C-rock facts for kids
C-rock is short for Chinese rock music. It's also called 中国摇滚 zhōng guó yáo gǔn or 中国摇滚音乐 zhōng guó yáo gǔn yīn yuè, which means "Chinese shaking and rolling music." C-rock can be sung in any Chinese language dialect. Some people think C-rock is a type of C-pop, which is Chinese pop music.
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History of C-rock
It's a bit unclear when C-rock first started. Some people believe it might have been around in the 1960s or 1970s. But we have clearer signs of it from the 1980s.
Northwest Wind (Xi Bei Feng)
The first clear style of Chinese rock was called 西北风 Xi Bei Feng. This means "Northwest Wind." It was a type of punk music with folk influences. It came from the northwestern parts of China, like the Shanxi and Gansu provinces.
Two new songs, 信天游 Xin Tian You and 一无所有, helped start this new style. Over time, Xi Bei Feng music became stronger and faster. It was sung loudly and powerfully. This was very different from the softer C-pop style.
Many Xi Bei Feng songs talked about new ideas. They showed how young people felt and celebrated being unique. The music and words showed pride in the strong spirit of people from the northwest. Songs like "妹妹你大胆的往前走" showed a strong, earthy image of China. This was different from the smooth, city-like gang tai music.
Prison Rock (Qiu Ge)
囚歌, also known as Prison songs or Prison rock, became popular in the late 1980s. This style was more like folk music than Xi Bei Feng.
Prison rock was started by Chi Zhi Qiang. He wrote songs about his time in jail. He used folk tunes from northeast China for his music. Unlike Northwest Wind songs, prison songs were slow and felt sad. They talked about personal experiences and a different way of looking at things.
Chinese Rock and Roll Takes Off
The city of Beijing is where Chinese rock music really began. Rock and roll wasn't very common until the late 1980s. Some of the rebellious ideas from punk Xi Bei Feng came back. In 1989 and 1990, rock and roll became more popular. It mixed ideas from Northwest Wind and prison songs.
After some big events in the country, rock and roll became a part of youth culture in Chinese cities. Its growing popularity was celebrated on February 17 and February 18, 1990. That's when Beijing had its biggest rock concert at the Capital Gymnasium. Six rock bands played at this concert.
Chinese rock and roll was most popular between 1990 and 1993. Many rock bands were formed, and rock music was played often. However, officials didn't always approve of rock and roll. This was because some performers had different ideas. The government made sure rock and roll wasn't shown on CCTV. So, the main places to hear rock were informal, underground parties. Some fans and performers had long hair, wore jeans, silver jewelry, and black leather coats.
Why Rock Music Declined
By 1994, rock and roll slowly started to become less popular. One reason was that officials limited what could be shown. For example, rock was banned from TV, and there were rules about performances.
But the main reason was that people became less interested in challenging the usual way of thinking. In the mid-1990s, people became more interested in C-pop. New stars like Andy Lau and the Four Heavenly Kings of Cantonese pop became very popular.
C-rock Today
A New Beginning
From 2000 to 2004, rock music in China grew popular again. It was influenced by Japanese rock styles like pop-rock and Visual kei. It also took ideas from American rock music, such as light rock, soft rock, and alternative rock.
An important step for Chinese rock music is the Beijing Midi School of Music in Beijing. It was started in 1993 by Zhang Fan. This was the first school in China to offer classes especially for jazz and rock music.
The Midi Modern Music Festival also helped. It started as a festival in 1999. Now, it's the biggest rock music festival in China. Both the school and the festival supported new bands. They also allowed foreign bands to play at the festival and around the country starting in 2006. Some of these bands included Alev, Monokino, YMA, and The Wombats.
Besides the Midi school, a goth rock magazine called Painkiller Magazine helped bands like Edguy, Lacrimosa, and Hatesphere become well-known in China.
Artists You Might Know
Related pages
Images for kids
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Cui Jian is seen as a pioneer of Chinese rock music.
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Tang Dynasty performing in 2004.
