Pinoy rock

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Pinoy Rock, or Filipino Rock, is the brand of Rock music produced in the Philippines or by Filipinos. It has become as diverse as the Rock music genre itself, and bands adopting this style are now further classified under more specific genres or combinations of genres like Alternative Rock, Ethnic, Metal, New Wave, Pop Rock, Punk Rock, Reggae, Heavy Metal and Ska. Because these genres are generally considered to fall under the broad Rock music category, Pinoy Rock may be more specifically defined as Rock music with Filipino cultural sensibilities.

1 History
- 1.1 1960s
- 1.2 1970s
- 1.3 1980s
- 1.4 1990s
- 1.5 2000s
2 External links

[edit] History

One of the first popular Filipino rock stars was Bobby Gonzales, whose major hit was "Hahabul-Habol." Eddie Mesa, another teen idol from the period, became known as the "Elvis Presley of the Philippines." Back then, many Filipinos referred to Rock bands as "combos," many of which used nontraditional instruments like floor-bass bongos, maracas, and gas tanks.

Maria Cafra logo

[edit] 1960s

In the early 1960s, as electric instruments and new technology became available, instrumental American and British bands like The Shadows and The Ventures flourished. Filipino instrumental bands arose as well in this period; bands like The Deltas, The Celtics, RJ & the Riots, The Technicolors, The Downbeats, The Hi-Jacks, and The Electromaniacs. These bands spawned the first Filipino singer-songwriters.

In 1963, the so-called British Invasion brought bands like The Beatles to mainstream audiences worldwide. Their widespread popularity and their embrace of the counterculture injected the possibility of socio-political lyrics with mature comments on real life into popular music. Immensely influenced by this new breed of British artists, many Filipino bands began adopting similar musical styles; and this produced acts like Downbeats, Tilt Down Men, The Moonstrucks, The Dynasouls, and Bits & Pieces. Some groups enhanced their style by adding unconventional instruments like a horn-and-brass section, trumpet, flute, and saxophone. Examples of such bands included Drop Outs, The Howlers, The Originals, The Houserockers, Clubmen, and The Imperials.

In the late 1960s, the onset of the Woodstock generation brought about bands like Crosby Stills Nash & Young, Jimi Hendrix Experience, Chick Corea Return to Forever, Mahavishnu Orchestra, The Who, and others in this frontier such as Ten Years After, Iron Butterfly, Led Zeppelin, Joe Cocker and The Mad Dogs & Englishmen, to audiences worldwide. This brought about the rock culture that still heavily influences Pinoy Rock today. This era produced acts like Circus Band, Maria Cafra, Anakbayan, Isang Kilo Band with members Boy Katindig, Pabs Dadivas, Walter Calinawan, Wally Ang, Bambi Borromeo, and Boy Fragante, Psyclones, Makati Avenue Blues Band, John Of The Cross and Juan de la Cruz Band to name a few.

[edit] 1970s

Into the early 1970s, Pinoy Rock was growing more nationalistic and socio-political in nature, as well as using Tagalog more often. Performers included Freddie Aguilar, Asin, Florante, Apo Hiking Society, John Of The Cross, Anakbayan, Juan de la Cruz Band, and Banyuhay. OPM (Original Pilipino music) also became popular. The songs like "Ang Miss Universe ng Buhay Ko" (The Miss Universe of My Life) of Hotdog combined Filipino and English words within the same song. This helped innovate the so-called "Manila Sound". Asin, Freddie Aguilar, and Florante fused Pinoy Rock with Folk music; while other artists mixed Pinoy Rock with other styles.

In 1978, Freddie Aguilar's debut single, "Anak," became the most commercially successful Filipino recording in history. The song became known also in other Asian countries and in Europe.

Today, many music journalists refer to the works of these pioneering artists as Classic Pinoy Rock, perhaps to distinguish them from the works of relatively younger Pinoy Rock bands, especially those that emerged in the 1980s through the 1990s.

