Turning up the volume on Malaysian rock music history

Muhamad Takiyuddin Ismail's new book project - written in Bahasa Malaysia - is a welcome addition in documenting Malaysian rock music history. Photo: The Star/Low Lay Phon

In Malaysia, rock music and its fans have been generally discriminated against for a long time because of the unruly image it conjures of long-haired men and their unkempt appearance and later, quite the opposite with the use of make-up and tight-fitting clothes (known as the period of glam rock in the 1980s).

It was a genre the authorities used to target regularly, blaming rock music for promoting drug culture and being the cause of social ills.