The current Indian rock scene has a larger following than ever, (although it is still marginalized compared to Indian film music, particularly the filmy soundtracks of Bollywood) and may soon become recognized in the international arena, as various South American and Japanese bands have become. Recent entries into the rock music scene are increasingly becoming comparable in their production quality to Western bands, and have been compared favorably to other internationally recognized acts.Many of these upcoming Indian bands have immensely showcased their talent at various events held within the country.Some upcoming bands include The Circus,Half Step Down,Bhayanak Maut,Advaita,etc.
Indian rock music started its rage in the early 1980's.India itself continued to produce bands in various styles of rock music, from soft rockn roll and rock pop, to hard rock and metal. With the arrival of MTV, tastes rapidly changed, encouraging bands to harden their style and focus more on underground styles such as death metal,alternative metal, and progressive rock. The 1990s saw the rise of a much larger following of various harder styles for this reason. Bands that had formed in the 80s, such as Rock Machine (who would later be known as Indus Creed) - (including Mahesh Tinnaikar, Uday Benegal, etc)...altered their style with the influx of newer techniques and influences from the west. Notable suburban metal-blues bands with 60's and 70's metal influences included IIT Powaii based Axecalibre, fronted by Oliver Pinto, Prashant Nair and covered flamboyant guitar-based blues and hardcore metal including ballads. Contemporaries of the time were Easy Meat from Pune and Bands such as Holocaust, Morgue, Dorian Platonic from Assam, Grassroots Revival and Phoenix/Phynix and Drixian Empire/Dark Crusader from Manipur. Others formed in the 90s with harder styles influenced by the growing split between popular rock, such as Britpop, alternative styles, such as punk, and metal styles, such as thrash. The Indian sub-genre of fusion, which encourages a similar blend of ancient Indian musical traditions with rock music to raga rock, was also carried forward, and is perhaps the most unusual Indian style of rock.
Indian rock music started its rage in the early 1980's.India itself continued to produce bands in various styles of rock music, from soft rockn roll and rock pop, to hard rock and metal. With the arrival of MTV, tastes rapidly changed, encouraging bands to harden their style and focus more on underground styles such as death metal,alternative metal, and progressive rock. The 1990s saw the rise of a much larger following of various harder styles for this reason. Bands that had formed in the 80s, such as Rock Machine (who would later be known as Indus Creed) - (including Mahesh Tinnaikar, Uday Benegal, etc)...altered their style with the influx of newer techniques and influences from the west. Notable suburban metal-blues bands with 60's and 70's metal influences included IIT Powaii based Axecalibre, fronted by Oliver Pinto, Prashant Nair and covered flamboyant guitar-based blues and hardcore metal including ballads. Contemporaries of the time were Easy Meat from Pune and Bands such as Holocaust, Morgue, Dorian Platonic from Assam, Grassroots Revival and Phoenix/Phynix and Drixian Empire/Dark Crusader from Manipur. Others formed in the 90s with harder styles influenced by the growing split between popular rock, such as Britpop, alternative styles, such as punk, and metal styles, such as thrash. The Indian sub-genre of fusion, which encourages a similar blend of ancient Indian musical traditions with rock music to raga rock, was also carried forward, and is perhaps the most unusual Indian style of rock.
