The Flowers (Chinese Band) - History

History

Dubbed as "China's first famous adolescent band," The Flowers had barely blossomed into youth when they first appeared on the Chinese music scene in 1998. Originally, the lineup consisted of Da Zhang Wei on lead vocals and guitar, Guo Yang on bass and Wang Wenbo on drums. The three members met while still attending high school and during their early career, The Flowers were a trio playing in the style of pop punk music reminiscent of American pop punk bands such as Green Day and Blink-182 who were the group's influences. The band first began playing in local bars and smoky clubs around Beijing. Unable to hide their hunger for commercial success, the band were somewhat aloof from the scene and often derided in some quarters for their attitudes. The trio first signed on to a small Beijing-based Chinese indie label, New Bees Music in 1998. A year later, the band would release their debut album On the Other Side of Happiness which turned out to be a surprise hit as the accessible nature of songs like "Stillness", "Disillusion" and "School's Out" from the album made the band perfect for the music market they wished to conquer. The band were also somewhat credited for helping to give disaffected Chinese youths a resonant voice, as many teenagers were deeply affected by their songs and felt that the band's lyrics reflected their own life experiences. As a result, punk music in general became more widely known in China.

In light of the band's commercial impact, some over enthusiastic commentators even went as far declaring The Flowers as the true bringers of punk to the Chinese. They pointed out that fans had previously found even the acoustic grunge of Nirvana's MTV Unplugged in New York difficult to comprehend.

The Flowers became involved in a two-year long lawsuit with their first company, New Bees Music. The dispute almost brought the band to a premature end, but was eventually settled out of court. The Flowers marked the end of their purgatory by signing to EMI in 2001 and bringing in a fourth member, guitarist Shi Xingyu. By this time, the band had become tired of the simple but effective music which had made them so popular. Like many other musicians, the band was looking to diversify its sound.

On their 2004 album, I Am Your Romeo, The Flowers experimented with various musical styles including hip hop and techno and the band seemed to be to be a long way from their old punk roots but were as straightforward as ever in their ideals... or lack of them. Vocalist Da Zhang Wei says, "We have to earn our living through music... Pleasing our fans is our reason for making music and we don't care about other things." The songs itself still remained fairly upbeat and the lyrics pretty direct, although Zhang Wei softened the tone moderately for some of the love related songs. The song, "Xi Shua Shua", was released in 2005, becoming a hit on the mainland. The song was included on the band's fourth album, Hua Ji Wang Chao, or Blooming Dynasty, released in July 2005. The album won numerous awards around China and sold some 200,000 copies in the forty days after its release and was considered a great success in the country's pop music scene. The Flowers made an appearance at the China Central Television's Lantern Festival gala show later that year. The group was also nominated by organizers of the Pepsi Music Chart Awards in China for awards in categories such as Best Arrangement, Best Lyrics, Best Composer and Best Rock 'n' Roll Band, but were later canceled by the board of judges when plagiarism accusations involving the band came to light.