Bollywood music could be narrated in an entire ‘history book’ itself, for its grandeur transformation from the era of 1930s to the 2000s and to now surely speak of an untold story and impact, that the ‘GLOBE’ has authenticated
“Music is life itself”- Louis Armstrong, a phrase to avow by. Life gets melancholic when it lacks music, a language that you can never derive your mind from, it connects you to the world, to vicissitudes, love and souls! Fair to say that ‘Music makes life happen’. Rising from the very Palaeolithic period to its elevation and sprawl all across the world to date definitely somewhere becomes dominant on the rise of ‘Indian Music’. And when we talk of ‘Indian Music’ Ghazals, Qwwali, Raga, Thumri, Sufi, Dadra and more while sheared up with prominence; needless to say, that the impact led on more with Bollywood invasion.
However, music lovers might differ on the parameter, and say that the Bollywood invasion distorted the ‘classical’ of the kinds, and we second it! Yet, the mass responded with a different opinion, and they got a better understanding of Bollywood movies keeping the similar forms and nuances in their song sequences with more relevant lyrics, but sometimes, yes, it went; too over the top.
We have witnessed how Bollywood showcased a premium, worthy and celebrating taste of music, initiating from the Golden era. With Mohammad Rafi’s ‘teri toh chaand sitaron mein’, ‘Maine Socha tha agar’, ‘Isharon Isharon’, ‘Dard-e-dil Dard-e-jigar’, ‘gulabi aankhein’, with Jagjit Singh’s ‘Jhuki Jhuki Si Nazar’, ‘Chithi na koi sandesh’, ‘tum itna jo muskura rahe ho’, with Geeta Dutt’s ‘Babuji Dheere Chalna’, with Lata Mangeshkar’s ‘Ajeeb Dastan Hai Yeh’, ‘Lag Jaa Gale’ and more to a shift to ‘Cabaret music’, ‘Disco music’, ‘Pop music’ and then a classic evolution of music in the ’90s and 2000s.
Soon after, the ‘90s groove took over the country and the millennials. Needless to say, it had us through and through into our nerves, as we millennials could resonate with the lyrics, dive deep into the metaphors and put it into life. And it’s a fair call for us to discard the latest not too ‘lively’ reel beats; for we had the kind of exposure to that before-after stats of music, or rather the privilege let’s say!
We recently got our hands on a quite relevant study to the above by Story Pick. The portal brought up some popular tweets of users in their 30s and the ones who just hit their 30s, demanded a ‘club’ separately for them that would play only 2000s and 90s songs, and discard the ‘Reel BullSh*t’. A chain was started by a user named Ankita, who wrote, “I need a bar that is exclusive for people in their early 30s only. We’ll play the best 2000s music, none of the trending reels BS. Do the hook steps to Oh Oh Jaan-e-Jana, It’s The Time To Disco, You Are My Soniya, Shut Up and Bounce. And then go home by 1 am.” And added, “Maahi Ve, Bole Chudiyaan, Piya Piya, Rock N Roll Soniye, Desi Girl, Say Na Say Na, Dus Bahane, Right Here Right Now…”
For let’s be straight here, whenever we visit clubs and pubs today, all that they know is BTS, Doja Cat, Marshmallow, and some other popular random ‘Reel beats’ and we millennials never really get into it.
Not saying that they are bad, but you know the point here, right? And the above Tweet chain made us feel that we aren’t alone, for after Ankita tweeted, we saw an array of users relating to the same and are ready to discard the digital takeover of the music.
The version changed soon after the audience and the listeners started relying way too upon the digital world, especially with Gen Z. Yet we do agree that not all songs are meant to be discarded from the new narrative. However, there is an existential ‘tch’ in our minds and we miss our beloved eras of ‘realness’ in the time of ‘reels’.