page_title: Eraserheads
section_title: 1989–1992: Formation and early years
hierarchical_section_title: Eraserheads / History / 1989–1992: Formation and early years
caption_attribution_description: English: University of the Philippines Diliman[1] Oblation (University of the Philippines)[2]
context_page_description: Eraserheads was a Filipino rock band formed in 1989. Consisting of Ely Buendia, Buddy Zabala, Marcus Adoro, and Raimund Marasigan, the band became one of the most successful, most influential, critically acclaimed, and significant bands in the history of Philippine music, leaving a legacy that made them the most commercially successful Filipino music artist of all time. Often dubbed as "The Beatles of the Philippines", they are credited for spearheading a second wave of Manila band invasions, paving the way for a host of Philippine alternative rock bands.
  The band released several singles, albums, and EPs that reached number one and achieved commercial success with their third album Cutterpillow, which achieved platinum status several times. They received the Viewer's Choice Award at the 1997 MTV Video Music Awards in New York, the only Filipino artist to have received the award before the conception of the MTV Asia Awards.
context_section_description: In 1989, two college bands from the University of the Philippines Diliman were both in search of new members for a new group. Curfew, which consisted of Buddy Zabala on bass, Raimund Marasigan on drums, and Marcus Adoro on guitars met up with Sunday School, which consisted of Ely Buendia on vocals and Raimund Marasigan as session drummer in December of the same year. Ely's first two college bands, Bluidie Tryste and Sunday School, were too unstable, so he posted an audition notice on a university message board. Only Raimund, Buddy, and Marcus showed up at the audition. According to an interview with myx, Raimund said he first auditioned as bassist while Buddy as the drummer. But they noticed that it did not sound right, the two switched places.
  The four formed a new group and called themselves Eraserheads, taking inspiration from the film Eraserhead by surrealist director David Lynch. They played mostly covers, doing gigs in schools, and playing at Manila's rock club circuit, achieving little success.
  The band found that they were not good at playing covers, so they concentrated on writing their own material. Their new, original songs, played live, soon earned them a cult following in the university, which gradually spread outside the campus. One of the songs, a pop song entitled, "Pare Ko", became popular, partly because of lyrics that included a few obscenities.
  The band recorded a nine-song demo tape in the garage of Marasigan's provincial home (in Candelaria, Quezon) on January 26, 1991. They then shopped the demo cassette around record labels, clubs, and radio stations, hoping to have their songs reach the public. However, they were rejected at every turn, with one recording label deeming that their demo was "not pop enough". In May 1991, a professor-friend teaching Humanities, Robin Rivera, helped them re-record and mix better versions of the demo songs on a four-track DAT recorder. The new demo was named Pop-U!, titled as an irreverent response to those who turned them down.
  Meanwhile, Buendia became employed as a student copywriter by BMG Records (Pilipinas) Inc. (now part of Sony BMG Music Entertainment). He worked with BMG during the day and wrote songs with the band during the night. Eventually, the songs of Buendia and the band caught the attention of BMG A&R director Vic Valenciano. Valenciano listened to the songs and then commented that they were very raw technically, but that there was something promising in them. Subsequently, BMG gave Eraserheads' songs a try. In 1992, BMG signed up the band for a three-year record deal.
caption: U.P. Diliman where all members of the band attended.
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