A different frequency

September 08, 2016 03:49 am | Updated September 22, 2016 05:41 pm IST

The brain’s musical part often works in a funny manner, and my brain is no exception. Two weeks ago, this column was headlined ‘Yesterday Once More’. It was about a totally different subject, but it simply made me start humming the Carpenters hit with the same name.

So I sang the opening lines, “When I was young I listened to the radio, waiting for my favourite songs; When they’d play I’d sing along; It made me smile.” The words made me nostalgic, and recall the late 1970s when, between ages 13 and 15, radio ruled my life and shaped my musical taste forever.

I grew up in New Delhi, and my parents used a Philips record system and Sony mono-cassette player. I had restricted radio timings. All India Radio was a favourite, but I would sometimes sneakily tune into Radio Ceylon, BBC or Voice of America. On Doordarshan, a pop show hosted by Ajit Singh was the only option.

On radio, Hindi film songs dominated. Rajesh Khanna was passé, but his chartbusters played often. Amitabh Bachchan and Rishi Kapoor songs were a rage. For English music, there was ‘In The Groove’, which aired around 8 p.m. The weekly late-night shows included ‘Forces Requests’, where defence officers sent song requests, and ‘A Date With You’, targeted at the youth.

I listened clandestinely, putting off the lights, and pretending to sleep. I didn’t know headphones existed. The volume was loud enough for me to hear clearly, and low enough not to carry across to my parents’ room.

As a child, I had heard records of Cliff Richard, Jim Reeves, Harry Belafonte and The Sound Of Music songs. But radio was an entirely new world.

The airplay primarily consisted of pop, evergreens and country, with a bit of radio-friendly rock.

In retrospect, the popular artistes could be divided into three categories. The first included those I first heard on the radio, and continued to pursue by buying vinyl records, cassettes and CDs. These included the Beatles, ABBA, Boney M, Bee Gees, Donna Summer, Cerrone, John Denver, the Carpenters, Bread, the Eagles, Uriah Heep, Santana, Pink Floyd and songs from the films Saturday Night Fever and Grease .

Secondly, some singers were recognised for only one song in India, but werepopular abroad. Examples of such hits were Mary Hopkin’s ‘Those Were The Days’, Gloria Gaynor’s ‘I Will Survive’, Carl Douglas’ ‘Kung Fu Fighting’, George McRae’s ‘Rock Your Baby’, Tina Charles’ ‘Dance Little Lady’, Baccara’s ‘Yes Sir, I Can Boogie’, the Archies’ ‘Sugar Sugar’, Susan Raye’s ‘LA International Airport’ and Glen Campbell’s ‘Rhinestone Cowboy’. The recently-revived Johnny Wakelin songs ‘In Zaire’ and ‘Black Superman’, dedicated to Muhammad Ali, were huge.

Thirdly, some acts were prolific on radio in the 1970s, but lost much attention in the next decade. Yet, we bought their compilations years later. These included Paul Anka, Perry Como, Lobo, Diana Ross, Bread, Brotherhood of Man and George Baker Selection.

What music, indeed. Radio still remains a habit, late at night. But thinking of those classics, my mind started wandering again. I tried to recall five songs with ‘radio’ in their title. Bingo! Queen’s ‘Radio Ga-Ga’, Donna Summer’s ‘On The Radio’, Don Williams’ ‘Listen To The Radio’, Rush’s ‘Spirit Of The Radio’ and ironically, the Buggles’ ‘Video Killed The Radio Star’.

I had to hear them. And I found them in a second — on YouTube! I didn’t have to depend on radio or dig my collection. How times have changed.

The author is a freelance music writer

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.