Music: Life's Immortal Gift

I always have a quick reply whenever someone asks me what the most memorable year in my life was: Nineteen-ninety one, during the months of April and May to be exact. I bet everyone has a "favorite year" in their lives, and to me '91 was the defining year of my youth, for many reasons.

To me, everything was there in the open if one bothers to explore. That point in time was sort of the zenith of humankind's existence when the world had it all, only to be lost in the years that followed. And I did bother to explore, and was simply being myself.

To be sure, a lot of people (including Pau T., Tristan Boy, Gino Tioseco, Danding, Reg Guzman, Mike and Pipo Martinez, Gimo Gomez, Josef Betita, Bob "la fugitive" Dela Cruz, Martin Alvir, Andrei and more of my acquaintances and close friends) shared that wonderful time (1981-1991) exploring wonderful music. A collective response to a changing world.

It was a glorious time listening to great tunes from The Smiths, Happy Mondays, Echo & The Bunnymen, Aztec Camera, David Bowie, The Colourfield, Charlatans, Elvis Costello, The Care, Tom Petty, etc...etc... To think they are still revered until today.

I made a trip to Subic Naval Base that year (Summer '91) with my best cousin, Reg. It was a time when the "Yanks" still occupied the base.

We were cruising along the main highway with my uncle who works in the US Navy in a Chevy Citation, when an American jock over the radio was saying how great the weather was that day and other stuff which I hardly understood, so I resorted to playing Total Recall in my Sony Walkman all the way to Binictican Heights where my uncle stayed. Thank God, it was only a ten-minute trip.

During those times, being in Subic feels like you were in the States.

The junket to Subic had been more worthwhile and adventurous for young guys like us because unlike the carefree ways of Filipinos in the city, the restrictions inside was strictly enforced and offenders faced the risk of being reprimanded: The American Way, I thought.

I knew much about the United States just by being in the base for a few days. But I enjoyed it more when it was jazzed up with Brit music through my Walkman (damn, was it splattered by FEN frequency!) and the tapes (tapes!) I brought along with tunes recorded from then-popular radio stations, NU107 or BM105. However, there was no XB since it was already non-existent by that time (sigh).

These groups will always be worth mentioning; and to talk about the other "greats" would basically make me end up writing twenty paragraphs or more (I'm sure of that) just to name these groups. I'm speaking of course, of New Wave stuff. And no, forget about those mainstream songs claiming to be New Wave.

In other words, to infinity and beyond!

The lovely thing about good music is that you don't get tired of them. I think that this is why they are good. They will always please you whether you're down or not. Good music of one's time evokes recollections of things past when listened today; memories that are both equally painful or happy.

And even if some songs are branded as baduy, in which only the baduy crowd listens to, they still serve as good recollections, at least for them. There's the kind of music that stirs one's soul, and there are those that make you feel nauseated. But you must be insane if you don't like music in general.

Music is good for everyone. To the younger set: get involved, have fun and don't be confined with the usual. My father once said over dinner that music lovers are people who are tame; I'm inclined to believe that. And it doesn't matter, as I say, if you still enjoy Local Brown, like heck, enjoy it by all means. Albeit wild, it's still music to the ears!

"We are the normal, live and let die, no reasons why..."