Chinese Art Chinese Music

Blacklist Studio Wikipedia

Blacklist Studio (黑名單工作室) was a group of Taiwan|Taiwanese musicians who came together and released a ground-breaking album in 1989 called Songs of Madness (抓狂歌). Reportedly five years in the making, this work came out at a critical juncture in History of Taiwan|Taiwan's history, two years after the lifting of the decades-long martial law.

Its members included 王明輝, 陳明章.

The first album's notes reveal the seriousness with which the group assessed its own role in Taiwan's musical development. They believed that Taiwanese music ought to reflect the times, that it was important for the new generations to "correctly" see the relationship between the mother tongue and themselves. Unlike virtually all other previous works, their songs sought to engage post-World War II social changes in a frank, realism|realist way.

The songs' styles cover Taiwanese folk, rap, Rock and roll|rock. One song has a clip of the Republic of China national anthem. Another samples environmental sounds from the street. Most of the songs told stories, sometimes through humorous or ironic dialogues between ordinary citizens. Taiwanese (linguistics)|Taiwanese is used exclusively in all of the songs.

Last Modified:   2005-03-09