Monday, May 04, 2009

Money for nothing?

[Suggested background music 'Walk of Life' (1985) by Dire Straits]

I can identify, with absolute clarity and as if it were yesterday, the moment I discovered my passion for music.

It was the early 1980s. I was watching television in my sitting room. TVM's 'Spotlight' came on. We did not have remote controls at the time so, having decided to go to sleep, I was making my way to the TV to switch it off when 'Walk of Life' came on and I was hooked – I must have been nine or 10 years old at the time. None of the songs that followed were as entertaining but I was officially 'into music'.

The week after I would wait patiently for the program to come on again. Another Dire Straits song, 'Sultans of Swing' (1979), airs half way through the program – add one (me) to the ranks of loyal Dire Straits followers/fans.

These were the 'pre-Internet' days so I couldn't exactly get all the gossip on the band – to this day I have never really fallen into the habit of keeping track of the personal lives of my favourite artists. And this also meant that I couldn't find/order entire catalogues of my favourite artists on line – I hadn't even heard about computers, much less a credit/debit card!

Dire Straits

What I did do was badger grandma for 10 Rufiya so I could have someone take me down to 'Soundtrack' ('Sound Track'!?!?!), the then local record/tape distributor of repute, and buy a 'The Best of Dire Straits' – in climate proof packaging no less!

To grandma's great annoyance, although she never really said as much, I would proceed to play the tape over and over again – my only source of 'my music' when 'Spotlight' wasn't on.

I would, of course, be introduced to other great bands through the program;

'Pride (In the Name of Love)' (1984) would introduce me to U2
'The One I Love' (1987) introduced me to R. E. M
and more...

U2

AND, later on, while actually producing 'Spotlight' for TVM (somewhere 1989 – 2000) I would develop a major addiction to electronic rock and hardcore techno due to the likes of Orbital, The Prodigy and The Chemical Brothers (helped along by the initial introduction to the genre by a friend who is deeply missed...).

My catalogue of favourites continue to grow – add Massive Attack, Fatboy Slim, Bob DylanDave Matthews Band, and more to the mix

Cover art – Massive Attack's Mezzanine (1998)

But... nothing takes me back to that moment of what started it all more than Knopfler on the guitar.

Note to Knopfler: 'somewhere your fingerprints remain concrete' – indeed.

4 comments:

Khilath Rasheed - journalist and blogger from Maldives said...

Interesting post Aindhy. Brought back many nostalgic memories. How fast things have changed, dho. :-)

Unknown said...

Things change... BUT I have Dire Straits to go back to...

Peter said...

Yeah man! Excellent! I really miss the good old days where music did not make you feel like killing or humpin someone! he he

Peter said...

Hey buddy. Start blogging already! Get your lazy ass up! :)