1983, Beyond participated in the contest held by Guitar magazine and won the championship with Brain Attack. Liu Zhuohui, then editor-in-chief of Modern Youth Weekly, invited them for an interview. The magazine was closed before the interview was finished. Two years later, Beyond concert, Liu Zhuohui went to see it, brought back a magazine, was seen by Chen Jiantian, and rented it at his home.
In the future, Mr. Chen, who signed a contract with Panther, gained fame in Zheng Jun and became the agent of Faye Wong, flipped through the periodicals printed by Beyond himself and found these boys very interesting. At the end of the year, Beyond warmed up for ROZZA, the originator of Hong Kong rock, and Chen Jiantian was there. He stood in the audience and looked at Ka Kui Wong, thinking:
"One day, they will be angry."
1983 is an important year for the Hong Kong music scene, and the "First Top Ten Jade Pure Gold Award Ceremony" is being prepared. In the 1970s, big brands such as "Guan" and "Guan" retreated in succession, while "Guan" and "Anita Mui" were ready to harvest the traffic of the era. Beyond's lineup was not neat at that time. Ka Kui Wong worked while rocking and wrote a lot of avant-garde music, which was purely a personal hobby.
As for Beijing, the ancient "Tumbler" band has just been established, and Cui Jian's "I don't understand" is still in the picture. Zhang Wei was just born in Cheng Nan's love knot in Beijing.
Compared with Ka Kui Wong's efforts, this great teacher is obviously too lucky. When he and gay friends Wang Wenbo entered the house, the Queen Mother often went to the barber shop for a perm and met Deng Pei, the lead singer of Lonely Summer. The Queen Mother asked Deng to see if her son could play the piano correctly. Deng Pei found Zhang Wei and Wang Wenbo, and solo went through a period of nirvana, which shocked the two children.
The two men worshipped him as a teacher on the spot.
Later, I caught up with the demolition in Beijing. Halfway through, Zhang Wei's home was exposed in the street, facing a bean juice shop. "Good girl" was drinking bean juice with a smile in the shop. On the opposite side, she heard Zhang Wei rehearsing in the room and began to knock at the door. As soon as I heard that there were children like this, I went to the "Busy Bee" bar to leave a message. The boss said, "Let them try."
It was there that Zhang Wei met Dou Wei and Ding Wu, and his future boss Yi Fu. Zhang Wei, as a "rock new hope", was sent to the entertainment circle before he came back.
The difference between Ka Kui Wong and Zhang Wei is 2 1 year.
Looking at each other through the hard road of 265,438+0 years, their joys and sorrows are no different.
02.
1962, Ka Kui Wong was born in a working-class family, and he is a veritable grassroots. A family of seven crowded into a 30-square-meter hut in Sham Shui Po, Kowloon. He has no musical influence. If my sister hadn't been infatuated with David Bowie, it's hard to say that he would have embarked on the road of rock and roll so soon.
At first, Ka Kui Wong wanted to play the saxophone, but his family couldn't afford it. /kloc-when I was 0/7 years old, I picked up a guitar from the trash can and gave it to my friend, who didn't like it. He had to take it home by himself. After practicing for half a year, I plan to try to join the band. The lead singer laughed at him: Do you still rock this skill?
From then on, he began to practice hard day and night, learning from the strengths of various schools, and his piano skills advanced by leaps and bounds. As it happens, Ye Shirong was looking for a bosom friend when his band just broke up. Introduced by the owner of Tongli Musical Instrument Store, they met one day in the autumn of 198 1. Ye Shirong will never forget that day. Ka Kui Wong's eyes lit up when he talked about guitar. The two hit it off and became close comrades-in-arms.
After graduation, the two often get together to study music and have been working in the same company. Ka Kui Wong worked as an office assistant, clerk and film factory worker. He doesn't have much money, and his attendance is still extremely low. I work two days a week, and the rest of the time I dip my bread in sugar and squat at home to practice the piano.
He went to sell insurance with Ye Shirong and met Liang Qiaobai, who later became the music director of I am a singer. The three of them wander to the tea shop every day to talk about music, and then fill the cups to make milk tea into white water.
