Play it again, Sam, for old times sake

"George Micheals tops charts"
Gee, there's a heading I didn't expect. It's even more ironic because he was just releasing his 'greatest hits' collection once more. And the scary part is - I'm not as surprised as I should be. Because I would rather buy his Greatest Hits all over again than anything else on the market right now. Be honest. How many heart touching numbers have you come across since 2001 ?
When was the last time you heard a song that could stand alone on the singer's voice alone without the back ground beats? Which was the last song you could hum without going gjang ta naang weeeee weeee ( mimicking the electric guitars ) or worse, going hip-hop ( I'm sorry, the latest Medical Journals have yet to find a cure for it : we're still stuck with prevention of the genre )..
Remember the good old days when all you had to do to become a rock star was -
1. Wear faded T-shirt ( voila ! You're Bryan Adams already )
2. Wear ripped/ faded jeans
3. Get plug point for guitar

Nowadays, things are a bit different in becoming a music role model, isn'it ?
1. Grow / Paint a 6 pack on your belly . Call it abs.
2. Wear your mom's jewellery. Call it bling.
3. Hunch your body forward so that you can see your shoulder joints even if you're standing straight.
4. Have your wee- wee hold your jeans up. Get assistance by getting the local gals in the neighbourhood to show T& A while grovelling all over you in your videos.
5. Talk slow or fast ( not important ) , but make sure you bitch about yo' 'horin momma and yo' pimpin' ol' man who's doing time in da slammer for murder.
6. Learn to point index finger and pinky finger in same direction - other fingers can go anywhere they want.

The 80s may have been a forgettable decade in Bollywood, but English music was going through a wonderful transition back then, as melody after melody was churned out and the singers were at all at their peak - be it the Brits ( Elton and George ) to the new gen ( Micheal and Madonna ) to the bands ( Deep Purple , Floyd - early 80s anyway & Scorpions ).. Phil Collins was just ripping the charts with that crystal voice while George Micheals' "Careless whisper', later voted the song of the 80s, was also playing the streets and giving a million hearts an anthem.
The 90's too carried the torch well, though the arrival of beats and funk were evident. But it was all right. Because they still got to ya, whether it was a Canadian diva or a string of boy bands. There was still lovely tunes to hum to, lovely lyrics to recite and plagiarise.

It's important you realise the distinction I'm aiming for here. Rock never had it better in this era. They brought out the crash'n'burn feeling within us all and they did it well. They took over from the earlier rock bands that existed and added a new dimension to it. Jazz evolved. R & B was born. Hybrid genres were born. But tunes died. A slow sad death, too.

Maybe I'm just following the set pattern. After all, something new is something condemned. From Ray Charles and his blues, to the Beatles and their yellow submarines to Micheal trashing the sets down after singing Black n White - they've all been termed hell music. And they've outlived the brickbats, haven't they ? But I don't know. I really don't see how the stuff today is gonna go down as legendary when our kids ask us what we listened to in our "good ol' days."Would you really be handing out 'the best of' collections featuring songs like ' yo f&*^$g sista' and 'Rape ma momma' to kids saying 'Ah! Those were the good times. Now go find my dentures , you milk toothed 'hos!! '

I guess I'm growing old. Or maybe I'm just going retro. It's ok. Because sometimes a song to sooth the savage beast is a must. And I can't find it around here..Maybe an odd couple here and there. In the last 5 years, I can perhaps recall 'Time of your life- Green Day' and 'She will be loved - Maroon 5' as soul stirring.. that's it. Come on, gimme a tune I can hum again and fly high on. Anyway, enjoy Eric Clapton with the tune that refuses to leave my head today. This is music for the soul. In the mean time, I'm gonna reflect on these wonderful lyrics from that amazing band, ToyBox :
"Tarzan is handsome, Tarzan is strong
He's really cute and his hair is long
Tarzan is handsome, Tarzan is strong
so listen to the jungle song....."

As the critics to my take on "modern rap" would say - " Hey, just cause you're not in a higher spiritual level to grasp the true existential meaning of these lyrics, don't diss it! "