I knew this would happen sooner or later

A certain kind of musical conflict sometimes occurs between shoppers and staff - especially when the majority of shoppers happen to be middle-aged to elderly women and the staff consist of highschool and college-aged "girls".

When I first started working where I work now, I suffered for about two months listening to "store music" (basically, albums the store sold - they ranged from 60s diva music to classic rock tunes which I originally loved but grew to hate by the 17632th time I heard them). So what one of my coworkers and I used to do was bring our own CDs to work when the manager and our older coworkers weren't around. At first, we were sure to select music that wouldn't offend and which would accentuate the atmosphere of a home decor/gift store rather than contradict it. Anything with cursing, sexually suggestive lyrics, and/or aggressive shouting were total no-nos. I think I had a post-punk album in the cd player once that actually got a complaint. My 'new' boss (fortunately with him, we didn't have to listen to store music anymore, he burned his own cds) immediately jumped to the conclusion that my music was "crap", hid everyone's cds, and for about a month or two right before school ended, we were stuck listening to the likes of Lily Allen to the point that if you liked her infectious pop tracks before, you were definitely sick of listening to them after those two months had passed.

Eventually, we discovered the hiding spots of our beloved music so we were back to playing it when the boss wasn't around. I did learn a lesson, though and took my shouty post-punk album out and stuck to music that again, would hopefully be fine for a diverse audience. One day, I accidentally left my discs in the cd player one evening but the thing is, my boss left them there when he came to work the next morning. Success!

Anyway, I'm straying off from my main point - that's just the context of the situation. Over the summer, someone brought in Justin Timberlake's FutureSex/LoveSounds, Timbaland's Timbaland Presents Shock Value, and Rihanna's Good Girl Gone Bad. In other words, we're listening to far more rap/hip-hop/r&b music than we ever have before.

My favourite track off of JT's album, I think, would have to be "Damn Girl". The first time I heard it (I hadn't yet heard the album from start to finish before my coworker brought it in), I couldn't help but find it extremely funny (and at the same time, veeery awkward) to hear this song while old ladies (and sometimes, gentlemen) were shopping or worse, entering the store to hear "Damn, girl!" blasting at them. The irony is highly amusing.

What I knew would happen sooner or later was what happened yesterday.

While I was standing on a ladder precariously hanging chimes, this middle-aged woman came up to me and asked with a slight frown, "Who chooses the music around here?" "The staff...." (Yes, I know now that I should have lied and said, "My boss...") The lady screwed her face even more and said, "I don't think I can stand to listen to this much longer!" About two seconds later, she walked out of the store.

I know I should feel bad when shoppers don't like the kind of music that's playing in the store - but heartlessly, I don't. If you're shopping, the longest you have to hear what, in your opinion, is horrendous music is about half an hour...two hours tops if you're one of those shoppers who really like to take their time. We, on the other hand, are listening to this music for seven or eight hours straight, multiple times a week. Of course, there's validity to the idea of "offensive music" but I also think some people take offense too quickly to things that aren't meant to be offensive. That's one blatant aspect of the generational gap for you. It spoke even more clearly for me early this morning when my mom exclaimed that some song playing on Joe FM (come on! Joe FM??) was "noise" and proceeded to ask, "How can you call this music?!" (Easy...it's NOT Christian radio).

By the way, that song that lady was complaining about yesterday was none other than "Damn Girl".

The album that drove the Filipino alt-rock revolution

Rivermaya
Rivermaya (1994)
BMG Pilipinas

While most Pinoy rock bands in 1994 kept low profiles in the underground music scene, Rivermaya decided to take a chance by releasing a record under a major label.

The success obtained that year was only just the beginning.

There's still some confusion (for me, at least) as to how Rivermaya was formed. Some sources say that managers Lizza Nakpil and Chito Roño were responsible for putting the band together. Others suggest that Nakpil and Roño discovered Rivermaya after some demos by the band had been sent to various record companies. Whatever the case, the fact that keyboardist Rico Blanco was the one writing the catchy hits should have done a fairly good job of keeping Rivermaya away from the manufactured music stereotypes.

