Rock and Roll: Glorious Years

Inside the BJ SiGu Bar, Pan Xiulong, the music director of Magic Disc, is drinking and chatting with friends.

At this moment, the boss, Li Hao, strolled over carrying a tablet and said, "Brother Xiulong, what's wrong with your Magic Disc? You cut off the warm-up act during the live stream replay. What's the meaning of that? Are you being petty?"

Pan Xiulong was completely bewildered by the question, thinking to himself, "Why would a veteran rocker like you care about the opening act?" He took the tablet, glanced at it, and said, "Maybe they don't have the copyright for the opening act..."

As the music director of Magic Disc, he didn't think Li Yiliang's abilities were outstanding, and since he was a newly signed artist, he was just aware of him but wouldn't pay too much attention to him.

However, in order to pave the way for Li Yiliang, the company sent viewing invitations to many big names and music critics in the rock circle. As the owner of Sigu Bar, the holy land of the Chinese rock circle on Aquamarine Star, Li Hao was naturally not left out.

Upon hearing Pan Xiulong's answer, Li Haoqi exclaimed, "Hey! What kind of weird tactic is this from Magic Disc? Usually, the main act leads the newcomers as an opening act, but you guys are doing the opposite!"

"What do you mean?" Pan Xiulong knew something was wrong as soon as he heard that! "How come it's all the opposite?"

After Li Hao explained what had happened, he immediately apologized to his friend and went out to make a phone call.

About ten minutes later, he found Li Hao with a stern face and handed him his phone: "Is this the one?"

Li Hao took the phone and, upon seeing Bian Lang's mask, immediately exclaimed, "That's right, it's this kid! You guys didn't sign him and even disbanded the band? Xiu Long, putting aside the 'Loop Station' act, this song alone is enough to keep you entertained, right? The lyrics are absolutely brilliant!"

"Everyone makes mistakes sometimes, right? If you've ever worked in Beijing, you should have heard of it, right?"

Pan Xiulong was not as open-minded as he claimed. He had just gone out to make a phone call and had found out the whole story clearly. According to Wei Lan's account, from the company's perspective, anyone would have handled it that way. No one could have predicted that Bian Lang could hide so deeply.

What surprised him most was that despite the company investing a lot of resources in the live stream, the viewership was not as high as that of a small Bilibili content creator they had hired!

But since things have come to this, all we can do is try to salvage the situation. He can already imagine how the industry will laugh at their company once this gets out.

Li Hao thought for a moment, then led Pan Xiulong to the stage. After searching through the photo wall behind them for a while, he pointed to a photo in the upper right corner and said, "Look, aren't they those two?"

Pan Xiulong squinted at them, then nodded and said, "It's them, the Masked Band."

"Hey! That's really strange. Back then, I thought this band was just so-so! I vaguely remember that this kid named Bian Lang wasn't very skilled, but he was incredibly arrogant. He would always dawdle when tuning his instruments... Hurry up and resolve the issue, get someone to record and upload it. It's such a great song, I'm really looking forward to playing it!"

Urged on by Li Hao, Pan Xiulong gave a wry smile: "Hey! Who are you calling dawdling?"

……

In a high-end apartment in Shanghai, Bai Dao, a music critic known for his expertise, is looking at his computer screen with a troubled expression, his fingers resting on the keyboard but hesitant to press any keys.

He had just finished watching the live stream and was completely blown away by Bian Lang's amazing skills.

He had already prepared a lengthy draft in his mind, but the thought of having to praise Li Yiliang after receiving the release fee from Magic Disc made him feel as uncomfortable as if he had swallowed the dreadful poison.

At this moment, someone tagged him in a WeChat group called "Ear Monitor":

"Brother Dao, how do we praise Li Yiliang?"

Someone immediately replied in his place: "Brother Dao: Just bragging!"

Bai Dao didn't say anything, planning to watch the replay again to find inspiration. As a music critic with integrity, he couldn't make a living in a way that was too unseemly.

But when he turned on the replay and found that the opening segment of the Loop Station was missing, he felt even more upset!

"Magic Disc, that's too narrow-minded!" Thinking this, Bai Dao took out his phone and returned the four-figure sum of money he had spent on his meal. He decided not to type anymore and simply set up his phone to record a video.

An hour later, a video titled "Magic Disc Takes the Piece of the Piece" appeared on Bai Dao's Weibo. Besides making fun of Magic Disc, the video explained how awesome Bianlang's live Loop Station was, and the commentary video used a replay from Xiao Mo Nu's live stream.

As for Li Yiliang, he was only mentioned briefly when the name of the performance was introduced!

Within minutes of the video being posted, someone in the group tagged @白刀:

"Brother Dao, what are you doing? What happened to your awkward boasting?"

"Brother Dao, calm down! Post this video using a secondary account!"

"Brother Dao, didn't you pay enough for the publication fee?"

