Going retro in a pop world

HIGH NOTES

My first reaction was... it's 2006! Who in the world was still swinging to the "Rivers of Babylon"? A recent visit to Chennai's most popular music store shocked me when I found out that people were asking for music from disco-twirling Boney M on a daily basis.

While I've always been aware of the fact that music from yesteryears still outsells music from the present, and every Christmas the sales of Boney M's albums double, I'd never have thought that these West Indian-European disco superstars were still on music lovers' wish list.

I've never been the sort to over-indulge in the blast-from-the-past scene myself. Being more inclined towards music from the present and having more or less dedicated a good portion of my life to spreading the word about good new music, I cannot help but take such findings seriously.

In fact, it's stuff like this that starts up a whole new train of thought and suddenly confuses the life out of people like myself. Unlike rock and even some pop music, disco beats took over the imagination of the world in the '70s and then went away rather quietly.

But the solid impression that disco made in its heyday ensured that the glitter, bell-bottoms, platforms and, not to mention the spine-curling dance floor moves, pervaded a good part of the '80s. But to think that they could actually make their presence felt today is a little more than I can take "" even if it is true.

But that's the thing about so much music from the past. It never seems to run out of listeners and it probably never will. Now that we are in the techno-savvy generation, someone will be listening to good ol' picnic songs like, "Beautiful Sunday" in a far more digitised format.

It's one thing to have people who grew up with the Beatles and Mohammed Rafi still patronising these old songs but obviously more people born in the '80s are listening to this music today. In fact, I remember going through a phase where I only wanted to listen to The Beach Boys and Hermans Hermit's. Fortunately for me, I did recover quickly.

Why does music from the '60s sell more than the music of the '90s? Ask anyone this question and this is the logic you'll get: "Usually it's the ideas, simplicity of melody, sincerity in their voices that gives them that true essence of timelessness."

In all honesty, I don't buy that at all. It is all to do with the way music was marketed then. Let's face it, if Dylan wasn't marketed well, we probably wouldn't know him.

Popular music has always been about packaging and presentation. And then there's the cultural relevance. To put it simply, if you make someone want a particular music enough, it will continue to be in demand.

That's why even after artistes stop recording, fans are treated to "best of" albums or greatest hits and even gold and platinum collections with some previously unreleased material and such stuff. Now with DVDs entering the picture, audiences are treated to a whole new enhanced experience of their favourite artiste.

It's wonderful that some artistes and their music will never die out. A lot of it does not deserve to die, especially because there's so much historical and personal significance attached to the artistes and their work.

And the best part about all of this is that there's more music made available today than there ever has been in the past. Which means that there's something for everyone and, even better, someone for everything.