China News Entertainment, Beijing, June 14 (Liu Yue) This summer, there has been a wind of "nostalgia".
From Wang Xinling's "Love You" becoming a hit, to Jay Chou's concert re-screening; from Luo Dayou playing and singing "Childhood" on the lawn, to Sun Yanzi's singing and chatting sharing "Meeting".
The wind spanning fifty years is mixed with the notes of the times, climbing over majestic or beautiful mountains and coming to our side.
Screenshots of the singers MV.
Drawing Liu Yue
The ladder is difficult to climb, but there are always people who "see all the mountains and small".
To become a real "mountain monster", "red" is secondary, and you have to fight to the top, sing and control the eight wastes, countless believers, and lead the direction of the wind.
The "wind" of Chinese pop music originated in the last century, where will it go now?
seventies
Men listen to Xu Guanjie and women listen to Teresa Teng
Hong Kong music enthusiasts who must order "Red Sun", "Broad Ocean and Sky" and "No Romantic Crime" every time they venture into KTV will never imagine that in the Hong Kong music scene before the 1970s, English songs and Mandarin songs each accounted for half of the country, and Cantonese songs were regarded as the most popular. For the folk minor, it is difficult to be elegant.
In 1972, a trendsetter of the times appeared - singer Xu Guanjie.
He creatively combined popular Cantonese and pop music, and his composition and singing "The Tower of the Clouds" caused a sensation as soon as it was sung.
The melody is catchy and the lyrics are easy to understand. People at the time exclaimed: "So Cantonese songs can still be sung like this?"
Screenshot of Xu Guanjie's "Iron Tower Lingyun" MV
Strike while the iron is hot, Xu Guanjie has released songs such as "Ghosts and Horses Double Stars", "Half Jin Ba Liang", "God of Wealth" and other songs, which have achieved great success.
Among them, the sales of the album "Banjinbaliang" in Southeast Asia reached 350,000 copies, marking the official formation of the Hong Kong Cantonese pop song market.
More importantly, Xu Guanjie separated the two eras with one person.
The hegemony of English songs was broken, and Cantonese songs flourished and gradually entered the mainstream.
At this time, Taiwan, a treasure island, was also facing a similar situation.
A group of people of insight were dissatisfied with the status quo of English songs dominating the music scene, and launched the "Campus Folk Song Movement", which led to the development of local singers such as Yao Surong, Feng Feifei, Jenny, and Cui Taijing.
The times create heroes and the "Queen of Music" Teresa Teng, who has influenced the Chinese music scene for decades, was born.
The ancients said: "Where there is a well, you can sing Liu Ci." And Teresa Teng's singing is definitely comparable to that of Liu Yongda. After all, "As long as there are Chinese people, there is Teresa Teng's singing."
Screenshot of Teresa Teng's "Sweet Honey" MV
With a gentle appearance, mellow voice, and delicate emotional expression, Teresa Teng has combined nationality and popularity to create her own singing style.
As the first Chinese pop singer with international influence, Teresa Teng led the trend of Asian pop music in the 1970s and 1980s, with fans all over the world.
Songs such as "On the Water Side", "I Only Care About You", "Sweet Honey", "The Moon Represents My Heart", and "Small Town Story" have become permanent classics and are still widely sung to this day.
eighties
Superstars make "pairs", geniuses are paired
After Xu Guanjie started the mountain, from Lin Zixiang, Chen Baiqiang, Anita Mui, Wang Jie, to Beyond, Wenner Band, Cantonese pop singers and groups have sprung up.
The soil is fertile, waiting for the flowers to bloom.
The leaders of the 1980s were superstars who grew up along the path of their predecessors.
And superstars seem to always appear in pairs.
Although, these two superstars are "right" and "right".
Alan Tam, who became famous at a young age, once served as the lead singer of the Winner Band, and sang the streets of "Love Trap", "Wolf in Sheep's Clothing" and "Love in Late Autumn". In the early 1980s, he established his dominant position in the music scene.
Screenshot of Alan Tam's "Love in Late Autumn" MV
Leslie Cheung, a rising star, a three-dimensional all-around player in film and television songs, "The Wind Continues to Blow", "The Love of the Year" and "A Chinese Ghost Story" are popular in the Chinese music scene, and he is a well-deserved king-level figure.
Screenshot of Leslie Cheung's "A Chinese Ghost Story" MV
Before the two talented superstars could sympathize with each other, they were pushed to the forefront under the coercion of the media and fans, and were forced to "the king does not see the king".
This protracted "Tan Zhang hegemony" finally ended when Alan Tam no longer participated in the competition of awards, and Leslie Cheung announced his withdrawal from the music scene.
Hong Kong has a double pride, and Taiwan has a double hero.
At that time, two talented and responsible young people were born out of the "Campus Folk Song Movement" and became the godfathers of the Chinese music scene with their ceiling-level creative ability - they were Luo Dayou and Li Zongsheng.
From "The Hills" to "Mortal Songs", Li Zongsheng's songs have a novel style and hidden Zen; from "Childhood" to "Tomorrow Will Be Better", Luo Dayou's creations are both reflective and humanistic.
Two forward-looking music pioneers who still have a strong influence to this day.
At the same time, the pop music trend has just entered the mainland, and two epoch-making Chinese pop stars are rising - Zhang Qiang and Cui Jian.
Zhang Qiang, who has appeared in the American "Time Magazine", led the "disco culture" popular among countless young people with her enthusiastic and unrestrained music style, while Cui Jian, the "Godfather of Chinese Rock", opened an era of rock music.
nineties
The stars are shining and the gods are fighting for the deer
In the abyss of the years, the bright moon is far away.
In the early 1990s, Chen Baiqiang died young, and Alan Tam, Leslie Cheung, and Anita Mui also retired one after another.
As the four heavenly kings selected by the media in 1992, Andy Lau, Jacky Cheung, Aaron Kwok and Liming combine popularity, performance and influence. They are well-deserved golden idols in the Hong Kong music scene and represent the peak of the Chinese entertainment industry in the last century.
The Four Heavenly Kings are on the same stage.
Screenshot of Jade Taiqing Celebration in 1994
The question of who is the first among the "Four Heavenly Kings" has been disputed for many years.
In terms of singing skills and record sales, Jacky Cheung deserves the title.
If comparing popularity and influence, Andy Lau is even better.
However, even if they are indistinguishable, the fights of gods are still fights of gods, and national-level golden songs such as "Kiss Goodbye", "Forgetting Love Water", "I Can't End Your Love", and "Will You Come Tonight" are still sung to this day.
What is even more commendable is that the four have their own personalities, leading the way, and their harmonious and different characteristics endow the concept of the "Big Four" with a special meaning of competition.
The previous "Big Four" tended to be objective narratives. Since then, the "Big Four" have been frequently used in all fields of Chinese society to distinguish the top-level figures with a competitive relationship.
The "Four Heavenly Kings" are not only products of the entertainment industry, but also become leaders of popular culture with their phenomenal influence.
Screenshot of the 1993 Hong Kong Top Ten Golden Songs Awards Ceremony.
Drawing Liu Yue
The 1990s was an era when the Chinese music scene was full of talents.
In addition to the Four Heavenly Kings, Taiwan has Zhou Huajian, Ren Xianqi, Zhang Xinzhe, Yu Chengqing, and mainland China has Liu Huan, Mao Ning, Sun Nan and the "Magic Rock Three Heroes".
In terms of female singers, Mao Amin and Na Ying, who were under the tutelage of Gu Jianfen, dominated for a while, and "Longing", "Missing", "Mountains Don't Turn Water Turns" and "Conquest" were popular all over the country.
After the retirement of Anita Mui in the Hong Kong music scene, Lin Yilian, Ye Qianwen, Guan Shuyi, Peng Ling and others rushed forward.
In Taiwan, there are also strong players such as Xu Ruyun, Meng Tingwei, Xin Xiaoqi, and Zhang Huimei.
At that time, a Beijing girl, Wang Jingwen, who went south to Hong Kong, successfully gained a firm foothold in the fiercely competitive Hong Kong music scene with her song "Women who are vulnerable to injury". Another well-known real name of her is Faye Wong.
If there are different opinions about who will win the top four kings, then Faye Wong is the undisputed number one among women.
She was crowned in the competition of heroes, and the number of album sales and awards ranked first among Chinese female singers. She is a legendary queen of a generation that no one can shake.
Screenshot of Faye Wong's "Vulnerable Woman" MV
Li Zongsheng once commented on Faye Wong: "From timbre, skills, and musicality, she is all I think is very top-notch in this era."
It is true that Faye Wong's tone is highly recognizable and ethereal.
She perfectly combines the vocal characteristics of the Orientals with the singing skills of European and American singers, and the "Philippine singing" has been imitated by countless latecomers.
Her music style is avant-garde, swinging between mainstream and alternative, not only reflects the achievements of Chinese rock music and electronic music, but also uses the cutting-edge achievements of Western music for her own use. She is a well-deserved Chinese leader in the wave of music globalization.
millennium
Jay Chou was born and the Chinese music scene reached the peak again
In the 1980s and 1990s, the focus of the entire Chinese music scene shifted to Hong Kong.
Although Hong Kong Island is full of stars, one of the inescapable embarrassment is the lack of originality.
As netizens ridiculed: "Japan's Nakajima Miyuki feeds most of the Chinese music scene."
Indeed, the kings and queens at that time were still enjoying the dividends brought by cover songs, Leslie Cheung's "The Wind Continues to Blow", Chen Huixian's "Thousands of Que Songs", Li Keqin's "Red Sun", Jacky Cheung's "Li Xianglan", "Distant" She" and other golden songs are imported.
After the millennium, the Hong Kong music scene lacked stamina, and only Eason Chan was the "new song god", and the shortcomings became increasingly prominent.
And Luo Dayou, Li Zongsheng Baodao is not old, Yuan Weiren is in the limelight, Jay Chou, Lin Junjie, Tao Zhe are all emerging. With these original musicians breaking through against the trend, Chinese pop has opened a new chapter.
A large number of excellent creations have spawned a number of bright new stars.
Female singers have "big four and three small", referring to Liang Jingru, Stefanie Sun, Jolin Tsai, Elva Hsiao and Wang Xinling, Rainie Yang, Angela Chang; male singers are led by creative all-rounders such as Jay Chou, Lin Junjie, Tao Zhe, and Wu Kequn.
At the same time, there are also popular groups such as Mayday and SHE.
Among them, Jay Chou is unique.
Since the release of the first album "Jay" in 2000, the name has always been at the top of the Chinese music scene.
Screenshot of Jay Chou's first album "Jay" QQ music
"Sunny Day", "Qilixiang" and "Lovely Woman", he is the one who promoted R&B to become the mainstream of Chinese pop music;
"Dragon Fist", "Nunchuan" and "Compendium of Materia Medica", he is the one who made rap a new form of music widely recognized by Chinese people;
"Blue and White Porcelain", "Fresh Like Snow" and "Dongfeng Breaking", he is also the one who pioneered the "Chinese style" of modern pop music.
The epoch-making significance of Jay Chou is that he influenced the development history of Chinese music by himself and left an indelible mark.
"Draft" and "Network"
Become the new password of the Chinese music scene
Around the millennium, a group of powerful singers such as Han Hong, Wang Feng, Daolang, Pu Shu, and Xu Wei also emerged, and there were also groups such as Phoenix Legend that swept all age groups.
But when the wheel of history rolled into 2005, two new doors in the Chinese music scene slowly opened - one with "draft" written on it, and the other with "Internet" written on it.
In the minds of most viewers, the draft began with the "Super Girl Fast Guy" that was crowded in the past. Li Yuchun, Zhou Bichang, Zhang Jingying, Zhang Jie, Tan Weiwei, Chen Chusheng and others came to the fore. Among them, Li Yuchun and Zhou Bichang influenced a generation of people with their "neutral style" charm. aesthetic.
The "Good Voice" and "Good Song" series have brought Liang Bo, Zhang Bichen, Zhou Shen, Jike Junyi, Su Yunying and other talents to the entertainment industry.
Li Yuchun, Zhou Bichang, He Jie, Ji Minjia.
Screenshot of "2005 Super Girl" program
In addition, the popularization of the Internet has lowered the threshold for music, making it more down-to-earth, but also facing a situation of mixed works.
On the one hand, "Internet Divine Comedy" is rampant, and brainwashing street songs such as "Can't Hurt", "Love Business", and "Little Apple" are popular but lack stamina.
On the other hand, there has been a wave of non-mainstream songs on the Internet, headed by the "Big Three of QQ Music" Xu Song, Wang Sulong, and Xu Liang, focusing on the style of youth pain.
Except for Xu Song and Wang Sulong, who have successfully transformed with their strong original ability, most online singers have stopped their past glory like OICQ in the past.
To this day, "draft" and "network culture" still have a profound impact on the development of the Chinese music scene.
The "101" talent show that was born out of the Korean wave gave birth to Cai Xukun and Rocket Girl 101. The "18th Floor" from the Japanese culture department cultivated TFBOYS and the Youth League of the Times. These popular idols dominate the trend every day. Half of the media list is made up of the country, and the other half is divided up by a variant of the "Internet Divine Comedy" - the "Douyin Divine Comedy", which is brainwashed by melody, produced in an assembly line, and is not popular among singers.
Screenshot of "Learn to Meow" MV
Some people say that the 1970s was the budding state of the Chinese music scene, the 1980s and 1990s were the golden age, and the 1900s was the peak era, but now, what we discuss every day is "is the Chinese music scene still alive".
There is no shortage of idols in this era. They have a large number of fans, their worth has risen, and it is difficult to get a ticket for a concert. Just posting a Weibo is a million-level retweet.
However, 50 years ahead, the kings and queens are not the products of popularity and data piled up alone.
It can lead the tide of the times, change the aesthetics of the times, and control the trend of the times. Ten, twenty, and thirty years later, the masterpieces are still being sung. This is the real "leader".
Screenshot of Jay Chou's "Qilixiang" MV
The explosion of information on the Internet has allowed us to be well-informed and able to filter out our favorite music styles, while the popularization of big data has subdivided the audience circle to the extreme - those who listen to rock and roll, those who love hip-hop love hip-hop, and those who love folk songs The daily pushes received by the people may be Zhao Zhao, Li Zhi and Wan Xiaoli.
In the "information cocoon room", it is even more difficult to create a person who is comparable to his predecessors and whose influence covers most of the audience.
But it is precisely because of the pain of breaking the cocoon that there is the beauty of becoming a butterfly.
When Cantonese songs declined, Xu Guanjie established a school; European and American music invaded, Li Zongsheng and Luo Dayou rose up; the three kings and one after the song ended, and the four heavenly kings appeared; ...the predicament they faced in the past was no simpler than it is now. After all, every new era begins, relying on the dormancy and watchfulness of the new force day after day.
Don't forget, even at the moment called "Twilight of the Gods", there are rising stars such as Deng Ziqi, Mao Buyi, and Li Ronghao who are eyeing them.
We will wait and see who will be the next leader of the music scene.
(Finish)