The word "Rock n'Roll" was born, and Cui Jian was the same age as it, both 60 years old.
In September 2021, after the release of the new album "Flying Dog", some people said that "the old Cui who was once fierce and critical is back", and some people compared "Flying Dog" to Cui Jian's "one step away", saying that he was "long outdated".
Cui Jian didn't think so.
"If fashion is manipulated, I'm still obsolete."
Cui Jian never gave up rock and roll. In Flying Dogs, his counterattack is "walking against the sky"; in "The B Side of Time", he yells "Hey! Lao Tzu has not changed at all! ”
No matter which drama of the times is sung, Cui Jian will always be firmly nailed there, like a hard, sharp nail.
However, whether it is "Flying Dogs" or others, these songs are no longer able to set off the resonance of the mountain and tsunami in the eighties and nineties.
The era and atmosphere in which he became famous are long gone.
Cui Jian is 60 years old this year.
It was his ear-blowing year and his 9th year away from studio albums.
Media people say that after the success of his first few albums, he has more or less contracted some "faults": he has become more like a philosopher, who likes to talk about the core of Western civilization on a daily basis, and musically he has become a cautious person who relies too much on technology and detail.
Cui Jian's recording engineer Li You said: "The two different thicknesses of the snare drum are not much different for the listener, but for him it is very different, today recorded a snare drum sound, the next day he felt that it was too thick, he would ask for another thin re-recording." ”
The disassembly and installation of a set of drums is complicated and takes 2 hours. At the same time, there are more than a dozen microphones facing the stereo, placed around and in the middle of the drum, changing the position of each microphone will produce different effects, which brings more than a hundred thousand possibilities. "A drum takes a week to adjust."
Cui Jian often walked around the room alone with a microphone in the recording studio until he found the sound he wanted.
In the performance market, Cui Jian also showed his "inopportune".
In a program called "Happy China Trip", Cui Jian's band tuned in front of the live audience for 40 minutes, and the host kept rounding the field in the middle, and few TV stations dared to invite Cui Jian again.
In the face of the needs of the market, everyone said that his figure was obviously not as "flexible" as Wang Feng, who once belonged to the same "Jingwen Records" as him.
After 9 years, the "not very flexible" Cui Jian handed over the seventh answer sheet on the music - "Flying Dog".
Cui Jian's new album "Flying Dog"
Cui Jian first sang "Nothing" at the "100 Singers Concert in Commemoration of the International Year of Peace" held at the Beijing Workers' Gymnasium on May 9, 1986.
In 1985, Michael Jackson led the 45-superstar chorus of "We Are The World", which became the most famous public welfare single of all time.
In the same year, in Taiwan, the "Tomorrow Will Be Better" concert initiated by Zhang Aijia and composed by Luo Dayou gathered 62 singers from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia.
Soon, the plan to "gather 100 Chinese mainland to become popular singers and commemorate the International Year of Peace in the same form" began at the initiative of two young editors of china audio and video publishing, Zhang Danli, Wu Haigang and guo Feng, who were not famous at the time.
Cui Jian approached the organizers Wang Yanjun and Wu Haigang and said he had just written a song and hoped to participate in the concert. Performance director Wang Yanjun listed Cui Jian as one of the thirty independent singers and submitted it to the leadership for approval.
The day before the performance, after watching the rehearsal, the leader ventured to issue a "green card" to this love song with a northwest wind.
At that time, it was difficult for more than three singers to pass the approval on the same stage, for fear of "not being able to grasp the direction". Wu Haigang, the organizer, said of the preparation process of the concert - "After countless circles, the legs have run thin, everywhere is a wall, and the nose is flattened." ”
Many defined 1986 as the "first year of Chinese rock and roll" and called that night the "night of the times."
In 1986, Cui Jian debuted on stage to sing "Nothing"
That night, when a hundred singers finished singing "Let the World Be Full of Love", a stunned Young Man wearing a military uniform and with his pants legs tied high and low stepped onto the stage, like an airborne soldier of an era.
He shouted in the sky, "I used to ask endlessly", asked through everyone's unwillingness, and shouted out the loneliness and bitterness of a generation with an unprecedented posture and voice.
Some kind of awakening seemed to freeze in that moment.
From now on, that performance was earth-shattering. At the time, my palms were sweaty.
Inspired by the Xintianyou of the Northwest, Cui Jian creatively incorporated ethnic instruments such as the guzheng, guzheng, flute, and flute, and boldly added the characteristics and rhythms of punk, jazz, African pop music, and rap.
In the past, no one could have imagined that the silk bamboo orchestra, which was known for its subtle elegance, could appear on the same stage with the passionate rock music.
Although the public knows that "Nothing" is just a love song written by Cui Jian to his girlfriend, this song has become a milestone and made Cui Jian a symbol. As Teresa Teng unbanned, Beatles and Rolling Stone's voices sporadically came from underground, Cui Jian was thrust into the center of the stage.
Cui Jian represents not only Cui Jian himself, but also his music itself.
