By Soraya Jamal
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 18 (Bernama) -- There was something special about seeing around 1,500 people fill Odeon KL, the oldest and one of the most iconic cinemas located in the heart of the capital, now given a new lease of life as an arts centre.
Some arrived dressed in Britpop and mod-inspired outfits to celebrate the ‘Disko Dansa Generasiku’ concert last Saturday night, which brought together two local alternative bands, OAG and The Times.
The concert marked a milestone in Malaysia’s music scene, bringing together two defining points on the country’s musical timeline: OAG, which rode the alternative rock wave of the 1990s, and The Times, which emerged from the Malay indie music movement in the following decade.
OAG was among the pioneers that helped introduce indie music to Malaysia and bring the genre into the mainstream. Indeed, the band’s journey began long before the term ‘indie’ became part of the music industry’s marketing vocabulary.
Despite operating outside the mainstream, OAG twice helped revitalise Malaysia’s music industry – first by breaking the dominance of rock kapak (a sub-genre of Malay rock music), pop and ballads in the late 1990s, and later, in the early 2000s, when an influx of Indonesian pop music was taking over Malaysian radio.
The band made a seamless transition from English to Malay songs in the early 2000s, bringing its distinctive lyrical writing style and clever wordplay to the fore. OAG was not only putting its melodic strains at stake but also its lyrics and approach to language.
At a time when many local bands leaned towards Indonesian-style lyrics, OAG and The Times stood apart. Their music was distinctly Malaysian, youthful and fresh. They demonstrated that sounds born in the underground scene can find their way onto radio and television, and into the mainstream market without losing their identity.
That was among their greatest contributions. They were youthful, a bit unconventional, occasionally mischievous and unwilling to conform to the Malaysian music industry’s standards. Perhaps that is why their music still feels fresh today.
Few bands have managed to sustain the spirit of youth for more than three decades. OAG is one of them, while The Times carried the torch into the next generation.
The Times opened the show with a string of songs that helped define its identity, including ‘Pesona Algebra’, ‘Khayal Khayalan’, ‘Infra Merah’ and ‘Lalai’, before OAG took over for the second set.
Radhi, the driving force behind OAG, took to the stage with his trademark energy, occasionally weaving in spiritual messages. Among the songs performed were ‘SoulLaWatt’, ‘PerMYsuri’ and ‘Knocked Silly’.
For the Generation X and millennial fans in attendance, the memory vault swung open when Radhi uttered the words, “This song is called”, the familiar introduction to OAG’s most iconic hit ‘60s TV’.
The concert reached its peak when the two bands joined forces on stage for the third set, bringing the night’s total to 30 songs. The set included OAG favourites such as ‘Generasiku’ and ‘Spastic Youth’, alongside The Times’ ‘Pesona Algebra’ and ‘Gadisku Dalam Koma’.
The arrangement, combining two vocalists with guitars, bass and drums, made the joint segment more than just a jam session between two bands. Instead, it unfolded as a performance that felt quite organic, with the meeting of Radhi of OAG and Naza of The Times emerging as one of the night’s most memorable moments
The night also delivered several surprises, including ‘Senyuman Ragamu’, originally a collaboration between Radhi and Gerhana Ska Cinta, while Oasis’ ‘Don't Look Back in Anger’ transformed the venue into one massive singalong session.
And when Radhi closed the show with ‘Hey Hey’, a song featuring lyrics in the Sarawak dialect, the home state of both bands, the concert took on an even more personal note.
OAG and The Times no longer have anything to prove. The fact that indie bands can endure from the 1990s all the way to 2026 is no small achievement.
Their journey reflects how Malaysia’s alternative music scene has evolved, not necessarily along a straight path, but through changing line-ups, influences, friendships, experimentation and the courage to take something from an earlier generation and reshape it for the next.
This is particularly significant in today’s fast-moving music industry, where a song can go viral within hours and be forgotten just weeks later.
Musicians face increasingly short attention spans, constantly changing algorithms and pressure to keep producing something new. In such an environment, longevity itself becomes a form of success that is rarely acknowledged.
OAG and The Times have shown that some works do not need a second life through algorithms to remain relevant. That was what made ‘Disko Dansa Generasiku’ more than just a nostalgia concert.
Three decades after OAG first knocked on the door of mainstream music, and more than two decades after The Times emerged from the same musical circles, both bands can still get a packed hall on their feet, singing and dancing along.
Perhaps that is the true measure of a band’s longevity. It is not how long its name endures, but how long its music continues to make people feel something.
-- BERNAMA