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The Flowers, (), were a Chinese rock band formed in Beijing in 1998. The band consisted of Dà Zhāng Wěi (lead vocals, guitar) (大张伟), Shí Xǐngyŭ (guitar) (石醒宇), Guō Yáng (bass guitar) (郭阳), and Wáng Wénbó (drums, percussion) (王文博). The Flowers recorded and released six studio albums before splitting up in 2009. ==History== Zhang Wei, Guo Yang and Wang Wenbo met while attending high school. During their early career, they played music in the style of pop punk that was reminiscent of American pop punk bands such as Green Day and Blink-182 who were the group's influences. The band first began playing in local bars and smoky clubs around Beijing. Unable to hide their hunger for commercial success, the band became somewhat aloof from the scene and often derided in some quarters for their attitudes. The trio first signed on to a small Beijing-based Chinese independent label, New Bees Music in 1998. A year later, the band released their debut studio album, ''On the Other Side of Happiness''. The album turned out to be a surprise hit as the accessible nature of songs like "Stillness", "Disillusion" and "School's Out" from the album made the band perfect for the music market they had wished to conquer. The band became somewhat credited for helping to give disaffected Chinese youths a resonant voice, as many of them were deeply affected by their songs and felt that the band's lyrics reflected their own life experiences. As a result, punk music in general became more widely known in China. In light of the band's commercial impact, some over enthusiastic commentators even went as far declaring the Flowers as the true bringers of punk to the Chinese. They pointed out that fans had previously found even the acoustic grunge of Nirvana's ''MTV Unplugged in New York'' difficult to comprehend. The Flowers became involved in a two-year-long lawsuit with their first company, New Bees Music. The dispute almost brought the band to a premature end, but was eventually settled out of court. They signed to EMI in 2001 and brought in a fourth member, guitarist Shi Xingyu. By this time, the band had become tired of the simple but effective music which had made them popular. The band was looking to diversify its sound. The Flowers recorded and released their third studio album ''I Am Your Romeo'' in July 2004. On the album, the band experimented with various musical styles including hip hop and techno. The band seemed to be a long way from their punk roots but were as straightforward as ever in their ideals... or lack of them. Da Zhang Wei said, "We have to earn our living through music... Pleasing our fans is our reason for making music and we don't care about other things." The songs itself still remained fairly upbeat and the lyrics pretty direct, although Zhang Wei softened the tone moderately for some of the love related songs. The song, "Xi Shua Shua", released in 2005, became a hit on the mainland. The song was included on the band's fourth studio album, ''Hua Ji Wang Chao'', or ''Blooming Dynasty'', released in July 2005. The album won numerous awards around China and sold some 200,000 copies in the forty days after its release and was considered a great success in the country's pop music scene. The Flowers made an appearance at the China Central Television's Lantern Festival gala show later that year. The group was also nominated by organizers of the Pepsi Music Chart Awards in China for awards in categories such as Best Arrangement, Best Lyrics, Best Composer and Best Rock 'n' Roll Band. The nominations were later canceled by the board of judges when plagiarism accusations involving the band came to light. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Flowers (Chinese band)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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