Unforgettables

Dylan, Morrison, the Beatles refuse to go out of our heads. Unlike techno, funk or whatever it was we heard yesterday

The past is the only reality, the present a phenomenon that slips into oblivion soon. There are sounds all around us. Funk, rap, saccharine-sweet pop promise to live beyond the moments we hear them. But soon, there is silence. What is it that we heard a day before?

Music, in its ideal state of being, is a memory we love to cherish. Maybe, that is why music lovers in their late 30s and more prefer the route of comforting hibernation. A few might have been born after Woodstock—the real thing, not the fake one—but they understand the intellectual and musical worth of the legend-making concert held in Max Yasgur’s farm four decades ago. They know their Joan Baez, Richie Havens and many others whose ideological passion resulted in quality music that shook the world.

Four decades later, we are exposed to new music in a new world. As we get to hear more and more techno and funk and contemporary rock, it is not unfair to ask if today’s world is indeed the perfect place to live in. Are the present times so remarkably trouble-free that the average songwriter has nothing to write about? Terrorist attacks and nuclear tests answer that question. Not that the songwriter thinks about these issues; since, if he did, we would not hear songs that disappear from our minds like they do. They would have stayed on, hurt us, made us react on Facebook if not driven us to act like the musical warriors did during the Vietnam War.

Where issues are not predominant, dedication towards craft holds the key. Nothing excites us more than the Beatles. Nobody is a Dylan of the Tambourine Man days. Nobody is gifted enough to make musical explorations like, say, Eric Clapton. Nobody has the charisma of a Jim Morrison or a Mick Jagger. The era belongs to the likes of Shakira; and we, the 40-plus, are just not interested.

Early exposure to huge talents has its disadvantages, one of them being the realisation that geniuses aren’t born every day. Pearl Jam appealed for a while. Stone Temple Pilots and Collective Soul had their moments. But, they never managed to hijack our attention since we prefer a different era. The age whose music simply cannot die.

Bob DylanclassicsEric Claptionfunkhip-hopJoan BaezMick JaggermusicThe Doors