Posted on 04/23/2014 5:44:58 AM PDT by a fool in paradise
Ask any metal fan in India for the one moment that changed the country’s music landscape and they will all point you to Iron Maiden’s first show in Bangalore, in 2007. The British heavy metal band played to an audience of 40,000 screaming, teary fans...
...In the early 90s, the first of India’s homegrown IT companies began setting up shop in Bangalore, drawing a huge influx of young IT professionals from across the country, often fresh from their college engineering degrees... The result was a multicultural, open-minded city where alcohol was cheap and the offbeat was not just accepted but embraced...
As numbers grew, big alcohol brands took an interest in sponsoring metal shows. In India, alcohol ads have been banned in print and broadcast media since 1995, and the only way for these brands to reach their target audiences was through surrogate advertising... Money began flowing in, concerts grew bigger and tickets were ridiculously subsidised.
Bangalore was the perfect location for these shows. First, the city’s largest venue, the sprawling Palace Grounds, was smack bang in the city centre but removed enough from residential areas. Second, Bangalore's entertainment taxes were among the lowest in the country – 10% compared to Mumbai’s 25% and Delhi’s 20% – and there was minimal bureaucracy and red-tape, and no need for “complimentary” tickets for government officials...
...But it hasn’t been easy. Bangalore has battled the vagaries of the local government, including an 11.30pm closing time for pubs and an injunction that banned dancing – and consequently headbanging – to live music. ... But metal had always thrived on conflict, and metal bands in the city aren’t letting go of the genre anytime soon, even as the country is in the throes of an electronic dance music revolution that is siphoning big sponsorship money.
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
And the the singer smashed his electric sitar on the stage...
All I ask is that the techie on the other end of the 800 line be able to speak good American when I call with a computer problem.
I’ve totally said that the Footloose reboot was set in to the wrong location.
NYC has archaic cabaret laws that prohibit more than 3 people “dancing” to a jukebox or DJ without a dance permit. There are zoning issues in California cities that restrict the TYPE of music you can or cannot play (which was part of the origins of NYC’s cabaret laws that attempted to restrict “jazz” music). In Cali it’s bans on rap and heavy metal.
But no, Hollywood only sees the “Bible Belt” and rural Souf as being against people dancing or listening to music.
Bangalore is not the only IT hub in India. I visited Hyderabad last June and “Hi Tech City” is full of large enterprise IT companies. Pune is also a large IT hub.
The spots in NYC that don’t allow dancing are places you’d never dance at anyway. But you’re right. It’s ridiculous. The original Footloose is still a timeless classic though!
Last year there was an article posted here about how tax policy on live performances killed big bands and dinner clubs. I wonder if that law was related.
How the Taxman Cleared the Dance Floor (How a 'cabaret tax' brought the decline of Big Band Music)
There was also a musicians union strike where they didn’t record (I think around 1947) and BMI started gaining ground by recording hillbilly and “race” records (genres which ASCAP refused to publish).
Ahhh, the New York musicians’ unions: putting the violence in violins.
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