Events like this contribute to this peculiar retro-quality that parts of Indian culture have. I suppose it’s good that Indians still appreciate the retro given that they’re still receiving visits from bands whose biggest hits were over 30 years ago.

I agree. It's either the super-retro or the super-new hip-hop stuff. I can't tell you how sick I am of listening to Justin Timberlake's 'Sexy back' here in Mumbai (and in Delhi and Kolkata). Retch.

Ah! SM reports on one of my oh-so-acute cultural observations about India. I haven't spent any substantial amount of time in India for close to 10 years now, but another star who periodically renews his lunch/clothing/rent allowance in India is Bryan Adams (even those commie purveyors of socialized medicine up north require people to pay for roti, kapda and makaan). For a brief period, there were even torrid rumors of an affair with Karisma Kapoor back in her day. I cite only the most reliable sources: http://lakdiva.org/suntimes/970622/mirror2.html (search for "The blue eyed beauty").

Why is it that, despite India Rising and all that, that India attracts only 3rd string western bands on international tour?

3rd string? Ouch...I think you just answered your own question right there - maybe they'll start showing up when you start playing nice. @=) Plus, Deep Purple selling out shows in India as opposed to some disposable, flash-in-the-pan act currently commanding the charts like Ashley Simpson or Daniel Powter leaves me a smidgen more hope for humanity.
Anyways, Deep Purple playing in India is no accident. They're quite popular there and have played in Bangalore a couple years back.
Kalpana Chawla, the first Indian woman in space, was a big fan. From the wiki:

She went to her first rock concert, a Deep Purple show, in 2001 with her husband. "Kalpana is not necessarily a rock music aficionado," her husband said of a Deep Purple show, "...but (she) nevertheless characterized the show as a 'spiritual experience.'"

Chawla kept in contact with the band from outer space and Steve Morse wrote a song for her the day she died. [link]

The group shares song-writing credits on all songs on Bananas except one, a short instrumental by Morse that ends the album called "Contact Lost."

The song was written on Feb. 1, 2003 — the day the space shuttle Columbia disintegrated upon re-entry into the earth's atmosphere after a successful 16-day mission. The accident claimed the lives of the seven crew members, including Kalpana Chawla, a native of India, where Deep Purple is extremely popular.

A huge fan of the band, Chawla exchanged e-mails with the band from outer space. She took three Deep Purple CD's (Machine Head, Purpendicular and Down to Earth) with her into space and liked to wake up to "Space Truckin."

The CDs were later found among the Columbia debris and were made into commemorative plaques to honor the seven astronauts. The plaques were presented to the band by Chawla's widower, Jean-Pierre Harrison, at a concert in Mexico City last September.

The band plans to donate two of the plaques to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Morse will keep the other one — the plaque for Purpendicular, the album on which he made his Deep Purple debut in 1996. He had autographed it and given it to Chawla before she left on her mission.

"I could still see my signature on it," he said. "It's really faded and melted around the edges. It's really eerie."

My guess is that it comes down to pure economics. Whereas a band like U2 or an act like Madonna, instead of going all the way to India and incurring the extra expense, can simply book more dates in Europe or North America where they can get away with charging upwards of $200 per ticket, still sell out the show, and not have to spend the money to ship their stage setup all the way to India. In the case of Deep Purple or Bryan Adams, they probably sell as many tickets as they will ever sell in the major markets, and so it is still profitable for them to go to India.

Desis are deeply retro in their musical tastes. Every boy I grew up with loved Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple even though they were several years out of date by that point. And desi kids often know and love music of their parents' generation without thinking of this as a quirky retro taste. Similar to the obsession with "classics" in literature classes in Indian schools. You demonstrate your cultural refinement not so much by your knowledge of the new and trendy as by your mastery of genealogies, whether musical or literary.

As for ticket sales, it's not the twentysomethings or hip young teens who can afford the phoren band concert tickets, but thirty and fortysomething yuppies, so guess what - they're going to go for Deep Purple and Bryan Adams.

I was worried that few of the readers would know Deep Purple, hence the basic intro to them. But you're right - if they really are that popular in India, then a good number of our readers will be familiar with them.

DJ DP - thanks, that's quite helpful. The story about DP in space is amazing.

I did not know that Steve Morse joined the band in the nineties. I'm so out of touch. The man has mad skills and I saw him play with the Dregs (back when they were the Dixie Dregs) when they were the fall concert for my prep school. He would definitely have resurrected Deep Purple.

Another band which is crazy popular among many in India is Pink Floyd, at least among 30somethings. I think a lot of people like this 'retro' stuff (without thinking of it as retro) because a)they think it's 'cool' b)they don't realise the actual popularity level (or lack thereof) in the West and c)they just like it. I have a colleague who is a half-Punjabi/half-Tamil who grew up in South Bombay from an elite family...he prides himself on not being able to speak Hindi, and also on his huge Pink Floyd collection.

He prides himself on not beign able to speak Tamil or Punjabi either, just to be clear.

Another band which is crazy popular among many in India is Pink Floyd, at least among 30somethings.

If Pink Floyd were to reform, they'd be able to sell out any stadium anywhere in the world, I don't think that's unique to India. If I recall correctly, their last tour in '94 sold out 3 shows at Giants Stadium in Jersey and 2 shows at RFK in DC (I was at one of those!!!). It would probably be the same if they toured today.