[edit] 1980s

In the early up to mid-1980s, Pinoy Rock became the music of Filipino protesters. Gary Granada and the band Buklod had socially relevant lyrics for their songs. Aguilar's Bayan Ko (My Country) became an anthem during the 1986 EDSA Revolution. A subculture rejected this kind of socially aware lyrics. A Filipino brand of Punk Rock also began to flourish during this period, as led by bands like Betrayed, G.I. & the Idiots, The Jerks, Urban Bandits, WUDS and The Goons. Simultaneously, other brands of Pinoy Rock were starting to develop; for instance, Joey Ayala at ang Bagong Lumad (fronted by Joey Ayala) adopted an Ethnic sound, even using indigenous instruments like kubing and kudyapi while Cocojam combined it with Reggae.

The most popular Pinoy Rock band in the Philippines in the '80s was The Dawn, whose early songs were largely influenced by New Wave music, the dominant Alternative music genre in the Philippines during that period. The Dawn came to prominence in 1986, when its independently released single "Enveloped Ideas" became an instant favorite among listeners of DWXB-FM 102.7, a now-defunct FM radio station popular in the mid-'80s that heavily played New Wave music and other similar genres. Many music journalists and enthusiasts, as well as musicians themselves, attribute the flourishing in the mid-'80s of New Wave- and Punk Rock-influenced bands to DWXB-FM, which began playing independently released singles of unsigned local bands. This helped many of the struggling bands in this era to achieve cult status. These bands included Deans December, Ethnic Faces, Identity Crisis, and Violent Playground, all of which were able to record and release their respective albums in the years that followed. Other Pinoy Rock groups took their cue from these pioneers and started recording their own songs; and this proved beneficial to the Pinoy Rock scene, which brought back creativity and originality to the awareness of fledgling musicians. Among the lot, The Dawn, The Youth, Afterimage, and Introvoys proved to be the enduring and more successful. Each was able to sustain a relatively long career. DWXB-FM went off the air on June 9, 1987. The new Cory Aquino-led government began sequestering properties owned by her predecessor Ferdinand Marcos and his cronies, including the home that DWXB-FM beamed from. DWXB-FM was revived as an online radio station on September 10, 2005, by Sutton Records, with the original DJs broadcasting from Manila.

The Eraserheads

[edit] 1990s

Introvoys and After Image were among the prominent bands in the early 1990s; but their popularity were later overshadowed by younger bands that eventually emerged. Radio station LA 105.9 had advocated Filipino rock music, encouraging original amateur (even if poorly recorded) singles and gave new avenues for emerging bands.

The band that stood out of the amateur clutter was Eraserheads, which to this day many Filipino music enthusiasts regard as the Pinoy rock icon of the 1990s. In 1993, with the release of Eraserheads' first commercially released album, Ultraelectromagneticpop, a new type of Pinoy rock emerged and many Pinoy rock bands followed their lead. Rivermaya, another Pinoy rock icon, also emerged, further injecting pop sensibilities to rock music, making rock more accessible to the general public. It was also in this period when NU Rock Awards was born. Socially relevant lyrics persisted as well, as exemplified by the band Yano, whose lyricism dwelled mostly on social and political issues.

Bands that emerged after the commercial success of Eraserheads adopted a variety of influences both in image and music. Many of these groups fell under a particular genre; however, crossing over of styles is most often inevitable. Notable bands, though less mainstream, include Mutiny, Datu's Tribe, Dahong Palay, and Half Life Half Death.

Around the same time as the Eraserheads, along with the prominence of re-issues, bands influenced by 80's Metal and Classic Rock emerged. Most successful of these bands were Wolfgang, P.O.T., and Razorback, each recognized for their songwriting prowess, bandmembers' technical abilities, and extended live performances.

