Today, the music is just a dream, and this landmark of southern Taiwan’s entertainment industry has disappeared. The economy took off, and the sound of string singing began. In 1962, Taiwan TV launched the singing program "Stars Club" on the screen. From then on, popular songs en

Once upon a time, Kaohsiung ’s Sapphire Cabaret led Taiwan’s “show culture.” Today, the music is just a dream, and this landmark of southern Taiwan’s entertainment industry has disappeared. A residential building named "Sapphire" replaced it to commemorate the glory of that year.

The economy took off, and the singing began.

In 1962, Taiwan TV started broadcasting, and the singing program "Stars Club" appeared on the screen. From then on, popular songs entered a new era. Through the far-reaching spread of television, people on the island have greatly increased their interest in singers, and they hope to see the singer's true appearance, so they have a desire to go to karaoke bars to listen to music.

Compared with Taipei, which has a large number of TV stations, it is difficult to see celebrities in southern Taiwan. This has more or less created the trend of watching shows in the south than in the north. As Taiwan's economy takes off, people begin to spend more money on leisure and entertainment. Compared with other places, Kaohsiung's economic development has been advancing by leaps and bounds due to port, steel, and petrochemical construction, giving the karaoke hall an external environment suitable for development.

In 1975, Cai Youyou and his wife Chen Ying founded Sapphire Cabaret. The cabaret is not far from Kaohsiung Railway Station, and the convenient transportation brings a lot of people. As long as there is a holiday and residents in Kaohsiung and surrounding counties and cities want to see celebrities, Sapphire has become the best choice. The rise of karaoke bars has also led to the development of the surrounding areas. The entire alley is filled with businesses attracted by the crowds. Southeast Theater, Northwest Theater, Today Theater, Shixiong Ballroom, and Sun City Western Restaurant have also been opened nearby, which complement each other with Sapphire Cabaret. In the early days of

, the amount spent in the karaoke bar was NT$20. After Sapphire opened, the ticket price increased to 50 yuan. Due to the large number of competitors entering the market, there has been a shortage of singers. Singers who often rush to the show are either seriously late or take temporary leave. Many karaoke bars have to spend a lot of money to hire Hong Kong singers to help.

As the number of singers increased, the number of songs became less and less. They kept singing the same few songs over and over again, and were ridiculed by fans as "it seems like there is a singing competition held every night." As a result, composers Luo Mingdao, Zuo Hongyuan, Liu Jiachang, as well as lyricists Jia Zhuangnu and Shen Zhi appeared, making the island's music scene, which had always relied on "Hong Kong aid", gradually become self-sufficient, especially "Today is no longer The emergence of best-selling songs such as "Go Home" and "The Past Can Only Be Reminisced" not only established a distinctive style in the Taiwanese music scene, but also further became popular in the Chinese area.

Pornographic underworld, popular stars

Times are changing, and the nature of listening to music has also changed a lot. In the past, fans bought tickets purely because they liked listening to music and liked someone. However, as the social atmosphere becomes increasingly flashy, simply listening to music can no longer satisfy consumers.

As a result, the entertainment industry has added a variety of programs, such as singing dramas, comedy farces, interviews with host gags, and even some dirty jokes intentionally or unintentionally. Over a long period of time, it is inevitable that people will become obsessed with it and the karaoke hall will become a place where pornography is used.

In addition, shows are frequently controlled by gangsters, and disputes are frequently reported on the social pages of newspapers. For example, in 1983, a certain singer had a grudge against someone due to a dispute at a show. Later, when he performed at the Sapphire Cabaret, he was shot and injured by a gangster. This news shocked the whole Taiwan. The singing hall gradually became filled with mud and sand, a mixture of fish and dragons.

Of course, Sapphire Cabaret has also made many celebrities popular. In addition to Zhu Geliang and Ling Feng, there are also He Yihang who passed away some time ago, as well as Yu Tian, Xing Feng, Zhang Fei ( Fei Yuqing's brother) and others. Actresses are no exception. Famous actors such as Brigitte Lin, Chung Chu-hong, Joey Wong, Chiu Ya-chi and Feng Baobao are all here to show off their singing voices. Among them, Chung Chu-hong set a record of being paid NT$4 million for a week of singing in 1989, which was equal to her salary for a movie at that time.

The popularity of sapphire has spread to various industries. Even the scalpers outside the karaoke hall are making a lot of money every day by selling tickets for 1,000 yuan each.

As the times advance, the karaoke hall declines.

However, the good times did not last long. Soon, the show culture began to decline and gradually declined.

The emergence of video tapes in the 1980s has allowed more people to see celebrities. For only NT$10, you can rent a video tape, which is much more cost-effective than buying high-priced tickets at a karaoke bar. "Zhu Geliang Cabaret Show" is the earliest karaoke show video released in Taiwan, and the early recording location was at Sapphire Cabaret. Unexpectedly, this seriously affected the latter's business.

The fans stopped coming, and even the singers were reluctant to come to the karaoke hall. At that time, Taiwan's TV industry was developing rapidly, with more and more viewers. Singers transformed into TV stars. The advertising fees for their programs, additional construction site shows, advertisements and other commercial opportunities increased, which became their main source of income, and they gradually gave up. Perform in a karaoke hall.

And the vicious competition between karaoke bars is a major reason for the closure of karaoke bars. In order to hire big-name artists to attract audiences, karaoke bars have offered high prices to compete for artists, and the price tags for singers are getting higher and higher. The increase in cost is naturally reflected in the ticket price, which has increased from the initial NT$20 to NT$600, making it unaffordable for the public. Due to reduced box office revenue, karaoke operators were unable to cope with rising costs and had to suspend karaoke operations.

And the audience's boredom was also the reason for the decline of the karaoke hall. Because every day of the same schedule, the karaoke hall performs the same program. Even if it is the next performance, the artists invited and the parts of the performance are always the same. After watching it for a few years, the audience gradually loses the freshness. After some karaoke bars introduced vulgar and pornographic performances, intellectuals considered the karaoke halls to be dirty places. Coupled with the increasingly common occurrence of gangster disputes, the public's evaluation of karaoke bars gradually declined.

In 1995, Sapphire Cabaret, which once had a reputation among singers as saying, "It's difficult to become a singer if you haven't been to Sapphire", sadly closed its doors.

In recent years, some scholars have proposed to build a Kaohsiung karaoke museum, or to use the elderly group and the mainland group as the main customer groups, and to combine tourism with live performances, but the effect is not satisfactory.

Because, the trend is over.