I like music.
Not the hard core music lover. But more of the casual listener. One who’d go
for catchy sounds, easy listening tunes and, maybe, the odd one or two rock
numbers.
I was
introduced to western music listening to the songs played over loudspeakers in
the dining hall at Sekolah Menengah Sains Perlis in Kangar. During lunch, the
speakers would blare out a selection of songs which included Paul McCartney’s
Band on The Run, Eric Clapton’s I Shot the Sheriff and Rock the Boat by the Hues
Corporation. I didn’t know who’d selected the songs. But I liked them.
Visits to my schoolmates’
homes further introduced me to groups like The Stylistics and Bee Gees as we’d
go through their brothers’ record collections. But, at home, for me to have my real
own music those days meant having to handle our battered family radio cassette
recorder player. I would insert some Paul Mauriat cassette tapes in it one
after another. Alternatively, I would have had to wait patiently for the FM
Stereo program broadcasted nightly by Radio RTM. So, from 9.00 pm onwards, I would
have the radio all to myself.
My six years
stay in England opened me to a whole new horizon of music. But still, I wasn’t
much of a full-fledged music devotee, as was the case with the MCKK boys Shaari
and Jenggo, for example. For one, I did not own a top-notch hi-fi system like most
of my mates. Secondly, I was merely a follower in the exploits of music
appreciation, much influenced especially by my mates from the Malay College
whilst in Blackpool. Yes, somehow, those
blokes always seemed to be at the cutting edge of rock and pop music. The Doobie
Brothers, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Alan
Parsons, you name it, they really knew their stuff. And for good measure, Jenggo could
easily blow you away with his guitar play and crooning, too.
But I was also
much influenced by what I saw on the telly, and listened to on the radio, of
course. In the UK – the land that gave the world the Beatles and Led Zeppelin –
you were bound to catch some kind of TV shows and radio programs dedicated to
music. They were everywhere. On the telly, two shows stood out most, namely, Top
of The Pops and Old Grey Whistle Test.
Top of the Pops, was a
weekly music chart television program by the BBC. It was broadcasted every
Thursday at 7.30 pm and showcased performances from some of that particular week's
best-selling pop music artists, with a rundown of the week's UK Singles Chart.
So, Thursdays would find most of my Blackpool housemates home early because
of Top of the Pops. They’d fill up the living area, all nicely seated in front of our old telly in high anticipation of the show that was coming. Some
of the artists I remember seeing for first time on Top of The Pops were The
Police who belted out their number one hit Message in A Bottle, and Dr Hook performing
When You’re in Love With a Beautiful Women. And I still remember the so-called “Christmas
number one” single for 1979 on the program, which was Another Brick in The Wall
by the rock group Pink Floyd.
The BBC Radio 1 was a radio station solely
dedicated to current popular music and chart hits. Whenever I was not beating
my brains out on Physics homework set by the stern old Mr Speight, I would tune
in to Radio 1 on my double-speakered Sharp GF-9090 stereo
radio cassette player within the comforts of my room. I remember
some of the DJs of Radio 1 such as Dave Lee Travis, Noel Edmonds, Mike Read and
Tony Blackburn as being very popular figures who’d also appeared as regular presenters
on Top of the Pops.
So, it was by
being fuelled on by Top of the Pops, Radio 1, and my housemate Shaari’s record collection
that I went on to get to know and experience such favourites as the Eagles,
Fleetwood Mac and Super Tramp. Other famous names those days included Michael
Jackson, Lionel Richie, Genesis, Duran Duran, Queen, Eurythmics, and Hall &
Oates just to name a few. There were also some funny and weird sounding names such
as Siouxsie and The Banshees, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, and what have you.
As I was very much into photography those days,
not much of my savings from the scholarship was spent on music. Instead, they’d
been devoted mostly to films, lens filters and other photographic gadgets. However,
Shaari did have a very good hi-fi system in his room and a wide collection of
LP record albums neatly arranged on the floor in one corner of his room.
Among others, Shaari’s
collection included Bob James, George Benson, Steely Dan, Christopher Cross and
Dire Straits albums. Often times, when I was taking a break from study, I would
find myself wandering into his room just to relax, while listening to his
collection. Fortunately, his taste in music was mostly agreeable to my ear. I
even went to a concert with him just for the experience of it. It was Sad Café,
a Manchester band with a hit single Every Day
Hurts that reached number 3 on the singles chart.
But for all the music that I‘d
enjoyed, there were tons more which seemed indiscernible and downright dreadful
to me. I never liked stuffs like heavy metal, punk and gothic rock which I thought
were just weird and nothing more than eardrum-bursting noise. But some of my
friends, like Hussain, would swear by the headbanging tunes belched out by
AC/DC and Judas Priest. To each his own, I suppose.
When I left Blackpool
and entered university in Manchester, I had less time on my hand for music. Maybe that was a bit of an irony because, as I had learnt from
my English mates, Manchester had a vibrant music scene, second two only to
London. It was the birth place of many popular bands. In addition
to Sad Café, other groups like the Bee Gees, 10CC, The Hollies and Barclay James
Harvest were all product of Manchester in the 1970s or earlier.
But of course,
being the good student that I was..ehem, I was more pre-occupied with project
works and assignments. Moreover, the university accommodation, Cornbrook House,
only had one telly located down in the common room to be shared with a hundred
other students. So that spelt the end of my Top of The Pops days. I only
followed music and the charts from a distance.
But once in a
while, when I went window shopping at the Manchester Arndale Centre, if I went
into the WHSmith or passed by one of the record shops, I’d have a
quick glance and noted the chart toppers of the day. There would be some recognizable
names initially. But as time went by, the names listed on the charts got more
and more unfamiliar.
Down on the first floor of the Cornbrook House there was the Precinct
Centre, an above ground shopping and amenities area with various shops and facilities
including a music library. But the library was noticeably more popular with the
elderlies – grannies and grandads – who came to while their ample free time
away. On the few occasions that I’d decided to drop in, I discovered that most
of the records and tapes there were classical music, and the few that were of
count to me had all been borrowed by somebody else.
The last three
months of my undergraduate course were some of the most stressful period of my
student life. Long nights at the studio, or at home, were normal as I sweated
over my final year project work and thesis. That put me further away from any pleasurable
pursuits, including music.
By the time I
had completed my undergraduate course, and when it
was time to pack up my little belongings and return to Malaysia, I had almost completely
lost touch with current music. And my collection of cassettes had greatly
diminished and was all over the place!
But
by then my taste in music had already been developed, and set.
I love the Pink
Floyd. And the sound of David Gates, Alan Parsons or Dire Straits, even if
heard quietly in the background, could still stir up nice feelings in me. Enough
to bring fragments of memories of my years in the UK to come
flowing back.
