Chapter 76 Section 2 Personality Consciousness in Rock: "Nothing"

Cui Jian, the "No. 1 person in Chinese rock and roll", writes and composes all his songs by himself. Regardless of his consistent avant-garde orientation in music, only his strong and uncompromising personality spirit is shown in his lyrics writing. As far as he is concerned, he deserves to be the chief rock poet of our time.Cui Jian sang "Nothing" for the first time at the 100-star concert held to commemorate the "International Year of Peace" in 1986. It is not only the starting point of his own creation, but also China's first true rock work. First of all, it must be clear that the difference between rock and pop songs.Undoubtedly, popular songs are a kind of kitsch commercial culture. Its production, performance and popular methods are all dominated by the laws of the market. It must accommodate the interests of cultural consumers before it can be accepted and its value as a commodity can be exerted. , which means that it must not contain too much unique and creative content.And rock has been a rebellion against popular music since its birth. The biggest difference between it and the latter is that although it is also a cultural type rooted in the commercial society, its basic feature is to express sharp individuality and rebellion. The content, or as Cui Jian himself said, is an expression of the strength of reality, including the pursuit of sober rationality and depth in thought, the strengthening of individual unique experience in feeling, and the tit-for-tat confrontation with Cui Jian in the critical dimension. Describe his rock concept: "My rock music expresses a kind of thinking and rationality needed by society. When you are at your best, when you are at your worst and most depressed, this society always needs a group of people. Look at it intellectually, it's black, it speaks honestly about problems, it makes you feel socially interesting, it helps you discover something, but it doesn't cut you off just to make you laugh..."[4] Since the 1980s, Cui Jian, as a serious creator, has relentlessly adhered to his four albums: "Rock and Roll on the New Long March", "Solution", "Eggs under the Red Flag" and "Powerless Power". The strength of the individual standpoint is critical, and the rebellious nature of it is further strengthened, so that it has reached an excellent state that can be called unique in art.But if we go back to the starting point of Cui Jian's creation, the above-mentioned tendencies and characteristics have been clearly brewed in "Nothing".

The core idea of ​​this lyrics can be said to be "negation". The situation of "nothing" is "denying and rejecting history, reality and everything else"[5], which expresses a difficult and painful cultural resistance. It means that an antagonistic relationship has been built between the self and the external world, thus losing the control from the outside and the internal support of culture, leaving only the exposed, helpless and solipsistic individual soul.The image of the singer in it is just like the singer in the whole album "Rock and Roll on the New Long March Road", he is a lonely person with a tearing pain in his heart, he has nothing to rely on except his own personality, His erotic tendencies toward the lyric object of the song brought him frustration and anxiety: "I used to keep asking when you'd come with me/But you always laughed at me for having nothing/I I want to give you my pursuit and my freedom/but you always laugh at me for having nothing..." The contradictions and disputes expressed through the emotional relationship can actually be said to be a tortuous metaphor for the inner confusion of cultural rebels However, this did not lead him to give up his individual position, or to deal with the unpredictable pressure of the environment. On the contrary, this anxiety and confusion showed the meaning of freedom and individual pursuit, and transformed into a kind of anger and more Resolute self-defense.Therefore, the last part of the song presents a bright tone and a decisive intention from the frustrated feeling: "Tell you that I have been waiting for a long time to tell you my last request / I want to grab your hands and you will follow me / At this time Your hands are trembling and your tears are flowing/Could it be that you are telling me that you love me and have nothing..." In this original composition, Cui Jian sincerely projected the confusion and passion of his heart in his words, What emerges from the tendency and collision of resistance and choice is the individual's intense feeling when bearing the role of cultural resistance. All pain is expressed as anger, and all despair is presented as strength.

In addition, "Nothing" also established Cui Jian's basic style of speech in rock, that is, a style of complete devotion, direct expression and undisguised.In fact, this is precisely because the performance of strength occupies the largest proportion in Cui Jian's rock, and the emotions facing reality do not need to be changed, but are released with their powerful gushing momentum.Of course, this preserves the creator’s self-image as much as possible, which can be described as “there is someone in it, ready to emerge”, or what Cui Jian himself emphasized: “An artist’s work should express the power of personality”.[6 ]