Bai Dao: "S isn't tasty, and money's hard to earn! I'm returning it! If it weren't for Bian Lang warming up the crowd, I could have bragged about my creations, but now they've even deleted Bian Lang from the replay, haha!"

"Indeed, Magic Disc really lost out on a huge gain this time!"

"I second that! We eat the clam meat but lose the pearl!"

Bai Dao presents himself as a professional music critic online, and he's also a big influencer with over 200 million followers on Weibo.

The video immediately attracted the attention of some veteran music fans.

"Oh dear! Who says otherwise? Everyone else is having a high-ranking player carrying a low-ranking one, but Magic Disc is doing the opposite. This is a huge loss!"

"When I was watching the live stream, I just thought the song was catchy, but after hearing Bai Dao's explanation, all I can say is 'Awesome!'"

"Aaaaaah, Mr. Bai Dao, please, please get an official video from Modie! This shoddy video makes me want to punch someone. I really want to see Bian Dashen's 'Dianxian'!"

"You old bastard! It's rare to see you praising a newcomer like this. Hurry up and get the audio!"

Bai Dao actually replied to this person: "Who are you calling an old thief! I want to find the audio source too, but even if I find it, I won't send it to you!"

Some netizens who didn't watch the live stream followed the trail to Little Witch's live stream room to watch the replay, and then went to the official Magic Disc account to criticize her.

"What about the overall perspective?"

"You promised to revitalize Chinese rock music, Magic Disc, you're such a hypocrite!"

"That was a smooth move! Magic Disc, what are you thinking?"

As the video gained popularity, rock music fans and industry professionals on Zhihu, Douban, and Bilibili were drawn into the fray.

Among them is Ding Tong, one of the first generation of rock veterans in China. As a pioneering guitarist, he also composes and writes songs. The band's hit song from 30 years ago was written by him.

After watching Bai Dao's video, he muttered to himself, "His guitar playing is still a bit lacking compared to mine, but the lyrics and music are so interesting. If this were 30 years ago, it could rival my famous song."

……

In the smallest private room halfway up the mountain, four people sat facing each other in pairs.

Before the drinks even arrived, Zhou Yimo stared at Bian Lang for a while, then shook his head and sighed, "What a pity! If Camel had introduced you to me earlier, having you perform as the guitarist would have been absolutely brilliant!"

Bian Lang quickly waved his hand upon hearing this: "Director Zhou, you think too highly of me. I'm good at rock and roll, but as for acting, I doubt I'd even be able to find the camera."

Zhou Yimo smiled and cut straight to the point: "Bian Lang, is there any problem with the copyright of this song?" This was his biggest concern.

The reason he rushed over was that he felt that Bianlang's people and this song were going to be a hit. If a company of Magic Disc's size were to repeat the Li Yiliang incident, his heart wouldn't be able to take it.

"I'm not like Li Yiliang," Bian Lang said, opening his copyright website account on his phone and showing it to Zhou Yimo.

Zhu Yan, who was sitting next to him, couldn't stand it anymore: "Alright, if you want to criticize Li Yiliang, you don't need to do it here. How did you write this song? I was involved in the whole process."

Zhou Yimo took it as a joke. Once he confirmed the copyright was fine, he stopped beating around the bush and went straight to the point: "I think the song is perfect. Just name your price!"

Bian Lang had already figured out how to collaborate, but he wasn't in a hurry to reveal it. Instead, he changed the subject and asked, "Director Zhou, would you mind telling me about the script? There's still a promotional song we haven't finished..."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Yimo looked at Qiu Luo with a puzzled expression.

Seeing that, Qiu Luo looked embarrassed. Luckily, the wine arrived at that moment. He first downed a full glass and then put his hands together to apologize: "This is my fault! I only heard the demo of this song back then and forgot to tell Director Zhou about the promotional song."

To this excuse, Bian Lang thought to himself, "You bastard Qiu Luo, you actually don't believe me!"

"Those Without Ideals Don't Get Hurt" was featured on Sisters Who Make Waves and The Big Band on Earth, served as an interlude for "Sewing Machine Band," and caused tens of thousands of people to sing along at the Yuntai Mountain Music Festival. As long as it's a rock-related film or television series, it's a perfect transition song.

However, the promotional song prepared by Bianlang is different; if the background is not suitable, it will not fit at all.

Zhou Yimo could easily understand the underlying meaning in Qiu Luo's words, and immediately laughed and scolded, "He deserves to be punished! One cup won't do..." After saying that, he clinked glasses with Bian Lang and began to tell him the plot: "Back in the 90s, Chinese rock music was at its peak, and there were a few young people from small towns in Northeast China..."

The more Bian Lang listened, the more confident he became.

After Zhou Yimo finished his lecture, Bian Lang clinked glasses with him, then found paper and pen and began to write: "Hand-held Tractor Ski".