Sixth Master Wen ✎
Edited ✎ the Seventh Street Winery
"Take your heart / my heart / string a string / string a lucky grass / string a concentric circle"
Even after 25 years of disbandment, the Little Tigers are still the most shining existence in the memories of many post-70s and post-80s.
The most obvious example is that when everyone sees the above lyrics, they will silently sing it in their hearts.
After all, as the tears of a lost youth, these lyrics are imprinted in the deepest recesses of memory.
How hot was the Tigers back then?
Howe is not an exaggeration to say that as the founder of the "star chaser" and the originator of the idol group that sensationalizes Asia, their popularity is equivalent to Jay Chou +S.H.E+TFBOYS.
Especially in the late 1980s and 1990s, their popularity and influence in the mainland was even wider than that of Michael Jackson and the Beatles.
In just 7 years from their inception to dissolution, they have opened a national star-chasing boom, set a record for the highest popularity of concerts in Asia, and created countless entertainment industry myths.
Once, they were partners who fought side by side, sharing light and glory, and now, the little tiger team has become a "tiger team", the three have long gone their separate ways, working hard in different fields, but the development is very different, and the gap is not a star and a half.
01
If you say that the original prototype of the Little Tigers is Nakamori Akira and the Japanese teen idol group - "Junior Team".
In the 1980s, the Japanese pop music scene was definitely a side-looking presence in all of Asia, and several sixteen or seventeen-year-old teenagers, with clear eyebrows, white and tender, dragging seemingly malnourished body bones, as long as they poked at the stage, they could make thousands of girls scream and faint.
What a star-making ability this is?
As the first generation agent of Taiwan Province, Song Wenshan is also a well-known figure in the entertainment industry, but even after winning popular songs such as Teresa Teng and Feng Feifei, he does not have a decent idol group in his hand, which also makes him quite bored.
"Why can't we have popular idol groups in Japan?" Song Wenshan's unconvinced decision in his heart, how to make a combination of one of the best in Asia!
Therefore, in less than two months, he and the famous host and producer Zhang Xiaoyan and Miao Xiuli together created a new variety show - "Youth Battle", the audience group of the program is positioned as students, the host selects teenage young and beautiful girls, namely Cao Lin, Wu Peiyu and Xu Ruoxuan, who has not changed her name, the three of them formed the girl idol group "Kitten Team".
Once the show was launched, the ratings were very good, so the producer took advantage of the chase, thinking that just three girls were too monotonous, and it was best to find a few boys to be assistant hosts to increase the audience.
This year, Wu Qilong was 18 years old, a sports school student, as the second son in the family, he had an older brother above and a younger brother below.
Since he was sensible, a family of five often moved around because they had to hide debts, because there were too many debts, from the age of 13, every winter and summer vacation, they needed to go out to work and earn themselves tuition and living expenses for the next year.
In order to earn more money, he was willing to do any dirty work at a young age, collecting garbage, working as a car washer, swimming lifeguard, going to the ice cream factory to do packaging, and going to the night market to set up a stall at night.
This life of running for money ran through his entire adolescence.
One day, he set up a stall in the night market as usual, but was discovered by Tong Ange and the star scouts of "Kaili" company, hoping that he could enter the entertainment industry, but was directly rejected by Wu Qilong.
Jokingly, at that time, Wu Qilong was already the champion of taekwondo in Taiwan Province, participated in large and small competitions, won a total of 23 championships, 135 medals, and in time can definitely become an excellent professional athlete, who is interested in entering the entertainment circle.
Although he was not interested, the scout was reluctant to let go of this good seedling, and took the time to call him to lobby him, hoping that he must come to the company to try, which seriously affected Wu Qilong's great cause of making money.
In order to be able to completely settle this matter, Wu Qilong had no choice but to participate in the "Kaili" company's assistant to preside over the selection activities.
At the audition site, he first danced a dance, and then did a backflip before he could finish it, which made the judges' eyes light up and he was successfully selected.
This year, Su Youpeng was 15 years old, had just graduated from junior high school, and was admitted to the famous key high school in Taiwan Province at that time - Jianguo Middle School with the first good result in the whole school, and it was no accident that it was equivalent to half a foot stepping into the school gate of National Taiwan University.
