When thinking about music and the musical history of a culture, of course you build from the instruments. Then you might move into classical music and folk music, and maybe some music from the 20th century. But what about the music of today? Isn’t that a part of the culture of a place as well? What is Thai music like today?
Thai Rock
In the 1960s, rock musicians like The Doors and Jimi Hendrix were gaining international attention and the U.S. had troops stationed in Thailand because of the Vietnam war. These military members also helped to increase the popularity of such acts in Thailand by hiring Thais, such as Laem Morrison, to perform covers of popular American rock songs. Laem Morrison went on to front the early rock band V.I.P., bringing rock music more into the Thai mainstream.
More Thai rock bands emerged in the 1980s, including The Olarn Project, Neua Gub Nang and Rockestra, the most popular being Asanee-Wasan and Micro. Metal emerged on the Thai scene in the 1990s, with bands like Stone Metal Fire, Kaleidoscope, Donpheebin, and Hi-Rock, and retains a bit of popularity with annual Death Fests, which my friend and fellow volunteer Andy just attended.
Also in the 1990s, as elsewhere in the world, alternative bands began to spring up, with the Thai bands Moderndog, Silly Fools, Paradox and Loso being influenced by Nirvana and Oasis.
Rock music continues to enjoy popularity and air time in Thailand, with bands such as Big Ass, Potato, Clash, Ebola and So Cool.
Here is a YouTube playlist of a variety of Thai rock bands:
Phleng Phuea Chiwit
Phleng phuea chiwit (เพลงเพื่อชีวิต) translates as songs for life and has its roots in the social and political upheaval in Thailand in the mid-’70s and the student-farmer protests. One of the earliest phleng puea chiwit bands was Caravan, which fled to the hills after the student massacre and has recorded music inspired by American protests songs.
Musically, phleng phuea chiwit has been influenced by a variety of different genres, including: luk thung, mor lam, traditional Thai music, reggae, rock, ska and Latin music. In the late ’80s, it regained popularity after a grant of amnesty to a number of protestors, but by the ’90s it had fallen out of style.
Here is a YouTube playlist of a variety of phleng phuea chiwit songs and bands:
String
Thai pop music, which currently dominates almost all speakers, is called phleng string (เพลงสตริง)*. Again, string was brought about by influences from American and Australian soldiers during the Vietnam War and draws heavy influence from the surf rock, rockabilly and Western sounds of the time. It has continued to evolve and draw influence from current Western pop trends and is exclusively defined, as being anything that is current and Western influenced and not phleng phuea chiwit. To list a variety of artists and bands would surely leave out too many, so instead check out the videos below.
*Note: if you are planning to speak to Thais about this, in Thai or even in English, using the Thai pronunciation of “string” will probably be helpful, which is “suh-ting.” In Thai, three consonant blends are not possible, so a vowel sound in inserted between the first and second consonant, and the /r/ is often dropped.)
Indie
Indie music in America is sometimes derided as not really meaning anything in terms of musical style, as it only refers to the status of being on an independent label. However, the presence of an independent label in Thailand was something that I thought worth mentioning. Bakery Music was founded in 1994, and was the label of Moderndog, whose debut album sold half a million copies. The label won several awards and went on to produce its own magazine, “Katch.” However, the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis caused the company to take some major hits (not in a musical sense) and a majority stake in the company was bought by BMG, which later merged with Sony. The label still exists, but by all definitions is no longer an independent label.
Here is a playlist of some acts that are on Bakery Music’s label: