Rock Pinoy Music Lives - Part 2!

Rock OPM

This is one of the most dominant genres in the pinoy music charts and the Philippine airwaves in the 90’s. It all started with The Eraserheads. And their success resulted to the birth of a number of rock OPM bands.

Francisco Mañalac (also known as Bamboo), the ex-frontman of Rivermaya, came back in the pinoy music arena with his newly-established rock band. Together with his comeback is Rivermaya, his former band.

During 2004, rock pinoy music made a resurgence out of the success of Hale, and then it later made way to the renaissance of rock OPM.

This article deals with the comeback of alternative rock in the pinoy music scene.

Hale

Their sophomore single, “The Day You Said Goodnight”, was released in the summer of 2006. It became a huge hit and ruled the airwaves and music charts in the Philippines. Follow-up singles were soon released after the release of the said pinoy music hit. But none of them were able to gain much success as what “The Day You Said Goodnight” did.

Cueshé

Just like Hale, the Cebu-based rock band made their pinoy music scene entrance in the summer of 2006. Their debut single, “Stay”, made a big impact on the Philippine charts. Soon after the release of the said single, a bunch of singles were soon released in the pinoy music market, and they also became huge hits in the pinoy music arena, like:

* Sorry

* Ulan

* 24 Hours

* Back To Me

Controversies arose when their song “Stay” was alleged as a plagiarized one, where the instrumental kicker was suspected to be derived from the instrumental kicker of Simple Plan’s “Perfect”, while the chorus from “The Greatest View” by Silverchair.

Orange and Lemons

They started their career in pinoy music as a mainstream pinoy music group. ABS-CBN, one of the major media networks in the Philippines, offered them to make a soundtrack for the reality show ’Pinoy Big Brother’. Out of that deal, they were able to write a song entitled ‘Pinoy Ako’, and it gained nationwide phenomenal success. As a matter of fact, it was accused of being a product of ripping Te Care’s “Chandelier”. Since then, they are one of the major bands in the alternative pinoy music world. Their unique collaboration of retro music, alternative rock and jazz music gave the band a distinctive sound. A number of them are enumerated in the list below:

* Heaven Knows

* Blue Moon

* Hanggang Kailan

* Abot Kamay

Kamikazee

Just like Orange and Lemons, this once-punk rock band started their career in pinoy music as a mainstream rock band, with such hits as ‘Chinelas’, parody of ’Lucky’ by Britney Spears, and a satire of ‘Sana Kahit Minsan’ by Ariel Rivera. During the band’s second album, they undergo a metamorphosis by converting themselves into a band in which their main genre is alternative rock music. ‘Narda’, the carrier single off their sophomore album, was the most successful one. In fact, it was later spoofed by Filipino comedian Michael V., with its title ‘Mamaw’, as seen on GMA-7’s ‘Bubble Gang’. A series of singles soon followed, and became chart-toppers in the pinoy music charts, and here are some of them:

* First Day High

* Chiksilog

* Doobidoo

* Ambisyoso

* Martyr Nyebera