Hong Kong Popular Music (Part 3)

by Ming Leung, May 2011

03/  Pop Music Characteristic


With the definition of pop music is easy to listen, as a product to sell. Hence their properties should be structural and easy to remember, and need to very easy to catch the listener attention so that this will easily to have a good result in the selling.

As mentioned by Adorno, he used one word to summarize the characteristic pop music: standardization. Standardization included short time interval with just only 32 bars and the range is limited to one octave and one note, pattern is easy to understood, content is also limited, mostly about mother songs, nonsense or “novelty” songs, or laments for a lost girl, etc which not like the serious music have more variety, more details can be present since the length is not limited. (Adorno, 1990) But this standardization is actually let the pop music is easy to distribute and sell, basically this is the one of the main requirement to become pop music.

With this standardization, actually one Hong Kong indie singer has reconstructed the Hong Kong pop song called The Elegy for Hong Kong. The content is re‐construct the existing pop songs, each pop song just cut some segment and combined it together to become a another one, which actually apply the theory of standardization from Adorno, but actually is really look like a new pop song also. Besides, Jan Lam, he have a song which called Pop Music directly to discuss the formal pattern of the pop songs after 2000.

Standardization, if the popular songs need to be selling as product, this actually just like the manufacturing in factory, so shot of standardization is necessary to be preform. Yes, this is not like the serious music, but this actually not the serious music, which just similar to the food type, some people like to have a full set dinner, but some people just like to have a cup noddle for dinner, depending on the mood or the job of that day. We know cup noodle is not health, but in case we have over time work until 10 at night and just one person at home, cup noodle is the most suitable choice instead of the full set dinner.

And serious music actually need have play in a pleasure environment, for instance a room or listen in the auditorium, which have not such flexible and portable as pop music. In this Internet era, all the things are need to be fast, make it instantly and so serious songs will have less chance to contact to the public in this mobile internet era, music can be play in many location like playing in iPod when walking on the street, or playing gym, etc.

Standardization
If the standardization is the reason that make all the songs become the same, and which the listener is just have only got the same materials and the same feeling, this is just fall into the production concept of similar to factory, all toy product is identically the same with no characters.

But the listener of the pop music is actually human.

Listening to pop music, this is similar the scenario of a group of students attending the lecture from professor, professor is just only one, the teaching materials is also only one set, but how come different student have different responses: some will have questions, some will not know what the professor talking, etc. Besides the interpretation of the materials is different for each student, their interpretation is based on their knowledge, past experience and their environment where they growth up.

If the listener have not well listen and understand the pop music, it is not the fault of the pop music. There is the problem of the listener actually when we see there is a collection what called Mozart Effect[8], they are the collection of Mozart’s music, but actually it is just collect a part of this, since the producer know their target listener have not practice to listen such long whole completed music piece, so they package similar in the pop music way and let them feel it is worth to buy it. Moreover, the customer of this Mozart Effect, yes this time is not for entertainment, but they buy as a tool for them, to train their baby to become “smarter” or just make them have a “clear mind” for their work. Actually even they will not know what is about from Mozart music, just listen it to have some noise and think they will become better like taking the medicine from doctor.

On the other side, pop music in Hong Kong has much variation. About 80s, since there is the band sound movement and the Hongkonger need to face the problem of 1997, apart love song from boy and girls, political related songs have released like Tat Ming Pair or Beyond, their songs like Ten Youth for Fire Fighting or Tai Dei, which using metaphor to discuss the local Hongkonger have leave Hong Kong or about the unfamiliar country that need to facing at that time.

In recent year, the type is much more different way, like talking about the current Hong Kong situation, the disc Hacken Lee Auditorium II from Hacken Lee related to Hong Kong actually, especially the first songs Tin Shiu‐Wai Sing, which directly talk from the point of view of Tin Shiu Wai to Hong Kong whole situation, which main idea is if want to alive, need to claim out from the wall of the weal. Besides, there are also other types: Great Article Reason by Siu‐Fei which about the stupid adjustment from The Obscene Articles Tribunal, about environment protection like Snow in June (by Eason Chan) & Where Should the Flower Go (by Hacken Lee), about prostitution of young girl (24 City by Hacken Lee), about hope and dream like If I am Eason Chan (by Mr.), etc.

