Respawn Entertainment: Days of Glory

Chapter 999 A Rock Anthem for the New Rolling Stones
Before everyone could wait any longer, Liu Ziyang's voice came through the speakers from the control panel: "Are you ready, Rolling Stones fans? Your new queen is about to make her entrance..."

This shout instantly transformed the chaotic atmosphere into an unstoppable torrent, erupting: "Rolling Stone! Guo Sichu! Empress Chu!"

Amidst the deafening shouts, the curtain covering the stage was rapidly pulled back from the center to both sides. As the figures behind the curtain were about to appear before everyone, the spotlights on the stage began to flash rhythmically.

The lead singer's silhouette appeared and disappeared intermittently, but it already amplified the "climax" in the audience to another level!
Once the spotlight on Guo Sichu stabilized, close-ups of her appeared simultaneously on several large screens at the venue…

She wore a short, black leather jacket with a flat collar, the front of which was open, revealing a black Rolling Stones logo t-shirt. She paired it with black leather shorts and black ankle boots, perfectly showcasing the essence of her stunning legs.

A neat ponytail hung at the back of her head, with a few strands of purple highlights flying out. Although it was a bit of a subversion of her goddess image in the hearts of her fans, that's what made it so surprising!
"Long time no see, how are you? I'm Guo Sichu, the new lead singer of the Rolling Stones!"

As soon as Guo Sichu started singing, the cheers and shouts from the audience began to rise again. In particular, her self-introduction, which emphasized the Rolling Stones, instantly won over rock fans and longtime Rolling Stones enthusiasts.

"She's down-to-earth and easy to get along with!"

"If Bian Lang hadn't been banned, how great would it have been for the couple to be on stage together?"

"He wasn't pretending to play the guitar while carrying it; that alone shows his honesty!"

As for Guo Sichu's long-time fans, it has been a while since they have seen Guo Sichu perform live. They get incredibly excited whenever they see him, and many of them are now completely blank in their minds!
Aside from screaming, it seemed like they had no other way to express their feelings at that moment.

After a few seconds of commotion from the audience, Guo Sichu gestured with her hand and continued, "Here, I would like to especially thank Mr. Bian..." Before she could finish speaking, she was interrupted by the cheers from below.

Bian Lang, sitting in the audience, was laughing like a rotten persimmon. Among a group of cool rock legends, he looked like a complete idiot.

"...I'm grateful to him for giving me the opportunity to choose and try different musical paths. People might think it's nothing special, since we're all in the same band, right?"

The audience erupted in cheers again, especially Guo Sichu's friends, who were all laughing and scolding her: "Are you never going to stop showing off your love?"

Guo Sichu's best friend Liu Yao laughed and retorted on her behalf: "Has anyone ever seen her like this before? That just proves it's true love!"

"But what I want to share with everyone is that Mr. Bian, who made this decision, and my Rolling Stones bandmates behind me, are betting the future of the Rolling Stones... If I mess up this performance, they said I'll never have the face to perform on stage again..."

This was obviously a joke, but while Guo Sichu said it to relieve her stress, she was also clarifying a point of view to her longtime fans: that although she, Guo Sichu, is a pop diva, when she is in the Rolling Stones, she is the main person in the band!
Moreover, the Rolling Stones' current fame in China certainly can't compare to Guo Sichu's, but if you look at them abroad, the situation is completely reversed.

The reason I said that is because among her fans, since she officially announced that she would be the lead singer of the Rolling Stones, some people have felt that the Rolling Stones are not good enough for Guo Sichu as the lead singer, but are only good enough as a backup band.

Guo Sichu knows it's impossible to please everyone, but she doesn't want such opinions to become the mainstream view among her fans.

Bian Lang and the Rolling Stones band might not care, but there are many musicians at Rolling Stones, and quite a few of them have strong tempers. If these comments really spread and affect them, that would be bad.

So today, as the lead singer of the Rolling Stones making her first live appearance in China, Guo Sichu has to make her stance clear! She firmly believes that her true fans will respect and support her.

Sure enough, as soon as he finished speaking, applause erupted throughout the venue, along with cheers of "Go for it! Awesome!"