I think it's totally cool that Indians are retro. Why should Indian tastes be current Western ones? Do you own thing, man.

Anyway, quality matters and Deep Purple is better than a lot of the crap you hear on, um, oh wait, I program my own digital 'radio station' so I can't really finish that sentence......hmmm, any suggestions for good trip-hop (I'm still a eighites/nineties gal), electronica?

Bangalore has many bands compared to most other places in India, and most of them start playing progressive rock, classic rock etc. Almost all of the bands i've seen start up in bangalore play floyd, ozzie, deep purple and a lot of heavy metal. If you want to be in with the crowd that frequents open mics and other jams through out the city, you better know your classic rock.
I think this love for classic rock is great! One of the reasons bands like deep purple are so popular. On the other hand there are bands like Thermal and a quarter which in my opinion are just fantastic and a step ahead of the rest.
Bryan adams i suspect got famous for his soundtracks and because of the limited availability of other music back in the day. And if you were old enough you probably had a few numbers by englebert humperdinck and a rack of country music tapes :)

think a lot of people like this 'retro' stuff (without thinking of it as retro) because a)they think it's 'cool'

One of the many quirks of Angicized desis. They also read Ayn Rand and PG Wodehouse with biblical reverence. We can look forward to a hip hop revolution in Delhi twenty years hence, with the new anglicized desis eschewing whatever happens to be current in America.

My 54 yr Amreeki coworker's first rock concert was Jethro Tull. So was mine.
It's all about $$$. Unfavorable conversion rate makes it worse.

A bit about college tradition. You are this clueless boy/girl of 15/16 who gets inroduced to "real music" by seniors. "This is heavy man. You need to check this out". Enter DP, LZ, Floyd, Doors etc. etc.

Saw DP in '90s and they were in fine form. These guys in their mid 40s made the opening act (desi boys half their age) look silly. Hopefully the local rockers have improved since then.

You might want to dig into Bal Thackeray blessed Michael Jackson concert. Hilarious stuff that.
Also MJ fan club here.

Desis are deeply retro in their musical tastes. Every boy I grew up with loved Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple even though they were several years out of date by that point.

This is true, though I don't understand why. Does it have anything to do with that era's love affair with India? Speaking of rock bands and their love affairs with India, loving the Beatles is compulsory for desis back home.

If Pink Floyd were to reform, they'd be able to sell out any stadium anywhere in the world, I don't think that's unique to India.

Werd. It doesn't matter how old you are, where you are or what kind of music you're into. Pink Floyd is Pink Floyd.

my teen years in india were an air guitar haze -- smoke on the water, the wall, stairways to heaven etc. retro SP? absolutely and wonderfully so. posturing as cultural refinement? rubbish. as MD says above, "do your own thing, Man." we just did our thing. now reading classic literaure -- surley that can't go out of style? and surley its about the hippest thing anyone anywhere can do.

Do you think Bollywood 'co-opting' hip-hop (well, superficially cheesy hip-hop dance moves, anyway) makes it less cool to the so-called anglicized desis? They sound damned interesting to me: Ayn Rand, PG Wodehouse and Deep Purple! Haha. They sound like 70s, US east-coasty prep school kids......

"You are this clueless boy/girl of 15/16 who gets inroduced to "real music" by seniors. "This is heavy man. You need to check this out".

OMG - SO TRUE!

Ditto the compulsory love of the Beatles and Ayn Rand, esp. Ayn Rand among a certain generation of parent-types. What's up with that? Given how randomly American culture penetrated India given the limited availability of pop culture products, maybe it was as simple as someone's phoren uncle/aunt bringing back some records or books that were circulated ad infinatum.

Of course it's a demonstration of cultural refinement - you show you're cool - and plugged into Western culture from waayyyy back - by being familiar with the Beatles and Led Zep and what have you. If it were simply a matter of doing your own thing, would English-speaking desis of a particular generation all love the exact same music?

To all you Pink Floyd fans out there, I wasn't dissing the band...obviously they were one of the most popular ever. It's just the rabid, wierd following they seem to have among a certain subset of desis. I can't tell you how often that band's name has come up in conversation with 1st gens. Kind of like what Shodan alluded to about how kids get initiated into this music in college in India.

Ayn Rand may simply be collegiate rebellion: if the upper/upper middle class world around you is genteelly-socialist, out comes Ayn Rand. Or not.

PS: Brilliant post, Ennis. SM is really fun these days.

Pssst Pink Floyd loving desis: this ABCD (okay, technically Indian-born) thinks you are really, really cool. Seriously. Develop your own relationship to, and understanding of Western culture. Please, please, please, don't be soft-soaped into a global South-Asian must-think-alike mindset....I love the way different cultures mix and mash outside influences up. Stay mixed and mashed!

Given how randomly American culture penetrated India given the limited availability of pop culture products,

When talking about the 60s/70/s in India, I think the above quote explains it all...

Who doesn't love Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd? I mean it's nearly impossible to really appreciate the development of modern rock without understanding these two bands.