Yes, the content is still love song driven, as Lin‐Xi said if he fill the lyric which is love unrelated, he need to fill the form to apply from his boss (Wong chi‐wah, 2010). But there is many kind of love in the world actually, not just fall in love deep, lost love, there is also forbidden love like loving the other’s wife, or telling leaving a relation is how pain, just similar to the film Love Actually or Paris, je t'aime, which can have many different perspective to describe it. For instance, fall in love with the wife have Unhindered (by Eason Chan), Sinner (by Hacken Lee), etc. Teach to break the relationships like Eyes Cannot without Tears (by Leo Koo). Or some is directly talk about the philosophy of love like Difficult to Love, When the Grapes Matured, etc.

So if it is said the pop song have narrow the choice for the listener, I think this is not very fair for the pop music in Hong Kong. Yes, there is still love song driven. Since the pop song is the product for sell, which actually the market is driven by the customer, the producer and the company is provide the songs for the market depending what is the market need. For instance, there is a song from the movie Internal Affairs (無間道), this is very popular at that time, the content which is talk about how to leave the hell in term of working hard and preform many things when still living in the hell, which meet the economic environment at Hong Kong at that moment, Internet bubble have crushed, the flat price dropped and there the start of SARS under the rule by Tung, the CE of HKSAR at that time.

So this song is hit naturally at that moment, together with the promotion with the films. This song is not love songs, actually the content is tailor made for the movie, but in other interpretation, which have the spirit of the Hongkonger at that time, which hard to fight for this bad situation.

But why love songs is still the major one. Since love is a good things which actually not very clear to define, no smell, no color physically and also when start to fall in love, you cannot very clear to tell the situation, so when the song topic is about love is try to help the people to understand more if they are in the situation of love.

In case the topics of popular music have narrowed in the society, it is not the responsibility of the popular music. As some people (Hong Kong Policy Viewers, 1994) said the popular songs need to have some responsibility to teach the public or encourage to the public to preform upward. This actually is the responsibility of the parents, teachers in secondary school and the government. They have some mistake in their mind that popular songs should take some responsibility. Popular songs are the market driven product. If the market need some music have a positive mind, then the popular songs will naturally create this, as the examples of Internal Affairs (無間道) previously, Pound of You, etc. And since this is market driven, this will also very naturally adopt to the most people in the public.

They are some people have made the mistake in another way that want to enforce some false concept to the public by using popular music, as have done before by HKSAR government when they try to use Under the Lion Rock. As they see the popular music are well adopt from the public and it look like a good tools that can be used to brainwash the public. But actually they are told the wrong things: first, the Hongkonger will not trust you for their bad policy. Also the background of this song is about 70s Hong Kong. With some history knowledge of Hong Kong we know there were many people come from Mainland China to escape the Communist, and Hong Kong has affected by the Communist in the late 60s and there is riot that let the Hong Kong out of control. So the governor at that time has done many things like the public housing, establish ICAC and free education for children, etc. The HongKonger then have a mind that cannot back to the mainland, so long stay in Hong Kong is much better that back to home town and even the situation is not so good like this moment but still can work together under the lion rock hill. But this story cannot be repeat again, at least the flat under the Lion Rock is already HKD$9800 per square feet (already under the market price), even if the Hongkonger want to under the lion rock with you, but where can they get such kind of money?

So this is a very wrong interpretation of the functionality of the pop music can group of people to doing something. There should be a market that fit the people need and the popular song to serve this. If the content of pop music is really have problem, it is the problem of the market, which is means it is the problem of the society. This just like the scenario that a person is just listen specific one songs to learn love, which is just similar to the case the just watch only the movies Titanic, there only DiCaprio as the boyfriend in the world and jump to sea together to indicate the true love, but do not think about why four days will have such a deep love that need to “You jump, I jump”. This is just a primary school student behavior.

More Portable
Popular music is easier portable then the serious music in term of the entertainment environment. For instance, it can be played as a theme song for movies, or listen in iPod in a short time during the travel to work, as content for karaoke, for the game playing, etc. This will also have the reaction with the environment that they play. For instance, karaoke is the place that need to consume the pop music, but karaoke is also an entertainment place that maybe celebrate birthday, farewell people etc, so people here is not just singing, most of them are play and drunk instead. So if a person just want to more serious to sing songs inside, there will have some bad feeling so that there is a song called King of Karaoke‐Song (by Eason Chan), Favorite song (by Twins), which is totally matched with such kind of situation.

Also, for Big Incident in a Small City (by Miriam Yeung), this song is just derive from only one part of background music of movie sound track. The produce is just listen this part and ask the compose to use this segment to produce a song, which is very success in the public as the producer Paco Wong said he can hear the market from this segment form the sound track.