In that novelty of vientiane in the eighties, fashion was exploding, and so were the hairstyles of fashionable men and women.
Exploding heads, flared pants, toad mirrors, break dancing, paired with the first generation of electronic disco, countless young men and women stepping on thunderbolt shoes swaying in the disco, the breath of the new world squeezed into the long-closed society, even breathing is a feeling of prosperity...
The cabarets of the time sprang up like dandelions in the air, looping the song "My Eighties" over and over again.
The dynamic rhythm is mixed with the psychedelic electronic style that makes people obsessed, coupled with the electric voice of the scream, people are dancing more and more vigorously on the dance floor, when someone always stops and gasps for breath and asks the partner: "Hey! Do you know who the singing man is? ”
The young man next to him said excitedly, "Zhang Qiang! Anyone else who doesn't know her? ”
Thirty years ago, the girls and boys who stepped on the electric tone danced disco, completely disregarding the feelings of the elderly; thirty years later, it was these people who danced, but the soundtrack was replaced by the elderly disco in the square, completely disregarding the feelings of the young people...
Still this song, still these people, but the eighties that belonged to them have long since slipped away.
From the height of the building, everything in Vientiane changed, as if only Zhang Qiang was still standing at the tip of the times, stubbornly keeping the explosive head, singing the most nostalgic disco, but the electric voice was as vibrant as new, in the words of Su Yang (singer and music critic): "The voice is pretentious, like a hair, sexy and confused." ”
Now fifty-year-old Zhang Qiang is still avant-garde, exploring more and more, can't help but wonder, in the end she can't catch up with this era, or the times can't catch up with her?
Since childhood, Zhang Qiang has had a rebellious stubbornness.
Born in the 1960s, Beijing Da Ni'er, although born into poverty, was early on the forefront of fashion.
Her parents divorced, and she and her brother lived with their mother. Mama Zhang is a violinist of the China Film Symphony Orchestra, and in the words of the time, she can also be regarded as a trendy child of the times, a pure literary and artistic young woman.
The idea she instilled in her daughter from an early age was not to live like most people, but to live as she liked.
In that closed 60s, Zhang Ma's thinking could be described as ahead of the ordinary, and there was even a risk of being criticized, but what she did not expect was that her daughter not only lived to be what she liked in the future, but also lived to be the way everyone loved...
Under the fashionable education of Zhang Ma, Zhang Qiang in the primary school era dared to go to class with a head of curly hair, and the teacher who left "five or five points" on the podium spat wildly, and from time to time glanced at Xiao Zhang's wool roll and shook her head and sighed, and the next day Zhang Mama was invited into the principal's room to drink tea, but this still could not stop the enthusiasm of the mother and daughter for hairstyles.
At that time, the perm was particularly popular, the best barber shop in Beijing was called "Silian", perm hair is not only expensive but also perm invoices, but people who love life can always find a path in the gully, isn't it permed hair? Zhang Mama thought to herself, what is the difference between that and playing the violin?
Just do it, she studied Barbara carefully. Streisand's movie poster decided to give her daughter the same explosive head.
Found the stove hook, chopsticks and wash paper, nine-year-old Xiao Zhang looked at the red tongtong stove hook shivering, in a pig-like operation finally finished, in addition to the strands of burning pig hair burnt smell, the other is no different from the movie heroine, and finally use The Weiner Treasure shampoo to set a shape! Perfect replica!
Since then, the explosive head seems to have been welded to her head and has become her exclusive image symbol.
At that time, literary and art workers led the trend of the times, and Mama Zhang was no exception. In addition to his love of dressing up, he did not forget to force Amway for his daughter.
Other parents put on small pink shoes for their children, tied small bows, Zhang Mama is different, she rarely pours all kinds of small sequins and small flowers on her daughter, even the shoes are shiny, and the aura of leading them out completely crushes children of the same age, which makes her lay a confident background from a young age.
Seventeen years old, she wears a camisole shorts through the streets of Beijing, exaggerated large earrings seem to be about to fall down the ears, such a "strange dress" has attracted frequent surprises from passers-by, but she does not care, forty years ago the fashionable Zhang has understood a truth - self-confidence, as long as they are not embarrassed, the embarrassment is others!
In 1984, Zhang Qiang, a young girl who loved singing, plucked up enough courage to participate in the CCTV Youth Song Contest, so the formal program friends advised her to dress solemnly, so Xiao Zhang changed into bat shirts and big leather boots, thinking that this should be formal enough, right? The judges at the scene looked at her with a look of shock and thought that this was an "overseas Chinese" from Hong Kong and Taiwan.