"Well then, without further ado, let me show you the results of my intensive training over this period. It may not be as rock and roll as Mr. Bian, but I hope that in the coming year, my performance will make you forget that the Rolling Stones also have someone like Bian Lang!"

This last, bold joke had an absolutely amazing effect! Everyone in the audience, regardless of their status, position, age, or gender, erupted in cheers and applause.
"Brilliant!"

"Domineering!"

"Yes, yes, yes! Let Bianlang step aside!"

Those in the entertainment circle who loved a good spectacle all turned to look at Bian Lang, curious about his expression. But to their surprise, Bian Lang was no longer standing in the same spot.

After searching for a while, they found that Bian Lang had already stood on the barrier facing Guo Sichu and was giving Guo Sichu a metal salute!

Immediately afterwards, a group of music fans behind Bian Lang also joined in with a metal salute!

Some of Guo Sichu's fans didn't know what the gesture meant, but they figured it wasn't the kind of provocative gesture rappers use, so they just copied it. In an instant, the countless hands making the metal salute were the best proof of their support for Guo Sichu.

If she were abroad, seeing this scene wouldn't have affected Guo Sichu much, but this was in China, on the stage of the Rolling Stones Music Festival, and it was her first time standing at a music festival as the lead singer of the Rolling Stones. With all these factors combined, a few tears slid down her cheeks.

It was for the support of her fans, and even more so for Bian Lang's willingness to use his own reputation and the reputation of Rolling Stones to let her try to step out of her comfort zone and challenge a new track.

To reiterate, many believe that Guo Sichu's decision this time is a gamble with her reputation and years of accumulated resources, helping Rock Records and Bianlang overcome their difficulties. But in her own view, isn't this also Bianlang and Rock Records giving her another chance to reach the top in her music career?
For the two of them, this was a truly two-way journey!

She calmed herself down a bit, habitually adjusted her headset, and then turned to nod at the Rolling Stones musicians. When she turned back, she saw that more and more Rolling Stones musicians or lead singers were climbing onto the barrier in front of the stage.

After exchanging a glance with Bian Lang, who was all smiles, she closed her eyes and waited for the music to start...

The next moment, Da Yong, who was twirling the drumsticks, suddenly flipped his hand down and began to strike the snare drum. After eight neat "thump thump thump thump thump thump thump" sounds, the two Rolling Stones guitar masters, Di Li and Strauss, swept out an overdrive rhythm.

The musicians below the stage, including Bian Lang, who had climbed over the barriers, started clapping along to the "dong dong da" rhythm.

Looking at Guo Sichu again, her eyes were still closed, but her body was moving in rhythm with her feet, tapping her feet to the beat. It wasn't the light, graceful dancing that was suitable for her previous pop songs, but rather a more powerful, heavy stomping...

It makes you want to exclaim, "This is so Rock N' Roll!" After the 16-bar intro, Guo Sichu opens her eyes precisely on the beat, hands on the microphone stand, strikes a cool pose, and sings:

"I saw him dancing there by the record machine, and I knew he must have been about seventeen..."
Guo Sichu changed her singing style from the pharyngeal voice to a chest voice, pressing her breath into the lower part of her vocal cords, making her originally ethereal voice more substantial, like sand and gravel.

Her fans were immediately speechless, wondering if they had misheard.

As for rock music fans, the already high level of excitement was raised even higher after hearing the powerful and intense vocals!

"Holy crap! This is just too good! If this keeps going, I might just forget that Rock Records had Bian Erlang as their former lead singer!"

Furthermore, almost everyone in the know thought the opening song would be a Chinese rock song, but now that they hear it's in English, they don't feel disappointed at all; instead, they're even more excited.

As for those who instantly understood the lyrics, upon hearing the word "17 years old," they all looked at Bian Lang in unison: "Could this be some kind of hint?"

"The beat was going strong, Playing my favorite song, And I could tell it wouldn't be long, Until he was with me Yeah me..."

(My heart is racing. He's playing my favorite song. I dare say it won't be long before he's with me, yes, with me...)
Sure enough, as soon as the next line of lyrics came out, the fans of the "dog food" (a slang term for public displays of affection) started laughing hysterically.

