INSTEP Magzine

'Don't want to be an American idiot.
Don't want a nation under the new mania
And can you hear the sound of hysteria?
The subliminal mind f@#$ America.'

It's a song after our very own hearts and we just love hearing anyone call the world's biggest super power an 'idiot'. Hurray! 'American Idiot' was the number one hit single from Green Day's Grammy winning album of the same name that released in 2004 and lifted the band from the slump it was experiencing back then. Classified as rock/ pop punk, the catchy beat and equally captivating lyrics helped it shoot to number one in the UK as well as the Billboard charts. The album came at a time when many bands and musicians like Madonna (American Life) and even the Dixie Chicks (with statements like "I am ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas") came up with anti war anthems. Green Day's politically driven song was unexpected and therefore even more powerful. But it was not aimed directly at anyone. GD bassist Mike Drint went on record to clarify that 'American Idiot' is "actually more of a personal perspective of feeling disenfranchised and losing your individuality, about being pissed off and scared and all of that." Those were scary times for the Americans; these are scary times for us and that's why this track rings a bell right at our doorsteps.

'Hawa Hawa'
Hassan Jahangir
Hassan Jahangir made many songs in the late '80s and early '90s that anyone growing up during those decades will have fond memories of. But just the mention of this onetime pop sensation's name will play out the intro of his massive hit, 'Hawa Hawa' in the heads of most children of the '80s.
What most people will not be aware of is, that before Atif crossed the border and lent his music to many a Bollywood flick, Hassan Jahangir actually dominated the music of an Indian film in the late '80s: Don II. 1987 was the year that Hassan released his album, Beat Music: Disco Leader 1987 Hassan Jahangir. Seeing the big waves Hassan was creating with his music in Pakistan, music directors wanting to cash in on the fame had him shipped into India to record his song for Don II, a film which seems to have been made just to feature a heavily Hassan Jahangir soundtrack. 'Hawa Hawa' and Hassan's second hit from the album, 'Aajana Dil Hai Dewana' were heavily promoted on Durdarshan, with clips from the film.

Hassan Jahangir might not have made it to the big leagues in Pakistani pop, but 'Hawa Hawa', a very catchy, singable, aural-friendly song, can still make people want to get up and dance! The entire album, Beat Music: Disco Leader 1987 Hassan Jahangir, is available online for download.

'We Didn't Start The Fire' Billy Joel Just as a lot of America's problems were blamed on the 'baby boomers' born in the '50s, today, many people in their mid-20s blame preceding generations for the trouble the world they live in today faces. Billy Joel wrote 'We Didn't Start The Fire' after a conversation with Sean Lennon. The song lists anything and everything that made headlines between March 1949 to 1989. The song moves fast, with Joel reciting a list of things that were all the rage for the better or worse during these five decades. He explains the song as a manifestation of his interest in history and a sort of rebuttal to baby boomer critics. The chorus is almost apologetic, but not quite; We didn't start the fire/ It was always burning/ Since the world's been turning/ We didn't start the fire/ No we didn't light it/ But we tried to fight it. Though the song made it to number one in the U.S and number seven in the U.K, Blender magazine placed it at number 44 on its list of 50 worst songs ever.

'Turn! (To Everything There Is A Season)' The Byrds 'Turn!' was written and composed by Pete Seeger in the '50s but wasn't recorded till 1962, on the album, The Bitter And The Sweet. The lyrics to 'Turn!' have been taken almost word for word from the King James version of the Bible. The most popular version of the song though, which topped charts as well, was recorded by The Byrds in 1965. 'Turn!' is a song that points out there is a time for everything, no matter how paradoxical. There will be war and peace, times when love will flourish and times when hate will. The second bit of the last verse is the only one written by Seeger himself, a plea for peace; A time for peace/ I swear its not too late. The Byrds version of the song is jangly and folksy and was featured on the soundtrack of Forrest Gump, in 1994.