In Hong Kong, arachis duranensis, a young man who spends a lot of time on rock music without considering how to make money and get ahead, is really thoughtful.
Mainly love, take Ka Kui Wong forward. The big teacher went into a punk pit because of Holden's depression.
Like Ka Kui Wong, he comes from the bottom. Dad Zhang is an employee of a state-owned factory who lives in a bungalow of 10 square meters. Zhang Wei showed great musical talent from an early age. As soon as I entered primary school, I entered the Yinhe Youth Art Troupe, won the first prize in the all-Beijing singing competition, and often performed abroad.
In order to support him in singing, his parents braved the cold wind to go out and spread pancakes after work, which can be said to be heartbreaking. A set of audio equipment cost 10 thousand yuan. His father gritted his teeth and lent him money to buy it.
Originally, Zhang Wei would enter the key middle school as a special student, but he failed in the list ahead of time and went to an ordinary middle school without even mixing a lead singer. After entering adolescence, he despises anyone who has no face value and no achievements. Fighting is no good, you are always bullied when you go out. He also wants to show off, but he can't start.
At this moment, rock and roll opened a new world for him. It turns out that what is valuable is not good study and good looks. Resistance and shouting are also a gesture, which is more awe-inspiring than pandering to authority. Punk has become a good medicine for Zhang Wei's depressed youth, and the fire that is about to go out has ignited again.
At that time, Deng Pei gave him a lot of tapes of foreign bands, and Zhang Wei listened with ecstasy, and there was an uncontrollable passion in his chest. Especially when I heard Green Day, I knelt down at that time. From then on, I was addicted to it and couldn't extricate myself. Eat crispy noodles every day, save money to buy tapes and music magazines, and copy melodies and lyrics from book to book.
In his own words: "At that time, there was only music in life, and I was excited at the thought of music."
Faced with the impact of the torrent of rock music, the original love between Ka Kui Wong and Theway was like thunder. No one expects to gain fame and fortune by it, let alone change their destiny. It is an impulse to forget oneself after the expansion of vitality, that is, to like it without any evil thoughts.
It's like falling in love with a girl, not to possess her body, but to look snuggly.
03.
The original Beyond was founded in 1983, and its name was named by the chief guitarist Deng.
That year, they won the guitar championship and had regular fans. But eating by rock and roll is tantamount to talking in a dream. Soon, Deng left home to make a living and had to bring his brother in.
They were rehearsing at that time, and the fans had come to deliver the meal. Perhaps this made Beyond see some hope, and the ideal of living by music began to shine. Therefore, instead of giving in to necessities, they are determined to go out of the ground and want more people to see farther.
The ideal is full, but the reality is very skinny. 1985, the band held "Waiting for the Concert Forever" at their own expense. Before the activity, another member left the team, and Ka Kui Wong persuaded Paul Wong, who designed the concert poster for them, to join. Beyond the four sons, this is gathered together. In order not to leave regrets, they distributed leaflets and posters everywhere and invited people from record companies to watch them. As a result, halfway through the song, people also walked halfway.
More than 60 million Hong Kong dollars, instantly hit Shui Piao.
Beyond was not discouraged, but paid for it and released the album Goodbye to Ideal. The works inside are avant-garde, full of dazzling colors, and are basically the products of narcissism. Don't mention sales. Going down this road, I don't know if Ka Kui Wong can write great works handed down from generation to generation. Four people are bound to starve to death. Fortunately, just then, Chen Jiantian found you and handed them a contract.
In the second year, Beyond sorted out five "underground works" written by Ka Kui Wong before, and released Waiting Forever. Those works that come from love and careful exploration are still not popular enough and have no commercial color. Although it didn't sell well, it opened up some fame for the band.
Subsequently, Ka Kui Wong moved closer to fashion in lyrics and song creation, hoping to find a balance between the market and self-expression. In the same year, an "Arabian Dancer" was born and won the title of the Dragon and Tiger List of Radio Television Hong Kong. This was a great achievement at that time. At that time, there were only a few radio stations in Hong Kong, and the songs played in turn every day were occupied by big coffees like Priscilla Chan and Alan Tam. Behind them are large companies with abundant resources. No one looked at you seriously when you signed up for a small company like boss Chen Kinn.