Everyone knows that Guo Sichu is older than Bian Lang, so isn't this basically saying that I like older women dating younger men?

As for rock music fans, most of them didn't pay attention to the lyrics, but were completely stunned by the explosive hard rock style. Although Bian Lang's first song that made him famous on Aquamarine was punk, there is an unwritten consensus among music fans that "No Place to Hide" is the Rolling Stones' debut work, so it is generally accepted that the Rolling Stones are a band that started out as hard rock.

Well, after going around in circles and returning to the starting point, it still has this same hard texture, which seems to fit the temperament of the name "Rolling Stone".

Just considering the song selection for this new song, Guo Sichu, as the lead singer, is already halfway there. The other half, of course, depends on what kind of feedback the music fans will give in the end.

If you can reach Joan Jett's level, then Bian Lang will be laughing in his sleep every day.

Such a result made the Commander and his fellow rock veterans gasp in astonishment: "Truly worthy of Bian Lang, he never misses a beat in choosing people and songs!"

The key is that the new timbre that Guo Sichu has been trained to produce may be the most solid foundation stone for her rock journey!

But as Dong Xing knows, this kind of forced tone that leaves one's comfort zone is actually very damaging to the voice. Moreover, Guo Sichu is already this age, so for her and Rock Records, this may be the kind of classic that we can only hear once more!

When Bian Lang was choosing this song, he wanted Guo Sichu to sing it with her original voice, since the original version by Ms. Deng had already provided the standard answer for this kind of feeling.

But Bian Lang blurted out that Guo Sichu should try using that sound on purpose, and everyone present, except Bian Lang, including Guo Sichu herself, thought it was a good choice.

Since that's the case, Bian Lang can only leave the other styles of versions to others to cover at their own pace.

Whether a freak like Weird Al Yankovic will emerge to parody "I Love Rocky Road" remains to be seen.

On stage, Guo Sichu released the microphone with both hands, pointed at Bian Lang with her right hand in a shooting gesture, and her cool and dashing demeanor and eyes made the Chu Army fans in the audience feel like they were about to be mesmerized!

Bian Lang couldn't help but scream inwardly, "Sister, who can withstand this?!"

"And I could tell it wouldn't be long, Until he was with me Yeah me, Singin..."

(I dare say it won't be long before he's with me, yes, with me, sing along...)
After singing this line, Guo Sichu made a graceful turn while holding onto the microphone stand with one hand. Returning behind the stand, she raised both hands high, clapping along to the rhythm as she began to sing:
"I love Rock N'Roll, So put another dime in the jukebox baby..."

She was joined by other musicians from Rolling Stones, along with a vocal ensemble led by Li Linqing, and the chorus was sung with the aura of a top-tier lead singer having a team-building event.

Looking down at the audience, the Rolling Stones musicians, led by Lang, were sitting on the barrier, singing and clapping in unison.

"I love Rock N'Roll...So come and take your time and dance with me..."

(I love rock and roll, insert another coin into the jukebox, baby, I love rock and roll, come on, no rush, dance with me...)
Originally released in 1982, "I Love Rock 'n Roll" topped the US singles chart. Although it was a cover song, it became one of Joan Jett and the Blackhearts' most famous songs and their signature work.

The song was originally written and performed by the British band Arrows in 1975. Joan Jett fell in love with it after seeing them perform it on television in 1976.

She covered the song twice: first in 1979 with two members of the Sex Pistols, and second in 1981 with the Blackhearts.

The second cover version, released in 1982, quickly became a global hit, topping the US singles chart for seven consecutive weeks and becoming the third most popular song of 1982.

This song was also included on the self-titled album "I Love Rock 'n Roll," which became one of Joan Jett's most successful albums and achieved platinum certification.

Meanwhile, "I Love Rock 'n Roll" ranks 484th on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest songs of all time. Don't think this song's ranking is too low; Rolling Stone's list is not just about ranking rock music.

Besides, The Rolling Stones' "Miss You" from Earth was ranked even lower than this song!

With the added support of Joan Jett, a female rock icon spanning generations, this is exactly how rock anthems should be!

(End of this chapter)