X/Z Song Trader: "Brimful Of Asha"

A Gen X Rocker Discusses Music With His Gen Z Daughter

Aug 08, 2024

About X/Z Song Trader: Steve is a music journalist, author and musician. Lucy is a diehard music fan and college student. They have always enjoyed a father/daughter bond over music. Each week one of them picks a song and they both share their perspectives. These are casual conversations based on musical connections. Opinions are their own. Keeping it positive.

Check out the whole X/Z Song Trader series.

Steve’s Perspective

Time seems to create cultural shortcuts for how we discuss music.

The further we get from a specific decade, the more a handful of bands come to broadly represent the overall musical zeitgeist. That has been true of the ‘60s for most of my life, a groundbreaking era for rock music that’s often boiled down to a handful of legends like The Beach Boys, The Rolling Stones or The Who.

And, of course, The Beatles, which is the ultimate rock and roll shorthand. It’s a bit like using “Coke” to describe all soda brands—kind of lazy, but incredibly effective in quickly getting your point across when the stakes are low and specificity isn’t crucial. (It’s okay, everybody: I know The Beatles were great and deserving of all the praise.)

Having experienced the ‘90s firsthand, it’s fascinating to watch the same thing happening 25+ years later. Here are a few oversimplified trends I’ve noticed: Grunge = Nirvana; Britpop = Oasis; Pop Punk = Green Day, etc. (Heck, I kinda did it myself with the Generation Blue project by basically saying Geek Rock = Weezer.)

A lot of that is down to the once-prevalent monoculture and the power of mass marketing to create worldwide hits (“pop” = “popular,” after all). But it overlooks important ‘90s nuances, talented artists and amazing songs that fell through the cracks, never got beyond indie darling status, or didn’t have commercial staying power. (This is a great analysis of music stardom.)

I think Cornershop’s “Brimful of Asha”—from their 1997 album When I Was Born for the 7th Time—is a great example of a ‘90s song that deserves a lot more attention and praise.

Not only is it an immaculately-written and recorded track but the subject matter is about musical subcultures and niche fandoms, many that still may not be as familiar to Western ears—all while extolling the comforts of endlessly spinning 45 singles. Everybody needs a bosom for a pillow…

Its title is an ode to Indian playback singer (aka “ghost singer”) Asha Bhosle with lyrics name-checking everybody from Lata Mangeshkar and Mohammed Rafi to Jacques Dutronc and T. Rex, while showering praise on All India Radio and legendary labels such as Argo Records and Trojan Records.

Cornershop is sometimes considered a “one-hit wonder” because of “Brimful of Asha” despite glowing album reviews at the time. That’s especially true of the original album version we’re discussing here which gained mainstream awareness following a successful remix by Norman Cook (aka Fatboy Slim).

And the song is positively quaint in extolling the virtues of indie music fandom in the pre-internet era (you can still use the lyrics as a road map to discover some truly incredible artists).

Nowadays you might passively find songs like this on an algorithm or curated streaming playlist, but in the ‘90s you often had to tune your cultural antennae to specific frequencies to discover this kind of indie gold.

I fell in love with “Brimful of Asha” and its laid back Velvet Underground-meets-Brit pop vibe the first time I heard it. I still remember going to see Cornershop perform at a long-gone Santa Monica club called The Alligator Lounge. I was totally charmed by lead singer Tjinder Signh, the drummer’s soulful grooves, and the live sitar work.

To me, tracks like this were just as important to the ‘90s music scene as the mega-hits, then and now, but I’d love to hear your thoughts. What do you think about ‘90s music? What modern bands do you think will come to define the 2020s in 25 years?

Lucy’s Perspective

Honestly, ‘90s music as a genre has never really done much for me.

I have always been far more into going further back or staying in the present. It’s one of those things where the ‘90s wasn’t long enough ago for it to feel retro, but it isn’t modern enough to feel current. It’s kind of stuck right in between for me.

But when I really think about it, there are plenty of songs from the ‘90s that have always struck a chord with me including “Doo Wop (That Thing)” and “Ex-Factor” by Miss Lauryn Hill, “Can I Kick It?” by A Tribe Called Quest, and “Kiss Me” by Sixpence None The Richer. Although all of these songs have had long stints in my listening history, I have never defined them by the musical era they came from.

It’s funny to listen to this song in the context you have given it, because despite the meaning it might hold for people who lived through the ‘90s, this sort of music has always reminded me of a coastal vacation, driving with the windows down and smelling the ocean.

Although the sound is entirely different, “Brimful of Asha” reminds me, in a way, of The Beach Boys’ music in general and Gerry Rafferty’s “Right Down The Line” specifically, with the same sense of beach-y wonder. On top of that, I appreciate the consistent beat of this song. That melody on top of the steady drumming makes for the perfect head-nodding track.

Honestly, try as I might, there isn’t a particular modern artist/band that reminds me of this song, although I definitely wish there was. This is the kind of music that I want to stumble across accidentally through my ‘Spotify DJ’ and become obsessed with.

It’s hard to say what modern bands will define the 2020s in 25 years because we have seen such an influx of ‘one hit wonders’ and mega-hits that fizzle out within the span of three months.

With the rapid increase of social media-related musical movements, it is hard to define a specific trend that has taken place in music. We can’t look at the 2020s and say any singular defining thing about what direction music is headed outside of consistent 2010s chart-toppers like Taylor Swift, Beyonce, etc…

One thing that I think will truly define the 2020s is the resurgence of old music, such as the return of Deftones, Mazzy Star and Fiona Apple. We have found a way to bring together the hits of every era and form what I can only think to call a “refrigerator stew” of music made from leftovers and random hits from throughout the years.

This song and prompt has definitely got me thinking about who I will take with me out of the 2020s and what impression this era of music will make. Will it be the most powerful one yet because it is such a mix-matched pot? Will that be what makes it forgettable? I’ll let you know in 25 years…