一起去看五月天的演唱會 你感動的哭了*
*(Go watch a Mayday concert together/you were so moved you cried) - from R-Chord's "不愛，也是愛我"
Well, I'll see if I get so moved I cry, R-Chord.
I got tickets to see Mayday in New York! Ticketmaster being confusing and a giant corporation made to rip off people, none of the settlement vouchers and discount codes I entered worked. I mean, I can understand that maybe the vouchers, which are for certain events, may not work. But they claim that the discount codes are for all except sporting events so they should have worked. Whatever, the discount codes would have only saved me $2.25. Probably before being moved by a Mayday concert to the point of crying, I would be crying over my money first.
In any event, in preparation for the upcoming concert, I'm making this post about Mayday.
Sources include English and Chinese Wikipedia (my Chinese reading isn't up to par, so some translations might be off) and the internet in general.
The band was formed in 1997 and consists of the following band members:
Ashin (lead vocals)
Monster (lead guitar)
Stone (rhythm guitar)
Masa (bass)
Ming (drums)
History
Monster, Ashin, Stone, and Masa all went to the same high school. In 1995, Monster, Ashin, and Mayday's original drummer, Qian You-Da, formed So Band. When Stone joined the bad in 1997, they changed their name to Mayday. Ming joined the band in 1999 as the band's fourth drummer right before the release of their first album (not sure who the other two drummers were).
Ashin is the main songwriter and lead singer of the band. Allegedly, he claims that he was picked to be the lead singer since he was the worst instrumentalist of the band. Nowadays, his instrument is singing and gesturing. And general songwriting has gone downhill after allowing other band members to contribute to songwriting (ala Foo Fighters, Green Day, and every other formerly good band that decided to become a songwriting democracy).
Mayday's songs are mostly in Mandarin with several in Taiwanese. Cited as one of the pioneers of rock music in Taiwan, the band's style started off as garage rock. But after gaining popularity, their style has become less hard. They cite some of their influences as U2 (blergh!) and Oasis.
Good Songs
Here are some songs off of their first few albums that I like a good amount:
"瘋狂世界" ("Crazy World") - Off of 五月天第一張創作專輯 (Mayday's First Album), the song is about wanting to fly away from this crazy world. You'll never know the song is about wanting to get away from a cruel sad world since the video is so darn cheerful.
"擁抱" ("Embrace") - Also off their first album, the song is about looking for that special someone to love. This is one of my favorite Mayday songs since it's so lyrically good and easy to sing along to once I get my Mandarin straightened out.
"軋車" ("Motor Rock") - It's a song about...I'm not sure because my Taiwanese is bad and my ability to read Chinese is only slightly better than my Taiwanese.
"志明與春嬌" ("Peter & Mary") - It's a breakup song. That much Taiwanese I can understand!
"I Love You 無望" ("I Love You Hopelessly") - Maybe that's not the greatest translation. I think it's more like, "I love you without wanting anything in return"...which is obviously more romantic than "I love you hopelessly".
"終結孤單" ("Loneliness Terminator") - This is off their second album, 愛情萬歲 (Viva Love), and is not actually about a Terminator, but about not moping because "everything will be alright/tomorrow will be fine". This exemplifies one of the things I like so much about Taiwanese pop/rock. Everything is just so optimistic!
"憨人" ("Fool") - This is probably one of my favorite Mayday songs. It's about the common person just trying to make it through life. They went on to release a Mandarin version with different words but it just doesn't sound as good because, again, Taiwanese is just better when you want to sound rough. It's a song I try to sing along to but my Taiwanese is bad.
Mandarin version, "鹹魚" ("Salted Fish"), for comparison.
"叫我第一名" ("Call Me Number 1") - I have this on my running playlist because, who doesn't want to be number 1? Watching this video....man, they used to be so punk (aging - and letting your drummer write songs - is a bitch)!
"溫柔" ("Tenderness") - It's my bad that I often get the name of this song confused with "擁抱" ("Embrace") since they're both two characters. It's also a good sing-along song if you have any grasp of Mandarin.
They redid the song to be slightly longer and more mellow at some point but with a longer and harder guitar solo. But in general, I think I like the original version better.
"永遠的永遠" ("Forever, Forever") - This is off 人生海海 (People Life, Ocean Wild). It's one of their Taiwanese ballads and I like it a good deal even though I understand very little of it. The chorus just sounds so good to me even if I have no clue what he's singing.
"人生海海" ("People Life, Ocean Wild") - This is another one of those super optimistic songs where the lyrics go: "Even if the whole world leaves me/I decide my own happiness/So I say let it be/I know after this tide, there will be another."
"倔強" ("Stubbornness") - This is off one of their newer albums and I think there are less good songs off of them. So this is the only song off this album I can name, about stick-to-it-ness.
"乾杯" ("Cheers") - one of their better "new" songs.
Recent Setlist
They had a somewhat new album recently, which I guess I should listen to more often instead of just being critical. As such, a lot of the songs off their setlist is from the new-ish album and that's sad for me since I like their old songs. But at least as of their recent concert in China, they still have "Loneliness Terminator", "Cheers", "People Life, Ocean Wild", "Tender", and "Stubbornness" from the videos above on their setlist. So one can hope that there will be some good songs! I'm hoping for "Fool" for one of their encores, at least.
Even if the new songs are unexciting to me, it'll be good to a) go to a concert since we haven't gone to one in awhile (oldness of both us and the bands we like) b) see what Mayday is like live.
Well, I'll see if I get so moved I cry, R-Chord.
I got tickets to see Mayday in New York! Ticketmaster being confusing and a giant corporation made to rip off people, none of the settlement vouchers and discount codes I entered worked. I mean, I can understand that maybe the vouchers, which are for certain events, may not work. But they claim that the discount codes are for all except sporting events so they should have worked. Whatever, the discount codes would have only saved me $2.25. Probably before being moved by a Mayday concert to the point of crying, I would be crying over my money first.
In any event, in preparation for the upcoming concert, I'm making this post about Mayday.
Sources include English and Chinese Wikipedia (my Chinese reading isn't up to par, so some translations might be off) and the internet in general.
The band was formed in 1997 and consists of the following band members:
Ashin (lead vocals)
Monster (lead guitar)
Stone (rhythm guitar)
Masa (bass)
Ming (drums)
History
Monster, Ashin, Stone, and Masa all went to the same high school. In 1995, Monster, Ashin, and Mayday's original drummer, Qian You-Da, formed So Band. When Stone joined the bad in 1997, they changed their name to Mayday. Ming joined the band in 1999 as the band's fourth drummer right before the release of their first album (not sure who the other two drummers were).
Ashin is the main songwriter and lead singer of the band. Allegedly, he claims that he was picked to be the lead singer since he was the worst instrumentalist of the band. Nowadays, his instrument is singing and gesturing. And general songwriting has gone downhill after allowing other band members to contribute to songwriting (ala Foo Fighters, Green Day, and every other formerly good band that decided to become a songwriting democracy).
Mayday's songs are mostly in Mandarin with several in Taiwanese. Cited as one of the pioneers of rock music in Taiwan, the band's style started off as garage rock. But after gaining popularity, their style has become less hard. They cite some of their influences as U2 (blergh!) and Oasis.
Good Songs
Here are some songs off of their first few albums that I like a good amount:
"瘋狂世界" ("Crazy World") - Off of 五月天第一張創作專輯 (Mayday's First Album), the song is about wanting to fly away from this crazy world. You'll never know the song is about wanting to get away from a cruel sad world since the video is so darn cheerful.
Click to view"擁抱" ("Embrace") - Also off their first album, the song is about looking for that special someone to love. This is one of my favorite Mayday songs since it's so lyrically good and easy to sing along to once I get my Mandarin straightened out.
"軋車" ("Motor Rock") - It's a song about...I'm not sure because my Taiwanese is bad and my ability to read Chinese is only slightly better than my Taiwanese.
"志明與春嬌" ("Peter & Mary") - It's a breakup song. That much Taiwanese I can understand!
"I Love You 無望" ("I Love You Hopelessly") - Maybe that's not the greatest translation. I think it's more like, "I love you without wanting anything in return"...which is obviously more romantic than "I love you hopelessly".
"終結孤單" ("Loneliness Terminator") - This is off their second album, 愛情萬歲 (Viva Love), and is not actually about a Terminator, but about not moping because "everything will be alright/tomorrow will be fine". This exemplifies one of the things I like so much about Taiwanese pop/rock. Everything is just so optimistic!
"憨人" ("Fool") - This is probably one of my favorite Mayday songs. It's about the common person just trying to make it through life. They went on to release a Mandarin version with different words but it just doesn't sound as good because, again, Taiwanese is just better when you want to sound rough. It's a song I try to sing along to but my Taiwanese is bad.
Mandarin version, "鹹魚" ("Salted Fish"), for comparison.
"叫我第一名" ("Call Me Number 1") - I have this on my running playlist because, who doesn't want to be number 1? Watching this video....man, they used to be so punk (aging - and letting your drummer write songs - is a bitch)!
"溫柔" ("Tenderness") - It's my bad that I often get the name of this song confused with "擁抱" ("Embrace") since they're both two characters. It's also a good sing-along song if you have any grasp of Mandarin.
They redid the song to be slightly longer and more mellow at some point but with a longer and harder guitar solo. But in general, I think I like the original version better.
"永遠的永遠" ("Forever, Forever") - This is off 人生海海 (People Life, Ocean Wild). It's one of their Taiwanese ballads and I like it a good deal even though I understand very little of it. The chorus just sounds so good to me even if I have no clue what he's singing.
"人生海海" ("People Life, Ocean Wild") - This is another one of those super optimistic songs where the lyrics go: "Even if the whole world leaves me/I decide my own happiness/So I say let it be/I know after this tide, there will be another."
"倔強" ("Stubbornness") - This is off one of their newer albums and I think there are less good songs off of them. So this is the only song off this album I can name, about stick-to-it-ness.
"乾杯" ("Cheers") - one of their better "new" songs.
Recent Setlist
They had a somewhat new album recently, which I guess I should listen to more often instead of just being critical. As such, a lot of the songs off their setlist is from the new-ish album and that's sad for me since I like their old songs. But at least as of their recent concert in China, they still have "Loneliness Terminator", "Cheers", "People Life, Ocean Wild", "Tender", and "Stubbornness" from the videos above on their setlist. So one can hope that there will be some good songs! I'm hoping for "Fool" for one of their encores, at least.
Even if the new songs are unexciting to me, it'll be good to a) go to a concert since we haven't gone to one in awhile (oldness of both us and the bands we like) b) see what Mayday is like live.