Actually I'm always interested in how pop music develops in India. From across the ocean, all I see are film songs or really (REALLY) bad remix albums. But there's got to be some really awesome, artistic music happening in India that I just don't know about. In fact, I don't know of any Desi bands (I would pay real money to hear Deep Purple-influenced Desi rock, btw). But there's so much music in Indian culture, and there have been so many disaporic artists that I have to believe they're there. Can anyone point me to cool stuff from the Desh?

PPS: I hope I wasn't being patronizing in the last comment. I just love quirky details like this.

Growing up in India in a world of East 17 and Ace of Base, classic hard rock was an incredible outlet. I remember rocking in 1995 with 50,000 others in JNU to Deep Purple. Good to see that culture live on.

And yes, I love the fact that you can still go to a bar in Bangalore and hear Pink Floyd and Led Zep at midnight.

Yanni. The reason Taj Mahal marble is turning black.

Why is it that, despite India Rising and all that, that India attracts only 3rd string western bands on international tour? I’m sure I’m missing something.

You are wrong, You should have done some more research about this. Some of the best International Bands/Artists performed in Banglore/Bengaluru. I was in Banglore for about 8 months in 2001 and I was amazed to see number of international bands performing there.

Why is it that, despite India Rising and all that, that India attracts only 3rd string western bands on international tour? I’m sure I’m missing something.

You are wrong, You should have done some more research about this. Some of the best International Bands/Artists performed in Bangalore/Bengaluru. I was in Bangalore for about 8 months in 2001 and I was amazed to see number of international bands performing there.

Sorry for the double post

long time lurker here. deep purple are actually quite popular in india, especially among the geeks. here's a possible explanation,
in a post i wrote a few days ago. (i'm sorry i'm shilling my own blog) :)

No matter if its hip-hop night, retro-night, rock night, or Bollywood night, every club in Bombay ends with a tribute to Bryan Adams with "the summer of '65". Why, oh why?

Personally I am not a fan of '80s music. {Does Deep Purple even qualify as '80s?} Mainly because all I watched were Hindi movies until I was 12 (even though I grew up in the US) and went straight to glam rock during the disturbing teenage years. On the other hand, my hubby (born and raised in Mumbai) loves '80s music!!

Oops, I meant 69. See how much I hate it?? :)

Does it have anything to do with that era's love affair with India?

Speaking of rock bands and their love affairs with India, loving the Beatles is compulsory for desis back home.

Of course it's a demonstration of cultural refinement - you show you're cool

Oops, I meant 69. See how much I hate it?? :)

I have a hazy recollection of watching Uriah Heep live in India on a dusty soccer field. Talk of classic lit and rock music rolled into one.

Before they were big, Police played Bombay a couple of times - a little extra money on their way to and from Tokyo perhaps.

No matter if its hip-hop night, retro-night, rock night, or Bollywood night, every club in Bombay ends with a tribute to Bryan Adams with "the summer of ['69]". Why, oh why?

The fascination with Bryan Adams and Summer of '69 is real, and it amuses me. You're right, almost every bar will play this at some point in the evening. As one of my exchange students in India said, "when the time comes to make our slide show of our time studying abroad in India, Summer of '69 will be the theme song." Two of my exchange students were Canadian, so they were particularly amused by the Bryan Adams fascination. I remember seeing a guy walking around with a t-shirt that said "Summer of '69," with the lyrics printed on the back. And this was in 2004.

There are exceptions, though. One of my favorite bars in Bangalore seemed to play Thievery Corporation on a loop whenever I went there.

Shodan:

Is RYAN Adams the lesser-known, lesser-talented, oft-neglected younger brother or cousin brother of Bryan Adams? :)

I gave up on sleep for a whole winter at an Indian college when the hall band prepping for a western musical competition decided to set shop in the great outdoors right under my dorm window. Hearing The Police's "Message In A Bottle" a gazillion times, performed at various degrees of badness, made me turn reactionary, and made me refuse to be educated in the finer points of Led Zep's "Staircase" or Pink Floyd's "The Wall". I had to wait a couple of years till I made a crossing across the black water to inject myself with classic rock, which really does rock.

As others have already pointed out, the incidence of such retro tastes media-wise (music and books) in India has to with economics more than anything else. CDs were practically no exsistant in those years (1990s) and much of rock music traffic was on borrowed copies of the original tapes, which were usually imported and held by their owners as communal trust.

A. Rand's desi reach can be explained by the availability of her books as very cheap pirated paperbacks (I paid Rs. 30 for my copy of her "Fountainhead" vs. Rs. 400 I paid to buy Vikram Seth's "A Suitable Boy" in paperback, in the late 90s), which one can buy from the "footpath" booksellers. I don't know if she would have been happy with such a subversion of intellectual property; I know I would be if anything I might write hits that "footpath" market even though I would have to mingle with august company such as Jackie Collins, John Grisham etc.

I think the circulation of western music is much better these days in the desh, given cyberia and Bitorrent even though the availability of "good" books at "desi" prices remains quite dismal. Here a shout out to Penguin India: how many frikin' kids (or parents) can afford to pay approximately Rs. 1000 for an omnibus volume of Satyajit Ray's stories (an example chosen because this was a gift I gave an cousin in middle school when I was visiting desh two years ago) when the average annunal income (an optimistic number) is Rs 100,000?

Bangelore rocks. Goa, on the other hand, goes with Boney M.