In 1995, a Pinoy Rock compilation album entitled Numeric Sampler 502 was released. The bands included in this album are Tame The Tikbalang, Feet Like Fins, Sugar Hiccup, Children of Cathode Ray, Inquisition, Poppy Field, Keltscross and Siakol. This was the year that the carrier single Lakas-Tama of Siakol hit the Number 1 spot in NU107 countdown.

It was 1996 when the 2 mid-90's band released their first album. Siakol's "Tayo Na Sa Paraiso" and Parokya ni edgar's "Khangkhungkherrnitz". This is also the year that the Alternative Pinoy Rock became more popular.

The 90's also introduced OPM into the international spotlight, as the Eraserheads won the MTV Video Music Award for Best Asian Artist in 1996 and spawned the internationally released album Aloha Milkyway.

Emerging from the early nineties as well was another interesting genres, the underground gothic scene. Most notable in spearheading and enduring this genre was gothic rock visionaries, Dominion. Although gaining quite a considerable following among the Filipino youth, the Pinoy goth scene remains to be away from mainstream involvement. Despite this, a number of the media people still take time to cover goth events, perhaps because of the interesting sense of fashion that accompanies this genre. The production label Subkulture is one of the leading supporters of gothic events in Metro Manila. It was also responsible for flying in international goth groups such as Eve of Destiny (featuring Kozi of Malice Mizer; of Japanese origin) and Angina Pectoris of Germany. Presently, the scene survives and is growing even without mainstream radio airplay.

In the late 1990s, bands that adopted the Nu Metal style dominated the Pinoy rock music scene. These bands include Greyhoundz, Cheese, and Slapshock.

[edit] 2000s

In the early 2000s with Hip hop, Acoustic and R&B influenced bands dominated the Philippine music scene, causing Pinoy Rock to take the backseat. Only a number of Pinoy Rock bands had managed to stay in the mainstream during this period; artists like Sandwich, Slapshock, the Rico Blanco led Rivermaya which gave away their CD for Free and won NU Rock Awards album of the year among other awards, Barbie's Cradle and Moonstar 88. Noel Cabangon, formerly of Buklod, re-released the song "Kanlungan" and became popular.

In 2002 an unsigned New Wave group called The Pin-Up Girls found themselves making front-page headlines after being tagged as the first Filipino Rock band to be signed by a U.S. label. Michael Sutton, a Filipino-Scottish staff writer for The All-Music Guide and the A&R Representative of Know-It-All Records, based in Seattle, Washington, discovered The Pin-Up Girls through a random aircheck of Metro Manila's Alternative Rock radio station DWNU 107. The Pin-Up Girls were ahead of their time, reviving '80s New Wave before it had become fashionable and commercially viable. Sutton added the group to the label's roster, releasing the Taste Test EP a year later. The EP hit no. 1 on a New Jersey-based radio station, helping to bring Pinoy Rock into the awareness of the American audience. Sutton left Know-It-All Records in late 2004, bringing The Pin-Up Girls to his own label Sutton Records.

Also in 2002, Cheese released their sophomore album Pilipinas thus again establishing Pinoy Rock as OPM even if the song lyrics are not in Filipino. This album garnered awards and recognition in the NU Rock Awards 2002 for Album of the Year, Vocalist of the Year Ian Tayao, and the Listeners Choice Award for that year. This also marked a resurgence of Pinoy pride in Pilipinas rock music and nationalism. Cheese has unsigned from Warner Music Philippines, and the band in 2005 is independently known as Queso.

In the U.S., DJ Jason Baquilod continues to expose a multitude of Filipino acts, from R&B to Metal to Alternative, to a worldwide audience on his WRMN broadcasts.

In 2003, DJ RO started playing 60's to 80's Rock Music at Gweilos Makati, further increasing the clamor for bars to play such music, and increasing the interest for bands such as Orange and Lemons and Kitchie Nadal to create original songs that sound just like those of their favorite bands. This resulted in copycat bars starting to play Classic 60's, 70's, and 80's hit music during weekends to rake in the crowds.

