A minor event has occurred in the Chinese music scene in the past two days, and that is the Golden Melody Awards next door. I won’t mention the other award-winning musicians. After all, the current mainland audience may not know them, but they won the Golden Melody Award for thei

text | Linghu Boguang

A small thing has happened in the Chinese music scene in the past two days, that is, the Golden Melody Awards next door were presented, and other award-winning musicians will not be mentioned. After all, the current mainland audience may not I know you, but the mainland musician Cui Jian who won the best singer for his " Flying Dog " album is still worth mentioning.

This time Cui Jian won the Golden Melody Award, just like Zhang Yimou won the Golden Horse two years ago. Winning the award now is a consolation, and not winning it will not affect their status and influence at all, right?

Cui Jian has always been known as the godfather of rock in the Chinese music scene, but because he only rose to prominence in the mid-to-late 1980s, the 1990s were the peak of his music career. It is almost forty years since 2022, and a new generation of young audiences may be Everyone knows this musician, but they may not have listened to his music carefully.

The most important thing is that the three early godfathers of the Chinese music scene, in addition to Hong Kong Xu Guanjie 's voice is clear and pleasant, the godfather of the Taiwanese music scene Luo Dayou has a broken voice, and the mainland rock godfather Cui Jian has a phlegm-like voice. I can't spit out the same , which is not beautiful in the conventional sense.

Many young viewers only know that they have a high status. Of course, some of the most popular songs also think that the songs are good and the lyrics are well written, but they do not think their songs are very good. So the question becomes, why does Cui Jian have such a high status? How come he is the godfather of Chinese rock ?

of the songs are classics, are the songs full of "criticism"? Why is Cui Jian the godfather of Chinese rock?

Why is Cui Jian the godfather of Chinese rock? The answer is somewhat similar to the now controversial and Moyan . After all, they all emerged from the rise of cultural trends after the great movements of that era. Various events at that time were relatively taboo, so I won’t go into detail. The 1980s formed the starting point of Chinese rock music and also reached its peak. This was determined by the characteristics of the times. When people came out, their minds were liberated and their passion also burst out. This is why rock and roll was born.

As we all know, China has suffered a hundred years of humiliation in modern times, and all aspects have hit rock bottom. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, under the leadership of teachers, China achieved leaps in politics, military, science and technology, and then to the defense and heavy industry. But there are too many gaps in economy, education, culture, especially in the fields of humanities and social sciences.

Cultural painting, literature, music, film and television dramas are not much different from those during the Republic of China. Of course, to be precise, it should be after the 1980s. The "culture" influence built by New China in the first thirty years was very successful, but everyone knows what happened later.

What Chinese practitioners in these cultural fields do is to learn from the West and Japan like the Republic of China, combine it with their own social environment, and finally integrate localization. There is not much difference between Cui Jian and Mo Yan at this level. They both reflect the influence of society and humanities at that time and before.

Mo Yan's literary works follow the tone of realism and magical realism.

Strictly speaking, Cui Jian's rock songs are also in a realistic tone, just because the lyrics of some songs are relatively obscure, but mainly realism is the main theme.

Of course, if it were just realism, Cui Jian would not have such a high status. After all, if you are a troll, why would he become a godfather? This talks about something behind literary and artistic works. Literature is literary nature, which includes writing techniques, writing style, story plots, character creation, etc. The musical aspect is naturally the music, lyrics and singing techniques, as well as the professional aspects of music such as arrangement and production.

One of the most influential godfathers in the Chinese music scene? How influential is Cui Jian, the godfather of rock music?

This influence is generally a technical influence. Others have to learn from your writing. The other is a spiritual influence. You lead the subsequent creators. Of course, the two usually complement each other. .Although Cui Jian also studied western music , he played a pioneering role in Chinese rock music in terms of melody creation, lyrics creation, arrangement and production, and he played a huge role in promoting the Chinese music scene.

is admittedly not as influential as Taiwan's Luo Dayou on the Chinese music scene, but he is also top-notch. Where Cui Jian slightly loses to Luo Dayou is that the richness of his music style is less.

Cui Jian is still recognized as the godfather of Chinese rock by many big names in the Chinese music scene. In addition to his reflection of the humanistic spirit at that time and before, he also influenced many Chinese rock creators in Chinese rock creation, such as the three great heroes of Moyan, , Wang Feng, Li Ronghao , Second-hand Rose, Universal Youth Hotel, etc. Another thing

did was to introduce advanced foreign composition and arrangement models into the then backward Chinese music scene, allowing subsequent singers to follow suit and promote the evolution of the Chinese music scene. Maybe many young people don't listen to Cui Jian's songs. I would like to recommend you to go and watch Cui Jian's 1992 Beijing Exhibition Concert.

That guzheng teacher Zhang Shan’s playing skills, arrangement, and band arrangement are very good.

In addition, in this concert, there was a section of "Rock on the New xx Road" followed by a band and a solo solo. At that time, the entire Chinese music scene was popular in Hong Kong and Taiwan with popular voices, singing skills and lyrics. This performance showed off the instrumental skills. Yes, later on, the songs of Magnum Youth Hostel also had a large section of this kind of instrumental music that showed off their skills.

On the contrary, this kind of live performance has always been rare in Hong Kong and Taiwan. It is still a combination of spelling and singing, with mostly timbre and lyrics.

It has been exactly 30 years from 1992 to 2022. If you look at it, you will find that not only are they not lagging behind, but they now sound very trendy and exciting. You must know that the music industry and conditions in the mainland were very poor at that time, worse than those in Hong Kong and Taiwan at the same time. There are more than one level.

