"The Godfather of Ronin Rock" - Wu Bai

Oral Broadcasting:

Hello listeners, I am lingxi, the anchor of the Ewha Sound Training Institute, and the program you are hearing now is my personal radio program Lingxi's time music station, welcome to listen.

In every episode of the show, I want to share some good pop classics with you, listen to old songs together, and reminisce about the past.

Long hair, black clothes, sunglasses, sweating on the stage, still holding a guitar cool singing, his recognizable voice, any singer is irreplaceable, this is most people's evaluation of Wu Bai, he set off a Taiwanese rock boom, countless musicians have been enlightened by him, he is also known as the "rock godfather".

I believe that every friend who loves rock and roll has a dream, that is, to listen to Wu Bai's concert. He debuted 32 years ago, and china blue 30 years, creating many excellent works, such as "Ronin Love Song", "Suddenly Self", "Norwegian Forest", "White Dove", etc., whether it is Wu Bai's charming stage performance, or his emotional music, and the tacit understanding with ChinaBlue, he has repeatedly proved that he is "King of Live" (pronounced lɑiv).

Li Zongsheng once commented on him: "Listening to Wu Bai's music, knowing yourself and the world." ”

Remember that idol drama "Want to See You" in 2020? With the popularity of this drama, a "Last Dance" that runs through the entire idol drama successfully made Wu Bai, who is in his 50s, re-ignite among young people, and Wu Bai, who sang this song, and sang the lyrics of "So temporarily close your eyes", the standard action of covering your eyes with his fingers was also imitated by actors and fans. Many viewers felt that this song was surprised at first, and then listened to it, and finally became the top of the young people's single loop. Don't know if there are you in it?

Many viewers are curious about the reason why they chose "Last Dance" for the TV series, it is said that in addition to the chronological match, the lyrics and the story of the play are very compatible, and Wu Bai's singing voice has a sense of nostalgia, it is because this song was the first song on the B side of the tape of "The End of Love" at that time. And because the recording has the characteristics of rewinding and looping, it is quite similar to the concept of the timeline in the play.

In this album, the first song of A-side is his most popular "Summer Night Wind", and Wu Bai sings his rock romance into the song. Although his Hokkien Mandarin is not so standard in terms of biting words, in this way, he sings love songs without being abrupt. With the refreshing breeze of summer blowing away sweat, if there is a song destined to be summer, it must be this old-school romantic song of Wu Bai.

Speaking of Wu Bai, although we are not strangers, we probably know that this is actually his stage name, so why did he give it this name? Wu Bai's original name was Wu Junlin, because when he went to school, he was a bully, and the five homework were all one hundred points, so he gave himself the title of "Wu Bai".

However, his initial dream was not to be a singer, but to become a painter, and due to the harsh environment at home, he could not realize his dream. By chance, he saw MTV's guitarist playing music and was fascinated by it, and since then he has been exposed to guitars and liked it.

After graduating from high school, Wu Bai did not enter the university, he came to Taipei from his hometown, did all kinds of work to subsidize the family, the most difficult time, Wu Bai sold insurance on the street, the result was that no one was willing to look at him for a whole week, and finally the boss had no patience, not only did not give him a salary, but also was pulled into the blacklist by the boss.

In order to balance dreams and reality, under the introduction of friends, Wu Bai came to work at a happy company, but unfortunately, the boss could not accept that employees only played guitar and did not sell guitars. Wu Bai, who had no place to go, could only go to the bar to sing, when a person appeared, thus changing his life, this person was Ni Chonghua.

Ni Chonghua saw that Wu Bai was a malleable talent, so after some consultation between the two, Wu Bai signed a contract with Ni Chonghua's company. It didn't take long for the album "Falling in Love with Someone Else is a Happy Thing", and this album had a mediocre response, with sales of only 20,000 copies, which can be said to be very dismal, with less than half of the average singer's score. Wu Bai began to look for various reasons, he felt that to break the world's inherent impression of music, he alone was weak, he could form a team to work together, so the "China Blue" band was formed.

China Blue is composed of lead singer and guitarist Wu Bai, bassist and group leader Zhu Jianhui, keyboardist Yu Dahao, and drummer Dino. The band was formed in 1992 and has been around for 30 years, making it a proper veteran band. As for why they took this name, it is said that one day when they were thinking about the name of the band, Dino read an English word "Jungle", Wu Bai they repeated it several times, they felt that the pronunciation was very similar to "China", and Wu Bai liked blues, so the name of the band was set as "China Blue China Blue". Later, Dino also said that in fact, the meaning of "China" does not only refer to China, it also means ceramics, so China Blue is also beautiful if translated as "blue pottery".

