Simple.. ID the band.

Answer in comments

This guy was behind something that started about an year back but has been creating waves on facebook recently. Identify him.

Hint: Also associated with a controversial(?) movie released in 2007.

Answer: This man is Rohail Hyatt, producer of the hit Pakistani music show Coke Studio. Rohail was a founding member of the 1990s Pakistani band called Vital Signs, and made waves in 2007 for his score for the movie Khuda Kay Liye which became pretty famous in India as well.

Zero cracks yet again!!

The 1980s marked a shift in a generation of music from the classic rock of 70s to the pop music that would rule the charts for the coming decades. If there is one song that would iconize this shift I would say it is the 1985 single by Dire Straits called Money for Nothing. Although the music of the song is as good as any other Dire Straits song, its success was driven by the pop elements in it as well.

Let’s begin with the music. If there is one thing unique about Dire Straits, it is that none of their songs have been covered by anybody and the factor that makes them so difficult to imitate is the unique style of Mark Knopfler. Knopfler rarely uses a plectrum while playing the guitar. He has a unique style of plucking the guitar that most people find impossible to copy. He has given a detailed insight into his playing style in a French interview that you may find here. He has given a good insight about his playing style for a rock documentary called ‘The seven ages of rock’.

The song begins with the line “I want my MTV” that was sung by Sting (who was in Montserrat where the song was being recorded and was casually invited to add some background vocals). Then the keyboards and drums enter and at 1:37 one of the most memorable guitar riffs begins. At a run-length of 8:26 the song does an amazing job of keeping one engaged throughout.

The lyrics of the song are about a layman who works as a delivery man in a hardware store.  He sees the life of rock-stars on MTV and sees that everything comes much easier to them while the delivery man works so hard and gets nothing in return. Knopfler wrote the song while overhearing a delivery man setting up his kitchen and the language of the lyrics depicts this fact quite well. In some parts the language was so crude that it created a controversy over being sexist, racist and homophobic. Interestingly the writing credits of the song are given to both Sting and Knopfler. Sting, however, has said that he has only written the line “I want my MTV”.

Usually, we avoid writing about videos of songs in this section but the video of this song was so significant in the history of music that you just cannot ignore it. This was the first song featured on MTV in Europe when it aired in 1987. Also, it was amongst the first songs to use computer generated animations. The video went on to win the MTV video of the year award in 1986 (no surprises there!). What makes this video unique is that it is one of the first videos of a good rock song which actually had a video. All rock songs before this would usually only have concert videos (Because MTV started in US in 1981 and there was no place to air music videos before that). Knopfler was not very enthusiastic about making a video for the song as he believed it destroys the purity of the writers and performers. The producers somehow coaxed him into making this video. And after this, Dire Straits has given some of the most fantastic music videos ever (my favourites being Brothers in Arms and Walk of Life).

This song marks the beginning of the MTV generation. The 90s marked the coming of teen pop music and boy bands. Purists contend that this was a degradation of good music. Although good music still continued to be produced, how good MTV truly was for music will always remain a question.

The original Money for Nothing video

Dire Straits performing Money For Nothing live

An insight into Mark Knopfler’s technique

2 was as good as 1. Fundae please.

1. 2.

Answer in comments.

Also, send in your guest quest questions at : response at musicaloud.com

The first guitar is the Fender Lead II guitar that belonged to Eric Clapton. He gave it to a certain cafe in London to mark his stool. The Cafe hung his guitar as a memorabalia. Pete Townshend of “The Who” then gave the Cafe his own guitar (a Gibson Les Paul) and said “Mine is as good as his”. This is how the entire chain of Hard Rock Cafe’s and their rock memorabalia started..

Turned out to be more difficult than I thought. No one was able to crack this.

