YES, THERE WAS ACTUALLY A TIME WHEN HINDI MUSIC WAS COOL, UNTIL BOLLYWOOD RUINED IT (90’S)

Most of the music I listen to is generally English. But only yesterday when my music was being played on shuffle Lucky Ali’s “Tere Mere Saath” began to play. It’s a song that threw me back to my childhood and took me to that special place and gave me that special feeling everybody once felt, Nostalgia. That time was just too special with songs being released on cassettes and music videos being played on TV. This got me thinking, where on earth is everyone?

WHAT AM I TALKING ABOUT HERE?

To those 90’s kids and those early 2000’s kids (like me) who were aware of stuff, they’d know exactly what I mean. It was an era for independent musicians, a time when pop was cool and was given the tag of indipop which made it sound even cooler. It was a time when there were actually music charts, yes something totally unheard of now. There were also music videos that had Daler mehndi just appearing out of a weird-ball-of-fire to sing a song for us and then just cloning himself to half a dozen others (Tunak Tunak, Anyone?)

Well to give a brief background picture, the advent of amitabh bacchan too had to be credited to bring about the music of the 90's, from the late 70's to well into the 80's music was hardly given any weightage in cinema, it was mostly action and drama that were at the fore, this degraded the quality of music bollywood had seen in the 50's and 60's. This sorta ushered in the new era where people began to experiment and start creating new type of music because really people had gotten bored of the stuff they'd heard earlier.

SOME OF THE BEST MUSICIANS CAME DURING THIS TIME 

Soulful Lucky Ali

The music video of “Dekha Hai Aise Bhi” is one of the few music videos I vividly remember as a kid. His Hitchhiking across the American mid-west and  meeting mysterious Indians, who incidentally had the habit of standing at boulders and waving to buses in their traditional attire. Apart from all that being said his songs were truly soulful deriving influences from Arabic, latin and even folk songs from India. “Tere Mere Saath” and “Kabhi Aisa Lagta Hai” is one of the few hindi songs that are always on my playlist.

You could find everything you were looking for, here.

Euphoria

"Maeri" along with "Dhoom Pichak", "Kaise Bhulege Mera Naam", "Sha na na" are classic tunes churned out by the band, The band’s essence was the use of traditional mix of Indian instruments along with electric and bass guitar and drums gave the band a very standout and melodic sound.

Remo Fernandes

I still have a cassette of Remo’s at my place. Most of you might know the choreographer Remo but this Remo was way funkier if you ask me. “Humma Humma” and “O Meri Munni” are one of his best known tracks. His Goan attitude and vocals were a distinct departure from the music that we had ever heard in the Indian music scene.

Biddu

Biddu is a well know face in both the international as well as the Indian scene. One of the most successful producers ever he’s ranked 34 in top 50 producers ever by NME. His disco music along with collaboration with Indian and Pakistani artists gave birth to blockbuster songs. Disco Deewane, Boom Boom, Made in India (Alisha Chinai) are just a few to name.

The Others

Daler mehndi’s “Tunak Tunak” also was a big rage along with brother sister duo Shaan and Sagarika’s ”Aisa Hota Hai” Sonu Nigam’s “Deewana Tera” Silk Route with “Dooba Dooba”. Other artists that were big too during that time were Falguni Pathak, Rabbi Shergill, Baba Sehgal and rock bands such as Pentagram and Motherjane (Last two not in Music Sales necessarily)

Yes, she was fine.

When Daler calls you, you go!

WHY BOLLYWOOD SPOILED EVERYTHING, AGAIN

Bollywood can never see the rise of independent artists and independent labels. Although I can’t really blame them for wanting to have hit songs in their movies but making artists sing “Tere Touch Pe Maine Kia Ouchh” is just a sheer waste of talent and energy. Bollywood producers hired these artists, killed their artistic freedom and made them sing songs which were on the lines of the film only. Although they did make a few good songs but all in all it finished the originality spirit that we so enjoyed in the same artists when they were independent.

Need i say more?

In my opinion although bollywood has done bad to the independent artists scene, it can be used to it’s advantage too. In my personal opinion if bollywood guys could just pick-up music for their movies from independent artist who have already made music (Like English movies do sometimes) it could cater to the audiences as well and also give a fresh lease of life to these artists who are just being ignored and their talents wasted. Well, atleast that’s the dream.

I MUST’VE DEFINETELY LEFT OUT A FEW ARTISTS OF THE 90’S, IF YOU HAVE SOME DO COMMENT BELOW!