Jonathan Campbell: A Red Rocker to be Read

Photo: Hentry Campbell II

The last 30 years have seen rapid change in just about every aspect of life in China, but one of the most fascinating (and loudest) is undoubtedly the development of ‘yaogun’, Chinese rock and roll. Arriving in Beijing in 2000, Jonathan Campbell took part in the ongoing development of this art form in China as spectator, promoter and ‘yaogunner’, affording him the rare opportunity to meet the founders of Chinese rock up close, culminating in his newly released Red Rock: The Long, Strange March of Chinese Rock & Roll.

When Jonathan Campbell first arrived in Beijing in 2000, rock and roll was not his plan. “I arrived fresh out of a Master’s degree in China Studies. I knew I was there to study Mandarin for a year and that was about it. A week or so after my arrival, I walked into a music store wondering if someone could teach me a bit of guitar because I’d sold my drums before coming to China. The guy at the shop said he needed a drummer for his band; a month or so later, we had our first gig.” Slowly Campbell worked his way into the scene, eventually writing about bands both locally and abroad as well as promoting shows.

Campbell says the idea to write a book about yaogun was both a matter of “timing” and came “from reading too much not-fully-informed writing and knowing that someone had to lay the foundations; then, once I started speaking to ‘gunners’, it was the inspiration that came from seeing what the music meant to and did for them.” Red Rock proves to be an excellent primer on the subject of yaogun as intended. Beginning from the first stirrings of what could be called rock and roll (or even pop music for that matter) in the wake of the Cultural Revolution, the book chronicles the journey of yaogun all the way up to the present, simultaneously introducing key concepts necessary to understanding the way that both Chinese and outsiders view yaogun.

One key concept which Campbell highlights from the very beginning of Red Rock is “the question of ‘Good’ versus ‘Good for China’. Whether the music is good because it's the product of a country still new to rock, or whether it is simply good in context.” Bringing out the idea of ‘Good for China’ is a tired trope in the history of the West's reporting on the development of yaogun, and Campbell works to strike a balance between evaluating Chinese rock as a musical art form and understanding it on its own terms.

During the whirlwind through the history of yaogun, readers are witness to everything they’d expect: drugs, sex, egos, corruption and, at times, general pandemonium. However, they are also witness to awe-inspiring stories about the lengths to which many of the first Chinese rockers had to go just to be able to enjoy rocking out. And despite the book's thorough detail, Cambpell admits Red Rock is by no means definitive. "My first draft ran something like 800 pages, so there was a lot to be cut out. I definitely talked to more people than, strictly speaking, I needed, but then, there were tons more I could – and even maybe should – have spoken with." 

Jonathan Campbell will be discussing his book Red Rock: The Long, Strange March of Chinese Rock & Roll at 5pm on Saturday, 10 March at the Shanghai International Literary Festival. Web: www.jonathancampbell.com

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