Luigi @ 7 months with his Eraserheads
The Heads Set (Box Set)
I was nine or ten when I first heard “Pare Ko,” and what struck me at the time was not its quotidian poetry, but the “Diba? T_ngina!” that punctuated its chorus. I loved the E-Heads then and I love them now, albeit for different reasons. I remember begging my parents to take me to see them in Club Dredd. I was the youngest person in the audience, and until now, I’m not sure how I got in. I think Ely played one of my requests, but got my name wrong.
With historical hindsight, it is easy to view the E-Heads as representing the changing Pinoy youth culture of the 1990s. Buendia’s lyrics seek normality after the politically charged years of dictatorship and resistance. His University of the Philippines, for instance, was not the UP of communes, rallies, and political discussion groups. In his UP, you made fleeting but deep friendships in the Kalayaan dormitory (“Minsan”) or teased your classmate Shirley as she walked holding hands with her nth boyfriend on the way to the Casaa canteen.
10 CD + bonus CD inside the Box set
“Field trip sa may pagawaan ng lapis ay katulad ng buhay natin, isang mahabang pila, mabagal at walang katuturan,” Buendia sang in “Huwag mo nang Itanong.” The factory, in this case the pencil factory, was not a site of worker alienation but of student boredom and a Rorschach test for an existential crisis.
7 mos preggy wearing Eheads shirt
(Luigi is still inside my tummy!)
But despite the opacity of the latter work, the ‘Heads insisted that it was “para sa masa” (for the masses) – to all the fans of Sharon Cuneta and to all those buried by the system. Thus, while converting the gatekeepers of high culture (although I’m shocked that Buendia has yet to receive a Palanca), the Eraserheads knew whom to speak to, though not necessarily knowing what to speak about.
And this, to conclude on an admittedly clichéd note, was what made them special. Musical breakthroughs are inherently democratic. The Eraserheads played and we all listened.
If a band breaks out of our highly-segmented musical enclaves, we may get a new Eraserheads. If not, I will just continue to scoff at Hale and pogi rockers, while cherishing smaller acts and clinging to my nostalgia.
Schoolmate ko Rockstar Eheads shirt
with Idol Raimund Marasigan