School of rock: Academic pens history of Malaysian music

MALAYSIANSKINI | Muhamad Takiyuddin Ismail is an academic who has been teaching and researching political science at UKM for the last 15 years.

An author of numerous political works, during the pandemic, he decided that he wanted to write about another passion of his, local rock music.

This labour of love eventually bore fruit in the form of a 370-page book called ‘65 Tahun Muzik Rock Di Malaysia’ which he published earlier this year.

He told Malaysiakini in an interview just why he was so determined to document stories about the music of his youth.

“I have loved rock music from my childhood. I think it was around 1986 when I was 11 and heard the Battle Of The Bands cassette which had songs from Ella and the Boys, Lefthanded, SYJ, Bloodshed, and Rahim Maarof & White Steel.

“It became part of my life and so when the pandemic came along, I made the decision to write and research about it.

“It took me about two and a half years, and so far I have met 200 people from all varieties of life. We tend to focus on musicians only and we forget about the crew, the soundman, the promoter, and the designer who creates album covers. I talked to them all and learnt so much,” said the native of Kuala Kangsar, Perak.

A specialist in American politics, Takiyuddin has written many books in the past, but his latest effort is something different.

“I love politics at first and this is not my first book. It’s my 13th but my second book on popular culture.

“I wrote one in 2016 called ‘Punk, Penentangan, dan Politik Transnasionalisme’ which I co-wrote with Muhammad Febriansyah and Sharifah Nursyahidah Syed Annuar.

“So at the time I decided to write this (‘65 Tahun Muzik Rock Di Malaysia’), I had become fed-up with politics, which feels stagnant. There was the movement control order (MCO) and I was bored so I decided to fulfil this bucket list.

“I used my own money to initiate the project and it was very tiring. It was a challenge to juggle my job and meet my KPI. I also have three children, the oldest is 12. My wife is supportive of what I do, although at one time she hid my laptop because I was overworking on this project!

“In the middle of it, I did ask myself what am I doing? But I want to write as freely and detailed as possible and yet try to make the narrative flow. I was holed up for six months in the UKM library, where I had access to material.

“I realised that if I don’t write this, it’s all gone with the wind. Right now, it’s in archives scattered here and there, and we need to collect it together,” he said.

Different genres

According to Takiyuddin, rock bands in the 1960s and 1970s were more of a multiracial mix reflecting our nation’s melting pot of cultures.

“This was the phase with pop yeh yeh and then bands like Alleycats and The Strollers which were mixed race. I think the times were more open back then. People think Malaysian rock started with Sweet Charity but no, it goes way back.

“At that time, these bands didn’t have much of a platform and they had to go to places like Japan, Germany, and Hong Kong to make a living.

“By the 1980s, the band boys were largely Malay. Just a handful of non-Malays like Hillary Ang in Search and Tham Wing Kwan who was in Wings.

“There were various genres too, like glam metal, which some called rock kapak, although I don’t like that term which I find to be pejorative,” he said.

One of the ‘mythical’ rock concerts of the 1970s was Woodstock Cheras and Takiyuddin said he truly enjoyed talking to those involved.

“I met The Gypsies, an original band who played in Woodstock Cheras. Coincidentally, among the groups, they are the only ones who have pictures to share with me. Later, they changed their name to Sons of Adam and their band members Ruzlan Omar and Harun Santana helped me a lot,” he recalled.

According to him, there were many ‘sub-scenes’ over the years, such as the Terengganu punk scene.

“Aside from that, Ipoh was known for heavy metal, Johor for classic rock, In Perlis and Kedah, there was a lot of thrash metal.

“I also went to Sabah/Sarawak to meet those who were in the vibrant scene that started in the early 1980s. Tawau was the centre of rock at that time,” said Takiyuddin.

He added that he also included the Singaporean music scene in the book as there was a time when the two nation’s histories were intertwined.

