Rock, Metal n Art...
Enter Sandman (Metallica) - the first rock cassette I ever bought n how I introduced it to Jamie, who then introduced me to The World of Rock... and how in Form 4, I ran up to the blackboard n drew the symbol of the Star of David with the words "I love Satan" just to piss Louisa off 'cos she complained that Heavy Metal was Satanic. Jamie would go to Singapore to buy super cool GNR, Nirvana n Pearl Jam 'rock' shirts n I'd get her to buy me Metallica ones.
This was when I started buying Kerrang! magazine! I'd cut out all the cool logos n pictures n paste them into a collage, or plaster them over my files n textbooks.
Don't Cry (Guns N' Roses) - we used to practice drawing n colouring the Use Your Illusion 1 n 2 album covers on artblock. Jamie used to draw that skull-stickman n RHCP logo everywhere!
I became a Graphic Designer because of this. Honestly, I can't draw shit. Then in Form 2 & 3 (Sec 2 & 3), I started doodling, and by Form 4 & 5, I was drawing Metallica, Def Leppard, Ugly Kid Joe logos all over the place. Sister Enda would have been very displeased if she saw how Jamie n I conteng-ed all over the school song n badge on our exercise books. Then I started recreating GNR and other album covers on artblock, using black felt pen n Buncho poster colours (except for Use Your Illusion which needed oil pastels), n spraying it over with clear lacquer.
I became very interested in Art (only the Seni Grafik n Kraftangan/Batik aspect, not the figure drawing stuff) n was bloody upset when I got a C3 for it for SPM. So after SPM (O-Levels), when it was time to decide what to study, I didn't know what I wanted to "become". My cousin Gary mentioned Graphic Design 'cos it was what he studied too, so my Mom followed me to Saito Academy to check it out n I loved what I saw.
I sailed through all the subjects except Drawing & Illustration! Used to get Edwin n Eric to help me draw figures (humans, animals, etc) n I'd trace from their drawings (Edwin's the maestro who drew the Star Wars "The Saga Is Complete" montage for our wedding). Some of us would trace out figures directly from pictures, so the lightbox was the best thing I learnt to use in art school. Well, that, and the NT Cutter, cutting mat and steel ruler which I can't live without.
TV themes n music...
All By Myself (Eric Carmen), With or Without You (U2) & The Reason (Hoobastank) - in Friends, 'The One Where Eddie Moves In', they play All By Myself as Chandler looks out the window at the rain outside, and Joey gazes at this dumbass water feature in his new apartment. And in 'The One With The List', Ross dedicates With or Without You on the radio to Rachel... And in 'The Last One', the guitar intro to The Reason plays when Ross n Rachel get back together, again.
We grew up loving themes from The A-Team, MacGyver, Airwolf, Knight Rider and cartoons like The Smurfs, Transformers, Jem (and the Holograms!)... My brothers n I would slip through closing doors just like how MacGyver did on the show. Jeremy even had a jotter book that he drew n compiled A-Team stuff into.
TV theme songs have always played an important part in a show, but only as a prelude, not really lending much to the sitcom itself. However, ever since Friends' success at segueing a really good song into a scene, other TV sitcoms have followed suit. Smallville, The OC, Grey's Anatomy... Now we can't even tell if a show is so popular because of the music, or vice versa.
Soundtracks...
Somewhere Out There (An American Tail Soundtrack) - we watched this video so many times that the film got all fuzzy. Aaron Shori said he cried when he watched this. Sometimes I would get all psycho-corny n sit by my bedroom window singing this.
Some of the best songs are from movie soundtracks, I guess mainly because a song can make or break a movie or a moment. Just think about it. Think of a movie, and the part you remember best, and it usually comes with a song. From Jerry Maguire to Breakfast at Tiffany's, Armaggedon to Titanic, Mermaids, The Full Monty, Babe, and of course all 'em Disney n animated movies.
Then there were the Musicals we grew up watching - The Sound of Music, My Fair Lady, Camelot, Mary Poppins... My brothers n I would sing "lots of chocolate for me to eat" especially when we ate those spherical Van Houten chocolates. And I always thought the dresses made from curtains were so pretty!
And of course, movie theme songs... Star Wars, The Godfather, Superman, Braveheart... How many of you still get goosebumps when the 20th Century Fox logo and theme plays, and the Star Wars theme starts? Ok...... maybe just Ben n I.