Rivermaya's self-titled debut could be seen as many things. In some ways, it was a window into their future. The album is a hodgepodge of different sounds - from the hard-edged "Revolution" to the ballad "20 Million" to the country-influenced "Gravity" - just as the band itself would later go into different musical phases. In other ways, Rivermaya is a mirror image of what was going on in North American rock with the grunge and alternative era. The band's vocalist at the time, Francisco Mañalac (known by many as "Bamboo"), even sported the same bald head as The Smashing Pumpkin's Billy Corgan. Songs like "Ground" were unmistakably influenced by grunge rock. Most importantly, however, Rivermaya's first record showed that rock music (in a country where pop music was "in") could be popular and cool while remaining original and credible at the same time.

Bamboo's voice is difficult to ignore. It's as versatile as the songs themselves. Even in songs that at first appear to border on being so mellow it's boring, Bamboo's voice adds nuances you wouldn't expect. One case in point is the way he sings the outstretched "heh-heh-haaate" in "Bring Me Down".

Meanwhile, it's easy to see how the band's first single ever, "Ulan" (Rain) became such an instant hit. The beginning of the song sounds like someone's changing the dial to a radio before finally coming across a station that is about to play a song by...guess? Blanco not only shows his stuff here through the songwriting but by the little keyboard solo he does at the bridge. He churns out a few dissonant chords and they actually sound nice.

I think I'd have to vote "214" as the best track on this album. I'm not a big fan of pop-rock ballads but this one's so damn catchy I'll have to make it an exception.

"Awit Ng Kabataan" (The Song of the Youth) is runner-up for best track. The way Bamboo's voice goes from calm to shouty without making the shouting headache-inducing like so many who attempt to do the same thing is a feat in itself.

At first listen, the album doesn't seem all that extraordinary. As mentioned before, the constant change in sound throughout could make you wonder if Rivermaya was being marketed to please everyone or if they were simply being versatile because that's who they really were. During this time, people were still comparing them to the Eraserheads, a band that had been around a little longer than Rivermaya and which had already established a loyal following. But unlike The Eraserheads (who mainly stuck to mellow, subtle pop-rock), Rivermaya went in many different directions with their music.

Another reason I felt underwhelmed listening to the album the first time around is because the music I was hearing was music I haven't really touched since I was in junior high. But when I took the songs at face value, I started to find more things worth praising. And when I remember the context of the album's release, I can't help but appreciate the effort even more. "Revolution", for example, isn't my cup of tea but hearing the ensemble of guitarist Perfecto de Castro, bassist Nathan Azarcon, drummer Mark Escueta, and Bamboo - it's amazing how such a classic rock sound was finally shouting out from a country that had, up to that point, a tendency to silence the rockers.

Ulan (Rain) - Rivermaya
214 - Rivermaya
Awit ng Kabataan (Song of the Youth) - Rivermaya

Coming Up: A Tribute to Rivermaya

Yes, I know that the Philippine's arguably best music act in the past decade and a half hasn't broken up - its backbone only walked away.


Rivermaya's lineup has consisted of many changes over the years (four different guitar players, for instance) but Rico Blanco, up until two months ago, remained. Drummer Mark Escueta barely missed the birth of Rivermaya (he was part of the second line-up) and while he can now claim to be the longest bandmember standing, it was Blanco who saw Rivermaya take its very first steps. He was also largely responsible for the band's repertoire as the chief composer/lyricist, spawning out hits that will undoubtbly leave marks in the Filipino music scene.

And by most accounts, isn't the identity of a rock band formed largely by the kind of music it produces - regardless if the music is being written by songwriters record companies hire or by one lone man who is part of the group? In Rivermaya's case, it was Blanco who defined what Rivermaya was about. In the second half of the band's tenure, he became an even more dominant presence when he took over the vocals from "Bamboo" Mañalac.

Management tried to ease rumours of the band breaking up by saying that "No one member is greater than the whole." I couldn't disagree more. With a new vocalist and someone else taking over the reins of songwriting, Rivermaya will simply never be the same band as it was before.

At this point, you may be wondering if this is more a tribute to Rivermaya or rather, Rico Blanco. No, it's still about Rivermaya. The real tribute comes later in the form of album reviews starting with their 1994 debut Rivermaya.

In the meantime, though, I had to explain why I thought a tribute was warranted for a band that still remains.

"Bye Bye Na" video