Tuesday, September 21, 2010

OPM Fever, Taking a Break from Kpop

For some reason, I felt like listening to one of Orange and Lemon's hits, Heaven Knows this morning when I woke up. I then found a Youtube channel with loads of OPM songs and after listening to most of them I realized I really missed Filipino music. So I searched for download links and ended up downloading OPM albums the whole day. Hahaha! Right now my playlist contains Callalily, Hale, Silent Sanctuary, Rico Blanco, Shamrock, Kitchie Nadal, Julianne, and even Noel Cabangon. I found a very helpful site with tons of OPM downloads so I kinda downloaded every album of my favorite artists. ^_^

During my highschool days, I was really into OPM. I think 2005-2008 was a period where OPM started to regain its glory but sadly it was short-lived. I don't know what happened. Maybe it was because of piracy? *chokes* I'm sorry. Sadly I am one of them piracy supporters. Forgive me. My meager allowance could only afford the cheap pirated CDs and "digital pirated copies/downloads". Haha! I think I only had one original album from a Filipino artist and it was given to me as a birthday gift. Anyway, that time, Rivermaya, Kitchie Nadal, Parokya ni Edgar, Hale, Callalily, Orange and Lemons and Cueshe were some of my favorites.

It was during the 90s that OPM was at its best.
All the best bands that ever existed in OPM history were formed that time. There were Eraserheads, Rivermaya, Parokya ni Edgar, and a lot more. . How I miss those days when OPM dominated the radios, when our neighbors and my sister used to exchange "song hits" books/magazines which they bought on weekends, and jamming sessions in the neighborhood. Hahaha! Well, it was my sister's time. It was also the time when drug addiction was like a fad to young people, sadly, because their idol band members were into drugs too. Many great OPM bands broke up because of those issues and I guess from then on, the OPM industry laid low. Some bands came back, and some separated ways for good. From those epic bands sprung out new great ones today like Bamboo and Pupil.

This is Broken Sonnet by Hale. It was one of the most popular OPM songs during my highschool days.

When I remember those times(90s), I don't know but I remember how simple the weekends were. During the 90s I was in my elementary and I used to study a lot back then. I take a break during the weekends by, scanning through my sister's "song hits" and we would sing together while she was ironing our uniforms. Hahaha! My highschool days, when Bamboo, Rivermaya, and Callalily were topping the charts, was the time guitars were a usual sight in our schools. And who wouldn't have a crush on a guy who sings and plays guitar? Sometimes you won't mind the looks anymore. LOL.

Well, I am not yet done downloading and I'll continue this tomorrow. I'll also look in my old mp3 collections and put the old OPM albums back in my playlist. It feels good to take a break from listening to Kpop sometimes. Hahaha! Especially today, not a lot of good Kpop songs are coming out.

I hope the OPM scene will come alive again. I despise those Kpop wannabes in the Philippines. I mean, hello, we're Filipinos. Let's stop imitating other races. We can be different and still rock.


PS.
  • Parokya ni Edgar just released a new album called Pop Rockers. Their latest single is Pakiusap Lang (Lasingin Nyo Ako). Watch the music video here.
  • I just found out from tumblr that Hale disbanded already. Sad news. Champ, the lead vocalist, is currently working on a solo album. Tsk. Actually, after their first album, I didn't love the succeeding ones. It just wasn't as good as the first. The cause of the break up was said to be their differences in attitudes, and the chemistry that wasn't there anymore.
  • Alden, a guitarist of Callalily also left the band already. 
I'm so not updated with the OPM scene!

3 comments:

  1. What? Hale disbanded? Shocks.

    Yeah, OPM's glory was short-lived. I hope the industry bounces back..

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  2. yeah unfortunately.

    I think only Parokya ni Edgar survived from the 90s up to now still making good music..

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  3. I am so sad that Hale disbanded. I still miss them a lot :( I was (well, I still am) such a big fan.

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