Music For Life
Anyway, what I intended to write about was Music, For Life.
What I mean is, music, what you listen to, what you grew up listening to, lasts a lifetime. Take my parents for example. My brothers n I used to complain about having to listen to "oldies" like Willie Nelson and Nana Mouskouri in the car on our long trips to Malacca or Cameron Highlands. But now, turning 30, I look at myself n find I'm no different than my parents... I'm still listening to stuff that I enjoyed more than 10 years ago.
Of course I listen to new stuff too. The Grunge revolution evolved into Post Grunge, giving us pretty good stuff from bands like Creed, Goo Goo Dolls, 3 Doors Down, Lifehouse, Matchbox 20, Nickelback... The Alternative music genre has spread so much and is so diverse n contemporary that you can no longer call it "alternative", but more like popular rock, broken down into Indie Rock, Piano Rock, even Christian Alternative Rock. So I also listen to stuff from Dashboard Confessional, The Fray, Jack's Mannequin...
But in the end, I still always enjoy to the good ol' guys, like John Mellencamp, Def Leppard, U2, Sting, Journey, Queen, Aerosmith, Bon Jovi (old Bon Jovi, back when they had messy hair)... And 10, 20, 30 years from now, our kids would probably have to suffer listening to Ben's n my "oldies" - a very weird mixture of "classic rock" n Mandarin hiphop by a certain dude from Taiwan.
Singers will age, lose their star quality n become totally uncool. Some might bleach their skin n play with young boys. Quite a few will follow in Axl Rose n Bret Michaels' footsteps, get Botox-ed n sport a weird hairdo (Your headbanging days are so over dudes). But their music will always remain.
So the next time you notice your kid or a teen going crazy over a certain band or singer, you'd better advise them to choose their idols wisely, listen to really good stuff, not crap from groups like the Lemon Tree fools 'cos they'd be listening to it for the rest of their lives. Their spouses, partners, family n friends would have to listen to it too.
That's the power of music. It exists in every stage in your life n represents every moment that meant something. It's your life on a soundtrack.
Enter Sandman (Metallica) - the first rock cassette I ever bought n how I introduced it to Jamie, who then introduced me to The World of Rock... and how in Form 4, I ran up to the blackboard n drew the symbol of the Star of David with the words "I love Satan" just to piss Louisa off 'cos she complained that Heavy Metal was Satanic. Jamie would go to Singapore to buy super cool GNR, Nirvana n Pearl Jam 'rock' shirts n I'd get her to buy me Metallica ones.
This was when I started buying Kerrang! magazine! I'd cut out all the cool logos n pictures n paste them into a collage, or plaster them over my files n textbooks.
Don't Cry (Guns N' Roses) - we used to practice drawing n colouring the Use Your Illusion 1 n 2 album covers on artblock. Jamie used to draw that skull-stickman n RHCP logo everywhere!
I became a Graphic Designer because of this. Honestly, I can't draw shit. Then in Form 2 & 3 (Sec 2 & 3), I started doodling, and by Form 4 & 5, I was drawing Metallica, Def Leppard, Ugly Kid Joe logos all over the place. Sister Enda would have been very displeased if she saw how Jamie n I conteng-ed all over the school song n badge on our exercise books. Then I started recreating GNR and other album covers on artblock, using black felt pen n Buncho poster colours (except for Use Your Illusion which needed oil pastels), n spraying it over with clear lacquer.
I became very interested in Art (only the Seni Grafik n Kraftangan/Batik aspect, not the figure drawing stuff) n was bloody upset when I got a C3 for it for SPM. So after SPM (O-Levels), when it was time to decide what to study, I didn't know what I wanted to "become". My cousin Gary mentioned Graphic Design 'cos it was what he studied too, so my Mom followed me to Saito Academy to check it out n I loved what I saw.
I sailed through all the subjects except Drawing & Illustration! Used to get Edwin n Eric to help me draw figures (humans, animals, etc) n I'd trace from their drawings (Edwin's the maestro who drew the Star Wars "The Saga Is Complete" montage for our wedding). Some of us would trace out figures directly from pictures, so the lightbox was the best thing I learnt to use in art school. Well, that, and the NT Cutter, cutting mat and steel ruler which I can't live without.
