Let me straighten my back. Breathe. Ready? Hit play. Now, don’t be fooled by the title. While I’m a staunch Eraserheads fan, we’re not going to focus only on them. Let’s see how this will pan out. I’m currently playing the first song in the Pinoy rock playlist I’ll feature below while typing. Let’s find out what story the songs on shuffle will tell. Game!
“Ngunit ngayon, kay bilis maglaho ng kahapon”,
The song was on this part when I started writing the first word of this article. I dare say Minsan, by one of the country’s well-loved and influential Pinoy rock bands, is my ’90s kid anthem. Straight to the gut, nostalgic, and dispiriting.
But isn’t that why certain songs stick to our minds, whether it be old or new? They serve as a reminder of an experience, good or bad, buried in the back of our heads; try as we might erase them, but couldn’t. Aha! Eraserheads, very meta.
Even when I was young, music played a very significant part in my life. Thanks to my pre-loved stereotypical, cool-kid-gadget called ‘Walkman,’ music accompanied me almost all the time. Like a soundtrack to every childhood memory, there is. I could still remember recording the songs playing on the radio through a cassette tape – frustrated whenever the DJ speaks over the music. Why do they even do that? Don’t they know there were penniless kids who can’t afford to buy an actual album cassette tape?
Today, whenever the weather invites me for a walk down memory lane, I’d hit Spotify and play the playlist above. Nothing short of a Senti trip from when I first felt that fluttering sensation in my chest called infatuation, thanks to Crystal Joy for awakening my senses. If you’re reading this, I forgive you for choosing to sit next to Jonathan over me during our two school’s joint field trip.
Sembreak made me badly want to go to college to relate to whatever fever pitch state Ely was singing. It made me incredibly hopeful and excited about going to college, falling in love, or just the very idea of finding an inspiration to do even the most ridiculous of things.
Earworms produces by Pinoy rock era
There’s always a Pinoy rock song or ‘tunog kalye’ song that perfectly emulates our ordeals, successes, or even the lack thereof. Just like how Ligaya sparked our giddiness about wanting to be with someone while offering farcical things, including writing someone’s thesis – even when Ely, himself, jokingly said that he probably wouldn’t as he couldn’t even finish his.
There’s always a Pinoy rock song or ‘tunog kalye’ song that perfectly emulates our ordeals, successes, or even the lack thereof.
Do you remember your first heartbreak? Were you one of those who hit the shower while singing, on top of their lungs, the lines, “Heto ako, basang basa sa ulan.‘? Or were you the defeatist type who jammed to the tune of Halik? Or maybe you’re the lowkey type who would rather reminisce about the good days and say ‘I love you’ before letting someone go.
Original Pilipino Music did not only make us cry out of misery and failures in life. They taught us, too, how to love our own by embracing the reality of living in an imperfect world. Credit must be given to THE Francis M when he said, “…you can’t talk peace and have a gun.” How Bamboo screamed, “kung gusto niyo kaming sigawan, bakit hindi niyo subukan? Lalo lang kayong hindi maiintindihan.” And of course, that ever existential crisis question, “What has life to offer me when I grow old?” These songs opened my mind to the harsh realities and challenges I will eventually face – safe to say, I managed to come out of the woods unscathed.
They taught us, too, how to love our own by embracing the reality of living in an imperfect world.
Resonated memories.
When a song can create a magical experience of allowing you to turn back time and remember what you felt when you first heard it, it will be etched in your memories forever. OPM songs give me these experiences. The distinct rhythm and beats of the songs we grew up with are like candy trails. They guide us to that house in the forest filled with nothing but memories waiting for us to pay a visit. The question is… would you open the door and get in?
Just like that house of unknown surprises, the songs of the ’90s will live on and stay for as long as they could. Tunes get old. Lyrics get disconnected. The songs we grew up with may no longer sound the same way. They may no longer give us comfort and epiphany. But they could definitely be our north star to measure how far we have come. Have we learned our lessons? Did we become the people we said we’d be? Have we made peace with all the internal battles of growing up? We may have. Not sure? Listen up! Go figure.