Landmark recordings

Takiyuddin pointed to a lack of documentation, both in terms of archival video that has survived and original recordings.

For example, bands like the Strollers and Made In Malaysia had big names like Terry Thaddeus and Paul Ponnudurai, respectively, in their ranks.

However, the two late legends do not have a substantial recorded legacy of original compositions to match their undoubted talents.

Asked to pick landmark albums, Takiyuddin selected three: Sweet Charity’s Pelarian (1980), The Unwanted’s Pelangi (1982), and Search’s debut record Cinta Buatan Malaysia (1985).

“My own favourite group is SYJ from Ipoh. They were wild in their style and real cult favourites of the time.

“I am planning another book on them actually. There were also other groups like Belantara and Bloodshed from Kajang, but really not so many albums you can point your finger at.

“For me personally, Battle Of The Bands in 1986 really changed everything and sparked my interest. But to this day, I am not very much a collector. At home, I probably only have 150-200 albums,” he said.

He said that, at the time, rock music became a big part of popular culture, with movies like the Jamal Abdillah vehicle Azura (1984) and the Nasir Jani-directed Rozana Cinta ’87 (1987) capturing the spirit of the times.

“There were also certain live venues like the earlier Hard Rock Cafe and Red Rooster where Ella and Search were playing live,” he said.

He lamented that now, the market for original music is so small that most groups have abandoned original records.

“It’s a small market, and it’s not easy to be stable and support yourself for a band nowadays. Also, I am very old school. I like organic recordings, not machines.

Attempts to control rock culture

Takiyuddin also theorised that in the aftermath of Ops Lalang and other related crackdowns on the media and judicial independence, the BN government were wary about the influence that rock music might have had on the younger generation.

“The history of politics and music are often interrelated. That’s why information minister Mohamed Rahmat banned male rock artistes with long hair from RTM in 1990. And in 1992, he famously cut the hair of Search and Wings’ singers Amy and Awie himself.

“It is something that you can call a ‘poster boy’ incident. The government wanted to impose their values on younger people. I believe after that, most rock bands toned down and became tamer and you had rock leleh with a lot of balada and melancholic songs.

“This was very non-confrontational and the music scene also lost a bit of edge when just a handful of songwriters like Fauzi Marzuki, M Nasir, Adnan Abu Hassan, and Saari Amri were writing for everyone” said Takiyuddin.

Challenges of documentation

Takituddin said he is very touched when fans of the era say they are very happy with this documentation. He said pursuing the stories of the past was very rewarding.

“One big frustration is that I approached several parties to ask for grants but to no avail. So I forked out RM30,000 of my savings to get this published. It is selling well, but I have a way to go to break even.

“Still, the satisfaction and support make me very happy.

“If I had resources, I would love to translate this book into English. I would also like to make a documentary. I am very overwhelmed when I watch a good documentary. If you can compress everything in one to two hours, it’s very powerful.

“Sadly, we don’t have the archive footage. In fact, even photos we don’t have that much,” he said, adding that while half the photos he used in the book were donated, the other half is from URTV.

“I asked for permission and paid a nominal one-off fee. I have 400 photos, so if I pay RM500 for each photo, I simply wouldn’t be able to produce the book.”

Takyuddin said he would love to delve into the early music video clips of RTM and TV3. He said RTM should still have some from the pop yeh yeh era, but that when he asked for access to the archives, he was told they either weren’t salvaged or were poorly maintained and organised.

“I even heard they have to find them from the ordinary user (viewers at home) who might have kept video recordings. For example, in 1989 there was a series on many groups produced by Jack Nadarajah.

“Last week I asked them but all the tapes were gone. Sadly, I can safely say that 95 percent of our rock music history that came out on TV from the 1960s to the 1980s is gone.

“Honestly, I am still into the old times and I am sure there are a few groups out there whose stories were never told. I have to chase them now. Before they forget or fall ill,” he said.

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