even those who "fight the system", milk it to buy their multi-million dollar cars and homes. Don't fight the system, but don't be sheep. Keep your individuality; appreciate music as an artform and not as bubblegum pop—at least most of the time.