At that time, Su Youpeng was all thinking about reading, and the degree of his eyes soared again and again, approaching the 1,000-degree mark. Because my mother's birthday is on the day of the Mid-Autumn Festival on August 15 of the lunar calendar, there are "two moons" in the family, so it is named "Youpeng".
The reason why I came to the audition site was that I had no time to accompany the students who had registered for the name, and even when I waited, I did not forget to hold the textbook, and I did not waste any time.
Zhang Xiaoyan, who has read countless people, took a look at this little boy with a bookish temperament, and specially consulted the opinions of Su Youpeng's parents, who felt that the children were too introverted, and if they could do a host exercise without delaying their studies, it was also a good thing to be able to host exercises, and they readily agreed.
Zhang Xiaoyan
Even Song Wenshan, the first time he saw Su Youpeng, he liked it, patting him on the back five times and saying, "It's like my son!" ”
Later, there was also this saying, the reason why many conservative parents are willing to let their children use the Tigers as idols, the most important reason is that Su Youpeng's academic performance is particularly good, and parents hope that their children can take the idol as the goal and also bring up their academic performance.
Unlike the unintentional willow insertion of the above two, This year's Chen Zhipeng waited for a long time.
He opened a chain beauty salon in his home, from a young age, he had no worries about food and clothing, coupled with handsome looks, it is said that his father is more like Zhang Guorong than him, and when he was young, he was very much looking forward to entering the entertainment circle and becoming a big star.
Although his academic performance was average, he has been dancing for many years and has an almost obsessive love for dance.
For this audition, Chen Zhipeng has made sufficient preparations, and he has brought several sets of performance clothes alone, and he must become the most beautiful cub among all the contestants.
However, things did not go as smoothly as he thought, and the face that was quite similar to Zhang Guorong made his photo the first to be discarded by the staff, and the reason was also very good - "such a similar star face, where are there any personal highlights", and finally the staff put his photo back again, and then there was a chance to perform.
Maybe this is fate, the person who tries to stand in the middle of the stage is always hovering on the far side, and the two people who accidentally hit and bumped into the stage and were pushed onto the stage easily stood in the center of the stage.
Neither then nor now, the gears of fate seem to have changed in any way.
02
3,000 teenagers participated in the audition, and only 3 of them formed a group in the end, because the three beautiful girls before them were called "Kitten Team", drawing tigers according to cats, so the combination name of these three boys was set as "Little Tiger Team".
- Because of his sports expertise, backflips are good-looking, and Wu Qilong is known as the "Thunderbolt Tiger";
- Because of the excellent academic performance, the whole person looks cute and cute, plus the age is only 15 years old, Su Youpeng was named "Obedient Tiger";
- Because he has a star face that resembles Zhang Guorong, plus he can sing and dance and loves to change clothes, Chen Zhipeng is known as "Little Handsome Tiger".
In "Youth Confrontation", all the "Little Tiger Team" has to do is to fight against the "Kitten Team". Every week, the program team will design a location challenge unit for them to do activities, and then practice a song together to do a video performance, because the ratings have been high, and the songs they recorded have also caught fire.
Wu Qilong remembers that the first time they recorded the program was "to play in many colleges and universities", after playing, they also gave 1350 Taiwan dollars of "car and horse fees", which is equivalent to his living expenses for a week, such a job gives him a feeling of still doing odd jobs, but compared to the previous work, not only easy and easy, but also very happy.
The three people have been assistant hosts for more than 8 months, and as the popularity continues to rise, the company has made a series of adjustments for the development of the three people, from assistant host directly to the first student band in Taiwan Province, and in just a few months, this band has become an idol for local teenagers.
At the beginning of the establishment of the "Little Tiger Team", no one thought how popular this combination could be, after all, the original intention of the establishment was just to balance the assistant host selected by the Kitten Team.
But the world is unpredictable, in order to compete for the popularity of the kitten team that was hard to hold out in one breath, the little tiger team that was used as a foil was directly popular throughout the country.
According to Song Wenshan's words: "Several sacks of letters are carried into the platform every day. ”
He was worried that the 3 children would suddenly burst into flames at a young age and easily swell, so he never told them any truth, including the letter from fans, and did not mention a word.
Until the three of them went to the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall to hold a 10,000-person autograph meeting according to the company's requirements, they still felt that the signing activity was a bit of a ghost: "Who wants to come to this kind of place?" ”
As a result, as soon as the three people got out of the car, they were shocked by the crowded scene in front of them, whether there were ten thousand people was not clear, but looking at the crowds of people, the atmosphere was extremely warm, and the scene was almost out of control.
They couldn't believe that these people had come specifically for them, and asked the staff over and over again, until they got a definite answer each time, and then they believed that the Little Tigers were really red.
In the 1980s, the domestic idol boy band did not rise, but the Little Tigers had already reached the peak of the entertainment industry with strength.
In just one year, 5 albums were released, and since the fifth public welfare album "Love" was released simultaneously in Asia, just one week after its release, it sold more than 150,000 copies in Taiwan Province, and in only 20 days of release, it sold more than 2 million copies in Asia.
"Love" and the first dance album "Getaway" alone sold nearly 15 million copies, a record that no Asian singer or group has been able to break so far.
From 1989 to 1990, the Little Tigers held twelve "Youth Essence, Happy World" tour concerts in the mainland, the venue was full, the fire spread all over the country, as countless post-70s and post-80s idols, according to the words of fans, that is, "butterflies" flew around the Great Wall with "love" to participate in the "Date of the Stars" and launched a "getaway" to release youth.
At that time, almost every home would have posters of the Tigers' handsomeness. In that era when the stars were shining, there was no plastic surgery face, there was no so-called hit list, brush popularity, stars want to become famous out of the circle, relying on real personality charm.
03
Under the grand circumstances, it is the obedient tiger who has the greatest pressure, intensive rehearsals and heavy coursework will overwhelm him a little, in order not to delay his studies, Song Wenshan has moved the idea of changing people, but Su Youpeng insisted on one by one, he said that he will cooperate with the company's actions, but also complete his studies, which he can do.
For the first time, the teenage boy expressed his love for the stage so firmly, but at that time, he did not understand how heavy this burden was for the young man.
Once, the rehearsal ended late at night, Su Youpeng was waiting for a taxi on the side of the road, and after a passerby recognized him, he asked: "Aren't you a well-behaved tiger?" Why don't you go home until it's so late? ”
Fans are watching, fans' parents are also watching, the media is watching, almost all of China is holding a magnifying glass to observe, whether the obedient tiger can be admitted to a good university.
Su Youpeng is not the only one in trouble, Wu Qilong's family has been in debt again.
Originally after Wu Qilong entered the entertainment circle, the family's debt crisis has been basically lifted, and the family's life has improved a lot, so he decided to sing for a while and quit the circle, continue to dream, and be an excellent athlete.
Who knew that his father was actually in debt at this time, or more than 20 million yuan. This is the 1990s, 10,000 yuan households are a rare existence, 20 million is what is the concept? It is now a number that ordinary people can't reach in a lifetime.
Because of the debt, the whole family returned to the pre-liberation, the dream became out of reach, after all, for a young man who is less than twenty years old, where to make money can have the entertainment circle fast, only by staying here, there is a possibility of paying off the debt.
Once, a reporter interviewed Wu Qilong, will he blame his father. Wu Qilong was silent for a few seconds and then said that his father also wanted to make the family better.
In his body, there seems to be a strong ability to resist pressure, no matter how unacceptable the hardships given to him by the outside world, he still silently swallows some of them into his stomach.
When asked by others, it will turn everything into a simple breeze, as if telling someone else's story.
Chen Zhipeng, who has always dreamed of becoming a big star, finally experienced the taste of fame, but he only experienced it.
At that time, Wu Qilong was handsome and had a cool look, very popular with girls, Su Youpeng was the youngest, white and clean smile shy, always able to be cared for and cared for by the people around him.
Only he, as soon as he debuted, was regarded as Zhang Guorong's star face, and the positioning was also around Xiao Zhang Guorong.
