705,856… The numbers we would press as we put on the TV. The one and only channel which played English songs…VH1 India. But that ended on 15^th March 2025.

There was and is no other simple way to connect with the world of music but through the only music channel we had which was Vh1. So if you are done with repeated movies, nothing interests you, no good news to go to, no new show to explore, bored changing channels just go to VH1 and chill.

And sometimes late into the night I used to go on listening to the music right up till the cock crowed early morning. Yeah, I feel good… ta ra ra ra ra you know what I am saying.

Vh1 was not just a channel; It was the ultimate destination. It showed us what pop stars are and how pop culture begins and ends only through some music videos. We used to breath the music.

I didn’t even realise when did music became the most important part of my life, with no efforts as such, no searching for a playlist, or the singer's name, I just had to put on the channel, and it would do the rest. I got to know some well known pop stars debut, whose name and music I don’t think I might have known without this particular channel.

I am talking about the days when music streaming platforms was not a concept and YouTube was just introduced. If you need to watch a music video online first you need to have enough data, if not it used to buffer, forget about downloading, you couldn’t even recognise the faces due to the low picture quality. 

Vh1 was a life saver. I don't think I could have been who I am today without this channel. It played a major role in our lives. The channel was dedicated to us and we were bound to it. I remember we used to cycle back home as fast as we could after school to catch that one favourite song in the Top Ten.

Before this channel there was this same kind called “SPARK” and I don’t think you know but the History channel use to play Micheal Jackson music videos. I remember once we were ready to go to my birthday party dinner, but waited, to just watch that whole show. MJs song Thriller was more important than the actual thriller in our lives, it was that bad and zoned out, we can die and live for the same reason, the situation was that intense and the teenage spirit or call it ghost was fuelling all this hard.

That time of your life where you don’t know what you are doing, you don’t wanna know what you will do. Life is just passing by day by day without realizing. I was thinking what if back then I was unable to afford a phone or an internet connection, the video killed the radio star with no gadget left to tune in but who killed the video star?

Now if I don’t own a radio, or a record player, cassette or a tape, CD or an CD player, TV or a nowadays the Smart TV, phone or an iPhone, I am lost for music.

Sometimes I think am I an Adivasi? I feel like becoming one, going into the wild for good, with that constant bombarding of the unnecessary information thrown at me making me feel dumber and dumber day by day, scared of the day when the human will be back in the cave with the tail.

Let’s cut the philosophy out, Vh1 actually cleared our minds to understand what Bollywood music is and that Hollywood music does not exist, and the song has the name of the person who sings in front of it, and the concept of playback singer.

Knowing that genres exist, and there is such a carpet coloured red, and wearing clothes in a certain way makes fashion and there are different award functions for movies, music and music videos.

India is a hot cake for western artists to perform, for every year there is a new pop star announcing their debut performance in India. Who are these people and how do they recognise these performers?

Any kid admiring to become a pop star, this channel was the light of hope back then, it was too futuristic for us, the shutdown of it has basically burned the bridges of curated music, I mean look at the K POP, how do you know them and how did they became so big, government plays a major role to make certain sectors grow big and we just killed the source feeding the pop culture seen in India.

Yes, we have “Sooraj Cherukat” better known as Hanumankind, who is globally recognised as an English rapper. Things are changing, but we need more backup and support to work full fledge to build our entertainment industry in such a way that the colours and culture we have should be admired and well understood globally because we deserve it and are fully eligible.

By Kiran Holkar