Monday Mix Tape: Tikman ang Langit with Eraserheads

Monday Mix Tape: Tikman ang Langit with Eraserheads

(LISTEN)

During my elementary days, Papa would play The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, Teeth, The Dawn, Eraserheads, and among others on weekends and holidays – from cassette tapes to vinyl records to NU 107 and RJ 100. It was then that I started my love affair with the music. When I play my platu-platuhan (the one with little plates and glasses and mini chichiria on it) on Saturday mornings, I heard Eraserheads music most of the time and I associated my game with TOYANG. Toyang of Eraserheads talks about young love thus the line “too young to really be in love.”

That’s how I started to like Eraserheads. Every weekend, I ask my Papa to play his cassette tape with Eheads songs (from other albums) and his Cutterpillow album – an original cassette tape – while playing with my platu-platuhan or some small toy cars. It became a habit at the age of 10. And yes, I still play at that age in the confinements of our house. Then Papa bought Sticker Happy and suddenly I fell in love with Kaliwete. Though I don’t know the lyrics and the meaning behind them, I am convinced that they were good. I grew up listening and adoring their music.

Remember answering a slambook? Oh yes, you did. I created my own slambook when I was in 6^th grade, and there was a section there with name of the songs and to whom you’re going to dedicate them. I included Huwag Mo Nang Itanong and my classmates asked me what that song was. I was surprised. I thought that we listened to the same music. But I just told them to leave it blank since I didn’t want to explain.

Then high school came and I discovered some of their albums courtesy of Papa. He’s my number one source of music and my influence on my music taste. It was college when the band announced their concert reunion. Remember that they had two reunion concerts? Unfortunately, I was not able to attend those concerts. I didn’t have the heart to ask my Mama for an extra allowance for the concert ticket. I was contented with the kwentos of my classmates who were lucky to witness the historical concert.

From their 7 studio albums, I picked 3 as my favorite albums. For each album, I have own favorite tracks. They are as follows:

Cutterpillow (1995)

1. Back2Me
2. Waiting for the Bus
3. Fine Time
4. Kama Supra
5. Huwag Mo ng Itanong
6. Paru-Parong Ningning
7. Walang Nagbago
8. Poorman’s Grave
9. Fill Her

Sticker Happy (1997)

1. Kaliwete
2. Milk and Money
3. Balikbayan Box
4. Andalusian Dog
5. HaHaHa
6. Spoliarium
7. Sticker Happy

Natin99 (1999)

1. Maselang Bahaghari
2. Pop Machine
3. Huwag kang Matakot
4. Dahan-dahan

In all honesty, I have my favourite tracks on each album, EPs and compilation. I just picked the best albums for me and you can actually see what’s my top 1 – Cutterpillow! Among other favourite tracks of mine are Tikman, Julie Tearjerky, Wishing Wells, Kailan, Hula and Ligaya. You can hear the playlist at my GrooveShark profile.

So, what’s the best Eraserheads song/s for you? Let’s talk about it here!

(Illustrations by Kimpy Olivar)