[ greyweed ] -- and the bored shall inherit the earth...

this is my response to an post in one of the mailing lists I joined (Twisted Halo) to a person who thought that the moderator had dissed F4. But the mod firmly answered that he did not, that he only pointed out that much is to be spent if ever the group came here, which should be used to support our local musicians instead...


I'm not anti-F4, not liking them doesn't necessarily mean that I'm against them. But with the blitzkrieg-ish rise in the number of boybands, and hirap na makahanap ng distinction, nakakamanhid nang makakita ng isang bagay na ginawa na nung una. And to be objective, it applies to all genres, pop man o rock.

At saka, agree ako with Kuya Vin, laking pera nun! Just think of the countless struggling bands and artists here, kahit hindi na yung mga nasa pop, na ni walang suporta sa sarili nilang bansa. At napakasakit nu'n, for an artist who has been trying his ass off to be heard, para lang masapawan ng isang artist from another country na ni hindi alam na nakakabenta sila ng albums nila sa isang non-Chinese speaking country.

Hindi ba't katulad ito ang nangyari sa Sugar Free? Nasapawan in terms of priority ng ibang artists (tulad nila Martin at Regine) sa sarili nilang label (according sa Press Kit that came with their album). Kaya lumipat sila. Larger scale ang nangyayari ngayon with F4.

Ang Kulay, hindi ganun kasikat dito sa Pinas, pero nasa OST sila ng isang foreign movie (Virtual Sexuality yata yun). Ang Pin-up Girls, Sonnet LVIII at Chain Gang, signed sa foreign labels.

Although it may seem that indie has marked the new era in a musical revolution of sorts, it may not be so. Why would so many talented musicians go indie? Perhaps there's not really a niche in the market for their type of music. Perhaps their songs are a little too heavy for our culture to handle. Perhaps the labels view them as unmarketable. But the bottomline has always been lack of support.

Just look at the "in" thing in pop nowadays, accoustic and the rivalry betweed Nina and Kyla. And now look at how F4 has been dominating the airwaves (oh, crap! Even RX plays them, but then again, the stations are still corporate/business ventures/investments). I shudder to think what else is to come now that another boyband is in the boob tube.

All these are brought by ABS-CBN's power of suggestion. Have a new show, say it's the "in" thing, have it mentioned in their other programs, have it supported by ALL their media partners (MYX, 101.9, etc) and what do we get? A newly acquired phenomenon scrounged mainly by ABS-CBN worshippers, and easily caught on by trendsetters. Oh and of course, how could we forget the social climbers out there? They who believe that they have to like something just because the general public likes it too.

I saw the same thing happen during college; everyone likes Greyhoundz, you must like Greyhoundz...diss anything un-moshpit-able, even the legendary E-heads and Color It Red (thank goodness insisted loving my own). And then a funny thing happened: Slapshock came and eventually so did Cheese and Chico Sci(ence), so the craze was "diss Greyhoundz, Cheese/Chico Sci is better!"

With all that's been said, I am insisting that I DO NOT HATE F4. I'm just sharing my opinion, just as you did.

LUiS