This song hit the charts, but Ka Kui Wong was very disappointed.
For the fans who followed them in the early days, "Arabia" obviously compromised to business and lost the initial heart of rock and roll. In addition, this album only sold 20 thousand copies, and some music critics said:
"Beyond not only lost himself, but also failed in business."
In contrast, Zhang Wei's punk road is much smoother.
After seeing them in Busy Bees, Fu Yi immediately recommended them to Song Ke in the wheat field. Song Ke heard this and thought it was a good thing, but he dared not sign it easily. Fu has a lot of courage. He started his own company, signed a band and named it "Hua". Then I found the Red Star Society, asked for the most rubbish time, and tossed them for recording every weekend.
Under the banner of "China's first underage rock band", Wall released Next to Happiness, which sold 400,000 copies. Just recording songs, Zhang Wei earned 6.5438+10,000 yuan. After returning to school, he invited the whole class to eat ice cream, which instantly became the topic center and became one of the "six intelligent teenagers in China".
At the moment, the little girl and big sister came to tease him and lined up to apply for being his girlfriend. Some gangsters who have never even seen him want to beat him up for bragging. The teacher said sourly, "Which one of you can earn money like Zhang Wei and sleep in class?"
In 2000, The Wall Street Journal published a document, which included Zhang Wei's "School is over" and "Fire at me", and predicted: "If more videos are made and there are enough opportunities for public performances, then you will see every China child singing" School is over "wearing a T-shirt of a flower band."
The big teacher is determined: the bowl of music is stable.
He didn't expect to give up so soon
04.
At the end of every performance, I feel extremely bad.
Zhang Wei feels weak all over. He felt like a fool jumping around on the stage. The people below don't understand what he is singing. Punk belongs to the music of "If you don't like it, I'll leave", which really doesn't conform to the traditional aesthetics of China people. As for the criticism and questioning of reality, let alone.
I don't know if the great teacher belongs to the flattering personality, but at least he is not the kind of personality who longs to be hated.
He really doesn't have the courage to "just make you dislike me".
The most important thing is that when people in their thirties see that their work is not normal and they call themselves "rock artists" with 200 yuan in their pockets every day, they are in a panic and afraid that they will become like that. My parents were laid off and suffered a lot for him. There is no mine at home, and making money honestly is the right way.
See: Because of natural genes, rock and roll is neither liked nor needed by the public. If something disappoints, there will be no market. No market means no money. So why bother?
Since then, Zhang Wei hopes to write music that can be loved by more people. But the boss thinks he should insist, and even thinks he is not rock enough. The two men have serious differences in musical ideas. In the end, "Wall" left and lost 400,000 yuan to cancel the contract. Zhang Wei announced to all fans:
Because of national conditions and family circumstances, I gave up my rock martial arts.
In Hongkong, like a great teacher, Ka Kui Wong's insistence on rock and roll is not so unshakable.
1988, Beyond moved to Xinbaoyi and became a colleague of Wang Jingwen. When doing "The Secret Stage", Ka Kui Wong took out a song "Yangtze River" written in 1986 and asked Liu Zhuohui to write lyrics. At that time, Liu Gang went to visit relatives in Taiwan Province Province and met his uncle, a veteran who had been displaced for 20 years. He was very moved. Change the title of the song to "The Good Earth" after filling in the lyrics. That year, the earth was selected as one of the top ten jadeite pure gold in Hong Kong.
Different from those rock and roll with critical colors and caring about social issues, The Good Earth has many feelings about home and country, and its melody is catchy. The success of this song provides a new way for Ka Kui Wong to write songs. Chen Jiantian told him: "Rock and roll is not necessarily angry, but can also be positive. Writing inspirational songs can inspire people, inspire fighting spirit and express sadness and helplessness. "
My sister Huang Xiaoqiong, who works in a TV station, put it more bluntly:
"What's the use of writing so many songs that no one listens?"
It is these two songs that cater to business that make Beyond recognized. Because of Ka Kui Wong's talent, even when he wrote this popular song, he often devoted great love.