It is a problem when you are the youngest among a group, more specifically a rock band, for you are always treated as a kid. The kid is not expected to come up with catchy songs, especially when that area is taken care of by the amazing song writing duo of Lennon and McCartney. Yes, the kid is George Harrison, the “Quiet Beatle”.  George Harrison had plenty to offer as a songwriter himself, but talent in abundance can also be a problem.  George Harrison during his stint with the Beatles could pen only less than a score songs, one of which goes by the name While My Guitar Gently Weeps, and featured in The Beatles also known as The White Album.

It is said that the inspiration for the song came to Harrison when he was reading I Ching. Harrison found the idea of relativism promoted by the Eastern Philosophy to be appealing. Harrison, while at his parents’ home in northern England, decided to give way to chance. He decided to write a song based on the first words he saw upon opening a random book. Those words were “gently weeps”. It is quite remarkable that one of the greatest songs of rock history would find its origin in the most random of ways.

The song was not well received by the other Beatles. Several recordings of the song didn’t appeal to George and finally he had to bring in his friend Eric Clapton.  Clapton had to be persuaded and although later he would not be given credit in the album, very normal with the Beatles considering very few external artists have been credited on an official Beatles album. The arrival of Clapton set the mood right in the band. As per Harrison “It was good because that then made everyone act better… Paul got on the piano and played a nice intro, and they all took it more seriously.” The song features Eric Clapton on the lead guitar (rather it was Clapton’s guitar that wept!), George Harrison on vocals and acoustic guitar and Hammond organ, Paul McCartney on backing vocals and piano, organ and 6- string bass and Ringo Starr on drums and tambourine. It is rumoured that John Lennon was not there during the recording of the songs. Certain sources claim that John Lennon played lead guitar with Clapton, whereas some claim that he played bass making it the only Beatles song where he played bass.

Clapton’s appearance forced the other Beatles to get along for fear of embarrassing themselves in front of an outsider, resulting in a song which would end up as #135 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 greatest songs of all time and #7 on their list of the 100 greatest guitar songs of all time.  Clapton himself would write another song of equal stature which deserves a similar post here. It is quite appropriate to say that the friendship between the two did lead to the inspiration of the song. Clapton steals the show with his lead guitar which amplifies Harrison’s vocal rendition with a waterfall of blues fills.

Although it has been covered by a lot of artists, the one by Jake Shimabukuro who plays a ukelele in place of the guitar portions of the song stands out. Vinnie Moore on his album Time Odyssey released an instrumental version of the song, playing the voice melody on his guitar. On 29 November 2002 Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Dhani Harrison, Jeff Lynne and Eric Clapton performed While My Guitar Gently Weeps at the Concert for George held in memory of Harrison, who had died a year earlier after a long battle with cancer. This version featured Eric Clapton playing his original solo and also a second, as well as Paul McCartney on the piano. George Harrison subsequently went on to create an array of fantastic songs post his days with Beatles, as solos and with other artists. But if there was a choice of one song that would give George Harrison an immortal status in the minds of music lovers, it would undoubtedly be this track. So while we work on our next ASAD entry, you enjoy this wonderful track.

This article is again a guest article, contributed by Easwar. If you wish to contribute to this section or to any other section of Music Aloud please do drop a mail to response [at] musicaloud [dot] com.
Vinnie Moore’s version

Whats the link that connects these Four?
1)Video for Nas – HipHop is Dead
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qff6mcw3T-E

2)Promo Artwork for the Simpsons’

3)

4)

Question Courtesy : Anshuman Sanghvi

Quoting Anshuman himself:

The song In-a-gadda-da-vida by Iron Buttefly
1)Will.I.Am from the Black Eyed Peas who produced this title track samples the
song In-a-gadda-da-vida for this song.
2)the song is spoofed in the Simpsons s7e4 “Bart sells his soul”
3)The band Iron Butterfly was the first recipient of the platinum plaque,
before that records were only given gold status.
4)The diagram represents profits and losses for “the iron butterfly
effect”

Cracked by 6 people

There is this band from Kerala, they are named after a vegetarian dish eaten with rice and they sing in Malayalam, the most incomprehensible of Indian tongues. Despite these shortcomings these guys have managed  to cut a niche in Indian music space. It really doesn’t really matter what language your music is written, for instance I remember one of my friends blogging about Rammstein’s growing fan base in Kerala. The thing is, if it sounds good that’s good enough. I am not downplaying the importance of lyrics or anything but just stating a fact.