A. Rand's desi reach can be explained by the availability of her books as very cheap pirated paperbacks (I paid Rs. 30 for my copy of her "Fountainhead" vs. Rs. 400 I paid to buy Vikram Seth's "A Suitable Boy" in paperback, in the late 90s), which one can buy from the "footpath" booksellers. I don't know if she would have been happy with such a subversion of intellectual property; I know I would be if anything I might write hits that "footpath" market even though I would have to mingle with august company such as Jackie Collins, John Grisham etc.

Interesting question. Would the Objectivist Devi want the (OMFG!) State to step in to protect her intellectual property rights? I really wish someone had asked her that...

Re: sillymidoff @ 35

Ah yes, thanks for mentioning Boney-M - their "Greatest Hits" was one of the earliest tapes my father bought soon after buying a tape deck in 84. And one of the fondest memories of my childhood is my pre-school sister dancing to their "Brown Girl In The Ring". I think you are also right - Boney-M's as well as that of B. Adams's popularity, in the desh, has to do with the desi ear's easy comprehension of their singing. Oh! and it must have been "the college whose name shall not be spoken" Bombay, Delhi, Madras etc - there was (is) no IIT in Bangalore. :)

Its funny how some ABDs, in contrast, have such a seemingly passionate relationship with Bollywood and others are very protective about preserving language and culture. Amardeep Singh and Manish Vij are examples of Bollywood enamored American desis. Perhaps the popular culture from "over there" is inherently more fascinating. This may extend into "high" culture as well. Pankaj Mishra writes that reading obscure western authors in the Indian districts created his self-sense; OTOH ABDs incorporate carnatic music into jazz compositions. And there are filtering issues at play here too -the 70s Bollywod figures in the banners at Sepia Mutiny and Ultrabrown, e.g. And I bet you a Shammi Kapoor 'concert' would sell out here.

#35. True. You can still see Marutis w/ BoneyM decals in Mumbai.
I guess each country has its own preferred brand of trash.
Germany had Hasselhoff at #1.
UK had Engelbert Humperdinck beating The Beatles for #1 spot in 60s.
The US? See Billboard 20.
Does anyone remember the big metal concert celebrating Free Russia? Metallica, Oz etc. were greeted enthusiastically. But all hell broke lose when Scorpions came on.

Meenakshi

Is RYAN Adams the lesser-known, lesser-talented, oft-neglected younger brother or cousin brother of Bryan Adams? :)

I'm sure there are a multitude of reasons for bands not making tour stops in India. But if I were in a mega Rock band with massive light show, a wall of Marshall stacks, effects racks etc, my primary concern would be... the infamous Indian powercut.
Do they still occur as frequently as I remember them? I havent' been to India in 6 years. But man, i could only imagine what it be like for the power to go out mid-song...

{Does Deep Purple even qualify as '80s?}

No, it does not. They are classic rockers to the bone.

Smoke on the Water is the name of my hometown!
;)

risible: that is a fantastic comment. I do sometimes think that a certain type of ABD is in interested in 'preserving' a culture that can't be preserved, because cultures are dynamic and changing in real time, because they are attatched to their childhood experiences as children of immigrants.

"Over there" is a real phenomenon. Human beings exoticize all the time. And I refuse to believe exoticize is always a dirty word. I mean, when you look at another country or another culture it has, of course, the charm of being different, of possibly transporting you from both the difficulty and banality of daily life. Problems arise when you start to day-dream, to make things up, to refuse to respect that the culture has a life of it's own and is not just a plaything. Oh, I don't know what I'm trying to say. I see something very touching in all these attempts to create a sense of self out of a song, or a part of a book. It's that old impulse for art, isn't it?

Music, apart from its inherent enjoyability, fulfills a lot of emotional roles. For some westernised or western-leaning kid in India, yearning to break free from the social conservatism, religious hypocrisy, stifling sexual mores of the culture around him, hard/classic rock, or hip-hop, or whatever, takes him to a different world, a fantasy place, a place where he would love to be. For a 2nd gen living in the West, who is yearning to break free from bland surroundings, lack of identity, cultural rootlessness, Bollywood (or bhangra) takes you to a different world, a different identity, a place where, on some level, you would love to be. And something that you may feel is your roots. It should be noted though that MOST young Indians in India are NOT really into hard rock or whatever, and MOST young Indians in the West are not really into Bollywood. Ultimately it is your immediate environment that has the biggest impact on you.

Re: risible @ 44

While S. Kapoor is (maybe?) dead, I think Bollywood does booming business here in the videsh with its ministrel circuit - posters advertising shows of Aishwarya Rai and Hirtik Roshan lip-syncing and dancing, for example, greet me regularly when I dine at a desi restaurant. Of course, A.R. Rahman took this peddling a level higher with his musical "Bombay Dreams". As for Indian classical arts - yes, they are much stronger, both teaching and performance-wise, here in the US than in India, mainly because desis in the US can afford to send their kids to learn Bharatnatyam or the tabla from the many excellent teachers and artists who have migrated here, following the money. I think T.S. Eliot summed this up best (I quote from memory): "Art can only flourish in the dungheap of cash".

You are wrong, You should have done some more research about this. Some of the best International Bands/Artists performed in Banglore/Bengaluru. I was in Banglore for about 8 months in 2001 and I was amazed to see number of international bands performing there.

