I always feel that Hong Kong's top ten songs are not only music, but an era.
Years later, when we think of Hong Kong's top ten songs, eight words come to mind: all are overheated, all are crazy.
The most beautiful melodies, the most beautiful dance steps, the fiercest competition, the most wonderful behind-the-scenes stories, all eventually became bleak lyrics:
Want to step back, and be content with what I have,
Go and seek it with all your might.
The wind is also clear, and in the evening sky I ask the stars,
Nightshade, ask who resonates?
1
On the evening of January 17, 2021, TVB TV City Hong Kong was full.
The 2020 Jinge Golden Melody Awards Ceremony was held in full swing, and the organizing committee awarded many awards such as Jinge Golden Melody, Golden Melody Gold Award, Popularity King Award, Best Adapted Song Gold Award, Annual Best Progress Award, Best Stage Interpretation Award, Most Popular Newcomer Award and many other awards.
In this long list, Ju Zi Qiao won the most popular female singer three times, leveling the record of Zheng Xiuwen and Yang Qianwei's three consecutive hegemons; Zhou Baihao even won three awards for the golden song, the best male singer and the most popular male singer, becoming the biggest winner of the night; Wang Haoxin won the popular king award and the gold award for the best adapted song with a song "Willing to Replace You".
It can be seen that this year's Hong Kong Top Ten Golden Songs not only "everyone has a share", but also "one arrow and more eagles" and "one person and many awards".
Therefore, when Ju Ziqiao and Hu Hongjun and Zhou Baihao, three singers, were in the same frame, there was an embarrassing scene: the three of them took two trophies in their hands, and there were seven trophies on the ground.
What is even more jaw-dropping is that the most popular male singer, a heavyweight award, has appeared with double yolk eggs - Zhou Baihao and Hu Hongjun.
As we all know, winning the award of the most popular singer of Hong Kong Jingge Golden Song means that the singer has been crowned king and queen.
Now in the Hong Kong music scene, can it launch a number of kings and queens of heaven in a year?
2
"Jinge Golden Song" has a domineering English name, Jade Solid Gold, referred to as JSG.
It is a very long-lived pop music program on TVB, which began broadcasting on October 10, 1981, and is now 40 years old.
At the beginning, the host of the show was Cai Fenghua, before becoming the "epileptic king", this musical talent used a clear talk to invite heavyweight singers, record company executives, and famous musicians to talk about music concepts and share good music.
Under the auspices of Cai Fenghua, this music program once dominated TVB's evening golden file and created a high rating of 19 points.
Cai Fenghua is also a singer herself, an actor, host, writer and DJ. His multiple identities have allowed him to meet a large number of celebrity artists in the entertainment industry, who have been guests on his show.
Originally, "Jinge Golden Song" was a music talk show, but because Cai Fenghua would recommend "Jingge Golden Song" to the audience every week, and also made a list, this laid the groundwork for the "fairy fight" in the Hong Kong music scene later.
In 1984, the Hong Kong Radio and Television Corporation suddenly announced the holding of the "Top Ten Golden Melodies Awards Ceremony", and fans were ecstatic for a while.
However, the first edition did not set up the Most Popular Singer Award and the Golden Melody Gold Award, but only awarded the "Top Ten Golden Melody Awards": Chen Baiqiang's "How Precious Tonight Is", Mei Yanfang's "Hand Over My Heart" and "The Temptation of Red", Tan Yonglin's "Late Spring", Rowan's "In the Laser" and so on.
Originally, the fans hoped that their idols could win or lose through this award ceremony, and as a result, the singers selected for the "Top Ten Golden Songs" were "equal", and the audience naturally felt dull and tasteless.
Therefore, when it came to the second "Top Ten Golden Melody Awards Ceremony", the organizers set up the Most Popular Male and Female Singer Award and the Golden Melody Gold Award, and invited Cai Fenghua and Lu Minyi to be the host.
Lo Min-yee is a fan of Cheung Kwok Wing and Choi Fung Wah is a fan of Tam Wing Lin
This year, Zhang Guorong was shortlisted for the top ten golden songs three times with "Uninhibited Wind", "I Do", and "Girl's Heart".
Lu Minyi exclaimed excitedly, "Wow! Leslie broke the record yay! ”
Before Lu Minyi could finish speaking, Cai Fenghua quickly grabbed the conversation:
"A moment of brilliance is not necessarily an eternity!"
3
In the 1970s and 1980s, Hong Kong's economy began to take off, the entertainment industry was in the ascendant, and the recording industry was greatly developed.
The emergence of Xu Guanjie has made the status of Cantonese songs increase day by day; Rowan's strong rampage has allowed pop music to be widely disseminated through film and television.
The two complement each other and together lay a solid foundation for Hong Kong pop music.
Affected by it, a large number of outstanding singers emerged in the Hong Kong music scene at this time: Kwan Cheng Kit, Chen Baiqiang, Lin Zixiang, Ye Qianwen, Mui Yanfang, Zhang Guorong, Tan Yonglin...
Originally, "Wen Wu was the first, Wu Wu was the second", but as a result, the "Top Ten Golden Melody Awards Ceremony" used the method of setting up the most popular male and female singer awards to determine who was the king and the queen of heaven, resulting in controversy.
After Cai Fenghua said the wrong thing, although he went to make amends, it was too late.
Although three songs were shortlisted, the most popular male singer and the Golden Melody Gold Award were taken away by Tan Yonglin.
