PINOY GROOVE EXPERIENCE (Philippine Popular Music Revisited):
Urban Bandits “Manila Girl” (1983)
Getting music and images ready for next week’s SCPASA Summit (http://socalpasa.org/?p=625) and I thought this would be a good chance to post more Pinoy music.
Moving away from the groovy with some classic Philippine 80’s underground punk rock. As the Pinoy Rock scene from the 70’s began to fade, the Pinoy Punk scene began to emerge, headed by the pioneers of the movement The Jerks. Initially featuring Pepe Smith from Pinoy Rock’s quintissential band, Juan Dela Cruz, The Jerks began to make waves on Howlin Dave’s radio program “Pinoy Rock and Rythm” in the early 80’s. Soon after, the Brave New World concerts, organized by promoter and member of the punk outfit Chaos, Tommy Tanchanco, became the launching ground for other punk bands such as College, The Zoo, Betrayed and later Urban Bandits. The punk D.I.Y. phenomenon took hold and became a pressure valve for disenfranchised youth in the crumbling Marcos regime. More bands emerged, the rise of independent record label Twisted Red Cross began to release underground cassettes by the likes of Dead Ends, The Wuds, G.I. and the Idiots and others. The scene blistered through the mid 80’s with fury of a 2 minute punk song, coinciding with the 1986 Edsa uprising. But like a weekend long drug and alcohol binge, the scene burned out. Bands broke up. Some changed musical directions and others went to rehab.
“Manila Girl” by Urban Bandits was featured on their INDEPENDENCE DAY release on Twisted Red Cross in 1983. Former member Arnold Morales would later score a hit in the 90’s with the ska revival version of this song with his new band Put3Ska.