The end result was obvious, she was eliminated because of exaggerated styling and eccentric singing.
Xiao Zhang, who lost the first battle, quickly recovered, put on the camisole and small pants again, in addition to practicing song is to plunge into the snack bar of Niu Street with friends, fried cakes, donkey rolls, Ai Wo Wo ...
What was bad for her throat she loved to eat. But no matter how she ate or how she ate, her voice was always clean and clear, as if she was guarded by angels.
For her daughter's talent, Zhang Mama has always looked in her eyes, so she secretly made a decision for her daughter.......
In 1985, the Yunnan Audio-Visual Society went to the Central Song and Dance Troupe to select actors, and it happened that Zhang Ma's girlfriend was working there, so she told Zhang Qiang about it.
Mama Zhang suggested to her daughter that the world is so big, you have to go and see it.
Most mothers love the child who wants their children to live as they want them to be; only a few can let their children be themselves, because they understand that protection is useless, and the ups and downs of life are not something that parents' hands can hold up and avoid.
Subsequently, Zhang Qiang sent a "Sad Movie" in the past, and within a few days, she received an audition invitation from the Yunnan Music Society, which had no intention of trying, and even opened the Pandora's box that the girl had accumulated for a long time.
In the sweltering heat of July, Xiao Zhang rushed to Yunnan on a green-skinned train to record, and the uncle on the other side looked at her black stockings with a shocked face, trembled and asked: "Girl, what kind of sweater pants to wear in the summer?" The people in the company laughed: "Uncle, those are stockings, not sweaters..."
Zhang Qiang also giggled, and the moving train carried the joy of jumping to the distance, and the tension of traveling alone was instantly dissipated, as if the bright hope was close at hand.
Before recording, the boss talked to her - record one card to bring 1400, record two to 9000.
Xiao Zhang broke his finger for half a day and did not understand, why is one 1400, two is almost ten thousand? What are those three?? Oops, record it and say it again!
Half a month later, two of her new albums were released— Tokyo Nights and Shy Girl.
In the early eighties, although multiculturalism exploded, people's thinking was still relatively traditional, let alone singing, and there were very few singers who dared to praise their hearts with a brisk and open melody like Zhang Qiang, so "Tokyo Night" was loved by young people as soon as it was sold, and 600,000 were sold out in the blink of an eye.
At that time, the boss was also stupid, and quickly let the people at the bottom work overtime to make and ship, everyone worked three shifts, and the truck transporting the tape was outside all night, and after the rush to buy, the boss counted the total sales volume - 2.5 million boxes.
18-year-old Zhang Qiang, debut almost became a million yuan household, but these are not worth mentioning compared with the income she brought to the company, although most of them are cover songs, but her singing voice is unique, walking in the forefront of fashion that year.
She was red, and the boss also earned, so the company shook the cash cow tree while it was hot. According to statistics, in just one year from 1985 to 1986, she released a total of 19 albums!
What is the concept of 19 sheets? I am afraid that the voice of the ordinary singer has already run away, but Zhang Qiang has sung more and more vigorously, and has not been affected by the overload recording.
Therefore, some people say that her throat was kissed by an angel may be an egg, it should be that she snatched the angel's throat and it is almost the same!
At this time, she was in the limelight, and even crushed Teresa Teng at the same time.
Unlike her, Xiao Deng took the pure love route of renmei and sweet, while Zhang Qiang was like a lazy and uninhibited wild cat, her voice was artificial but not annoying, half of the style and half of the mouth, like an attacking cat, she couldn't help but break into people's vision.
After becoming popular, she appeared on the cover of Time Magazine, becoming the first Chinese artist interviewed, and Time also starred her with Whitney. Houston, Jennifer. Rush and Teresa Teng became the "world's most popular female singer", and she ranked third, which was a little higher than Deng Jr. at the time.
April 1986 Time Magazine cover Zhang Qiang and his mother
In particular, the cover song "The Little Girl Under the Street Lamp", which was sung from "Brother Louie", was popular throughout the 1980s and became the brainwashing divine comedy of the disco dance at that time.
But in 1987, Zhang Qiang, who was red and purple, suddenly announced that she was going abroad... The exact reason remains a mystery.
It is said that she was completely banned at that time, perhaps because of the copyright problem of the cover song that was not governed by the time, which led to piracy, or it may be the so-called melancholy.
In short, she lost all her public exposure, compared to other singers, she was just a singer who had published an album, no concerts, no interviews, no one even knew what she looked like...