Young people with guitars on the street, after reading Kitajima's "I Don't Believe", sang "Nothing". They not only began to imitate Cui Jian's voice, head, and posture, but also began to imitate the "who loves whom" energy.
Fame came too suddenly, and even Cui Jian himself felt that it was too easy, completely ignorant. "It seems to have been bribed by the times."
DJ Li Qing, a man born in the 1980s, said: "Our youth met Cui Jian in the 1980s, just like american youth met Bob Dylan in the 1960s, and they all found a way to decipher the inner thinking and cognition of the surroundings at the right time. ”
Later, in the interview, Cui Jian always had to face these similar questions: Have you changed? Are you still angry? Do you feel like you still belong to this era?
Cui Jian's blood was red, but the bones were blue. He euphemistically told every reporter: "My best times are behind us. ”
The 1980s belonged to Cui Jian after all.
Lennon said, "We are like the flagpole of a ship on the sea that does not know where to go." At first, no one knew where to go, and it was floating on the sea.
Cui Jian is the "flagpole" that is pushed up by the waves.
In February 1989, his first album, born at the right time, became a myth. Nine songs, each of which is a classic, are sung to the north and south of the river.
The name Cui Jian was on fire.
This is China's first ever original rock album", there have been seven versions, and the genuine and pirated copies have sold more than 10 million copies.
In April 1989, it was renamed "Nothing" and was successively issued by local agents in Hong Kong and Taiwan.
In 1994, Magic Rock Records, a subsidiary of Taiwan's Rolling Stone Records, simultaneously released three albums by mainland rock singers: Dou Wei's "Black Dream", He Yong's "Junkyard" and Zhang Chu's "Lonely People Are Shameful".
Under the operation of the commercial company, the "Three Masters of magic rocks", the Tang Dynasty Band and Cui Jian were finally heard by the young people on the other side of the strait.
In the early 1990s, taiwanese pop music was already very developed, and there were also rock music such as Zhang Yusheng and Zhao Chuan, but these and the wild power emitted from rock music such as Cui Jian and Tang Dynasty Band were completely two audiovisual experiences.
Music fans in Taiwan are accustomed to listening to Western rock music, and suddenly heard a very powerful Chinese rock music and felt "very shocked".
Rock music, as a form of popular music that emerged after China's reform and opening up, was not initially recognized by the mainstream culture of society in the 1980s.
Until Cui Jian appeared.
People shouted "one two three four five six seven", touching their own heartbeats, waiting for the arrival of the big era.
Cui Jian's old friend Liang Heping described him as "Renaissance Dante". The red background portrait that the photographer took for him in the past few years has been given the meaning of Che Guevara for a long time to come.
They were printed with posters, school bags, undershirts, and banners.
The first row of Cui Jian's concerts will always be filled with private entrepreneurs born in the 1960s. During the tough times of entrepreneurship, their factory put his "Nothing". In the 5 years of hard training in Switzerland, Olympic champion Li Donghua in the 90s has always listened to Cui Jian's "False Walking Monk".
By the end of the 1980s, Cui Jian's rock was unstoppable.
After its song was released in Hong Kong and Taiwan, it set off a whirlwind of Beijing rock. In 1988, the Band Beyond came to Beijing to perform, and Huang Jiaju sang "Nothing".
Cui Jian even went abroad. In April 1993, he led the band to Japan to participate in the Asian Voices cultural exchange event.
Since then, Cui Jian has rejected a 5 million yuan ad for vodka, the first time a Chinese rock star has been endorsed by an international brand.
The second time, in May 2011, Wang Feng became the spokesperson for General Motors' Chevrolet Passach 4WD off-road vehicles.
Cui Jian, who is so popular in the folk, has not been accepted by the mainstream music circle.
Prior to "Nothing", Cui Jian worked as a trumpet player in the Beijing Song and Dance Troupe. In 1984, Wen Bo, a pipa player of the Beijing Song and Dance Troupe Folk Band (now the Beijing Chinese Orchestra), was inspired by foreign rock bands and wanted to form his own band.
"I heard that foreign countries are all bands, at least four or five people, all the voices are very complete, there are bass, rhythm, lead voice and other things, so I thought, let's just set up a band." 」
The band is called "Plywood". Cui Jian is the youngest member of the band.
The plywood band, the first on the right is Cui Jian
The "Plywood Band" mainly sang cover English and Japanese songs, playing Western pop music in small restaurants in Beijing, and was one of the earliest bands established in Beijing at that time.
The members of the band are all from the Beijing Song and Dance Troupe, and even the musical instruments of the band were purchased by the song and dance troupe after Wenbo applied to the troupe. The first performance was in the CPPCC Auditorium. "White shirt, black bow tie, suit." Although formally dressed, it was the first time the band had performed standing.
"It turns out that the posture we play is sitting, whether it is folk music or orchestra, I have never seen such a standing on the stage, and I still hang out." Cui Jian recalled.
