The earliest piece of music I remember having listened to is Mozart's Symphony No. 40. That was back in my UKG when we used to listen to different composers at bed time. In my dad's eyes, the melody of music outweighs the jingle of coins, so its natural that his offsprings - my older sisters and me did justice to the hundred-rich rack of western classical music. It took me a while to appreciate it, though my sisters were instantly very taken with the likes of Bach, Beethoven and Tchaikovsky. But over time, I grew to love it.
I remember taking my X class board exams with The Beatles playing in some remote corner of my brain. My bro-in-law in the US had sent along a few Beatles CDs, and every evening saw my preparations for the next day's exam coupled with shouts of I wanna hold your hand, Love me do! and Yesterday (that's more of a hum than a shout ;) ). Dad picked up a couple of ABBA and Carpenters audio cassettes from a shop in Brigade Road, Bangalore sometime then, and that was probably the first time I was exposed to Karen Carpenter's entrancing voice that needles even the most un-romantic minds and drives their imagination. I can't pick the better voice between Joan Baez and Karen Carpenter - Diamonds And Rust by Joan Baez is something my sister Deepa took to singing everytime she came back from college, and her treble was simply unbelievable in the sense that she made a very good job of imitating Baez.
Then I entered college, where for some reason, you're considered akin to vermin if you do not listen to the in-thing - hard rock. You name a few kick-ass rock bands and you're instantly part of a happening department or club. It's the time when listening to Iron Maiden and Guns N Roses (for more than one reason ;-) ) brands you as "cool" and in some cases scum like Cradle of Filth (pun intended) is the sole reason why you have friends. You probably won't believe me when I say I hadn't even heard of a chap called Bryan Adams when I entered college. (Someone told me he's still single after all those love songs he's written!). Roxette and Billy Joel are pretty good for timepass numbers. At a point of time, We Didn't Start The Fire became a kind of cult song within my club. I also heard my first U2 number during my first year, and it's a song that never tires me even if it's going into its zillionth repeat. Sigh. I can't live With or Without You. Man.
Second year was when the wave of Pink Floyd hit me, and that was when I started appreciating the art of playing the guitar. I also discovered how Chris Martin of (Coldplay fame) with that amazing voice floored Gwyneth Paltrow into marrying him. Second year was also when I started wishing for traits from various gifted people. I wanted to emulate Don Felder's slide guitar antics in Hotel California, employ Dave Gilmour's booming voice in Coming back to Life, and coo like Chris Martin in Clocks. I couldn't do any of it.
The magic of The Bee Gees hit me during my third year. They lent a different dimension to rock and roll. Maurice Gibb with that one-of-a-kind voice (I really don't know how to classify it) made it big for a certain John Travolta who starred in the late seventies' blockbuster Saturday Night Fever. And there was Bruce Springsteen and Dire Straits - the former captured fans (not just girls) thanks to his lyrics and passionate voice. Courteney Cox got her big break when Springsteen pulled her over from the crowd during a live rendition of Dancing in the dark and made her sway on stage for a few seconds. And the latter, well. I know guys who're trying to trying to smoke just so they could deepen their voice to sing and play the guitar like Knopfler does. I mean, you could even call it arrogance...he plays the guitar without flinching a muscle, like it's the most trivial thing mankind ever invented. No sweat, job done, while girls continue to drool. And hey, being a Tamilian, I've never appreciated Ilayaraja more...he's like Beethoven of the East. I could quote a dozen songs I'd do anything to perfect.
Final year, well. That's now. Before I came back to campus I got myself a guitar, and have been trying to perfect Stairway to Heaven without much success. I must have listened to it a thousand times over the vacation, driving my folks mad. And Joe Satriani and Eric Clapton are my latest Idols (you might have figured that from my earlier posts) after The Extremist and Love Thing and Cocaine and Wonderful Tonight and Layla, among others. And oh yeah, there's this song called Stop! Stop! Stop! by this Russian/Ukrainian band called Nu Virgos (I suggest you check them out on Wiki ;) ) which has become a popular number on campus.
That covers most of my favourite bands. I think I left out Vertical Horizon, The Calling, Vanessa Amorosi and a few others. Ronan Keating, Five for fighting, Hoobastank, Richard Marx, Maroon 5, INXS and the likes will keep coming out with love songs while Iron Maiden will continue to give meaning to rock music. But there can be no end to this I guess. So then, So long, farewell, until the next post!
