Icons of Philippine Rock

Rock is the main fad these days. People from around the world are really into rock. Rock influences people becuase of idolizing popular rock artists and rock bands. Some of the youths nowadays form their own amateur rock bands and perform in gigs in some bars and parties. Here in the Philippines rock is one of the main genre of music, every MP3 players, Ipods, CD player, PCs and other musical devices have different rock songs from different artists. Here in our country, the population of the filipino rock artist are increasing some are new some are old, in which they play different classifications of rock. But we have a few rock band icons in our country:

Icons of Philippine Rock Bands:

Juan Dela Cruz Band: This band was composed of three members, namely; Mike Hanopol (bass / vocals), Joey "Pepe" Smith (drums) and Wally Gonzales (guitars). The social impact and innovations of the Juan Dela Cruz Band inadvertently became the catalyst for the inception of OPM and the viability for diverse, originally-authored musical genres to emerge and thrive in the Philippines. They are the first band who introduced Filipino rock during the 70s era.

Eraserheads: This band is now considered as the greatest Filipino rock band in the history of Philippine Music. Composed of Ely Buendia (vocals / rhythm guitar), Raimund Marasigan (drums), Buddy Zabala (bass), Marcus Adoro (lead guitar). They are one of the most successful, critically-acclaimed and significant band in OPM history. They are the second wave of rock band invasion during the 90s after the downfall of Philippine Rock in the late 80s. Nowadays, even if they are already disbanded, the love of people and their fame is still the same. Every CD players, Ipods, MP3s, and in some musical devices their music hits are still played. They are very well known in the country and in the world, and their hits will be remebered untill the future generations.

Parokya Ni Edgar: This novelty rock band is composed of six members namely; Chito Miranda (vocals), Vinci Montaner (back up vocals), Darius Semaña (lead guitar), Gab Chee-Kee (rhythm guitar), Buwi Meneses (bass), Din Din Moreno (drums). They are the first Filipino rock band to introduce the classification of novelty rock in the Philippines. Together with the Eraserheads and Rivermaya, Parokya Ni Edgar is part of the success of Pinoy Rock of the 90s. They are also the only rock band that have already reached the level of their idols, the Eraserheads. In the future, Parokya Ni Edgar will also be remembered as one of the best rock bands in Philippine music and will be remembred just like how people remembers the Eraserheads. Parokya Ni Edgar is now known to be as the "Pambansang Banda ng Pilipinas".

Rivermaya: This band has encountered problems with their members during their days. The departure of some of the original members and the arriving of new members are what they always have. But despite of that problem, they are showered with success as part of the rising of Pinoy rock of the 90s together with Eraserheads and Parokya Ni Edgar up to the present. Rivermaya's original members in the early 90s was Bamboo Mañalac (vocals), Nathan Azarcon (bass), Rico Blanco (keyboards), Romel Velayo (drums), Perfecto De Castro and Kenneth Ilagan (guitars). In the late 90s Bamboo quitted the band and decided to form a new one, and rico Blanco took his place as vocals. When Nathan Azarcon left the band and joined Bamboo, Mike Elgar took his place and be the new guitarist together with Japs Sergio who took the place of Ken Ilagan and Mark Escueta taking the place of Romel velayo as drummer. In 2007, Rico Blanco decided to go solo as Jayson Fernandez took his place. Just like Parokya Ni Edgar, Rivermaya will also be remembered in future as one of the best bands in Philippine music. Rivermaya is now known as the "Banda Ng Bayan".

Bamboo: After the downfall of the of the Pinoy rock in the late 90s and in the early millenium, this band made its name in 2003 as one of the band icons who relived the Philippine rock. This band is composed of four members namely; the former Rivermaya members Bamboo Mañalac (vocals) and Nathan Azarcon (bass), together with some new members like Ira Cruz (guitars) and Vic Mercado (drums). Naming their band by the name of their frontman Bamboo are already gaining their success in this generation. Bamboo is now considered as one of the best rock bands in Philippine Music as they are the influence of the Filipino rock bands in this generation. Just like Eraserheads, Parokya Ni Edgar, and Rivermaya they are an award winning band. In the future they will also be remembered by many. They are now known as "The Band of the New Generation".

These five bands really rock, they are the best among the best and being love by many. These are the Icons of Philippine Rock that should be remembered forever. Rock on!!!