Sometimes a band just gets it, and The Itchyworms—an OPM mainstay since 1996—capture the quintessential Pinoy psyche. A knack for insistent, spectral ‘60s melodies and tongue-in-cheek lyrics, as on 2005’s Noon Time Show, catapulted them to national fame—with ubiquity guaranteed as “Akin Ka Na Lang” and “Salapi” were used for TV commercials. But this didn’t pigeonhole them—instead they experimented on 2020’s Waiting for the End to Start, with a more serious, even apocalyptic, lyrical bent. Yet one thing unites their canon: distilling raw, human experiences into classic rock sounds.