As soon as the song becomes popular, the side effects will come. Every time I go out to perform, someone shouts "I like you" and "I really love you", and the rest just want to write a rock song, whatever. No one wants to appreciate playing skills, and no one wants to understand what they preach. For this reason, when his younger brother Huang performed on the stage, he was unhappy and absent-minded for a long time. But even if it is played wrong, no one in the audience will know. They tried to popularize the charm of rock and roll to Hong Kong people in a popular manner. In the final analysis, this effort is a failure.
Or the great teacher has the name of foresight.
Ka Kui Wong, 20, hasn't formed a band yet. The 20-year-old teacher can see everything clearly:
"If I still rock, there will only be three results in the end, career change, suicide and mental illness."
05.
There are few happy bands, and unhappy bands have their own misfortunes.
After paying the boss, Zhang Wei returned to before liberation overnight. In 2004, "Hua" signed a contract with EMI EMI, which clarified the style of TeenPop and opened its arms to fashion. I am your Romeo and won many awards, but it is not red. With online songs and ringtones, Zhang Wei has seen the power of the people and the renminbi, and is holding back to make a street song every day. Then "Xi shua".
When the demo came out, everyone else was stupid and said, aren't we rock? What is this? Zhang Wei said, "Shi Xingyu, don't you want to buy a car? This song has no rock sound, but it has a rich sound. "
The big teacher is the pioneer among the creators of "big data". That year, "Xi Shua" broke through the tight encirclement, brainwashed lyrics spread throughout China, "Flower Band" became famous, and Shang Yan continued. Many people scold Zhang Wei for betraying punk, but Song Ke can't understand the music:
"This is only a few years? How did this happen? "
Then, "Xi Play" was exposed to plagiarism. The big teacher's "big data song writing method" obviously has bugs, patchwork and infringement of copyright. He claimed to have heard more than a dozen G songs, all of which were extracted and grafted from works with unknown names. This sentence is ridiculous to anyone.
Netizens chased him for this stain and deeply picked up all kinds of jokes he copied. Zhang Wei came forward to apologize. Seeing the resolute attitude of the masses, he directly changed "selling thirteen incense" to "being poor and happy".
And said: I am a tailor.
He is really popular, but he must pay the price. Destiny's gifts are all secretly priced. In those years, the negative news of "flowers" emerged one after another. There are not many partners to make money. Music has done this, and it has long been irrelevant to rock and roll. In 2009, Flower held a dissolution concert. Zhang Wei's band career ended in tears.
Compared with the teacher's simple "betrayal of punk" and "self-indulgence", Beyond led by Jiaju is obviously too tenacious and struggles too much.
This struggle has been accompanied by the end of Ka Kui Wong's life.
In the entertainment circle of Hong Kong, singing, filming and performing variety shows are the standard for artists. For people who hate circle culture like Master Pu Shu, don't eat it. After Beyond became popular, he would attend all kinds of boring parties and play all kinds of brain-dead games. Some facade social activities made them uncomfortable, so he wrote a "Face-to-Face Party" to express his dissatisfaction.
Ka Kui Wong bluntly said: "Hong Kong has only entertainment, but no music scene."
The company dragged them on the show and made movies to make money for fans, not to support rock music. In 199 1, Beyond and Xin hesitated and saw the success of the critical music "Face-saving Party". Four sons came up with double records and more rock, but they were stillborn.
Music critic Wang Xiaofeng put it well: "You won't be surprised to see a hundred Andy Lau in Hongkong, but the appearance of Beyond and Ka Kui Wong is really incredible."
In order to return to the original heart, in the end, Beyond chose to go to Japan for development. In view of the diversity of Japanese styles, Ka Kui Wong thinks that they can not only sing the relationship between men and women, but also help Beyond to expand its popularity. As a result, Zisi was unhappy. I don't know the language, and I'm stuck in the house all day. When there is no work to do, Huang plays video games and learns to smoke every day.
Four people left home, feeling very depressed. Ka Kui Wong believes that in the open atmosphere of Japan, you can do something from the heart, and eventually you have to compromise to please the fashion. Japanese companies want them to do some soft work and not be so self-reliant.