It was also in 2003 that Fuseboxx won the Red Horse Muziklaban, introducing progressive metal into the Filipino music scene.

In 2004, the recharged Pinoy Rock music scene gave rise to another wave of Pinoy Rock bands. Alongside durable '90s veterans like Rivermaya and Parokya ni Edgar, artists such as Bamboo, Kitchie Nadal, 6 Cycle Mind, Sponge Cola, Sugar Free, Narda, Itchyworms, Up Dharma Down, Kamikazee, Kjwan, and Pupil (Headed by ex-Eraserheads frontman, Ely Buendia) all enjoyed considerable success.

2004 also saw the emergence of the first Philippine virtual band, Mistula. With the Internet as their stage, Mistula comes alive through their official website, a seamless fusion of music, graphic art, literature, photography and other art forms in themes of Catholic idolatry and cultural commentary, taking Pinoy Rock to a whole new playing field.

Meanwhile, bands of other genres (from Hip hop and RNB to Funk to Soul and Ska) have been making the rounds of the Metro Manila scene. 2004 also marked the emergence of the electronica scene with the chart-buster "Piniritong Dalagang Bukid" by Wolfmann. Not to be excluded is the blossoming Cebu music scene, with forerunners that include Urbandub, Junior Kilat, Faspitch, and Sheila & the Insects and their counterparts from Mindanao,Nuncyspungen.

2005 ushered in the mainstream buzz on 'pop rock', termed as pogi rock. With Callalily, Hale, Sponge Cola, and Cueshe, 'pogi rock' became the sound of 2005. The former group, however, refused to labeled with such a title. 2005 also introduced the solo album of legendary Yano frontman Dong Abay. His socio-political songwriting epitomizes the laid-back optimism of Filipino Rock songwriting.

2005 also spawned tribute concerts and albums for the OPM icons. The critically-acclaimed tribute to the Eraserheads, Ultraelectromagneticjam, served as a fitting homage to the latter with their timeless hits revived by the hottest OPM artists like Orange & Lemons "Huwag Kang Matakot", Imago "Spoliarium", and even marked icons like the King Of Rap Francis M "Superproxy 2k6" (who collaborated with E'heads frontman Ely Buendia). After the success of Ultraelectromagneticjam, the tribute to pop group APO Hiking Society "Kami nAPO Muna" became the fastest and biggest selling album of 2006 with unique renditions from electronica group Drip "Kabilugan Ng Buwan", acid jazz band Sound, and magnetic rock group Sandwich (fronted by ex-Eraserheads drummer Raimund Marasigan).

The year 2005 saw the emergence of influential music venues such as Cafe Saguijo and Gweilos, in addition to the myriad of venues in the Philippines, such as Mayric's, 70's Bistro, Freedom Bar, 19 East, Dish, mag:net, Kolumn, Mai Yuchi, Caliente, A-Venue, Xaymaca, to name a few. In the United States of America where the Fil-Am Rock Scene burgeons, venues are slowly but surely recognizing the presence of Pinoy Rock.

Venues in the Philippines play host to a sizable number of bands like Pulp Summer Slam and NU 107 Summer Shebang and the dizzying array of current production houses. Plus, there is growing support from corporate sponsorships, as can be seen nowadays in bands' mall tours, tri-media commercials, and the ever growing number of internet sites supporting and catering to the pinoy rock scene. New bands that have emerged from this resurgence include KinkyhOOters, Monks'Hood, Kalzada, Airport Drama, 3TE, Sultans of Snap, Degage, Mercury Sky and House of Ravens.

Bands of 90's that still active until now in making albums and doing concert tours here and abroad are Rivermaya, Siakol and Parokya ni Edgar.

In the passage of time and many musical styles in the Philippines, the term Pinoy Rock has become as diverse as the Rock music genre itself. Today, many music journalists and music enthusiasts regard Pinoy Rock as the brand of Rock music originating in the Philippines. And just like the Rock music genre itself, it may be further classified into more specific genres of music.