China’s Punk Rock Talent Show: A National Paradox

[@Bandsplaining]

Check out the follow-up podcast on Patreon here! www.patreon.com/posts/podcast-6-chinas-107722163

[@BodywiseMustard]

Oink oink.

[@real_GTXH]

Hi, I'm an indie rock player from Fujian, China, now working in Shenzhen. Glad to see that you can introduce this show on KZbin. This show does help some indie bands get more spotlights through the Internet, and it helps spread some indie music genre knowledge to more listeners. You mentioned that it might be the last season of this show. I don't know if it's true. In some forums in China, some people may think season 3 did a bad job of introducing different genres, and they believe that the final ranking depends more on seniority and popularity. In my opinion, however, all the 3 seasons help me discover a lot of bands I like and genres I've never listened to before. That's enough for me. Nowadays, I'm also a musician and made 3 albums in the last 5 years, and I know that some more bands or musicians did not come to the show and have more different talents. For all the people who are watching this video, no matter whether you are from China or somewhere else, thank you for being interested in Chinese indie music. For many reasons, indie music in China has limited ways to show themselves to the world. Even this show looks like a show only for the Chinese. Luckily, we have KZbinrs like you to help introduce all these music scenes here. Last but not least, love from China, thanks! 爱来自中国，谢谢！

[@PeteronChina]

I can see a variety of live indie music most nights of the week here in Chongqing and while it's the biggest city in China it's not known as a cultural hub. The bands that have stuck around through the years do so with a ferocious passion for music. You can't stop rock n' roll and in fact they're raising up a new generation. It's a pretty great scene here. Thanks for a great video!

[@OffendingTheOffendable]

Sorry you have to live there

[@PeteronChina]

@@OffendingTheOffendable Strange thing to say as a person who "Hate everyone equally and with malice ".

[@egregius9314]

Awesome to hear. Thanks for sharing!

[@simonpatonbass]

Fun fact: the UK tried to make a show like this back in 2007, which was called Mobile Act Unsigned with the winners getting a record deal, but it didn't work. Most of the bands were pretty bad, and the band that did win got dropped quickly afterwards when the album didn't sell

[@Bandsplaining]

There’s an American version too called America’s Next Big Band from the same time period, and same deal- the bands were pretty unoriginal, and there wasn’t even a hint of “experimental.” I wonder how many other countries have attempted the same thing, and how successful (or unsuccessful) they were. This could be a whole other video itself 😂

[@simonpatonbass]

@@Bandsplaining Think we're onto something here!

[@theLittleReckless]

@@Bandsplaining here you can find the Taiwanese version @一起聽團吧

[@theLittleReckless]

www.youtube.com/@2024bandbandband/videos

[@candidjam]

Hearing post-punk guitar with traditional Chinese flute is something I didn't know I needed! Amazing video!

[@mylim4020]

considering the language barrier, this is a extremely well-researched and produced video

[@crazyquilt]

I nearly spit out my beverage when you mentioned Anda Union. They have come to the US, twice at least, and I was lucky enough to see them both times. This would have been several years pre-COVID. They were incredible, and put on a fantastic show -- in Appalachian Ohio, no less! They also performed under the name Anda Band.

[@waldzz]

What was the beverage?

[@crazyquilt]

@@waldzz Just water, I'm afraid

[@waldzz]

@@crazyquilt it's o.k. - heard a lot of good things about it

[@vonPeterhof]

You mentioned the minority status of Anda Union, but it's probably worth noting that Vareihnaz also represent an ethnic minority group, namely the Zhuang people. Their languages are distantly related to Thai and Lao and they are officially the largest ethnic minority in China, but perhaps because of their perceived greater closeness to/degree of assimilation into the mainstream Chinese (Han) culture they are pretty obscure outside China. I believe the title and at least some of the lyrics to their last song shown here are from one of the Zhuang languages.

[@Bandsplaining]

You’re correct! I do remember this coming up in my interviews that parts of their songs are in the Zhuang dialect. I think this is also why the their Latinized name (Variehnaz) looks nothing like their pronunciation on the show (Vah-ee-na)?

[@mas851]

Amazing video as usual, I love when you highlight underground music from all over the world!

[@musiclover01ization]

This was yet another great video, Bandsplaining. China has a pretty cool music scene.

[@punpunpunyama9271]

commenting for the algorithm! (great video as always btw)

[@EVPband]

I am from China, and I really like to read your analysis every time, which is very accurate in stepping on the hidden problems existing in contemporary Chinese society. In China, the media and public figures are not allowed to talk about these issues, but it is you outsiders who speak out, really ironic.

[@lekasuki]

The indie music scene in China is really getting more and more interesting now, and not only that, but the development of the Internet community has also had a very interesting impact on Chinese indie music and even experimental music. A new generation of Chinese youth is also starting to create their own music, and they are coming to our attention, hoping to join the global music exchange.

[@tcshalev]

Another solid video; well done, dude.

[@andrewrobertson5508]

Absolutely LOVE the chill insightful vibes of your videos, please keep it up!!!

[@csnist2381]

After the 2nd season in 2020, I thought it would be a miracle if there's another season of this show, it was really toeing the line with media regulations. I know some lyrics were changed, and the band or the program team chose to play safer material, which seemed like a deliberate choice. However, one of the performances by Haya, a band from Inner Mongolia, was about their dissatisfaction of losing their grassland to factory building and other development (if I remember correctly what they said on the show, I don't understand the lyrics). They performed with bandages, complete with wound and blood makeup. Very gloomy and dark stuff, I don't remember ever seeing something close to that on chinese tv show before.

