I've been giving and taking a lot flak on the local live music scene in Beijing. First, I admittedly know little about a scene that I'm supposed to be an expert on by title. But that's why CW hired Blake. Lately, however, he like the rest of the old guard of Beijing music, seem to be infatuated (sorry Blake, enchanted) with the underground dj circuit. So armed with nothing more than just a curiosity about local music, I created this simple survey off Survey Monkey. There's only one question "Who's the hottest band in Beijing now?" You simply select hot to cold for each of the ten bands on the list. (If there is a band you don't see, just leave a comment. I'll add it to the list.)
You would not believe how politically sensitive Beijing live music event organizers, entertainment journalists and die-hard fans are to this survey. I had to drop the idea of a permanent column from the redesigned magazine due out this Jan. 2008. Which leads me to believe that this is really good idea. Everyone insists that it's impossible to accurately rank bands; that it is too subjective. I've never heard of a survey that was perfect. This one sure isn't, but it is the first attempt to gain a picture into what Beijing thinks about Beijing bands.
I give you the Beijing Billboards. Take the survey. And share with your friends please. After we get 100 results w/in a two week period, I'll force the column into the print magazine. Sorry Blake.
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Here are the 20 bands that I originally considered for this survey. It's too much to rank all bands (I think). I chose the first 10 based off the amount of recent gigs performed in BJ. If you've got others, feel free to add to this list. 1. ReTROS 2. Hedgehog 3. SUBS 4. Lonely China Day 5. Arrows Made of Desire 6. FM3 7. Snapline 8. Xiao He 9. Buyi 10. New Pants 11. Ziyo 12. Super VC 13. Reflector 14. Casino Demon 15. Joyside 16. The Verse 17. Black Cat Bone 18. Carsick Cars 19. PK14 20. White
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I do, in fact, have a few favorites. But I'm afraid that the rock crowd will dislike me even more than they already do if I offer any commentary, so best to take the fifth on this one...
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I took the survey, Collin - it was insanely hard! Is it anonymous?! I was hoping to be able to see the results once the survey was completed! My top three favorites these days, from top to bottom: 1. Retros 2. PK14 3. Lonely China Day Who else? Everyone on that list you posted deserves mention! @ Rachel: If the "rock crowd" dislikes you, (which I doubt) wouldn't it be a non-issue if they decided to dislike you even more? Let's hear it! The more responses, the better!
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I think the survey looks good (but switch in another band for Banana Monkey as they are a Shanghai band.) I also don't like having to rank all the bands with a different ranking as it's very time consuming to come up with a hierarchy that one is fully satisfied with.
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I think the "rock crowd" is under the impression that I only listen to underground DJs. Even Collin seems to think so, which is a shame. I have a lot of difficulty putting anything in order as "best" or "hottest," mainly because I have moods to listen to one thing or another, and any musician has good shows or not-so-good ones. But... I'll have to agree with Jenn on the Lonely China Day rec. I've seen them on a couple of occasions and really enjoyed the live experience. Then of course Hedgehog rocked my world. I haven't had the privilege of seeing Arrows live, but would love to. Once I've recovered from my overdose of 7 AM nights in clubs, maybe you (Jenn) could take me out to hear a Retros show.
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I have to say that none of my top 20 is in that list. The reason is probably that I like heavy metal when it comes to live music. If we change the title of this survey into "Who's the best (post-) punk band in Beijing", then my burning votes will go for ReTORS, Reflector, FM3 and Snapline.
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Man, you guys are right. Thanks for the input. I tell you what, I'll tweak the survey: - I'll keep it anonymous, but try to list the current results after each vote - I'll add a lot more bands - I'll try and give more flexibility in how you vote I'm using a basic survey off Survey Monkey, we'll see how far we can push the limits. I imagine the changes will make null and void the current results, so I'll publish the existing survey analysis before moving on. Thanks again for everyone's input.
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Miao, this is probably exactly the kind of erm... anality(?), analness(?), analism (?) that colin mentioned at the top, but I cannot forebear to ask the question... on what planet are FM3 a punk band?
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I just saw The Rape Olympics play last weekend. Their single "Fuwa Roofies" was particularly compelling.
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Best band? Not sure about that, but live (which is still probably the best measure of these things in Beijing)? Carsick Cars, hands down. And this is coming from someone who long thought that they were the worst live band in Beijing. Over the last few months they have completely transformed themselves into a lean, green, gig machine. That album of theirs is pretty nifty too.
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Yeah, I agree with the above - Carsick Cars is still the sweetest thing live. The show on Thursday (2nd anniversary of D-22) was nothing short of amazing and they can really get the crowd going, and in a good Chinese way. Zhang Shouwang also does really interesting work by himself. I thought White don't really play anymore?
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I gotta say my vote goes to Ziyo, great band to see live wish they would play more Helen rocks hard! Also on the list Fallen Insects and Hedgehog always fantastic! I wish the live music was a more centralized and be more regular, we need better venues closer to down town. With a little more variety. For absolute worst live band my vote goes to Bad Apples for just being so lame. How is it that they get so many gigs?
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