Sometimes you may run into something, some people, some memories, favorites that you left behind so long ago. And boom, you were sweetly surprised how they have changed, or not changed at all.
Now the older and wiser version of you can have the luxury to reflect on why you were so fond of them in the first place. You could even venture into whether they had been appropriately evolved and transformed into the new self that still holds the magic of grabbing your affection.
That was the case of I ran into this Chinese rock band yesterday evening online.
The band was formed in the late 80s but only got their national stardom fame when they released their first CD album in 1992.
The band was deemed a "hard" rock in China. Still, they had a distinguished Chinese rock style developed during that era by some gifted young musicians from the metropolitan capital city of Beijing. It is a technique very localized with a strong Beijing dialect, and the style was frozen in time from the later 80s till the early 90s. I hardly heard that style in the later rock music made from China.
Unlike the pop song music arenas, the rock bands from that era usually were very politically oriented. Their songs were full of moral-driven utopian wishes and occasionally self-doubts and growing pains.
They best resonated with the back then still very elite college students and young intellectuals in China.
I first heard their songs from my roommate's music tape cassette in 1993 while studying in Canada. I instantly knew it was from a band from Beijing. Two years later, I found their CD at the Beijing international airport on my way rushing back to Chengdu due to my Dad's car accident.
Back then, they were one of the top rock bands in China, and that album eventually sold 40 million copies.
Then we all moved on. Me onto so many other things, and I have not heard any new songs from this band. But I was very content with the old songs repeatedly played until I lost the CD one day.
I thought the band was perished like many things in China that could not survive the massive transformations and rapid incarnations in the last three decades.
Then, yesterday afternoon, I stumbled onto these old songs of that album on Spotify.
And I was so surprised by their latest album cover of 2021.
The angry youth’s ruthless rough edges and untidiness of theirs were replaced by the refined, poised, polished grown-up looks. They are my generation folks, but now they look remarkably ageless and forever young.
This is another resonating effect that I instantly felt connected and aspired with this band for totally non-musical reasons. :-)
But they did add a new lead singer a few years ago who is almost 20 years younger. The lead singer is a stunning-looking one who reminds me of Takuya Kimura.
I spent the rest of the evening listening to their songs between these 25 years and was glad to find out I did not miss much.
I am happy to notice that the young lead singer is a very talented musician. He finally helped to fill up the gaps left by that best first album and produced something worth people's attention again.
Black Panther is the band’s name. This band is cursed by their best first album. They spent the last thirty years trying to surpass it but never made it.
I am glad the band members had not given up their love of music during that course. More importantly, now they look way much better than their younger selves.
Here is their most liked song of 1992 that still sounds so original in Chinese rock and roll style after all these years.
And my reaction is the latest 2021 song: "well, the new lead singer sang it in style very close to that 1992 hit song”.
Like many of my fellow Chinese music lovers, my music taste is very subjective, and stubborn and this band is cursed forever.