At this time, she was just 20 years old, as if a small stone startled the calm of the lake and then quickly fell silent...
In 1987, Zhang Qiang, whose career was frustrated, went to Australia and spent a period of quiet and comfortable life in this open and free land.
She spends her free time traveling with friends in her spare time, but she prefers smaller cities like Adelaide than big cities like Sydney and Melbourne.
Whenever driving with friends in the vast wilderness, there is a disco in the car, the desert on both sides is gradually drifting away, the running kangaroos run with the car, the sky is high and far away, wandering freely, feeling that all the troubles are not worth mentioning...
A year later, Zhang Qiang returned to China, and what was surprising was that she did not rush to make a comeback, but married in a low-key manner, and quickly became pregnant and had a child, after which she was completely lost.
In her words: "I really don't care what people think of me, precipitate it and bloom, just like my name, rose, rose rose." ”
Since her parents divorced, she has always longed for a perfect family, and this marriage almost exhausted all her fantasies and efforts for the relationship, but in the end it ended in failure. When Huaxin's husband split her legs, she still resolutely chose divorce.
Sometimes people really cherish the more passive, the more they care about what is more likely to make mistakes. Zhang Qiang, who walked on thin ice in marriage, failed to give her children a complete home, repeating the same mother's old path.
In 1996, she decided to make a comeback, but seemed to miss the best era of the Chinese music scene, which was also an era of explosion.
At that time, many outstanding singers sprung up one after another, and the most popular Mao Ning, Yang Yuying, Lin Yilun, Sun Yue, Chen Lin, the most popular in the 1990s... Which one is more popular than Zhang Qiang, not to mention that she has long faded from the public eye for nearly ten years, and it is too difficult to stir up any waves on the surface of the sea.
After the release of her debut album "Swing" after the comeback, the sales were dismal, and in the face of big data, the company team had to admit that Zhang Qiang's era was far away, and the eighties that belonged to her no longer existed.
After that, she had to eat the old book, rely on the popularity she had accumulated to participate in TV shows, various commercial performances to earn some living expenses, until 2012, she met Peng Lei of the "New Pants Band" by chance, and the two began to appreciate each other's cooperative relationship.
At the Strawberry Music Festival that same year, she teamed up with the new pants, and when the rhythm of "The Little Girl under the Street Lamp" sounded again, it seemed to be back in the golden eighties, hundreds of thousands of heads were crowded, and in the dynamic beat, it was like a psychedelic disco party.
Yes, Zhang Qiang turned red again, still singing her disco.
The new album "Don't Ask Me What a Disco" in 2013, produced by Peng Lei, is a magical blend of electronic psychedelic and disco, coupled with Zhang Qiang's unique metal voice, which has conquered countless listeners once it was released, and has reminded countless people of their youth memories of the 1980s.
This album is almost a first classic. For example, the title song "Don't Ask Me What is Disco", "My Eighties", "Bye bye Disco", etc., the retro rhythm with the characteristic singing voice of the Queen of Electronic Music seems to be in the disco scene, but it does not make people feel noisy, but full of memories of warmth.
And the inspiration for the song "Tractor Ski" is even more bizarre, it is said that Zhang Qiang has a hobby is to soak in hotels, hotels around the world are almost lived by her over and over again, one day Peng Lei asked her where to go after recording the song, she casually said: "Go back to Kempinski Fitness!" Therefore, Peng Lei wrote this brainwashing divine comedy.
Today, Zhang Qiang, who is over fifty years old, is still active in the public eye, still exaggerated style, confident smile, the years do not seem to leave any traces on her face, she is still her, a person who really enjoyed the eighties.
But there is indeed a little change, at the age of 30, her dream is to travel around the world, and when she really goes abroad, she finds that she is still lingering in this land, whether it brings her sadness or glory, born in Si, a fallen leaf will eventually return to the roots.
"I still like to stay in Beijing, I always think of when I was a child, my family rode a bicycle to Tiananmen Square, sat on the ground when they were tired of riding, drank soda and chatted about the sky, I missed that carefree little girl..."
Editor's Epilogue
Some people say that Zhang Qiang's voice cannot be copied;
Some people say that there is a place where she appears that does not need to be repaired, and she is also the only strange woman who does not need to be repaired.
A year of popularity, ten years of loneliness, another decade of tepidness, does the music scene owe her a position she deserves?
However, people with real strength do not need to prove themselves with applause, as long as the rhythm sounds, life is re-injected with vitality.
Fifty-year-old Zhang Qiang, still rebellious, still exploring, still has light in her eyes, everything, still on the road.......