What’s more important is that the music partners who collaborated with Cui Jian later became big names in the Chinese music scene, such as the original guzheng in "Let Me Go Wild on the Snow" and "Fake Monk" and the earliest solo king. Yong, who came from a guzheng family and won the first prize in national silk and bamboo performance, later went to play electronic music.

The band's wind player Liu Yuan is the master of domestic jazz and is known as the godfather of domestic jazz. He doesn't think twice about jazz saxophone and is proficient in flute , clarinet and suona . Former drummer San'er ( Zhang Yongguang has passed away), Liu Xiaosong was a great percussionist, former keyboard Zang Tianshuo, and bassist Wang Di were also very popular figures.

These have a huge impact on Chinese musicians and the entire Chinese music industry (there are also Tan Weiwei in the generation). The most important thing about an artist's influence in the circle is that it can be passed on through being learned by people in the circle. Cui Jian's works are not only professional but also have a great humanistic spirit. This is undoubtedly achieved in this way.

has been popular for 40 years. Can he still win the Golden Melody Award in his old age? What does Cui Jian mean to the Chinese music scene?

In fact, Cui Jian’s promotion of Chinese rock and Chinese music, his status and influence have long been destined. This time he won the award because he wrote an album in his old age, and at the same time, he was given a professional award next door. . is still the same sentence. Just like Zhang Yimou won the award two years ago, it is of course good if he wins it. It doesn’t matter if he doesn’t win the award.

After all, the more important thing in the current Chinese music scene is the present. Cui Jian, the godfather of rock and roll, won the award. Like the Taiwanese musicians who won the award this year, there is no way to change the ecology of the current Chinese music scene. It is difficult for Chinese rock music to recreate the glory of rock music. Even if it can recreate the glory of rock music, it cannot save the Chinese music scene, right?

As for the ecological issue of the Chinese music scene, I have written about it many times before. The main reason is that with the collapse of the record era, there was no mature music industry chain established in the online digital music era. Later, the short video era came again, and finally combined with the rise of the Internet entertainment industry's traffic economy .

eventually led to the current pop music world where short video songs, Internet songs, and singing and dancing idol music dominate the charts.

However, due to the rapid development of offline music festivals and livehouses, Chinese rock music entered the "underground decade" period after Cui Jian's peak. Because of the accumulation of ten years of independent music development, it was only after 2010 that a bunch of musicians such as Magnum Youth Hotel broke out at the music festival, and now various independent music blossoms and explodes.

China has a population of over one billion. If there are people, there will be music, and if there is music, there will be rock and roll. I think China has never lacked rock and roll, but lacks people who can appreciate music. In an era with soul, all kinds of music software can be viewed Out there, those with truly hard-core techniques and good lyrics and music are not popular.

On the contrary, some "junk fast food music" like burgers and fries has become very popular, which is indeed heartbreaking on the surface. In fact, this is the rise of citizen culture brought about by China's rapid urbanization. In highly developed modern urbanization, due to the pressure of life, work, etc., the cultural consumption pursued by the audience must be entertainment, which is the so-called "nipple music". ".

You see, the most popular music in the world right now is Korean kpop (which sells soft porn), and Hollywood and Marvel blockbusters have little depth.

Chinese rock and roll and other countries in the world at that time gave birth to so many profound popular cultures. It is a result of the times. For example, Huaer Band was punk in the early days. However, there was no soil for punk at that time and later it had to become popular. This It’s similar to the rock circle.

Punk and rock are inseparable in the world. From domestic flies, tongues to flowers, what is dying now is the soil of "punk" or "rebellious" culture. Rock and roll can also be better on the soil of "rebellion" growth. But in this era, or in the coming eras, I’m afraid there won’t be such soil.

If you really understand, you will know why this kind of band led by the "Sex Pistols" appeared, because it was a chaotic and restless era, the influence of world war is still there, and the impact of the " Vietnam War " in the United States Social security, economic pressure, material dissatisfaction, and people's inner confusion and consciousness are colliding. Extending to the music industry, it is a rebellion against the current environment. People need such a voice.

So, The Beatles appeared, the Sex Pistols appeared, and the Ramones all appeared. The subsequent bands were actually products of the rebellious culture influenced by them. China was completely derailed at that time, but there were many major events but things could not be released. After the liberalization in the 1980s, it happened to be the peak of Western rock. When it was introduced, it kept up and became the highest level music type. Now there is no environment for making up classes, and it is bound to be a dead end.

What doesn’t Cui Jian prove by winning the Golden Melody Award? Because the Chinese music scene cannot give birth to the next Cui Jian

. This era is rich and contented, and is highly urbanized and entertainment-oriented. Because short videos and the online digital music market have destroyed mainstream popularity, offline richness can support independent music. This independent music that is getting better and better has just begun to give birth to market-oriented "Internet celebrity bands" and musicians.

This is the choice of this era, the choice of the market, and the choice of the audience.

I have always wished that the scale of Chinese internet celebrity bands would expand tenfold, or even a hundredfold. If even Summer Invasion Project, Orange Sea, and other Internet celebrity bands have hundreds, or even hundreds. Then this kind of Chinese pop has long been recreating the divine songs of short videos, singing and dancing idols and the divine songs of the Internet.

With such a huge physical music industry, how strong will China's top bands and musicians be?

Then there will naturally be bands and musicians that reflect the social reality and cultural spirit of China in this era. At that time, they will not be the next Cui Jian, the next Xie Tianxiao, the next Universal Youth Hostel, but the next era Chinese The godfather of music.

It won’t matter if we don’t have Cui Jian then, because his spirit and influence have been passed down.