Superstardom in rock music for Indians arguably started and ended with Freddie Mercury, the NRI Parsi boy from Zanzibar who died of AIDS, but even he is accused of subverting his Indian origins on his way to launching the rock band Queen. So, why is it that this country of over one billion people has failed to produce a single English band like The Beatles, Rolling Stones or Pink Floyd? link
It's because they all suck.
*waits for someone to pounce*
Nah but seriously, that's just like asking why "Rory Storm" never took off the way the Beatles did. His band came from the same place; he even had a Beatle on drums for a while.
Sometimes it happens, sometimes it don't. Nobody would know who Brian May was if he hadn't been persuaded into joining up with this guy who did a really terrible job of "Communications Breakdown".
Besides, why would India want a mega success like The Beatles or The Rolling Stones when they've got this. link
I mean, really.
mickyparise wrote: Superstardom in rock music for Indians arguably started and ended with Freddie Mercury, the NRI Parsi boy from Zanzibar who died of AIDS, but even he is accused of subverting his Indian origins on his way to launching the rock band Queen. So, why is it that this country of over one billion people has failed to produce a single English band like The Beatles, Rolling Stones or Pink Floyd? link
Dont forget Indian born Harry Webb. He is better known as Cliff Richard....
Different musical tastes.
Folks like Freddie Mercury, John Myung, Krist Novoselic and George Michael might have non-Anglosaxon origins, but have been assimilated fully into the British/American culture and musical scene.
India has its stars; folks like Karisma Kapoor, Daler Mehndi and Sukhwinder Singh are huge over there (and if I mispelled any names - which I probably did - pardon a stupid Croat.) Just don't expect them to sing The Immigrant Song and Us and Them anytime soon... And don't hold your breath until the Wembley gig, either.
Now, why is it that the East likes Western music but not vice versa? No idea. Guess it's the marketing.
And for the record, I think Daler Mehndi is brilliant. :-)
Like Beatkes, Rollig Stones and Pink Floyd? He's askign for too much, and not just from Indians, but the rest of the world as well, I think.
As far as the local rock scene in Mumbai is concerened, some of the bands like Pin Drop Violence, Pentagram, Them Clones, etc do have a faithful following but its true that they earn a pittance and can only carry it on as a hobby, not a full-time profession. Festivals like "Indepnedence Rock" have been there for decades now, but I guess things have not changed too much.
The names metioned in the article - Kumar Sanu, Sonu Nigam, Adnan Sami are basically playback singers for Indian (Bollywood) movies. The movies have lots of songs in them and these singers are actually superstars as far as the general public is concerned. It doesn't matter to th people that the songs are written by someone, put to tune by someone else and the singers are paid just for singing. Without doubt this is THE most popular form of musical entertainment, you just have to listen to the local radio to realise that.
In any case most peopel who listen to rck music prefer to follow the internationally popular bands of the UK and the US. The only Indian band that had some little success outside India was Rock Machine (aka Indus Creed). They were featured quire frequently on MTV as well but they disbanded in the 90s.