The band is Avial.  Avial exploded into our consciousness four years ago through a video called Nada Nada,basically it means “walk walk”. With their angry lyrics, turn table heroics and frantic head banging I thought these guys were just aping Linkin Park (which proved to be grossly wrong). But even then, one couldn’t help but notice the sheer audacity of singing in a vernacular of a populace which despite having a long tradition of loud music and loud sounds had somehow learned to despise rock music as noise. The hatred for rock and roll may be attributed to the Malayali resistance to imperialist designs. Even though Avial sings in Malayalam and borrows the folk songs for lyrical content the way they package their music is so ingenious, that the end product is so universal.

Avial sound is truly global, it has shades of electronica, influences of various world music genres and all these influences are built around a tight arrangement of guitars and drums. They are loud, the rhythm section is power packed, the bass lines are very expressive; all the hallmark of a great rock band. What really differentiates Avial from others is that their music is designed with lots of thought, when Nada Nada was released it was much more raw and heavy and then they released with a newer version; a kind of remastered version but in fact there was more to it than that. The Avial sound had evolved meanwhile and had become intricate and interesting, the rhythm patterns became complicated, the lead strings came to the foreground. Avial uses lots of programmed music and their mixing is world class.

Avial has created a sub genre of alternative rock, the malayalam alt rock, I hope this is just a beginning and more bands will follow the trail blazed by these pioneer rockers. The Avial’s current line-up comprises of Tony John, the vocalist and turn table specialist, Rex Vijayan, the lead guitarist, Benny Isaac and Mithun Puthenveetil. Rex Vijayan was part of Motherjane during the 90’s. He is also part of a fusion outfit called  (Karnatriix is a fusion delight, check them out). He is a master guitarist and a man to watch out for.

Avial is currently working on a new album and is all set to go global. A Malayali alt rock band singing in Malayalam in itself is so heartening for the Malayali in me, I just wish for a little more, may these guys win a Grammy

Note: The place I went to watch Avial’s performance has a bar, they had a special cocktail created for the evening. It was drink mixed with a coconut water and was served in the coconut itself.  They had named it, son of a beach, lol!

Getting a decent solo after a pretty long hiatus, Kunal Ganjawala makes the most of it, lazily rendering the sweet track called Sabse Peeche composed by Ankur Tewari. The Western-flavoured song takes you back to the days of songs like Ajeeb Dastaan Hai Yeh. (In fact this song was actually composed by Silk Route, and Ankur Tewari has previously adapted it for Let’s Enjoy.) Sunidhi Chauhan is equally charming int the female version of the song, though the increased tempo of the song slightly dampens the fun. Then again Ankur Tewari makes up with a second and wonderfully arranged reprise of the song, marked by its lack of percussion and the chorus beautifully complimenting Kunal’s vocals. Ankur continues to display his way with retro tracks in his next song as well, a collaborative composition with Mikey McCleary called Tum Mere Ho, Kunal and Sunidhi once again getting behind the microphone. Ankur and Mikey however flounder in their second and final outing, the carnivalesque Sab Yahaan Hai, which fails to make an impact despite Kunal’s sprightly rendition.

Enter Xulfi of Call the Band with a quintessential Paki rock track, Reh Jaane Do. One thing I like about Xulfi’s compositions is that they almost always feature some exquisite violin bits (Eg. Laree Chootee), and even in this case he manages to fit in a wonderful violin sequence towards the end of the interlude, which then proceeds on to the antara. Kuch Aisa again comes from Xulfi in his own voice, and would have you engaged by way of its arrangement and variations in pace of rendition. Don’t know if it’s just me, but I got reminded of Green Day’s Boulevard of Broken Dreams at places. The sad version of the song doesn’t have anything sad about it at least in the tune, being the same as the original one in almost every aspect, except some minor tweakings here and there, and a curtailed length of just under two minutes.