I was reacting to the description of DP as one of the biggest concerts to come through.

Please enlighten us -- I couldn't find anything online. Which bands came through?

Deep Purple-influenced Desi rock

Dont know if DP influenced them, but do check out the pakistani band Junoon ( which had a HUGE hit in India called "Sayonee")
They count Led Zepellin as one of their influences.

"And I refuse to believe exoticize is always a dirty word."

i agree.

interesting comment from a 14-year-old Mexican girl on being asked what matters to her most as a teenager (BBC):

But lately, there isn't any good new music. I just don't think bands put any effort into their music any more. It seems that they only care about money. Rock and metal bands are not like they used to be. You don't see bands like Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath or The Doors emerging. I would love to interview Jim Morrison, Jimmy Page, Syd Barret and Ozzy Osbourne, and ask them how they managed to compose such perfect and deep lyrics and such pure sounds.

I would love to know how (if at all) the young, westernised, English-speaking Pakistani youth experience of the 60s to 80s, growing up in Karachi or Lahore, differed from the equivalent Indian counterpart experience in Mumbai/Delhi. I think as a % of population, that elite demographic is much smaller in Pakistan. And the surrounding indigenous desi cultures are quite different in many ways.

If Deep Purple is relic of 80s, then Mithun Chakroborthy/Shammi Kapoor banner toting SepiaMutiny is...?

Or is "retro is cool" domain of only "South Asians" and not applicable to us in India?

I think a lot of people like this 'retro' stuff (without thinking of it as retro) because a)they think it's 'cool' b)they don't realise the actual popularity level (or lack thereof) in the West and c)they like it.

What rubbish! Unless Amitabh intended the above to be listed in steeply ascending order of importance :-) Has it occurred to anybody that, perhaps, there is just something eerily but universally appealing about certain rock anthems; and that Deep Purple or Floyd simply composed more than their fair share of anthems ? Oh, and PS: India isn't the only country that's "retro" in it's rock tastes. E.g. "The Police" is crazily popular in Norway. So much so that a buttoned-up affair like the presentation of the Abel Prize (the so-called math Nobel) this summer featured "Message in a Bottle" by an avant-garde trio led by Kjos Sorensen...

"Why is it that, despite India Rising and all that, that India attracts only 3rd string western bands on international tour? I’m sure I’m missing something."

You are missing a lot of things, obviously.
One of the things is knowledge of the bands, which have toured India over the last decade, starting with The Boss in the late eighties.

Risible,
As someone who grew up next to a Bollywood studio, I find ABDs fixating over shite B'wood films quite amusing. Things from a distance and all that.

Ennis,
Some Mumbai info. Don't know about B'lore.
Police played at Rang Bhavan back in the days.
And MJ in 90s.

Whoa!

Springsteen was (is?) popular in India?

Try yelling "Summer of 69" at RYAN Adams concert. Then you will know true hate.

Is RYAN Adams the lesser-known, lesser-talented, oft-neglected younger brother or cousin brother of Bryan Adams? :)

Haha, don't say that to Ryan Adams or suffer!

This is funny, because whenever I visit my cousins (in Punjab), NO ONE listens to hard rockers. I actually feel really stupid trying to explain why I think Led Zeppelin are musically genius. I feel like I'm much more likely to hear UK-born desi artists or mixes on their stereos and at their parties. Maybe this is just my family, or maybe it's an age gap?

Haha, don't say that to Ryan Adams or suffer!

Hey, it didn't stop Pitchfork ;)

You are missing a lot of things, obviously. One of the things is knowledge of the bands, which have toured India over the last decade, starting with The Boss in the late eighties.

Fine, give us a list then. The Boss -- who else? I know Sting performed in Bangalore (and perhaps elsewhere) in '04, but how many other shows like that are there? In the end, if western bands are what you want to see, you have far better access in, say, Raleigh, NC, than you do in Mumbai or Bangalore -- and it isn't even close. I think Ennis's original question is a good one, and I think the answer has to do with what Sriram discussed in #4.

PS: Brilliant post, Ennis. SM is really fun these days.

Thanks, MD. I think it's hilarious that DP gets 7 times as many comments as bad sex, when I figured it would be the other way around. Maybe the post on bad sex was too ... chaste ;) I did clean it up before I posted.

Re: neale @ 60

Yup! The Boss did brisk business in the desh; I have friends who gave his "Born to Run" as birthday gifts.

Every desi boy (NOT GIRL) I know from India who is 30+ is sooooo into Pink Floyd, The Doors, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath more so than The Who & Rolling Stones. I don't get it. I like some of their popular stuff but the cultish following I don't get.

The most retro I go (and LOVE) is Def Leppard, Fleetwood Mac, Blondie, Aerosmith then it's all 80s for me...Chicago, Hall & Oates, Police, Foreigner, Pet Shop Boys, Prince, Michael Jackson, Joan Jett, Queen, Wham, Culture Club, Phil Collins, Mellencamp etc. The 1990s never registered and now I listen to Sexy Back! Go figure.

I sang Borderline (Madonna) at Karaoke this weekend for a 27 year old's birthday and she has NEVER HEARD OF IT BEFORE. #$$%^*^$##@$*&)(+*(

I grew up in Bangalore. Then became a FOB in late-nineties, attending grad school, then staying over for a job, green card etc etc.

