Eagles, the Band that Never Dies!!!! A Trip Down Memory Lane...

This past Thursday, I attended the Eagles concert in DC. And it was a mind-blowing experience. There must have been thousands of middle-aged Americans including me who went totally berserk when the the well-suited Eagles sang "Lying Eyes," "Hotel California," "Take it Easy," and other greatest hits. Of course, having a great dinner with a margarita and great company certainly made it even more so! I am eternally grateful to my friend, Bruce, for asking me out to this concert because it was a once in a lifetime experience!

There were a few kids in their pre-teens who had clearly been dragged under duress by their over-excited parents because my friend and I visibly cringed and ruefully grinned when we heard disgusted remarks from them to the effect of "look at those dweebs". These unflattering comments were muttered spontaneously as the sight of the mostly in their forties and older crowd swaying and singng along to the tune of songs like "One of these nights". That sight was a bit much for their young Britney Spear-ridden souls. Don Henley and his peers well into their late middle age probably were dinosaurs for these youngsters but who cares!

For me, listening to the Eagles took me back to my years growing up back home in New Delhi. It was amazing how we the younger Delhites were so up to speed with the Western music in the seventies and the eighties. Some how, we were able to get the latest cassettes (CDs etc came later) from our friends and family in US.

Attending a college music festival in Delhi University during my undergrad days when yes university students had their bands and would perform the latest Western music in university competitions.

I remember how my younger brother and I used to regularly pester our older brother, who was here in the US at the time, studying for his doctorate at Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh, to send us the latest music from the US. Over the years, he sent us the latest albums by the SuperTramp, Doors, the Beatles, America, the Eagles and on and on. Seriously between all of us friends studying at the Delhi University, we had covered almost all the genres of music from Broadway musicals, to classical, the the blues and Classic rock...

One person would get a new album and the rest of us would make copies of the same. I still have vivid memories of how my late younger brother and I pooled our pocket money to buy the latest Akai Stereo system which drove our father nuts. He a lover of Western classical music had no patience at all for this loud "monkey" music as he termed it.


Here my friend and I are dancing to a Donna Summer song. It was not unusual for girlfriends to just get up and start dancing to a peppy number.

Being almost the youngest of seven siblings, I was exposed to different generational music over the years. The oldest three brothers would hum along tunelessly and painfully to songs like "Hang down your head Tom Dooley", "Lipstick on your collar", the Polka dot bikini number and Elvis Presley hits etc. Nowhere was the generation gap between the oldest and youngest sibling more evident as from the choice of music in our bustling home.

Here is a picture that I barely salvaged of an older brother sporting the Elvis look. He drove us nuts with his awful rendition of Presleys numbers... Mercifully, he stopped short of those hip gyrations! Ashok is the only brother who lives in Delhi now.

The All India Radio used to have slots of time dedicated to Western Music both classical and pop and the popular comperes would dedicate songs at the requests of the callers something on the lines of "To the pretty girl in the red blouse from the captain of the college cricket team" or just plain messages like wishing someone Happy Birthday etc etc. I recall the program was called, "Date with you." Interestingly though dating was not the norm in India, there were no such inhibitions with respect to music.

The student parties at universities played the latest disco music from here and Motown was well known... I vividly recall how "Lying Eyes' by the Eagles became the number associated with loooooong slow dances... Yes slow dances were there, but were considered a big no no unless you were going "steady" with your partner. Generally, dances without body contact were considered respectable and the norm.

I would be remiss if I did not mention that Indian cities in my time also had discos which played the latest Western music with the works including strobe lights. I was allowed to go to the disco heavily chaperoned by older brothers on such occasions like New Year's. Things have changed now and I got a culture shock when I saw my younger female cousins dolling up in late evenings to head to the disco to dance the night away in their chauffeur driven cars... The number of discotheques in Delhi have increased manifold and there are sophisticated nightclubs or pubs with dance floors and music situated in luxurious five-star hotels...

So New Delhi and India's big cities have been keeping pace with the Western music culture. Rock music was introduced in India in the 60s and 70s. Remember the Beatles visited India and brought their music with them. Later on in late 70s and eighties, there started a fusion of Indian and Western music. Now there are many Indian rock bands and the momentum has been quietly growing with the introduction of MTV in India in the early 90s. The influence and the intermingling of the Western and Indian culture is very evident in many songs where instruments from both cultures have been used like the sitar in the Beatles song and the Western drums etc in many Bollywood numbers.


Check out this video of Indian Rock (Punjabi): Bombay Rockers ft. Overseas - Ari Ari

Of course, like everything else, things have changed completely. Due to globalization, the kids back home are all into Ipods etc. just like the kids here but what the folks back home do miss are live concerts by legends like the Eagles. Remember we are only talking western music here as Indian music concerts by the artistes are of course ubiquitous...