NH7 › Rock In India 2010: Backlash Edition

It’s no secret. A lot of people are pissed off about the Rock In India 2010 lineup. And honestly, we can see why. The Backstreet Boys are not a rock band, even using a liberal definition wherein Bryan Adams and Rock On!! are considered part of the genre. There is an argument to consider perhaps the other bands part of this festival as rock (South Africa’s Prime Circle, and homeboys Indigo Children, Swarathma and Five Little Indians), but event organisers DNA Networks could have saved themselves a lot of bad vibes by simply changing the name of the gigs.

Where are these bad vibes coming from? Well, to put it lightly, everywhere. From hacks to haikus, the internet populace of Indian rock fans are intent on showing their displeasure. Most of this venting is generic, homophobic boy-band bashing (reminiscent of our now erstwhile Indian rock forums). But some of it is creative, some of it is technical, and some of it is plain damn ROTFL. Here’s a showcase of Indian rock fan wrath.

Petitions
The first petition, with ‘fckbsb’ in the URL, appeared almost immediately after we first broke the story that Backstreet Boys would headline the festival. Check it out here. It’s short, simple and full of typos, but hey, it got there first.

The second petition calls for rockers to send black underwear to the DNA Networks office. It is also equally typo filled, but contains some riveting, almost motivational messages like

Lets eliminate this cancer of commercialism and send out a strong message to these PARASITES whore EATING US HOLLOW in the name of international music concerts.

Check it out here. 92 people have signed it since Feb 2.

Website Hack
A hacker by the handle th0rshammer hacked the official Rock In India website several times starting with this first hack on Feb 1. Every time the site owners would take the hack down, the hacker would deface it again with the logo altered to say “Cock In India”. Eventually the site owners used additional site security to block further hacks. th0rshammer now has his own Facebook fan page with over 200 fans.

Facebook
Speaking of Facebook, apart from spewing venom on the official Rock In India FB group, disgruntled rock fans have also started a hate group intended to well, let’s just say you better not wear your Iron Maiden t-shirt to this gig. Check it out here.

Wikipedia
The Rock In India Wikipedia page was, and continues to be, a hub for rumour mongering. At different times it has stated that the organisers were pulling a prank with the current lineup being a joke, that everyone from Lamb Of God to Opeth to Meshuggah were the actual headliners, and currently that metalheads observed a “black day” on Feb 20 and 22. Just over a week in advance, but hey, who’s counting? The current ‘See also’ section on the page is pretty funny too. Oh well, open source has its own ups and downs.

Art
Um, there’s this.

Hitler Video
By far the funniest, and perhaps the most poignant of these outpourings of resentment is the Rock In India Hitler video. Created by YouTube user junkie615, this is quite honestly one of the funniest Hitler videos on the interweb today. Watch.