Huang asked his brother, "What are we doing here? It is better to stay in Hong Kong. "
It is too difficult to realize your ideal when you are bored and hesitate.
The most ridiculous thing is that before his musical ambition was realized, Ka Kui Wong accidentally fell and died while attending a Japanese variety show. The thing he hated most killed him.
It's hard to imagine how he felt when he said the words "Pain, take care ..." when he was dying.
Before that, Ye Shirong passed by a video store and heard that there was a Japanese version of Broad Sky. At that time, he was very excited and felt that Beyond had hope as long as there was a pony. However, the cruel fate did not let Ka Kui Wong see the ideal ending. All the stories came to an abrupt end.
06.
Imagine what Ka Kui Wong would be like if he were still alive.
It is going well in Japan. If I go back to Hong Kong, I will either be depressed or, like Zhang Wei, put aside my musical ideals and try to please the world.
Ka Kui Wong died on 1993. The year before last, the "Four Heavenly Kings" were born, and then dominated the Hong Kong music scene throughout the 1990s. Beyond, Cao Meng, failed to beat him before he died. Life will not be easy if you stick to rock and roll. In those ten years, the streets were full of bitter love songs.
Will it be better to come to the mainland for development? Rock and roll, or don't count on it. 1988 Beyond gave a concert in Beijing, but few people paid attention to it. Later, the roller skates in Beijing collapsed by themselves, unless they followed the Mayday routine in Taiwan Province Province. Returning to the original avant-garde style is still a dead end.
Unlike Zhang Wei, Ka Kui Wong's insistence on music is much more tenacious. During his most creative ten years, he wrote many popular songs, but he did not compromise and wrote Shuang Er. The indicator of his success is not "last Spring Festival Evening, last coke can, and earn 100 million yuan", but writing works that are both independent and influential.
As the saying goes, you have a plan for life, but the world has other plans. Facts have proved that Ka Kui Wong's persistence can only lead to struggle. Ideals are always within reach. When a thousand people reach middle age, they have families and children, old and young, and they have to make a living. How long can Ka Kui Wong last? No one can be sure of this.
It's just that people have to bow their heads under the eaves.
On the other hand, the great teacher still loves rock and roll. He hardly socializes, arranges music between programs and listens to all kinds of awesome music in private. It's just that he understands that those things don't make money. Unless they are tired of making money and tired of the stage, they will put down their burdens and do what they like.
I heard from a friend that he was very emotional when he recorded "Summer of the Band", and he was going to be a punk without a bottom line again.
Ka Kui Wong was sung by so many people, largely because he stuck to his ideals. Too few people can do this. Zhang Wei's early retreat based on survival is the choice of most people. If Ka Kui Wong were still alive, he would have to compromise between ideal and reality step by step.
I remember a few years ago, "seeing words like a face", Zheng Guoqiang wrote in his letter when he reviewed his son's half life:
"The ideal is too easy to compromise, and the desire is too easy to enlarge ... At first, my father didn't want to shoot what he liked and wanted to shoot; Later, I felt that it was nothing to shoot something I didn't want to shoot in order to support myself. Later, in order to get promoted, it is not bad to pat the leaders more; Later, as long as you can make money, you don't have to take pictures. The bottom line is to return and then return. Back to one day, I took a camera and patted the leader's speech hard. Your mother plays mahjong and takes "Popular Photography" as a mat. I suddenly despise myself. "
When people are young, who doesn't want to love and eat becomes a half-bright and half-dark cloud in the sky. But in the end, everyone is getting old every fucking day, hoping to disappear and become like a beaten cow.
Have you found that many people who thought about "indulging in life and loving freedom" when they were young ended up laughing at themselves?
From this perspective, Ka Kui Wong is lucky again.
Because in Farewell to the Dragon, tough guy Marlowe said a long time ago that the tragedy of life is not that beautiful things die prematurely, but that they become old and vulgar.
18 years old, the green-faced teacher went to Hunan Satellite TV to perform "Song Hui". Before singing, he looked at the adults in the audience and said:
"When many people look back when they are old, they will find the kind of people you hated when you were young, but when you are old, you will look like you."
"The article is over, see you in the next issue."