One of my pet-peeves was that most folks in the desi grad school community were appalled that I had only a very very superficial interest in Bollywood. I tried a few times to explain that I wasn't abandoning the cultural mothership after coming to the US, I was never too into Hindi cinema. Another pet-peeve was that every North-Indian grad student would assume that I could speak Hindi.

By the way, friends of mine play on Thermal and a Quarter, who have made quite a habit of opening for these big visiting bands. They opened for Deep Purple and Jethro Tull recently.

"Why is it that, despite India Rising and all that, that India attracts only 3rd string western bands on international tour? I’m sure I’m missing something."

You are missing a lot of things, obviously. One of the things is knowledge of the bands, which have toured India over the last decade, starting with The Boss in the late eighties.

Amit, why not bring on the information instead of the snark? Clearly there is no central repository of this information, or if there was, I couldn't find anything.

Again, I was working off the fact that the Deep Purple concert is being billed one of the largest ever in Bangalore, which surprised me given Bangalore's relative wealth and westernization. That's a band over 30 years old performing a huge concert in a city which, per capita, is probably one of India's wealthiest and youngest.

Sure, I remember MJ's concert, but that's more of an example of a musical has-been (he was totally washed up at that point) than a big star.

Police and the Boss are useful counter-examples though.

What other big groups / performers?

this must be some Ennis-nomics measure/benchmark. i.e, a nations economic progress measured by the quality of the rock bands touring its cities.

30-40 something desis w/ and their love for Dylan. Anybody got that?
I resisted him for a long time for all the "Hey man you NEED to check this out" business.

Neal, re: Boss.
My clollege friends used to do a funny Punjabi version of My hometown, called "Sadda Pind".

Re: neale @ 60

Yup! The Boss did brisk business in the desh; I have friends who gave his "Born to Run" as birthday gifts.

There was time way back in my childhood when I used to think there are only two big rock stars in the US: MJ and the Boss. Sort of like Mohd. Rafi and Kishore Kumar ;) .

This probably makes your point, Ennis. I remember my uncle getting real excited about Osibisa visiting India in '81/'82 - a good 10 years after their popularity peaked.

this isn't the first time that they've performed in india. they were one of the first few western acts to come to india around the late-80s/early-90s, including europe (remember 'final countdown'?), bryan adams and last, but not least, the bootleg beatles - a (not so bad) beatles cover band.

i went for the deep purple concert at the andheri sports complex in '93 (i think) and yes, i sang 'smoke on the water' word for word. what can i say? i'm old...

As for the ABD/Western India focus on Bollywood, I think there's a supply and demand effect going on here. I can go into any number of Desi-owned shops and pick up the latest Bollywood hit (if only on badly pirated VHS). But that, uhm, "distribution system" barely exists for Indian artistic film. I've only seen Satyajit Ray's films at two very high-end video rental places in Chicago, and just forget it when it comes to lesser-known art films. Even Netflix shafts non-Bollywood Indian film.

So if you're trying to connect with your heritage and culture through this medium, Bollywood is the easiest and cheapest way to do it.

Neale (#62), touche. But how can you argue with Pitchfork? ;)

One of my pet-peeves was that most folks in the desi grad school community were appalled that I had only a very very superficial interest in Bollywood. I tried a few times to explain that I wasn't abandoning the cultural mothership after coming to the US, I was never too into Hindi cinema.

For other concerts in India, See Rolling Stones in India, No Doubt In India, Def Leppard in India, Jethro Tull in India

As someone else noted above lesser bands travelling to India is more to do with economics than anything else. As for Led Zeppling, Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple etc being popular in India is probably becuase of the same reason they are popoular with a certain sect of people world over; people like the music and it is their individual preference.

As brown in comment #. 76 pointed out the some heavy hitters are starting to give concerts in India. Just economics.

I read that Mumbai is soon becoming one of the venues for international tours. Beijing too but then you cannot sing all the songs there.

But, on the same note, I also think ABDs assume that India/Indians are much more culturally conservative, which I also think is off.

This is because the Indian-born Indians we know best are usually our parents. ;)

btw, I know there is another poster here called Neale. I am "Neal", no "e". I didn't realize the other one existed when I started going by my name here -- I would have come up with some other clever name if I had. But I don't want to, like, "steal his thunder" or whatever. So just FYI.

Ennis,
My examples were more of a related trivia thing.
If anything they prove your point. MJ was a wash-up (the surrounding hype made for an interesting read). The Police show was at tiny open-air auditorium. And don't even get me started on Yanni defiling Taj.

The Boss / Tracy Chapman was probably the first big-name show in India. It was a United Nations sponsored show, I think. It did not stop cosponsors TOI from trying to take credit. It coincided w/ their 150th anniversary. Springsteen was quite irritated and said, "We did not come for anybody's birthday party".

What other big groups / performers?

I heard last year Mark Knopfler (lead singer from Dire Straits and guitarist extraordinaire) and the Rolling Stones stopped by in Bangalore. Still very retro though; both concerts were a huge success. Another big concert was one by Roger Waters in 2001, who was in Pink Floyd before they split up. In Bangalore, especially, it's cool to be acquainted with classic rock, people that haven't heard of Floyd or Led Zep frequently get dissed for not being 'with it'! These people seem to eschew pop music, it's thought of as just being manufactured music, no one ever cut their fingers on the guitar strings and abused drugs while trying to write a song. And like earlier comments said, the cycle continues from seniors to juniors in college every year.