But for the audience, the little tiger team wants to be vigorous and youthful, compared to the cold boy Wu Qilong, the cute boy Su Youpeng, Chen Zhipeng's only feature is like Zhang Guorong.
Although he has not been able to find his own positioning, nor does he have any characteristics, he can enjoy the spotlight chase in the middle of the two tigers, and Chen Zhipeng quickly lost his heart.
Later, in his autobiography "Aspirants, Friends", he also described the state at that time: like dripping water can penetrate stones, the undercurrent that is not on the table, invisibly eroding between the three of us.
Three young boys reached the top of the brightest stage of that era, and although they were envious of others, only they knew the taste.
04
In December 1991, after the release of the sixth album "Goodbye", Chen Zhipeng enlisted in the army, Su Youpeng in order not to be regarded as a star who "will not study and only play", slept and forgot to eat, in order to be safe, he even applied for the Mechanical Engineering Department that was not interested at all, but the score was relatively low, and finally lived up to expectations and was admitted to National Taipei University, and Wu Qilong joined the Asian Film Company to continue development.
At this time, the Little Tigers are facing the first disbandment.
In a later book, Song Wenshan explained: "Many people ask me why the Tigers disbanded. In fact, the reason is very simple, Chen Zhipeng enlisted in the army, Su Youpeng was admitted to National Taiwan University, leaving Wu Qilong, who had to fly alone. ”
There are not so many conspiracy theories, just because everyone has their own things to accomplish, and Wu Qilong who is left behind to pay off his father's debts, even if there is only one person, has to stay in business.
At first, Wu Qilong was not used to this feeling of being alone and alone, and after singing the song, he always looked around unconsciously, and when he remembered that his former inseparable partners had long been separated, a feeling of sudden loss surrounded the teenager's heart.
When participating in the show, Zhang Fei, the big brother of the variety show who has always been grinning, will also relent in the face of this teenager who looks a little pitiful, asking how he feels after flying alone.
Wu Qilong sniffed his lips after listening, so many uncomfortable, and did not know who to talk to, let alone who wanted to listen.
Although the Little Tigers are facing disbandment, Wu Qilong and Su Youpeng did not stop, and after co-starring with Lin Zhiying and Jin Chengwu in the movie "Four Extraordinary Teenagers", the four were named the title of "Four Little Heavenly Kings", and at that time, the popularity of the four people was not inferior to that of the "Four Heavenly Kings", and anyone who saw it had to say a word of fear.
But just when everything was proceeding in an orderly manner, Su Youpeng broke out that something that had a strong reaction at the time was that he dropped out of school.
In fact, Su Youpeng knew in his heart that even if he survived these four years and got a graduation certificate in mechanical engineering, he would not engage in this work that he was not interested in at all, except for wasting time in vain, there was no sense.
But the media will not listen to his explanation, in that era without the Internet, everyone used paper media to express their indignation about this matter, and almost all major entertainment magazines used half a page to publish discussions about Su Youpeng, and even scolded.
It was not easy to survive until Chen Zhipeng returned from military service, and the three of them got together again to hold the "Starlight Is Still Brilliant" concert, which suddenly realized that the jianghu at this time had already changed.
Although the separation time is not long, Wu Qilong and Su Youpeng both have their own fans, and with Lin Zhiying and other young students coming to the top, the Little Tigers have gradually lost their former glory.
Not long after the "95 Dragons and Tigers" concert, the "Kaili" company was acquired by Warner Music, because the three belonged to different companies, this time, the Little Tigers were completely disbanded.
How to say it, the essence of life, is not a parting?
05
Although in the face of separation, the three of them are a little reluctant, but Wu Qilong wants to serve in the military, Su Youpeng wants to get rid of the shackles of idol singers, not to mention that they have been disbanded once, plus everyone has grown up a few years, and after holding a headache and crying, they have also accepted this result.
Carefully review the development history of the Little Tigers, the real popularity of the time is less than 3 years, just like a young boy and girl ignorant, the duration of the time but just right love, the short time will make people feel unfinished, too long and will make people feel not enough, so it seems that the time node card is just right.
Wu Qilong, Su Youpeng and Chen Zhipeng have gone through the years experienced by the Little Tigers and finally ushered in the fork in their own lives.
In the years after the solo flight, none of the three of them went very well.
Tens of millions of debts are not to be repaid, Wu Qilong can only work hard, in order to repay the money of any film to pick up, because there are taekwondo and judo skills, the most received is still some martial arts films that need to fly the wall, although the money is more, there are more injuries, and broken hands and feet are commonplace.
During that time, in order to earn money, he had almost no rest time, usually the company today notified that the money had been called to him, and the next day the money was taken away by the creditor, and people were much more anxious than him.
The dashing hero acted a lot, until the filming of "Xiao Eleven Lang" to pay off the debts owed by his father, but it was also because there were too many bad films made in those years, shaking the foundation, resulting in Wu Qilong's career has been half dead, there is no improvement.
Also suffering from difficulties is Su Youpeng, because of the withdrawal from school, the well-behaved learning hegemonic design collapsed, he became the audience and the media in the eyes of the "lose and touch", after the solo flight he has made a record, done hosting, on the variety show, but are all mediocre response, can not provoke half a splash.
Until 1997, he took over the filming of "Huan Zhu Ge Ge", in which he played the "five brothers" who no one knew, and the drama "Huan Zhu Ge Ge" did not need me to say more, who did not watch three or five seven times in childhood, it seems that now Hunan Satellite TV will replay it every summer.
With the broadcast of "Huan Zhu Gege", Su Youpeng and Chen Zhipeng, who played "Ertai", ushered in a small peak in their careers, and then Su Youpeng partnered with Zhao Wei'er to take over the filming of "Old House Youxi", and when "Love Is Deep and Rainy", the CP in the play became Lin Xinru again.
Although through these dramas, Su Youpeng's career has developed to a certain extent, and he has also gained many fans, this kind of soap opera with no connotation is not what he wants, not to mention that all the characters are incomparably similar.
As he himself said: When you've played a successful eggplant, it seems like all the purple stuff will come to you.
Su Youpeng, who is quite unwilling in his heart, constantly tries new role types, but he has never encountered a role that can break through his own limitations, until he meets the role of "Bai Xiaonian" in the movie "The Sound of the Wind", a male pet of the commander-in-chief who can sing Kunqu, and the difficulty of this interpretation of some feminine roles is believed to be needless to say.
Out of responsibility for the role, Su Youpeng went to the Northern Kunqu Opera Theater to study for nearly a year. Unfortunately, in the play, he did not have the opportunity to perform Kunqu opera, and he was beaten down a lot.
From the beginning of this play, Su Youpeng completely gained a firm foothold in the mainland, and after filming "The Tale of the Dragon Slayer in the Heavens", Su Youpeng, who stepped into the scenes, gradually retreated into the background.
In 2015, his directorial debut "Left Ear" was released and grossed 500 million at the box office;
In 2017, the second "The Dedication of Suspect X" grossed 400 million at the box office.
After that, he opened the road of variety shows, first recording a wave of fans in the slow variety show "Chinese Restaurant" with his old partner Zhao Wei, and recently serving as a program judge of "Great Dance Club", which was completely transformed into a success.
06
Compared with Su Youpeng's easy transformation, Chen Zhipeng's transformation road is extremely difficult.
After his solo flight, he released nearly ten solo records in succession, but his melancholy and slightly light-hearted new style was completely unpopular.
After taking over the filming of "Huan Zhu Gege", Chen Zhipeng, who had a little fame, filmed "Ancient Confused Teenager Hong Wending" in 2001, and during the filming, his face was seriously burned, and he almost led to disfigurement, but unfortunately he could not get up.
In 2003, Mr. Zhang Guorong passed away, Chen Zhipeng directly gave up the idea of having "personal characteristics", and lived himself as the shadow of Zhang Guorong, he constantly watched and studied Zhang Guorong's stage plays and performances, and strived to achieve one-to-one restoration.
After that, he starred in the stage play "Zhang Guorong - Negative Distance Contact", singing Zhang Guorong's former songs in Cantonese. Unfortunately, he was only touched by himself, and Zhang Guorong's fans did not seem to plan to buy it, bluntly saying that "his Taiwanese accent makes me frequently play."
