Mayday
Mayday is a Taiwanese rock band that was created in the late 1990s. The name of the band in Chinese is 五月天 (pinyin: Wǔ Yuè Tiān). The band consists of five members: Ashin, a vocalist, Monster and Stone, guitarists, Masa, a bassist, and Guan You, a drummer. The previous name of e band was So Band, they became Mayday only in 1997. The present name originates from Masa’s nickname in the Internet (Baidu.com).
Ashin, the vocalist, whose real name is Chen Ashin Hung, was born on the 6th of December, 1975, in Taipei, Taiwan.
Monster, one the guitarists and the leader of the band, in real life known as Wen Shang Yi, comes from Hsin-Chu, Taiwan. He was born on November, 28, 1976.
Stone, the other guitarist, Shih Chin-hang in real life, was born on December, 11, 1976 in Taipei.
Masa, who plays the bass guitar, the piano, the harmonica, and also represents back-vocal, has the name Tsai Shen-yen and comes from Kaohsiung in Taiwan. His birth date is 25 April, 1977.
Guan You (Ming), the drum player, was born in Miaoli in Taiwan as Liu Yen-ming on July, 28, 1973 (JpopAsia).
HISTORY
The band was formed as “So Band” in 1995 when they were the students of the Affiliated Senior High School of National Taiwan Normal University (Baidu.com). In 1997 the group changed its name to “Mayday” and joined the Formoz Festival. After the festival the band’s demo interested Rock Records, with whom they deigned their first record deal in 1998. The same year they participated in releasing the Taiwan Independent Compilation Album. In 1999 Guan You joined the band, and their first full-length studio album was released on July, 7th, 1999, under Rock Records. They started receiving different music awards, the first one was the 11th Golden Melody Awards under the category of Best Band (later it they also won it in 2001, 2004, 2009, 2012). Some of their songs (including “Embrace” and “Peter and Mary”) were the top songs in the KTV list. Many songs of the Mayday were chosen to be the theme songs in movies and special events. On August, 28th they held their first large-scale show called “The 168th Performance”. From 2001 until 2003 there was a temporary hiatus in the band performing because of Masa’s military service. After that the band got regrouped and continued their work, releasing albums, holding concerts all over the world, creating soundtracks for different films, and taking part in world tours, far away from Taiwan. By now they have 11 studio albums, 10 live albums and CDs, over 20 concert tours held and popularity not only in the East, but also in the Western hemisphere (ֶ첿).
BEATLEMANIA
The band’s popularity is often compared with that of the Beatles on the pick of their music career. Although their fans are not so frenzied as the Beatles’ ones, in Asia the audience of the band began to approach the so called “Beatlemania.” Some of the recent tours of Mayday drew over 2.3 million fans, which is more than Madonna in 2012. The Mayday started the “Chinese Invasion” and revealed Asian music (and consequently, Chinese pop culture) to the world, just like the Beatles opened the U.K. music to the USA (Cheng). Another similarity connecting this band with the Beatles is participation in politics. After one of the members supported the protest against the trade deal between Taiwan and China, the band faced the reaction in Chinese media. Nevertheless, it didn't turn the fans away from them, and hey continued attending their concerts. Interestingly, the arrival of the “Chinese Beatles” in the United States happened 50 years after the Beatles first came out in the USA on “The Ed Sullivan Show” (Cheng).
These factors allowed the musical critics to call them the “Chinese Beatles”. “Chinese” is presumably since most groups from the East are known as Chinese due to their ethnicity, use of Mandarin dialect, and big popularity in China, although many of these famous bands and stars come from Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Malaysia (Shyong).
CHARACTERISTICS
The songs and compositions of the Mayday are written mainly in Mandarin language and in Taiwanese Hokkien. For their musical style they are often called the pioneers of rock music in Taiwan. The topics they touch upon in their songs include issues of gay rights, teenage angst, growing up, culture, dreams, and many others (Shyong).
Their popularity challenged the idea that only English-soaking stars can be global stars and Chinese-speaking will always be only regional ones. Despite their age, the members of the band have the appearance and the image of a boy band. Their performances are interactive – at one of the concerts each attendant held a colored placard forming a large mosaic with the concert city's name. They were the first Chinese band to hold an live concert streamed in YouTube (Z, Nancy).
Their music has nothing to do with politics; they say that their music helps them express their opinion and worldview, not their political ideas.
It is said that their music has no nationality. With their concerts and compositions they also try to give Chinese audience living overseas the warmth and feeling of homeland. That's why many people, not only the Taiwan or the Chinese, come to their concerts in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Jose, European, and many other cities (Shyong).
References
“Mayday.” Baidu.com. Web. 8 Apr. 2016.
Cheng, Evelyn. "Here Come the 'Chinese Beatles'!" CNBC. 2014. Web. 8 Apr. 2016.
“Mayday - Rock Band - Cpop.” JpopAsia. Web. 8 Apr. 2016.
Shyong, Frank. "In L.A., Taiwanese Band Mayday Rocks Its All-Chinese Audience."Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 2014. Web. 8 Apr. 2016.
Z, Nancy. "Music, Tears, and Ang Lee at Taiwanese Band Mayday's NYC Show."DramaFever RSS. 25 Mar. 2014. Web. 9 Apr. 2016.
“ֶ첿 (Taiwanese Band Mayday Partial Information).” ֶ̨첿. Web. 8 Apr. 2016.
