My Favorite Eraserheads Song Is 'Shake Yer Head.' Here's Why

In November 2005, radio station Jam 88.3 organized an Eraserheads tribute concert featuring various OPM artists covering the songs of the local Fab Four. Both the gig and the album were called Ultraelectromagneticjam! and it was held at the University of the Philippines Theater in Diliman. As part of the promotions for the show, the radio station asked listeners to write about their favorite Eraserheads song or album. I wasn't planning on entering, but I put something together and submitted it to the station on the last day for entries. 

Next thing I knew, I was being contacted by someone from Jam 88.3 telling me I was one of the winners and that I had won a copy of Ultrelectromagneticjam as well as passes to the tribute gig.

In honor of the Eraserheads reunion show, I’m publishing that short essay here. It has been slightly edited from the original:

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My Favorite Eraserheads Song:

“Shake Yer Head” 

The year was 1995. I had just graduated from high school and was going on to college at the University of the Philippines in Diliman. Over the summer, I spent my Sundays singing in a choir at church and then hanging out with my classmates and friends at the neighborhood carinderia. We’d gather around a wooden bench, sipping our softdrinks using plastic straws and munching on hopia and Chippy, basically enjoying the last vestiges of unadulterated freedom and innocence before confronting the much more daunting world of collegiate life. 

One of my friends always brought his guitar along with him, which I was always borrowing because I didn’t have one of my own. For some reason, each time I cradled that guitar in my arms, I can remember strumming only one song, and that was “Shake Yer Head” by the Eraseheads. I’ve never really thought of myself as having a favorite song of theirs, but if I am constrained to pick one, then this paean to juvenile angst, discontent, and rebellion masquerading as a trippy pop song would be it. 

Who knows what was on Ely Buendia’s mind when he wrote “Shake Yer Head.” Personally, I’ve always thought it was a way for him to express his individuality, to be recognized as different in a sea of conformity. The song talks about his refusal to be boxed in and accept the environment he was born into as it is. It speaks of breaking stereotype and standing up for who you are and what you believe in no matter what you’re up against. It doesn’t sound like you can pack all that into a song that’s barely five minutes long, but, as the song proves, you can, and it does.

It’s idealism grounded in reality. I’m not sure if Ely and his cohorts realized this when they came out with the song, but I think they succeeded in driving home the concept of a quiet revolution, mostly to a youthful audience still searching for a cause to rally for. Or against. It’s a commentary on how things are in the world as much as it is a statement on how we all have the right to rise up and question that world and the life we’re brought into.

I won’t say that this one song changed my life, or even had a significant effect on myself and how I view things now. More than anything, it’s a song with a catchy chorus that actually says something without ramming it down our throats. And I think those kinds of songs are the best kind. If Holden Caulfield had a theme song, he could do worse than “Shake Yer Head.”