Because the previous album response was mediocre, in order to make his musical path go farther and farther, Wu Bai began to reflect on how to balance his musical concept with the needs of the audience. So there is a "Ronin Love Song", a classic to this day. It was also from this album that the name China Blue and Wu Bai began to be connected together, and have never been separated again.

But even so, this album did not catch fire, he followed the advice of his own Bole Ni Chonghua, went to Live House to perform, accumulated experience, and slowly expanded the market. In 1995, Wu Bai & China Blue could be seen in major Live Houses and music festivals, and they also became the common memory of many music fans.

According to the music fans who have watched the scene to share: a small Pub that can only stand full of 500 people, the day actually poured into a thousand crowds, all the people are full of unbearable excitement, singing loudly and unsentimentally, the rhythm of the body and the music are almost integrated, only because Wu Bai's Live is a real "sound place". In the same year, Wu Bai also released the album "Wu Bai's LIVE - Wasted Youth", this album recorded his resident PUB live recording video, and was also selected as one of the top ten albums by the Chinese Musicians Exchange Association, and he quickly became popular after its release.

Because of the success of the "Wu Bai's LIVE" album, the pressure of fame has made Wu Bai rethink the nature of music and the direction of creation, from blues rock to new Taiwanese songs, new editors of old songs and even new music representatives in Taiwan. He knew very well that all he was trying to find was the possibilities of music. "Because of greed, you have to try everything." Wu Bai said. When he was creating, he was very "selfish", and he could first satisfy himself before he could move others.

It was at this time that a classic of the classics was born, that is, "Norwegian Forest", a song inspired by the novel of the same name by Japanese writer Haruki Murakami. At that time, Wu Bai had just finished reading Haruki Murakami's book, and he had the feeling to write a song, but because he could not find a suitable name for a while, he continued to use the name of the book. This song sings a confused emotional attitude, between people, even if it is intimate, but there is always a forest in the heart that no one else can ever walk into, where there is a pure land in the deepest part of everyone's soul.

Just like Wu Bai's attitude towards life expressed in music, he never sets limits on himself and is willing to make new attempts in various directions. In addition to composing lyrics for himself, he has also created many classic works for many singers, such as Andy Lau's "World First", Jacky Cheung's "If This Is Not Love", etc. His songs cross the traces of history and span the dimension of time, always bringing different feelings to the audience.

Someone once asked Wu Bai to perform, just wanting him to attend alone, no need to bring a band, fake singing can be, but Wu Bai immediately refused after hearing it, only because he had already tied his name to China blue. In the 30 years since its establishment, the team members have never changed, they have not only opened up the era of Taiwanese rock bands, but also touched countless juniors and music lovers with their works and stages.

One of the most profound is "White Dove", which can be said to represent wu Bai's highest achievement. With a sincere voice, he asks everyone to feel his inner confession, this album does not focus on the love of men and women in the world, but adds the care for the whole society and the people. He believes that as a creator, with so many supporters, he should do more and deeper things, so that he can re-listen to it in the future, and he will not be ashamed.

The song originated from a social event at that time, there was a pregnant woman who was shot in a department store, because the law at that time did not allow the induction of a 6-month-old fetus, and the cesarean section could only be performed during the treatment process, resulting in the death of the fetus, and the pregnant woman also became a vegetative person.

This song has also influenced countless descendants of the orchestra, and Wu Bai can be said to be a name that they could not bypass when they grew up. Both the avant-garde band Mandarin, which emerged in "Summer of the Band", selected the songs of the predecessors in the band competition, and made five arrangements in parallel. Or the hot post-punk band Mad Doctors, in tribute to the 40th anniversary of the Rolling Stones, adapted this song, with its own unique way, made a new interpretation.

In recent years, although Wu Bai rarely appears in front of the public, with the songs interspersed in film and television dramas, Wu Bai's name still appears from time to time. He turns 54 this year, and on his birthday, the good news came that he had partnered with Rolling Stone Records to form the Space Bomb Theatre Company and would be performing six new rock operas in June.

Although the 1980s and 1990s, which created countless classics, are gone, the once coolest rock and roll gestures have slowly "degenerated" into the representatives of Tu hi. But this man holding a guitar with long flowing hair, with his unique rock style and straightforward prodigal tenderness, took us back to the innocent years of the last century and captured our hearts again. In today's era of routines, I am afraid that nothing can touch people's hearts more than sincerity.

I am Lingxi, the anchor of the Ewha Sound Training Institute, and we will see you next time.