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GOLDSEA |
ASIAMS.NET |
ASIAN AMERICAN ISSUES
IS THE U.S. READY FOR ASIAN AMERICAN POP STARS?
ime was when we saw literary fame or Hollywood stardom as the final frontier for Asian acceptance in the U.S. More recently the frontier shifted to pro sports and national politics.
A year into the 21st Century we see Asian lights going on in the literary world, Hollywood and pro sports. We even see Asian Americans in two cabinet posts. But one arena remains starkly devoid of Asian stars -- the pop music scene.
James Iha, Smashing Pumpkins guitarist/backup vocals & solo recording artist
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Classical stars like Yo-Yo Ma, Seiji Ozawa and Vanessa Mae are old news. We've noted Japanese imports like Shonen Knife, Keiko Matsui and Pizzicato Five. We've marveled at the unlikely hit "Sukiyaki". Many of us have spotted James Iha in Smashing Pumpkins and Jeff Lin in Harvey Danger, or maybe even heard of Asian American bands like Seam and Versus.
But where is pop music's Chow Yun-Fat, Ichiro, Chang-rae Lee, Norman Mineta?
One indication of our lack of presence in pop music is the fact that Ming-Na and husband Eric Zee have even financed a record label (Innovazian) in hopes of promoting an Asian American pop/R&B boy group -- a sort of private Head Start program for pop music. Few of us even know its name (At Last). Its first CD sold all of 3,000 copies.
Those of a paranoid or cynical bent will postulate conspiracies among racist, short-sighted heads of major record labels. The sociologically inclined will see pop music as the inner sanctum of American culture and Asians as the perpetual outsiders.
But for purposes of this page, put on your music critic/historian hat and prognosticate the most likely path by which an Asian star will ascend to the American pop firmament. Will it be a Canto-Pop, J-Pop or K-Pop star storming the U.S. via the import route? Will it be a surprise chart-topper by an AA artist (say James Iha with another, more successful solo album)? Or will there be a frontal assault by a wave of AA groups/artists currently playing the club and auditorium circuits?
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Discussions posted during the past year remain available for browsing.
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WHAT YOU SAY
[This page is closed to new input. --Ed.]
(Updated
Tuesday, Apr 1, 2008, 05:57:36 PM)
D Money is right on da money! No pun intended. K-pop music is way too cheesy. I mean, we're talking limburger here. It stinks! A lot of Korean music "singers" look good, and that's the only thing good about them. They can't sing at all. They sound great on their CDs, but when you hear them sing live, they are so out of tune! Give me a mediocre-looking person with actual talent anyday!
gassoos inc.
Friday, December 21, 2001 at 07:03:37 (PST)
Dan
You think so ABA, what do you mean Chinese Mainlanders cant dress? Sure our clothes arent like black people clothing like american asians always wear, but we wear the flashy japanese clothing, unless your an old lady who dresses neatly but not fashionably.
Beuanisterumbonaitahontiomwothrea Lee
Friday, December 21, 2001 at 02:50:33 (PST)
Dan
Chinese mainlanders cant dress?
Their fashion is like hong kong and japan, but ya hong kong and taiwan dress better. I like china though *beijing* because of the 6 ft + actresses.
Hey
Friday, December 21, 2001 at 02:44:19 (PST)
What Chinese mainland pop scene? Faye Wong. Good grief. Jay Chow is awesome. He's certainly no peacock who can't sing.
duh
Thursday, December 20, 2001 at 17:27:32 (PST)
dan,
If you think about it, many top guitar players in Asia particularly that of Japan are very clean players. I think it has to do with an Asian thing of being meticulous and steady. For the most part, Asian Rock bands are too clean in looks and in music. Again, it's an Asian thing!
How many Asians want to look like they never took a shower or have a foul body odor, and play loud raucous nonsense music, images that we've seen in Western Rockers???
Btw, Steve Vai isn't that great of a guitar player as people say he is. I saw a concert in Japan when he was playing with Asia's best guitar man TAk Matsumoto from the Japanese group BZ's and Vai was pretty darn anemic. Tak had all these killer chops and to compare him to Vai is a joke. He executed all these finger taps, bends and pinky and ring fingers string picking which somewhat stunned the so called "great" Vai. Americans like to be ignorant and discount "non white people".
These famous white guitarists are all overrated.
Vai, Satch, Eric Johnson, Beck and Clapton (this guy is probably the most overrated).
The following are not and get too little attention.
Malmsteem, Knopfler, Blackmore (one of the greatest)and Kotzen.
To me, the best self taught guitarist of all time has to be Hendrix. People don't give this guy what he deserves and yet we talk about the damn Clapton and Vai being great contributors to rock music.
James Iha and Steve Vai, Eric Clapton, gimme a break damn Americans!
Wednesday, December 19, 2001 at 18:07:40 (PST)
dear dan,
obviously, u do not know much abt mainland chinese music scene. whats the use of dressing up like a peacock but can't sing ,like many bubblegum pop singers from taiwan??
hate pop
Wednesday, December 19, 2001 at 16:18:34 (PST)
btw, i think japanese electric, techno music has very high potential in becoming international!
dan
Wednesday, December 19, 2001 at 07:59:33 (PST)
chinese singers from china?!?
u probably meant chinese singers from taiwan and hong kong....
chinese mainlanders can't even dress...
dan
Wednesday, December 19, 2001 at 00:44:32 (PST)
CoCo Lee seems to have done OK in the American market last year.
Of course "Coughing Tiger Hidden Dragon" helped a bit. You think :)
kaiser
Tuesday, December 18, 2001 at 21:46:16 (PST)
actually only a few of jay chow's songs are like typical love song melodies.
others are very unique. when i first heard a couple of his weird songs, i thought he was singing in korean! then i looked up the lyrics, i was like, no... that's chinese
jay chow is also making the new album for coco lee.
dan
Tuesday, December 18, 2001 at 17:45:07 (PST)
maybe i am not as good a musician as steve vai, or satch...
20x better than paul was just some exaggeration...
but speedwise and in some other aspects, i'm probably better than vai.
there are thousands of guitar players who can really play but don't make much money.
go to this website:
www.chopsfromhell.com
dan
Tuesday, December 18, 2001 at 17:44:16 (PST)
The Asian stars mentioned in this article, are, for the most part, instrumentalists. And while the ability to play an instrument can be universally recognized, the meaning and effectiveness of someone singing in a foreign tongue cannot be so easily distributed and appreciated. To me, this is certainly the biggest stumbling block for the Asian artists' entry into mainstream Western music.
On the other hand, have you ever heard Korean pop music? I daresay that it was made for bobbleheads and cheesy teenagers. Yuck :( Um, on second thought, maybe this would fit in fine in the land of Britney Spears and all those nameless boybands...
D Money
don_shin@hotmail.com
Tuesday, December 18, 2001 at 09:56:52 (PST)
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