Also, as ex-Banglorean mentioned above Mark Knopfler and Elton John concerts in India.

Its cool that these old boys can have some fun back in Bangalore.

I was blissfully ignorant of all things west while growing up and I am still picking up the pieces. When I asked a guy (who came to US same time as me) for a good band, he gave me two CDS.

1. BA's summer of 69.
2. GM's faith.

Apparently, one of his friend professed his love to a girl while some GM's song, BLECH!

There is a lot of self-selection going on here. DP, LZ, PF, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix etc are very peculiar to college hostels, especially engineering college hostels in India. I think the mainstream city folks listen to whatever's playing on MTV or V.

Even within engineering college hostels, classic rock is a genre that is listen to by the same folks who read Wodehouse, Sartre, Tolkein and Ayn Rand. This crowd does not listen to classic rock for its great music alone; they also make up terrific trivia questions on rock arcana (which group was name after Pete De Rose's song since it was the favorite of the lead guitarist's grandmother? Ans: Deep Purple OR Which band was named after the dildo featured in William Burroughs' 'The Naked Lunch'? Ans: Steely Dan, references to Tolkein in Led Zeppelin's works, references to Rand in Rush's music, and so on). Ever so slowly, this crowd gets older - into their 30s and 40s - and then they add jazz to their collection. But never disco, never pop, never country. This crowd will pprobably beat you up if you even mention hip-hop. They're the same with Hindi Film Music. They genuinely believe that Hindi film music died around 1965 (maybe 1972-3) if they are in a generous mood).

These gentlemen (mostly men), comprise India's greatest generation. *bows*. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Oh man, I totally want to hear an Indian cover of Rush!

..that is listened to.. (and other typos). I am keyboard dyslexic.

Neal,

"steal his thunder"

Go ahead! We French do not hold thunder in much regards in winter .

Ennis,

Btw, India's band 'Thermal and a Quarter' (for 3 mallus and one one-quarter mallu) were one of the first bands to put mp3s of their music on their site for free. Yes, they are from Bangalore.

Every desi boy (NOT GIRL) I know from India who is 30+ is sooooo into Pink Floyd, The Doors, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath more so than The Who & Rolling Stones. I don't get it. I like some of their popular stuff but the cultish following I don't get.

It's not the same kind of music. Pink Floyd, Doors, Led Zep and Sabbath were more experimental and ended up trailblazing their own genres, hence the cultish followings. The Who and the Stones were mainstream hard rockers that pretty much everybody liked at some point. I think musically, the most impressive of all the above are Pink Floyd, Led Zep and The Who. As for Deep Purple, I don't think they fit into either category.

It's either the super-retro or the super-new hip-hop stuff. I can't tell you how sick I am of listening to Justin Timberlake's 'Sexy back' here in Mumbai (and in Delhi and Kolkata). Retch.

Well, SexyBack is popular at the moment, so the fact that they play it in Mumbai/Delhi/Calcutta is simply a sign that what is popular the world over is popular in India as well. No surprise.

Also, FWIW, I like SexyBack (which only barely qualifes as "hip-hop," btw). Not a classic by any stretch, but it gets me energized and gets my toes tapping. And the song evokes Prince, who I believe was a musical genius.

Roadhouse Blues. Period.

There is a lot of self-selection going on here. DP, LZ, PF, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix etc are very peculiar to college hostels, especially engineering college hostels in India. I think the mainstream city folks listen to whatever's playing on MTV or V.

Even within engineering college hostels, classic rock is a genre that is listen to by the same folks who read Wodehouse, Sartre, Tolkein and Ayn Rand. This crowd does not listen to classic rock for its great music alone; they also make up terrific trivia questions on rock arcana

And Amitabh (#8), I see your point about how many people do it just to feel cool or different. I knew guys in college who had never heard anything except Bollywood before coming in, and were converted to hard metal in three months. I just don't think anyone can actually cover the distance so fast. But then it is college, what do you expect.

Sashi:

While S. Kapoor is (maybe?) dead,

I guess everybody is entitled to their own taste in music. And BTW, Pink Floyd is really popular in India.

As for Indians in India going more for retro in Western Music, the same goes for Hindi movie music too-a lot of people prefering 60s and 70s music to current songs. But as i said choice of music is certainly very personal. Nothing wrong in that.

Also i guess A.R.Rehman's Bombay Dreams thing didn't give him a giant leap-he was already iconic in India long before that!

SkpeMod: Thanks for mentioning Thermal and a Quarter (their name means :three mallus and a quarter-as they mentioned in one of their concerts).

Even within engineering college hostels, classic rock is a genre that is listen to by the same folks who read Wodehouse, Sartre, Tolkein and Ayn Rand.

I forgot to mention that he played with us and did a version of "Wild World" (Cat Stevens) with a slight Tamilian accent...man, I'd never seen that many ABCD chicks swooning over an IIT grad...

J.Mehta "IIT Bangalore"

There is no IIT in Bangalore, there is Indian Institute of Science (IISc).

Delhi, Chennai, Kanpur, Kharagpur, Powai (near Mumbai), Guwahati and Roorkee (earstwhile Roorkee University) have IITs.

Fine, give us a list then. The Boss

Isn't Bon Jovi really big in India? Also, I know in the 80s Amnesty Int'l did a couple of tours in India. I know in 84 or 85, some of my relatives saw a show in Delhi w/ The Police, U2, and Peter Gabriel ON THE SAME BILL!!!!!! That must of been a great night. Alas, I was but 8 or 9 years old.

There is no IIT in Bangalore, there is Indian Institute of Science (IISc).

India = Vegas.

Isn't Bon Jovi really big in India?

They were 10 years ago. As was Firehouse. And Samantha Fox.

Quizman (#83):

They're the same with Hindi Film Music. They genuinely believe that Hindi film music died around 1965 (maybe 1972-3) if they are in a generous mood).

How true, and i seconded that in my comment #92-am glad you too highlight this. In my opinion, there is still some good Hindi film music being made. but as you know, its very easy to dismiss what people of your own generation do :)).

Sakshi:

And Amitabh (#8), I see your point about how many people do it just to feel cool or different. I knew guys in college who had never heard anything except Bollywood before coming in, and were converted to hard metal in three months. I just don't think anyone can actually cover the distance so fast. But then it is college, what do you expect.

Thats indeed too fast-though, may be those guys never had a chance to listen to the stuff before and once they listened, they enjoyed and got hooked on. While its true that peer pressure does get on the nerves in college-music is something where its very difficult to force stuff that you don't like upon you (thats just my opinion-others may disagree). I am glad you have remained loyal to your choice in music.

Isn't Bon Jovi really big in India?

They were 10 years ago. As was Firehouse. And Samantha Fox.

Really?? Firehouse was big in India? They were hardly big here! :) {shamefully, I did sing listen to "love of a lifetime" with my first bf} Didn't last much longer than 1st semester of freshman year in high school!)

When I was in Mumbai, this band called "Michael loves to rock" came there, and it was a huge show!

Really?? Firehouse was big in India?

hoooraaay! kannada people and retro rock outfits?

a solid combination. hell yeah.

rock on, my people, rock on.

Actually, these same bands are really popular with the young English language music fans in Pakistan too. When I was growing up there in Lahore, there was a whole underground rock scene and they played a lot of Pink Floyd, Deep Purple, Jimi Hendrix etc. For me, growing up, there was the pop stuff I'd heard in the states before moving back and then once there, we didn't have cable/satelite at the time so we'd pick up guitar magazines at old used book stalls, figure out who the really big rock legends were and then ask for them at the local pirate tape store. That's how a lot of us got into Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, the Doors etc. Aaahhh...good times. Discovering all of that in a year or two (because it wasn't on the radio) was sooooo much fun. It was like finding hidden treasure, over and over again!

Foo Fighters are touring India in oct-nov 07.
Snoop is on his way to Goa next Dec..wht else u ask 4 ..thts fucin Big...Pseudo FUCS.

What's the reaction to hip hop acts? I would imagine some acts -- particularly some of Snoop's racier stuff -- would upset the more conservative uncleji's. Are there ever problems with content?

Are there ever problems with content?

If Uncleji’s ever pay attention to content, yes.
Sarvajanik Ganpati in my neighborhood used to blare Samantha Fox.
I thought the god of arts deserved better.

Pink Flyod, Deep Purple, Ozzy, Sabbath, Jetrho Tull and Dylan still rule in Indian colleges (hostels). Every other guy whom I knew used to have a cult-like following for them. They can still sell out their shows in India.

Its not "Michael Loves to Rock", but "Michael Learns to Rock".

MLTR :)

MLTR :), yeah, i heart them.

Re: musical @ 92

Thanks for the update on the "yaaahoooo koi mujhe junglee kahe" Kapoor. I must have gotten him mixed up with the others in the Kapoor clan.

MadGuru, among the younger (let's say late 20s or below), elite generation in Lahore, is the Punjabi language still surviving? My impression is that Urdu and English have all but taken over. Apart from that demographic group, do you hear much Punjabi in general on the streets of Lahore? Is it less now than 20-30 years ago? I've heard that whatever Punjabi is spoken there these days is very watered-down compared to even a generation ago. Thanks in advance (and sorry for going off-topic everyone, although it's sort of a related tangent if you think about the general cultural trends we're discussing).

Maybe the impression of huge popularity of the classic rock bands relates more to the buying power of the fans in India (compared to the others). In just numbers I am sure there are more fans of Zeppelin and Floyd here in the US than in India (for example the people who grew up in that era). Their buying power is much bigger here too but they are only a drop in the bucket.

Admittedly, i have not been to India in a while. Not to sound mean, but the last time i was there, people my age were still listening to AC/DC with great enthusiasm. So maybe Deep Purple is not too untimely.

Not to sound mean, but the last time i was there, people my age were still listening to AC/DC with great enthusiasm. So maybe Deep Purple is not too untimely.

and what, my friend, is timely music?

musical:

And Amitabh (#8), I see your point about how many people do it just to feel cool or different. I knew guys in college who had never heard anything except Bollywood before coming in, and wer