Black Panther without Dou Wei: forever young, always recruiting lead singers

Last week, the 36-year-old Black Panthers used a large poster recruiting lead singers to indirectly but high-profile announce the departure of current lead singer Zhang Qi.

Not surprisingly, since Zhang Qi's participation in "The Cloaked Brother" has gained a lot of attention, the rumors of his departure have not stopped, and when the rumors have become facts, "Iron Band, Flowing Vocalist" has once again been ridiculed by fans to ridicule this veteran band.

Since Ding Wu in 1987, the Black Panther band has also had several well-known lead singers such as Dou Wei, Luan Shu, Qin Yong, Zhang Kepeng (Dapeng), and in 2014, the official Weibo post of the band mentioned that Mark Teller, Qin Qi, Liu Zhengrong, etc. have also served as the lead singer of Black Panther, and Zhang Qi is the tenth person to hold this role.

"Whoever is gone, the panthers are there." "Black Panther is a whole, has its own creative style, and will not lose the most fundamental thing of our Black Panther because of the departure of one person." The band commented on the departure of the lead singers in public interviews in their early years. Under this concept, it is not surprising that Zhang Qi left and the band recruited a new lead singer with a high profile.

Today's Black Panther is more like a symbol left over from the old era of dead rock music, no matter who is the lead singer, it is impossible to replicate the highlights of the Dou Wei period.

Black Panther's legacy, Dou Wei's shadow

The prototype of the Black Panther band came from an electroacoustic band in Beijing Daxing Welfare Factory in 1987, Guo Chuanlin (former Black Panther guitarist and manager) recruited Li Tong (Black Panther guitarist) and Wang Wenjie (Black Panther bassist) to form the original lineup of the band, and the band formed after Ding Wu joined.

In 1988, Ding Wu left to form the Tang Dynasty and began to do heavy metal, and the other members who remained decided to start playing rock music as well, and the "Black Panther Band" was officially born. According to public information, the name was given because "black panthers are rare animals, and they are also exciting to listen to." And the moment when the band really "came hard" came after Dou Wei joined.

Black Panther's most widely circulated classic to date, "No Land Self-Containment", was composed by guitarist Li Tong, and new lead singer Dou Wei filled in the lyrics during rehearsals. After drummer Zhao Mingyi and keyboardist Luan Shu joined, although the band was complete, there was no chance. Until the beginning of 1991, Faye Wong, who was Luan Shu's girlfriend at that time, matched the Black Panther Band by Chen Jiantian (Faye Wong and Beyond's manager) and signed.

Black Panther and Beyond

In August of the same year, Black Panther's debut album "Black Panther" exploded after its release in Hong Kong and Taiwan, dominating the top of the RTHK charts for several weeks. The songs "Don't Break My Heart" and "Self-contained Without Land" in the album quickly spread from Hong Kong to the mainland, and "in the crowd, I see you again, just as charming and beautiful" sounded in the streets and alleys.

The song is sung by Dou Wei, and for ordinary listeners, it is difficult to hear the arrangement and instrumental skills of a song, and the attention is basically all on Dou Wei's unique voice - Dou Wei is considered the soul of the Black Panther Band, and it can even be said that the word "Dou Wei" is much louder than "Black Panther".

And this has not changed in the more than three decades since Dou Wei left the band in 1991.

"Black Panther is a very special band, and after Dou Wei left, he has not created a particularly popular song." Liu Yangzi, anchor and music critic of the sound of the West Sea of Music Radio, said to Poison Eyes that it was Dou Wei's creation and Luan Shu's persistence that accumulated a very valuable "Black Panther" as an IP for Black Panther, and it refers to a period of rock music that has passed away, which can make some listeners have nostalgic emotional value that is very valuable to their individuals.

Right one Dou Wei

Indeed, it is difficult for ordinary rock listeners to say other classic tracks of Black Panther except "Don't Break My Heart" and "No Land" to this day, and young rock and roll listeners can understand for the first time when they mention Black Panther, and it is only Dou Wei - this cannot be changed no matter how many lead singers the band changes.

Today's Black Panther can hardly be considered a creative band. "From this point of view, the later 'Black Panther' band is not a creative group, but an old 'Black Panther' performance group + operation team." Liu Yangzi said that under the premise that Black Panther has almost no creative ability, the band can open its mind and consider using "Black Panther +" to make an open match with different traffic stars, and form some joint effects according to today's operating logic, and completely IP "Black Panther".

"Just like 007 can be exchanged a lot, but 007 is eternal, so is Black Panther, and later people just play the role of 'Black Panther lead singer'."

The lead singer of the band, the lead singer of the band?

Posting posters on social media to "recruit" the lead singer is the way many unknown new bands in the domestic rock music circle will adopt, and the use of this operation method by well-known bands like Black Panther still makes many music practitioners feel rare, and even music fans ridicule: simply make a variety show similar to "lead singer 101" and draft a Black Panther lead singer.

Indeed, some bands have done this: after the original drummer of the well-known American progressive metal band Dream Theater left, they began to open the recruitment of new drummers around the world, and posted the selection and interview process as a video on YouTube. But the problem is that changing instrumental players such as guitars, bass, drums and keyboards and changing vocalists means completely different things to a band.

Dream Theater band drummer recruitment video

"The instrumental performance of the band has fixed parameters, and the effects performed by different musicians have technical differences, but this difference is difficult to be felt by ordinary listeners, most people listen to the song or listen to the voice, the lead singer is changed, the voice is completely different, the difference is particularly obvious." So said the drummer of a domestic nuclear band.

Not only that, for a band, not "good musicians" can fit the band. A guitarist of a veteran metal band in China told Poison Eyes that successful bands basically have star members, "Just like the football team, Messi is definitely the most shining person in the Argentine team, but not all the top players in the world can be brought together into one team to win the World Cup." ”

Whether "people" is important or "band" is important, different bands have different answers. Wang Feng, Xie Tianxiao, and Muma all used to separate their names from their bands, Cui Jian and Zheng Jun did not substitute themselves into a band collective after becoming famous, Peng Lei's personal fame is very large, but he has never kicked the band name of "new pants" in music projects.

"For bands, sometimes people are important, sometimes the band as a whole is important, and it is impossible to generalize which is the most important, or it depends on their respective valuations in the market." In Liu Yangzi's view, if the lead singer of a band is a member of the main creative team, the change may bring about a change in the form and style of the band's creation, and if the lead singer is only a "human flesh trumpet" role dedicated to the voice, then changing the lead singer is a decorative "soft decoration" change.

Apparently the Panthers belong to the latter. The classic work is left over from the "old Black Panther" period, and the commercial value of the band has been established in the last century, which will not change because the home is Zhang Kepeng or Zhang Qi, more importantly, the core of the band lies in creation, and the frequent change of lead singer in Black Panther is enough to prove that the dominance of the band's creation is not in the hands of the lead singer, so who the lead singer is, it is not so important.

On the contrary, this open recruitment has made the outside world have a lot of speculation about the new game after Black Panther. A number of musicians said that the future Black Panther may be able to toss unexpected splashes in the way of "Black Panther +", and "+" can be followed by rock veterans, Lu Han or Yi Yangqianxi. "Even if a college student is the lead singer, the festival can't get the Panthers to be the first to perform on stage in the afternoon."

The former Black Panthers were the "rare animals" of that rock era, and it did sound exciting. But now, maybe as long as the band makes money.