Let There Be Rock

My friends often ask me why I like rock music. To the uninitiated it’s a man screaming intangible lyrics and giving them a headache. But there are a chosen few in this generation, who are not missing out on what is perhaps the greatest genre of all time. I should add that I don’t “hate” other kinds of music. it’s just that nothing else hits me the way rock does. So cue the senseless monologue and let’s begin.

I still remember those days, when we used to go on drives in our Tata Indica. It had a cassette player, not a CD player but a cassette player. It was that old. I was in 1st or 2nd grade maybe. My dad had this amazing selection of cassette tapes, all consisting of the old, classic rock songs. This was way before the age of Spotify or YouTube, so these cassettes were my only door to the world of music. While the world was getting introduced to pop and rap, I was still jamming to golden age rock. Then we went ahead and bought a Bose music system. It was primarily a CD player with a radio function. This was about 10 years ago. We still have the same music system and it’s as good as new. Along with the cassettes, my dad also had a collection of some of the best music CD’s in the world. All original prints straight from official recording studios. It was later that I learned that ever since he received his first salary he had been putting aside a part of it to build his collection of some the best music in the world. To this day I have the highest level of respect for him because original CD’s are by no means cheap and it was by pure choice and passion that he amassed a cabinet of some 150 albums.
It is natural to like what you have heard from a young age and this is what happened to me, while the rest of the world was listening to Justin Bieber and Nicki Minaj I was still vibing to Dire Straits and AC/DC. To this day I’m still hooked to good old fashioned electric guitars and drums. It’s not electronic or digitalised sounds that come of a DJ’s turntable are bad but nothing kicks me up like a six string complimented by a powerful amp. There’s something about the instrument that just gets to me. I still get goosebumps when I hear a good guitar solo. 

I’m one of those people who doesn’t

listen to music for the lyrics, it’s odd but hey, if you want lyrics go read a poem. For me music is the sound, the little highs and lows, the notes on the guitar, fingers flying faster than light on the fretboard and a sick riff accompanied by a hardcore drummer. Now that’s what I call music. It’s a feeling that cannot be expressed in words. When you finally understand what I’m talking about. That is the day when you will have realised the true beauty of rock and roll.

– Prakhar Verma