"Para sa Masa" (English: "For the Masses") is a song by the Philippine alternative rock band Eraserheads. It was released in April 1998 as the third promotional single from their fifth studio album Sticker Happy (1997).
| "Para sa Masa" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Eraserheads | ||||
| from the album Sticker Happy | ||||
| Released | April 1998 | |||
| Recorded | 1997 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 4:56 | |||
| Label | ||||
| Songwriter(s) | Ely Buendia | |||
| Producer(s) |
| |||
| Eraserheads singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
Composition
editThe song was the first composition that Ely Buendia wrote after learning how to play the piano, later taking him fifty takes to record. "In the end, we had to edit all the good takes on the computer," he said in a track-by-track article for the band's official magazine Pillbox in 1998. "It was like making Frankenstein's monster."[1] The song was inspired by the Beatles.[2]
"Para sa Masa" was described by critics as being written "to appease and win back" the band's fans after the mixed reception to their previous album Fruitcake (1996).[3] It was also considered their unofficial farewell song, with lyrics interpreted as "a love letter with thinly veiled admonition...for the band’s effort and failure to lift the masses and their musical taste."[4]
Buendia later revealed in a Manila Bulletin interview in 2018 that the song was his least favorite from the band: “I’m embarrassed of that song. It’s pretentious. It’s like me telling the masses, ‘I am your savior, but you don’t want to be saved.”[4] He continued that he wrote the song at a turbulent time: “The whole circus of media started to get into me. I just didn’t know what to write anymore. And I started blaming the audience for not being in tune with what I’m doing.”[4]
Music video
editA music video for “Para sa Masa” was produced and filmed for the GMA Network TV special “Sigla ng Siglo” commemorating the Philippine Centennial in June 1998. It was shot at the railroad tracks in Tondo, Manila.[5]
Cover versions
edit- Barbie Almalbis, Kitchie Nadal, Rico J. Puno, Paolo Santos and members of South Border, Cueshé, Orange and Lemons, 6cyclemind, Brownman Revival, MYMP, Imago, Radioactive Sago Project and Sponge Cola covered the song as the final track of the first Eraserheads tribute album Ultraelectromagneticjam!: The Music of the Eraserheads, released in 2005.[6]
References
edit- ^ "Soft of Hearing: The Sticker Happy Forum (Pillbox Vol. 3, page 12, 1998)". Schizo Archives. Retrieved 15 August 2024.
- ^ Gatela, Mark Constantine C. "Sticker Happy review (The I-Site, September 1997)". Schizo Archives. Retrieved 14 August 2024.
- ^ Sarne, Vernon B. "Happiness is a warm Eraserheads album (Philippine Daily Inquirer, October 25, 1997)". Schizo Archives. Retrieved 15 August 2024.
- ^ a b c Torregoza, Hannah L. "The haunting". Manila Bulletin. Retrieved 14 August 2024.
- ^ "Eraserheads - Videography". Schizo Archives. Retrieved 15 August 2024.
- ^ "Para Sa Masa". YouTube. Retrieved 15 August 2024.