[@geinikan1kan]

Really great episode. Nice to see someone going on about China. Anda Union has been touring the US for at least a decade.

[@someguymakingvideoz9854]

Please keep making these cool videos! Keep up the good work.

[@Rubbersoular]

There's also a video series on KZbin where a youtuber interviewed bands in the chinese underground scene and let them perform a song. It's called "The sound stage" on KZbin. (English subs are included for the songs) Many of the bands who appeared on the show also appeared on the sound stage. Including second hand rose performing "clingy" which is my favourite song from theirs and sound toy (one of my favourites of the season) performing "the most wonderful journey". It's also interesting to see what the respective bands were like when they were younger, and you can even be exposed to more bands that didn't appear in the big band. (Chinese football, Hiperson)

[@stapsighboys]

Super comprehensive and informative - thanks a lot

[@roffie]

Awesome video. Thanks so much!

[@dmytrom297]

Why didn't you even mention MarsRadio? I know the sound is nothing special, but the frontman has such a cinsere energy, I love him.

[@CautiousKieran]

Do they know what weird rock in the Soviet Union in the 80s led to? A lot of similarities I reckon.

[@wheelsofmercury]

Pretty awesome video! Really like the band with the Mongolian throat singing; they remind me of The Hu and Tengger Cavalry!

[@AndrewDasilvaPLT]

Thank you for your work.

[@shez6403]

Funky!! Aaaa he's such a cool dude I remember him from when he was a teacher to a few students in north korea and helped them learn how to play "rock"

[@Bandsplaining]

Dang, Funky in North Korea could be a whole video on its own

[@tonnynaomi3926]

As a malaysian, we used to have a tv show like this called "versus". It was aired during the 2000s during the so called indie era of malaysian music industry bc indie bands were the shit at the time. I haven't watched it honestly and idk much abt it bc I'm way too young, that was long ago but you should definitely check it out 🙏

[@obelix703]

9:14 Birdstriking sound like Kraftklub.

[@Griefhand]

Thanks a bunch for this video, its a shame how fucking good but underrated the chinese scene is.

[@fwabcaf]

Okay I'm interested.

[@jonhillman871]

i was so happy just to watch these bands performing their music live. not a dud among the bunch.

[@simongregory3114]

Awesome video. Some cool band names in there too. How annoying that a Chinese band can come up with a better name than a native English speaker like me!

[@babybop9817]

love supermarket so much

[@Law0086]

That BandOS is awesome!

[@yungfiend6830]

There's a surprising amount of bands in east asia with stoners. Japan and Taiwan also have alot but bc of the laws they keep it very lowkey. Usually only refrencing weed with metaphors. It always intrigues me though, bc even just getting caught being a weed smoker in those countries can send you to jail. In japan and china at least they interogate you for days if you get caught, they police try to get stoners to snitch on any other stoners or ppl they bought it from.

[@SatelliteSoundLab]

Holy shit why doesn't this exist in North America

[@kimwalsh]

Hey there, 7:18 sounds like the days I grew up in

[@antonschollum3128]

Mean video brother

[@mysterious_mushroom_1102]

28:22 No mannn TT you know how high the copyright fee is for well-known foreign bands like this QQ

[@waldzz]

Guaraldi registered 👀👂

[@AndrewDasilvaPLT]

10:50 reminds me of Yellowcard, lol.

[@soysaucetilapia2893]

anda union reminds me of hanggai

[@pangwilson5838]

我居然可以看到外国人说乐夏

[@vonkadelic1514]

👍👍👍

[@TabukanSahit]

Kinda feels like anti-Chinese Propaganda to me

[@magicjuand]

to me it feels like a tribute to the indomitable and deeply-ingrained creative spirit of chinese people today despite all the difficulties.

[@TabukanSahit]

@@magicjuand is there enough of that displayed in the video? What's the creative spirit in your opinion? I genuinely don't know as a non-chinese person

[@OrangeYTT]

That's your only comment about this 46 minute long video...smh

[@lekasuki]

@@TabukanSahit For me, it was like an outsider's perspective, and I didn't see much of a political issue……After all, the theme is music.

[@jonask.7107]

萨希特特工干得漂亮 您的付款将作为积分转入您的微博账户。祖国万岁

[@BodywiseMustard]

NO! Please - why did you decide to start showing your face. It's selfish. I guarantee many users will leave just as I am about to as soon as I leave this comment. Shame.

[@Bandsplaining]

So sorry to hear that you feel this way! The decision to show my face for these last 2 videos was a practical matter to reduce the amount of editing time, and in turn, allow us to make longer videos. Previously we would need to find stock footage for the entire length of the video, which can take longer than the entire research and writing process. Nevertheless, I always appreciate the feedback and encourage others to chime in.

[@OrangeYTT]

Bye! Don't come back.

[@musiclover01ization]

You do realize he's shown his face quite a few times before this video, right? Anyways, I doubt you'll be missed if you leave.

[@BodywiseMustard]

Awful. You've gone from sharing interesting music history to forcing your a physical brand on a pre-existing audience.

[@stiffori]

My people are now buying your blue jeans and listening to your pop music

[@OrangeYTT]

Cool.