Yes, obviously we already have a brother, this is enough, why do we have to make another Zhang Guorong 2.0, let alone not much like.
The most brilliant is Zhang Guorong, and Chen Zhipeng can only be said to be the most famous of the majority of imitators.
Leslie
I have to admit that the audience is such a magical existence, even if you work hard and are talented, sometimes you need to have a trace of luck in it.
In Chen Zhipeng's self-description, he once said: "I walk more roads than others." ”
But no, there is no way to fail, he walked more, he walked out of a road to failure.
In addition to performing stage plays and launching personal albums, Chen Zhipeng has also participated in dance competitions, magic competitions and various variety shows, and the only impression that can leave the audience is only one - "this person is very hard".
But the reality is so cruel, we all understand that effort does not get sympathy points, but will be ruthlessly pumped a few mouths.
Today's Chen Zhipeng has been deliberately keeping a distance from his former teammates, afraid that others will say that he is holding his thighs and rubbing the heat, this idea is completely understandable, and who wants to participate in the class reunion.
Legend has it that Zhang Xiaoyan once wanted to match the Reorganization of the Little Tigers after 25 years, even if it is not as young as the traffic, at least it can sell a wave of feelings, but "stuck in Chen Zhipeng." ”
When he didn't know where to go in the future, Chen Zhipeng also tried some outside help and met a fortune teller who was said to be very psychic, and the master gave him only one piece of advice - "change careers".
It's just that Chen Zhipeng seems to be turning a little too hard.
In the 2017 Asia New Song Chart, Chen Zhipeng wore a long green hair and a black gauze see-through suit to brighten everyone's eyes.
At this point, his dressing style has its own characteristics, letting go of the self has become a common thing, wearing skirts, ear piercings, lace packs, garbage bags, tight pants with greasy belly, everyone can't think of things, Chen Zhipeng dare to wear on the body.
Some people say that he is crazy for Bo eyeballs, others say that he is brave to be himself, and the news about him has changed from a handsome and sunny boy to a "show man".
In the face of his career dissatisfaction, as he grew older, Chen Zhipeng seemed to be somewhat relieved.
When he was young, when the host asked him "if he was the least red on the team", he would not speak coldly. But when he participated in the "Spit Conference" in 2018, he could joke that "those who call the little handsome tiger are the least popular".
Once, Chen Zhipeng described the past experience, like a stock in a shock, when it started was the highest point, and then it was a long downward process, whether it would become "ST" seemed to be only a matter of time.
Compared with Chen Zhipeng's infinite decline, Wu Qilong, who fell to the bottom, miraculously ushered in a counterattack in life.
In 2006, he registered his marriage with Mayashu, who had been in love for many years, and in the third year of marriage, Mayashu was photographed by the media dating a foreign man, and three months after the incident, the two announced their divorce, but what followed was all kinds of insider information about their divorce.
In the face of the reporter's interview, Wu Qilong just said, "I gave her too little." ”
At the bottom of his life, he waited until "Step by Step", the "Yongzheng Ye" who was successively let go by Qin Hao and others because of his unremarkable, but Wu Qilong ushered in the second spring of his career.
Middle-aged turned red not to say, because of this drama, Wu Qilong and the goddess Liu Shishi, who is 17 years younger than him, are happily married, and they also have a son after marriage.
At the same time, because of his outstanding business acumen, Wu Qilong has dabbled in many industries and successfully entered the 1 billion-level boss club and earned a lot of money.
With the continuous expansion of his business territory, Wu Qilong, who has long become a winner in life, has put more time on his family, and the updated status of his personal social platform is mostly food, beauty and family, warm and comfortable.
epilogue
Today's Tigers are gradually living in the memories of the older generation of fans.
However, with the passage of time, the former youth has already entered middle age and become the "tiger team".
As bystanders, we have witnessed them step by step from a prosperous teenager to today, just like our own lives, some people are looking up at the stars, some people are looking at the scenery by the mountain, and some people are looking down at the road.
But no matter what, we must also try not to waste this life.