TV themes n music...
All By Myself (Eric Carmen), With or Without You (U2) & The Reason (Hoobastank) - in Friends, 'The One Where Eddie Moves In', they play All By Myself as Chandler looks out the window at the rain outside, and Joey gazes at this dumbass water feature in his new apartment. And in 'The One With The List', Ross dedicates With or Without You on the radio to Rachel... And in 'The Last One', the guitar intro to The Reason plays when Ross n Rachel get back together, again.
We grew up loving themes from The A-Team, MacGyver, Airwolf, Knight Rider and cartoons like The Smurfs, Transformers, Jem (and the Holograms!)... My brothers n I would slip through closing doors just like how MacGyver did on the show. Jeremy even had a jotter book that he drew n compiled A-Team stuff into.
TV theme songs have always played an important part in a show, but only as a prelude, not really lending much to the sitcom itself. However, ever since Friends' success at segueing a really good song into a scene, other TV sitcoms have followed suit. Smallville, The OC, Grey's Anatomy... Now we can't even tell if a show is so popular because of the music, or vice versa.
Soundtracks...
Somewhere Out There (An American Tail Soundtrack) - we watched this video so many times that the film got all fuzzy. Aaron Shori said he cried when he watched this. Sometimes I would get all psycho-corny n sit by my bedroom window singing this.
Some of the best songs are from movie soundtracks, I guess mainly because a song can make or break a movie or a moment. Just think about it. Think of a movie, and the part you remember best, and it usually comes with a song. From Jerry Maguire to Breakfast at Tiffany's, Armaggedon to Titanic, Mermaids, The Full Monty, Babe, and of course all 'em Disney n animated movies.
Then there were the Musicals we grew up watching - The Sound of Music, My Fair Lady, Camelot, Mary Poppins... My brothers n I would sing "lots of chocolate for me to eat" especially when we ate those spherical Van Houten chocolates. And I always thought the dresses made from curtains were so pretty!
And of course, movie theme songs... Star Wars, The Godfather, Superman, Braveheart... How many of you still get goosebumps when the 20th Century Fox logo and theme plays, and the Star Wars theme starts? Ok...... maybe just Ben n I.
Music For Life
Anyway, what I intended to write about was Music, For Life.
What I mean is, music, what you listen to, what you grew up listening to, lasts a lifetime. Take my parents for example. My brothers n I used to complain about having to listen to "oldies" like Willie Nelson and Nana Mouskouri in the car on our long trips to Malacca or Cameron Highlands. But now, turning 30, I look at myself n find I'm no different than my parents... I'm still listening to stuff that I enjoyed more than 10 years ago.
Of course I listen to new stuff too. The Grunge revolution evolved into Post Grunge, giving us pretty good stuff from bands like Creed, Goo Goo Dolls, 3 Doors Down, Lifehouse, Matchbox 20, Nickelback... The Alternative music genre has spread so much and is so diverse n contemporary that you can no longer call it "alternative", but more like popular rock, broken down into Indie Rock, Piano Rock, even Christian Alternative Rock. So I also listen to stuff from Dashboard Confessional, The Fray, Jack's Mannequin...
But in the end, I still always enjoy to the good ol' guys, like John Mellencamp, Def Leppard, U2, Sting, Journey, Queen, Aerosmith, Bon Jovi (old Bon Jovi, back when they had messy hair)... And 10, 20, 30 years from now, our kids would probably have to suffer listening to Ben's n my "oldies" - a very weird mixture of "classic rock" n Mandarin hiphop by a certain dude from Taiwan.
Singers will age, lose their star quality n become totally uncool. Some might bleach their skin n play with young boys. Quite a few will follow in Axl Rose n Bret Michaels' footsteps, get Botox-ed n sport a weird hairdo (Your headbanging days are so over dudes). But their music will always remain.
So the next time you notice your kid or a teen going crazy over a certain band or singer, you'd better advise them to choose their idols wisely, listen to really good stuff, not crap from groups like the Lemon Tree fools 'cos they'd be listening to it for the rest of their lives. Their spouses, partners, family n friends would have to listen to it too.
That's the power of music. It exists in every stage in your life n represents every moment that meant something. It's your life on a soundtrack.
No comments:
Post a Comment