A nice comeback for Kunal Ganjawala, a decent follow up for Ankur Tewari after Lets Enjoy (though the original version of Sabse Peeche is a straight reusal of the Silk Route version Ankur does deserve full credit for the reprise version which has been beautifully arranged) and Xulfi’s good run continues. To summarise, do not miss the music of Aao Wish Karein!

Music Aloud’s rating: 7.5/10
Recommended tracks: Sabse Peeche, Reh Jaane Do, Kuch Aisa

The image below was an inspiration for what?

Answer is : When held upside down its mirror image reads Ugly Rumours, which inspired Tony Blair to name his college band so.
Four cracks – Abhishek, Praneetha, Easwar and the Flightless One.

There is something which divides the Bob Dylans, David Crosbys, Neil Youngs and Joni Mitchells of the world from the others. Apart from being amazing musicians, they were part of the elite group who were called singer- songwriters who came up with songs and lyrics which were sung and covered by a lot of other artists. One such singer-songwriter is Don Mclean and one such song of his is the rock epic American Pie.

American Pie is one of those folk rock ballads which is constantly interpreted and written about which made Mclean quip once “You will find many interpretations of my lyrics but none of them by me. Isn’t this fun? Sorry to leave you all on your own like this but long ago I realized that songwriters should make their statements and move on, maintaining a dignified silence.” And Mclean did maintain the silence.

American Pie is an amazing piece of poetry mainly written inspired by the deaths of the Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J. P. Richardson in a plane crash on the Day now known as “The Day the Music Died”. It is also a splendid melancholic tribute to the 1960’s written mostly during the late 60s. The song, mostly written in first person, makes it an autobiography of sorts. It explains McLean’s aspirations as a singer and also puts light onto his part-time profession.

This song also provides an obscure imagery of the events, most of it musical, that took place from the day Buddy Holly passed away to the date the song was released, which appealed to Don Mclean. The part which is most suggestive of the reference to Buddy Holly is This’ll be the day that I die, which is inspired by Buddy Holly’s hit number That’ll be the Day. Apart from that the song is said to have referred to a lot of artists including Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones and Mick Jagger, Elvis “The King” Presley, The Beatles and John Lennon, The Byrds, The Woodstock, Janis Joplin and many more. A political side to the interpretation of the song is also not out of question.

The beauty of the song lies in the fact that all these allusions are carefully and artistically woven into a wonderful poem that is American Pie, equally complimented by the solemn tune and amazing instrumentation.

American Pie was covered by a few bands like The Brady Bunch in 1972. A Spanish translation sung by voice actor Francisco Colmenero surfaced around Mexico in 1971. A very significant version, also in Spanish, was recorded in 1984 by the Nicaraguan singer Hernaldo Zúñiga. Eduardo Fonseca recorded a cover version of the translation in 2000. Tori Amos performed the song often as a piano solo in her live concerts, and country singer Garth Brooks also sang this song during concerts in the early to mid 1990s. During Brooks’ “Live in Central Park” concert, he performed this song as a duet with McLean himself at the end of the concert. Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder has sung the chorus of American Pie over the outro music of Daughter during select live performances.

The most famous cover however would perhaps be the one by Madonna in 2000, which although was voted the most worst cover in 2001, got praise from none other than McLean himself. He called the cover “mystical and sensual”.

American Pie’s abstruse lyrics still invoke curiosity. May be the best explanation of American Pie comes from the unyielding songwriter himself, “It means I never have to work again.” A few videos for you to soak in the beauty of the song in some of its most exquisite versions.
This writeup comes from our dear friend Easwar, a person who literally lives music. When not listening to music however, he works for Tavant Technologies in Bangalore and also blogs. His blog can be accessed here.

If you want to feature a writeup of yours on Music Aloud, do drop a mail to response [at] musicaloud [dot] com.