In the only published tape, "Plywood Singing Album", the back cover of the photo shows the members of the "Plywood Band" wearing jeans, looking like the Hong Kong and Taiwan flavor of the 80s. Knowledgeable people have heard that Cui Jian during the "plywood" period has begun to imitate Pink Floyd, Simon & Garfunkel and John Denver.
Cui Jian once summed up the feeling of rock and roll music into three "self": self-confidence - don't lose yourself; nature - don't force yourself; freedom - liberate yourself.
This year marks 35 years since the birth of Chinese rock. It's hard to imagine that this mild-mannered young man who once wore a suit and a bow tie would lead the Chinese rock music scene through 35 years of ups and downs.
On July 16, 1988, the people's daily literary and art headlines explored the Phenomenon of Cui Jian from a social perspective with an article titled "From 'Nothing' to Rock 'n' Roll – Why Cui Jian's Works Are Popular".
This is the first time a rock singer has been featured in the mainstream media in the mainland. Cui Jian's "fire" has reached a point that cannot be ignored.
In March 1989, "Nothing" won the Golden Melody Award for the New Era Decade awarded by People's Daily and the China International Cultural Exchange Center.
But for a long time in the past, Cui Jian's rock career was in full swing, but at the same time, he faced an embarrassing situation.
Cui Jian with band members
In the same year that Cui Jian appeared on the stage of the "100 Singers Concert in Commemoration of the International Year of Peace", he and the "Plywood Band" participated in the Peacock Cup National Folk Song and Popular Song Grand Prix sponsored by the Chinese Musicians Association.
In a group of players who sang the accompaniment tape, they sang two original songs: "Not I Don't Understand" and "The Last Complaint". Because the singing method was difficult to accept by the mainstream at that time, the band was eliminated in the first round of competition.
On the one hand, the popularity of the folk, on the other hand, the mainstream music circle does not accept, Cui Jian's music has been branded with unusual traces since he was born.
According to media reports, in 1992, his Tianjin concert ended in a hurry due to a live brawl, and the next day's performance was canceled. Beginning at the end of the year, Cui Jian was unable to hold a major performance in Beijing for 13 years.
During the days when he could not perform, he cracked down on piracy, engaged in the real singing movement, and performed for charity fundraising. His new song became obsessed with rap, and in "Bastards" he expressed criticism with 70 lines of lyrics. "It's about facing the world, like a news commentary."
Cui Jian, 60, most often hangs a sentence on his lips, "I am surrounded by children after 90, and they can't survive me." ”
To this day, this old man with white frost on his sideburns and stubble is still active in the major performance scenes, singing for two or three hours.
Everyone else was worried that he would get tired. "You just have to sing three or four songs." Instead, he felt that this way was good for his health.
Retirement does not exist in Cui Jian's schedule.
"I think the so-called middle-aged men actually have to work. As long as you work, you're acknowledging that you're still middle-aged. You do something you really enjoy, and I even feel like it helps your organs to recover. ”
The blood of rock and roll is given to Cui Jian by his parents.
Cui Jian was born in Beijing in 1961 to literary and art workers to both parents. Influenced by his family, he learned trumpet from an early age and became a professional trumpet player in the Beijing Song and Dance Troupe at the age of 20.
At that time, Beijing's "army compound" was a gathering place for new trends, and it was at that time that the young Cui Jian came into contact with rock and roll.
At the age of 60, Cui Jian has changed, and it seems that he has not changed. Rock 'n' roll has been in his blood for him, and his own life is a classic rock 'n' roll.
He was well-managed, still skinny, and still wore the iconic red five-pointed star on his hat.
He still enjoys his work, often stays up late to create, and installs a very soundproof device at home, except that the drum cannot be played, and the "blowing bomb pull" will not disturb the people. For the song, his request is that "you can't take it out if you don't get excited when you listen to it."
Sometimes, Cui Jian also appears in livehouses such as MAO and Yugong Moving Mountain where young people gather.
Performing in these places are mostly young bands that are sought after by young fans. Many singers who have been famous for many years, such as Wang Feng and Zheng Jun, rarely stand under the stage like this and watch others perform like this.
However, Cui Jian still maintains enough curiosity about the world.
Cui Jian refused to ask questions in terms of time, saying that he had never been in a hurry and would "grow old gracefully" in the future.
"If I had the chance to be on the cover of a fashion magazine at the age of 80, I'm afraid I wouldn't shy away from it." If there is a record of the highest age, I am ready to break this record. ”
Cui Jian found that time and himself were in the same group.
"I found it to be a very good friend, and it protected some of my states, and it protected some of my beliefs, so I had enough self-confidence to keep going."
Looking back at the 35 years of rock and roll, what makes Cui Jian feel the happiest is not the night of the Beijing Workers' Gymnasium, the middle-aged people after the 60s crying and shouting "A Red Cloth" offstage, but the post-90s teenagers singing "Blue Bones" and calling him "torso" offstage!
The pronunciation of "Cui Jian" is the same as "qu-gan" in Cantonese.