Those born in the Internet age might find this hard to believe: Up until 15 years ago, India's Top 10 English songs, chiefly rock, and to some extent pop — at college campuses/fests/dorms, and the odd pub — give or take a few tracks, had remained exactly the same; dating all the way back to over a minimum couple of decades or so! This could be because our access to Western pop (or rock) culture had been rather limited. Or, like comfort food, we simply chose comfort music, passed on to us by previous generations, like some kind of oral tradition.

Either way, stepping into a smoky room full of late teenagers, or blokes in their early 20s, lazing under the purple haze, you were more likely to listen to Pink Floyd ('Wish You Were Here'), or Deep Purple ('Smoke On The Water'), from the frickin' '70s! You got into any regular bar any given evening, the sight of a white-collared work-horse — his tie loosened after a long day — sitting on tall stools with friends, crying himself hoarse over The Doors ('Roadhouse Blues'), or Bryan Adams's 'Summer Of 69', for the 69th time that same week, was an expected sight.