When Francis M. Introduced Ely Buendia to the Internet

30 years ago in 1995, alternative-rock band the Eraserheads released two albums: Ultraelectromagneticpop! and Circus, both the pinnacle of ‘90s Pinoy rock. The Ely Buendia-led band were at the height of their careers as torchbearers. They knew street talk as much as other bands did. However, there exists an outlier living on the other side of the scene. 

Francis Magalona has three albums under his belt. As one of the earlier pioneers of hip-hop in the Philippines at the time, Magalona was in the know despite being in the showbiz spotlight all throughout his career. Albeit being from different genres, the Master Rapper and the Eraserheads joined forces in 1995 to create the track “Superproxy” for the latter’s third studio album, Cutterpillow, which would then define the Original Pilipino Music scene in the coming decades.

The two — plus Hardware Syndrome — rerecorded the same song 10 years later for the first Eraserheads tribute album, renaming it “Superproxy 2K6,” accompanied by a music video, where Buendia appears with Magalona and his kids. Buendia, in the first episode of Rolling Stone Philippines’ YouTube series, “Greatest Hits,” fondly remembers how he and Magalona were introduced. 

Buendia revealed that the late Magalona, was one of the first supporters of Eraserheads. “I met him because he wanted me to sign his CD of Ultramagneticpop!,” Buendia recalled.

It was a no-brainer for the Eraserheads to collaborate with Magalona, said Buendia, owing to the band’s collaborative nature. Francis M. is technically the second artist to be a guest on a track alongside the band, the first one being actress Carmina Villaroel, who the band collaborated with on the song “Wating” for Ishmael Bernal’s 1994 film of the same name..

However, Magalona became the first official guest of a musician in Cutterpillow back in 1995. “I think Superproxy was written for him,” Buendia told Rolling Stone Philippines. “‘Superproxy,’ as you know, is about the internet and computers replacing humans,” Buendia explained. “He was a big part of that. He was so into that, he was actually the one who introduced the EHeads to the internet.” He continued, “The cover of Cutterpillow was the first image he downloaded on the internet” — a photo of a jellyfish underwater. “And we were so impressed by that, [na we said], ‘Wow, we have to put that on the cover.’” 

You can watch the full video on Rolling Stone Philippines’ “Greatest Hits” exclusively on our YouTube Channel.

Elijah Pareño

Music Writer

Elijah Pareño is the Music Writer of Rolling Stone Philippines. He writes daily music news, features, reviews, and radar stories of the website.

In addition to music writing, Pareño has written about the behind-the-scenes writers and producers from the P-pop scene, interviewed hip-hop artists like Shanti Dope and Zae, and featured up-and-coming artists for the Music Forecast 2026. Aside from music, Pareño has written about the state of affairs that affects pop culture. He wrote a movie review for 'Mortal Kombat II' and reported and interviewed photojournalists at the September 21, 2025 protests in Luneta and Mendiola.

Prior to working in Rolling Stone Philippines, Pareño was a freelance writer for 3 years and independent live music promoter

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• In This Article:
• Ely Buendia
• Francis M.