THEIR SONGS TO REMEMBER: TRIBUTE TO ERASERHEADS

UNEDITED SAMPLE FEATURE ARTICLE
By Vicson Aypa Mabanglo
IV-Sir Isaac Newton


It has been already six years after the controversial split up of one of the most influential band in our Philippine history, the Eraserheads. The band is considered as the pioneer of Pinoy rock music. They were often attributed as Philippines’ own Beatles. They brought out their melodic and harmonious notes starting from Manila’s underground music scene into the main stream. In this case, the band can be compared to Nirvana in how they introduced their new type of music genre to the public and how they made their way up to the top of the hit charts. A great band that is truly unique and remarkable. It really feels good for their fans, like me, to here their songs up until now. It’s like a trip down to memory lane…

It was December of the year 1989 when the band was formed. It happened when the two of the college bands of UP Diliman, Curfew and Sunday School were looking for new members for their group. Ely Beundia and Raimund Marasigan were the guitarist and drummer of Sunday School respectively, while Buddy Zabala on bass and Marcus Adoro on guitars for the band Curfew.

They, then, decided to form the historical band, Eraserheads. Most written records say that they actually got the band name from a movie written by David Lynch. They were goofing around for a band name to write on their campus gig form when they accidentally tumbled on the pages of the magazine carried by Ely Buendia, since he was a film major student. And from there, they didn’t know that it was the start of their unforgotten legacy.

They, just like most bands, started on covers. They played songs of their looked-up artists. They did covers mostly until they realized that they are not good in covering other hits so they gave more attention in writing their own materials. They made their first set of compositions in the month of January year 1991 at the place of their drummer, Raimund Marasigan. They recorded it on a tape on the same place and tried their luck on radio stations and record labels.

Unfortunately, no one gave them and their music a chance to reach the public. Maybe, because it was just recorded on a cheap tape and the songs were not that developed yet. After sometime, Robin Rivera, their professor in Humanities at UP Diliman during that time, helped them record a better demo tape than the first one. It was called POP – U. The name, according to them, was attributed to those radio stations and record labels that had put them down. And also, during that time, Ely was part-time working at BMG Records, now known as Sony BMG. Their compositions reached the company and the company gave Eraserheads a chance for stardom.

The next year, 1992, they signed a three-year contract with BMG Records. July of the same year, they started recording their debut album, Ultraelctromagnetictop!. It contains some of the most long-lived songs of the band, namely; Pare Ko, Toyang, Tindahan Ni Aling Nena, Ligaya etc. The album was a smash hit! The record label released 300,000 copies at the end of the year. It received six platinum awards. From this, the Eraserheadsmania was born.

After two long years, the craze was still on. On October of the year 1994, their sophomore album was launched. The album was entitled; Circus. The theme of the album revolved around the story of their life after they’ve launched their debut album. BMG Records also released it. It was also successful but it only had five platinum awards, selling only 200,000 copies at the end of the year, less than the record of their previous album. This album also caught controversy when Senator “Tito” Sotto alleged, that one of their songs in the album, entitled Alapaap, promotes drug abuse. The band then denied it because for them the song actually means promoting freedom and not promoting drug abuse.

Another album was launched on 1995 entitled Cutterpillow. It turned to gold in an instance and achieved platinum status several times. The band soon shot the video of Ang Huling El Bimbo from the album. The band even earned international recognition as “Moon Man” in MTV Video Music Awards. In 1996, the band came up with the idea of releasing a follow-up album entitled Fruitcake.

The year 1997 can be considered as the band’s peak of stardom. Series of gigs after gigs happened in that year. On the month of March the same year, they had their first set of overseas gig at Sentosa Pop Festival in Singapore. A United States tour followed up on the month of May too. Four months after, on September, they received the Moon Man trophy in New York.

The Eraserheads is the first Filipino artist to receive such awards. Few days after the said awards, Sticker Happy, their fifth album was released. After a month, a series of shows and performances were held again in Singapore for MTV Asia.

In 1998, The Eraserheads was chosen to represent Philippines at the annual ‘Asia Live Dream ’98 in Tokyo, Japan. They left Philippines for yet another U.S. Tour on May under the Happy Box production outfit. On August, Aloha Milkyway was released containing former chart-topping songs that have been polished and enhanced with other five new tracks.

After a year, year 1999, the tours and gigs still continued. They had gigs not only in our country but also in other countries overseas. Their next album was released on May of the same year entitled Natin99.

Between the months of May and June 2000, they did another tour in the United States, "The Pop Machine Tour - USA2000", taking them almost on all of the states of the country. After almost two years since their last album, Carbon Stereoxide, the much awaited album was released in March 2001, featuring the fresh tracks such as Maskara, Hula, Playground.

In the middle of March 2002, it was reported and was confirmed that founding member, main songwriter and lead singer, Ely Buendia left the band. According to an interview, Buendia had some miscommunication with a roadie when he was late for some time at a mall gig. Their Manager even alleged Buendia and his wife that they were "probably too high on drugs" the night before the mall gig to remember the schedule. Buendia was really disgusted moreover when he discovered that three of his members believed in the roadie. He felt being betrayed and confirmed his quitting through SMS.

A few years after the break-up, the tribute album “Electromagneticjam!” was released. Filipino artists Imago, Orange and Lemons, South Border, Brownman Revival, Sugarfree, MYMP, Sponge Cola, 6Cycle Mind, Francis M., Rico J. Puno, and Radioactive Sago Project in honor of the band remade Eraserheads classics. This did cause quite a stir especially for Ely Buendia who thought it was too early to have a tribute. Nonetheless, the tribute was a success and it gave the fans the chance to relive the E-heads days with a more recent rendition.

From here, the legacy of The Eraserheads ended yet unfolded a new chapter in Pinoy rock music. They have been the heart of most of the present local bands. They pioneered and started it all. They, though ended up quiet unreasonably, are looked up to until now. Eraserheeads is truly historical. How I wish they could make great songs again. I wish they can play and compose songs again for the Filipino youth. The present bands make good songs too but they are just not like the E-heads. Eraserheads will live on in our hearts. Eraserheads had started it all.