Pentagram

Colston Julian for saltmanagement.com

The Nineties were a glorious time for music. It gave us so many bands that saw our anger and justified it with strange new sounds. Seattle gave us Soundgarden and Alice in Chains and Nirvana. India gave us Pentagram. Whether it was seducing rock with electronica, or reinventing music videos or standing up for what’s right, Pentagram showed you how it’s done.

If you were a kid from Mumbai in the Nineties, you were a part of a lot of things that were tragically left behind in time, Rang Bhavan being on top of that list. My first rock concert ever was watching Pentagram slay that auditorium with a rage (pun optional) that was frightful to behold.

We’re not Listening was legendary. ”˜Yoo’ would play on TV and I’d watch it unblinkingly because it was the best song in the world. And the same frontman would introduce me to new music on a show on TV called House of Noise. I was 13 when I first got a CD with their name on it. I wish it were a tape. I didn’t own a CD player then. But whenever they’d play, I’d be there right in the front because I knew the words and I wanted them to know that.

About 10 years later (during Up), I played in a band that opened for Pentagram. I was tongue-tied when I met them. That was over five years ago. I’m still tongue-tied in front of them and I hope they remember me when I walk up and say, “Hello, you’re awesome!” ”˜cause I’ve done it a billion times and I’m not gonna stop anytime soon.

By Vishwesh Krishnamoorthy of Scribe