The Eraserheads - Should we be proud or not?

If you were born Filipino from 1970's-1990's or early 2000, you could have been one of the million of Filipinos who were fans of this band. You could have bought a tape or a cd, download it to your music player or even saved a video to your ipod or pc. The Eraserheads has been one of the famous Pinoy bands during my lifetime and i would not deny that i too loved their music and style.

Too bad all good things had to come to an end. Even after getting lots of awards from MTV and other award giving bodies, even after selling millions of copies of their albums, the band decided to split up. The reason? Just like every disbanded bands, differences among the band members.

How come this band be apart after touching so many lives? Why wouldn't they be like U2 and Metallica? After being so successful in their music, and being millionaires themselves, they are still together. For pinoy groups, why wouldn't they be like APO Hiking Society and The Dawn? Is pride really the reason?

For me, Eraserheads could have been one of the best bands in this country and could have left a legacy for all aspiring artists. They had so much impact to the music world that young and old singers made a compilation of their songs to make an album just to pay tribute to them. They even have 2 concerts (one will be tonight) after they disbanded just to please their fans and show their gratitude. Ticket prices for their concert are not cheap (for the 1st concert) but still, i heard that the tickets were sold out. Hopefully this time, they finish the concert so that their fans will get their money's worth.

I read a magazine before that featured a number of band singers and Ely (lead vocal of Eraserheads) was one of them. There were a lot of questions about the band break up and he was so sensitive with the topic that he even refused to say his band's name. He was also asked how was his finances after being one of the most famous singers around and he said that he was not a millionaire as people thought he would. How come? Was he just a singer and all their income went to their producer, manager and recording company? Didn't they had an adviser when it comes to their finances? For me, sayang yung pinaghirapan nila. Buti na lang their fans are still loyal to them and if they look back, they can somehow be still proud of their achievements.

I am still a fan.... but not like before. I am proud that i lived the time when their music was great and i would still play their songs once in a while. I do think they could have done better because I know they can. I sure hope that someday, when another Pinoy band reaches their achievement, they must be better role models for the youth who idolizes them and their music.