BeijingDazeTales of Live Music From Beijing's Mostly Underground Rock Scene..

Oct
23rdJacky Danny Feat. Ricky Sixx: Noise, Sound and Voice of the other 80s

From Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-80s

Post 80s
The Post-80s (also the Post-1980, Chinese: 八零后; pinyin: bā​líng​hòu​) is a colloquial term which refers to the generation whose members were born between 1980 to 1989 in Mainland China after the introduction of the One-child policy. This generation currently ranges in age from 22 to 32, making up a major portion of China’s young adult demographic.

i think it was about 2 years ago that i stumbled upon Jacky Danny and declared then the best thing in Beijing’s underground music scene since…well..since the last best thing. One of the first songs of theirs that i liked is “from the 80s” and judging by the band’s looks and type of music, i pretty much for whatever stupid odd reason associated it with the excess of the 80s hair bands they were emulating.

This past friday at Temple, as i watched them go through the last half of their set with Rikki Sixx helping out on bass, i finally grasped the whole song as i watched a generation sing about where they came from and how they coped… and while they might not know it, Li Bo and Co. have penned the anthem for their generation of rock n rollers ( kick ass, Los crashers, res A….):

some twenty years ago二十几年前
I landed on this big bad world我来到了这操蛋的世界
in the first place I didn’t know起初我可不知道
it was the age of rock n’ roll那曾是个属于摇滚的时代

I am now twenty-four现在二十多的我
not a child anymore不再年少轻狂
not about to change the world不敢妄想改变这世界
just wander how to cheer you folks只想琢磨着 如何唤起这帮家伙的热情
c’mon

CHORUS
we are the noise we are the sound and voice (from the 80s)我们是来自80年代的声音 老旧的噪音
we are no toys we are the girls and boys (from the 80s) 我们是来自80年代的孩子 不是他们的玩偶
we have no choice but we have fun and joy from the 80s 这不是我的选择 但我很享受这一切 享受这80年代

c’mon
we’re from the 80s bady我们来自80年代

yeah, i know the song is a blatant rip off Cinderella but that doesn’t take away from the lyrics…

anyways, enough being philosophical about this… and back to the gig…
as things would have it, i missed the opening act, Executants of the Sword but they were pretty solid according to those who were there. A heavy AC/DC influence which is not something i would ever complain about. I look forward to catching them soon.

The big and pleasant surprise of the evening was seeing Ricky Sixx on bass duties… it never even seemed strange, it just fit and i hope it becomes a permanent thing. The band played they usual set list of “we’re from the 80s”, “don’t wanna land” “ai’t no big deal” just to name a few. Guitarist meanbone took vocal duties on a new song but somehow managed to forget half the lyrics, not that the audience cared. We were also treated to a pretty fun albeit disastrous version of Anarchy in the PRC with Rikki Sixx and half the audience on vocals…
i would have been easy to pick on the musical aspects of the gig but not this time.. the audience and the band were both having loads of fun. The encore saw them pull out an unrehearsed Knockin on Heaven’s Door with a massive sing-along.
it wasn’t pretty, it wasn’t mozart but it was rock n roll at its best… and i’ll take that for a good time….. anytime…