The media, keen to smell the traffic, began to make a big fuss about it, Tan Yonglin won the most popular male singer for four consecutive years, Zhang Guorong won the Golden Melody Gold Award and the most popular male singer for two consecutive years, both of them were shortlisted for many years in a row, but who is stronger?
Controversy spread from the awards ceremony to the outside of the venue, the media stepped on a bunch of reports, and the two fans made trouble with each other at the concert, which is the famous "Tan Zhang Competition" in the Hong Kong music scene.
Tam Wing Lin and Zhang Guorong have a very good personal relationship, seeing the media provocation and fans' opposition to the intensification, in 1987 he received the award at the Top Ten Golden Melody Awards Ceremony, immediately announced: "No more substantive awards!" ”
Tan Yonglin was originally a kind move, but he did not expect to push Zhang Guorong into the fire pit.
After Tan Yonglin announced that he would no longer accept the award, Zhang Guorong dominated the list for two consecutive years, which left a pretext for the media and fans.
In the midst of controversy, grievances and anger, at the 1989 Top Ten Golden Melody Awards Ceremony, Zhang Guorong announced his withdrawal from the music scene, shocking the entire entertainment circle.
The same situation also appears among female singers, Mei Yanfang's "Sunset Song" and Chen Huixian's "Thousand thousand que song" in 1989 competed for the top ten Chinese golden melody award, but the sales volume is not as good as "thousand and one thousand que song" "sunset song" but won the golden melody gold award, causing a huge controversy.
These two songs are based on the original song of Japanese singer Makoto Kondo, but the same song is different, and it is not easy to distinguish between the good and the bad.
But the media and fans are more real, and they have to distinguish between them, which is the "Battle of a Thousand Nights" second only to "Tan Zhang's struggle".
Prior to this, Mei Yanfang had won the Top Ten Golden Songs Most Popular Female Singer Award for five consecutive years, and in order not to make things worse, she also announced that she would no longer receive any substantive awards in the music industry.
At this point, the "Tan Zhang Controversy" and the "Thousand Nights Controversy" came to an end together.
4
The withdrawal of Tan Yonglin and Zhang Guorong brought opportunities to the Four Heavenly Kings.
Since then, for a period of up to ten years, the top ten golden songs have appeared in the situation of Andy Lau, Aaron Kwok, Jacky Cheung and Li Ming "taking turns to sit in the village", while female singers, Ye Qianwen and Faye Wong and Zheng Xiuwen have divided up the golden awards of this decade.
It was the best time in hong Kong music, and it was also the worst time in hong Kong music.
The Heavenly King and the Queen of Heaven are endless, and there are many good songs and golden songs, but it is too difficult for newcomers in the music industry to take the lead.
With the development of Andy Lau, Aaron Kwok and Li Ming, Jacky Cheung, who is one of the four heavenly kings, is difficult to support, belonging to Li Keqin, Eason Chan, and Gu Juji, and the era of Chen Huilin, Yang Qianwei, and Joey Yung competing for the glory is coming again.
In 2013, Hong Kong's top ten golden songs were comprehensively renovated, not only changing the ten golden songs to twenty songs, but also expanding the selection scope to the entire Asia-Pacific region, but the most popular male and female singers who were once the touchstone of the Heavenly Queen of Heaven became TVB 100% Fun voting, which led to the decline in the credibility of the once-popular and far-reaching ten golden songs.
For example, the most popular male singers of 2012 and 2013 were won by TVB actor Lin Feng, while Emperor's artist Joey Yung won the Most Popular Female Singer Award 12 times.
On the one hand, there are more and more awards, but on the other hand, the veteran powerful singers no longer pay attention to and no longer participate in the award ceremony, and Hong Kong's top ten golden songs have become chicken ribs.
For example, Tan Yonglin and Zhong Zhentao's trophies were once thrown away as garbage.
It is abandoned in splendor
Like garbage picked up in the hands of a scavenger
And we have fond memories of our youth
Listening to the old song of the song
5
In the golden age of the Hong Kong music scene, Wong Ka-ju was not shortlisted for the Top Ten Golden Songs list before his death. At that time, he would also angrily shout out: "There is no music circle in Hong Kong, only the entertainment industry".
Today, it seems that people have long stopped using the music circle and the showbiz circle to distinguish artists, and the stars all belong to the entertainment circle.
Singers go to acting, actors get music awards, you and I have not heard songs to dominate the major music charts, record sales are tens of thousands...
There are many "strong songs", and what are the golden songs that are sung?
It was another year of the top ten golden song awards ceremony, Xingmeng and TVB's artists almost divided all the awards, and the Golden Melody Gold Award was taken away by Karen Mok, and everyone was not on the hot search.
Finally, let's listen to this year's Golden Melody Award-winning song "Breathing Harmful":
Lack of oxygen to the point of appearing to be phantom Lying on the ground weakly
Close your eyes and use the skin to sense impermanence
There's a time here when you didn't get out of the way
Walls are built by your smell
Breathe again from the beginning, the beauty that remains
The bitterness that tastes now used to be the most moving sweetness
The declining Hong Kong music scene is not only music, it is an era, and along with music, there is also this city that once had the reputation of "Paris of the East" and "Hollywood of the East".
In the past 2020, Hong Kong's economy has continued to be sluggish and has experienced negative growth, what will the future of the city be?
And for the Hong Kong music scene, can it still regain its former glory?
Now when the top ten golden songs are mentioned, the old song that sings the heart is still echoing in the ears: