Hong Kong's Classic TV Theme Song Playlist: Based on a Tracklist

Okay, so I made a playlist and typed out all the song titles and artist names in English (or English romanization at least) until BAM! I accidentally hit the delete key, which ripped off half my document. Damn, I knew I should've kept that back-up. Oh well, mental note for next time. Anyway, this really isn't so much a playlist but a tracklist from a covers CD of HK TV theme songs. I mean just look above. Pretty much all the shots are from "The Bund", which is slightly misleading, I guess. And if you told me that Kent Tong was gonna be bald 20 years ago, I would've just laughed myself silly.

Note: No. 12 from this list of  clips won't be in the video playlist above since the uploader has disabled embed tags, but you can still watch the others. To watch the whole thing on YouTube click here, otherwise you can just watch the playlist above and/or click on the individual links below for each video. 
1. "Shanghai Bund" - Frances Yip (Theme from "The Bund") Okay, every good artist has a signature song and for Frances Yip, this was it. Being created by partners-in-crime composer Joseph Koo and lyricist James Wong, coupled with the power chords of Frances Yip and being tagged onto a historical TV drama was a recipe for instant success. The songwriting duo once mentioned that no one could ever sing this song like Frances Yip, and that no other voice could be more suitable. I do not beg to differ. 
2. "All Kinds of Sentiments" - Frances Yip (Theme from "The Bund") Apparently, this was another award-winning hit from Joseph Koo and James Wong from "The Bund". This song is just another example of an epic masterpiece which makes use of a dramatic beginning that captures the attention of the audience. Frances Yip places all the right type of emotions in all the right places. She really is a powerhouse when it comes to belting, yet she has a lot of control over her voice when nothing more but a gentle whisper is needed. 
3. "The Brothers" - Roman Tam (Theme from "The Brothers") This rather doting song about familial love (which is closer to the literal meaning of the song title) is really something different to the standard romantic love songs offered to us on a silver platter. Roman always stressed the need for clear pronunciation when singing and stood strong with his beliefs; sending us a message as clear as a bell. 
4. "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly" - Teresa Cheung (Theme from "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly") This song definitely brings flashbacks of Chow Yun Fat and Carol "Dodo" Cheng's characters from the series. There's no wordy-yet-meaningless lyrics here, just good old-fashioned simple lyrics that really hit straight to the heart, with a slow, haunting but beautiful melody that builds up and winds down to give you something more than a lot of songs produced today ever could. Sometimes less is more.    
5. "Sandwich Man" - Adam Cheng (Theme from "Sandwich Man") Although another composition from the legendary music heavyweight Joseph Koo, this song doesn't really stand out as one of his more memorable classics. Sure, the song may be up-beat and sung by Adam Cheng but I seem to remember more about the short series (it was only 20 episodes long) and the untimely death of Barbara Yung (who starred in the series) and had such a short career in the limelight.
6. "You're the One Who Decides to Love " - Jenny Tseng (Theme from "The Radio Tycoon")

This was one of those catchy, up-beat theme songs which happened to work. Well, worked for me anyway. It's easily recognizable with its opening "Sha-la-la-la" chorus-like sounds at the beginning of the song.

7. "Heart Debt" - Anita Mui (Theme from "Soldier of Fortune")
Another classic from a gone-but-not-forgotten singer, Anita Mui. When Anita went into the studio to record this song, James Wong and Joseph Koo were worried that she might not be able to get the song right, being a newcomer that had just passed 18. However, being the super-talented singer she was, she only did one take for the recording and got it right the first time.

8. "Wilderness Entraps Heroes" - Johnny Yip (Theme from "Dynasty")
This was actually featured in ATV's series starring Michelle Yim and David Chiang quite some time ago. Meaning about 20+ years ago. But it's really catchy.

9. "People in the Shadows" - Michael Kwan (Theme from "People In The Shadows")
Actually, I wouldn't note this in my personal favorites or anything but it's just on the tracklist and for completeness, I thought I should include it. It actually sounds like it would be an exciting song with the dramatic entry which slows down. It's not a bad song but I just don't find it that interesting either. And the fact that it's supposed to be a song linked to a drama that's got to do with triads and underground societies, it should really be more exciting.

10."Reincarnated" - Michael Kwan (Theme from "Reincarnated")
Yes! That's what I'm talking about. Those catchy theme songs that are used for Wuxia/Mohap series'. You know the type. The type that Michael Kwan was particularly good at singing.

11. "Gone With The Wind" - Johnny Yip (Theme from "Gone With The Wind")
This song really isn't my cup of tea, as you could probably tell. It's just too leisurely for me (pace-wise and lyric-wise). Like a stroll in the park.
Or like leaves floating in the wind. I guess that's what the song title and the song sounds like.

12. "Walk With Me Through Wind and Frost" - Teresa Teng (Theme from "The Family")
I actually like this one theme song featuring the late but great Teresa Teng who was known for her sweet but melancholy voice. Her voice in my opinion fits really well with the song, like a match made in heaven. I suppose the song title would be closer to the figurative meaning of wind and rain equalling hardship than frost, but the emotion's all there, in the song.

13. "Hard to Endure Parting Tears" - Adam Cheng (Theme from "In Search Of")
Yes, I'll admit I think that Patrick Tse (father of bad boy Nicholas Tse) was one of those actors who had a lot of stage presence. And this song by Adam Cheng, who has sung many, many theme songs really added to the whole show.

14. "Aiming High" - Willie Fung (Theme from "The Emissary") 
A police-themed series using electric guitar riffs and whatnot. Oh this series had Andy Lau in it too.

15. "Turning Into All Kinds of Hate"- Ying-Hung Lau (Theme from "Reincarnation")
I very much like the original of this song and I highly doubt that many of the singers in TVB today could even sing a verse of this song without screwing up.

16. "Tear Drops on the Journey" - Annabelle Lui & Michael Kwan (Insert Song from "People in the Shadows")
Oh a duet, a duet! Yes, I get excited over duets mainly because they just really don't make duets like they used to do. And no, Annabelle and Michael aren't married…haha, but the way I typed their names made it look that way.  Ah, Annabelle Lui. She was a pretty good singer but somehow she didn't really get as famous as she ought to have. And I don't see how the theme song was chosen over this insert song because this one is clearly better.

The Rise and Fall of Cantopop

While surfing around on the Internet I’ve read some remarks about Cantopop that would make the typical Cantopop fan fume. But I think you could do without the angry insult mode like some netizens in certain forums do when someone is pro or anti-Cantopop. Honestly, I could probably argue for and against Cantopop within this forum thread, given the lack of actual evidence for their views (though I agree that few do back up their statements thoroughly). But I won’t. Scathing comments about pop music in general have always been made but it’s still a lucrative business. And whatever works, sells. And for music everywhere around the world, I believe it’s got more to do with the talent behind the music. Yes, the singers, the musicians, the producers, the arrangers, the composers and the lyricists. When you’ve got a lack of talent, of course your music is going to suck. Still, image sells. If you don’t have talent, well, at least you have the looks. And as shallow as it may sound, you know it’s true. When you’ve got a picture of someone that you’ve never met before and never heard of (or from), how are you supposed to know that you like them? You’re going to judge a book by its cover, even though nobody told you to.

Gone too soon: Leslie Cheung, Anita Mui, Danny Chan

And that’s what I think caused the downfall of Cantopop in the first place. Image. When everyone became so obsessed about the way an artist looked (I mean, in terms of natural physical beauty of course, not in terms of fashion) and buying albums, it shouted to the music companies that physical beauty was more important than beautiful melodies and compositions. Or even a singer with the ability to belt and tell stories with such emotion that captivated the audience. Gone. Perhaps, people’s standards were too high. The fact that the Cantopop scene was dominated with superstars like Leslie Cheung, Anita Mui and Danny Chan during the golden era of Cantopop probably set the mold for other budding performers and somehow we gained an expectation that we could easily find others just like them: good-looking, charming and talented. But unfortunately, Hong Kong lost some of its most beloved stars to death with the Cantopop music industry suffering dearly too. You’ll notice I never shorten Cantopop to C-Pop because I like to make a clear distinction between C-Pop, which stands for Chinese Pop music (which could encompass everything from Mandarin songs or Mandopop to other Chinese dialects) and Cantopop, which is distinct to the Cantonese dialect. And I think it is this distinction that amplified how much the world of Cantopop wanted to fill a deep void in its soul.  

However, even to this day Hong Kong has not been able to find a singer with the looks that could sing, dance and act. And well, I mean. Some TV actors may have converted themselves to singing but they could never be a great singer or a great performer. At best, they may be good, but I have yet to see a perfectionist all-rounder. And I find it rare these days to hear compositions with melodies so strong that could hold out on their own or lyrics that have been wonderfully crafted.  

One of Cantopop’s greatest lyricists, James Wong had actually realized this decline in the quality of Cantopop and even wrote a thesis about it. But I suppose he was writing as someone with a lot of musical sense (I mean, he could write lyrics – I mean, really write lyrics) in an academically acceptable manner. I’m just writing about it as an observer, well, listener, actually, and therefore I can write about it from my perspective and talk about it from a typical point of view.

90's Cantopop Era : Leo Ku, Eason Chan, Miriam Yeung and Sammi Cheng

The trouble like I said, was a lack of talent or an influx of it. Forget about the looks for a moment. First off, can they sing? Singers in the golden era could bust out a tune easily while doing a dance number. Okay, now, looks. Maybe some so-called “singers” have this department sorted out, but they’re really not so different from a model who’s given a chance to sing. Someone in a forum actually pointed out that some current singers struggle to stay in tune while singing and it’s more than a couple of notes – it’s the whole song. I’m not talking about those singers that debuted in the 90’s, like Leo Ku, Eason Chan, Miriam Yeung and Sammi Cheng. They all had excellent role models in music to learn from. And the singers of today should have followed suit. They should have taken after the singers of the 90’s. It’s almost like a tier for each type of artist, with 70’s/80’s being at the top followed by 90’s artists and finally artists of the millennium. Actually, it’s more like a pyramid. Few standout artists at the top tier, followed by good artists and then finally, a shipload of, well, I don’t want to say untalented (because I do believe that some of those artists do have talent but in other areas that don’t have to do with singing), just artists.

Even with talent, I doubt G.E.M could save the whole of the Cantopop industry.  The rivers run much deeper than that. 

There are exceptions, of course. In my opinion, G.E.M. certainly has the vocal chops to go out there and sing. Oh, and she can play piano and compose too. But still, in comparison with artists in the 80’s who did everything from acting, dancing and singing, general all-round performers, artists these days can never really measure up. Are our expectations too high? Perhaps. But once you’re exposed to things of such high standard and caliber, do you go back to less sophisticated things? And we, of course, expect things to get better or at least not to get worse as time goes by. Unfortunately, I cannot say past standards are being maintained in the world of Cantopop. Now I’m not writing this to put any artists down since I’m not sadistic like that, but rather, because I want to see a change; an improvement in the industry.

I  can't believe they actually call this their new logo. 

The thing is, the artists of the 90’s are getting old and on the road to retirement. They may show up every now and again but it’s still unlikely appearances because of the tension between the Big 4 record companies in Hong Kong and TVB. And this is where the television station, the record companies, the artists, the audience and the music industry of Hong Kong loses out. But like many of the forum-goers, I don’t believe that a few artist appearances can save shows like Jade Solid Gold (JSG) which has been suffering. And it’s not because of the disagreements between the record companies and TVB or royalties. It’s because there’s nothing exciting about JSG anymore. I mean, I only watch it because they’re doing that whole celebrating the last 30 years of classic hits and I wanna know what the charts were like then and hear a few old songs. And I suspect that’s one of the reasons why JSG ratings have not fallen down completely to 0. In fact, they may have done that in a desperate bid to save that programme. The sad thing is, that’s the only part of JSG that I look forward to. The rest is just introducing some no-name singers to sing some forgettable love songs. Yes, just what I want to see. And no, I’m not against newcomers. In fact, I welcome them with open arms because I want to believe that there is someone that can bring Cantopop back to the way it was.

Not just a pretty face: Priscilla Chan & Vivian Lai

The singers of the 80’s can’t come back. And that’s mainly because some of them have left the industry for good, either through retirement or death. It’s unfortunate that singers who were more than just a pretty face, like Vivian Lai and Priscilla Chan left the industry so abruptly. Vivian announced her retirement as a singer to get married, just as she was cracking into the market and Priscilla went on a hiatus to study psychology at Syracuse University. By the time Priscilla came back, she had lost her grounding, although she had recorded and released a few albums during summer vacations and such. And of course, there were those singers who met their untimely deaths, like Anita Mui and Leslie Cheung. People could try and emulate their style and image but that would not fit well with the public. Did I mention that composers of the 80’s are getting old too? And there are not many songs these days that can prove that there are actual songwriters behind them. Although a lot of tracks in the past were originally foreign compositions, the lyrics were written to fit hand-in-hand with them to create good pop songs. Yes, people asked for faster tracks. But the simple copy-and-paste lyrics method over foreign compositions does not work. And to think, people are actually passing themselves off as lyricists.

Some of the best people in the music industry (singers, musicians, composers and such) have been discovered through the magic of competition. And even though Hong Kong has shows like The Voice, singing competitions like The New Talent Singing Awards, have all been taken over by contestants from Mainland China. And this has encouraged even more singers from Mainland China to steal the show and prompt even those from places where Cantonese is the main dialect to switch over to songs in Mandarin. How about following singers like Teresa Teng? She recorded songs in English, Mandarin, Cantonese, Indonesian and Japanese. A lot of singers dared to be multi-lingual back then. The thing is, I don’t have any problem with Mandopop singers. In fact, a lot of excellent songs have come from Mandopop. I’m just saying that perhaps it would be important to keep Cantopop alive first rather than venturing straight into Mandopop.  

Note: Oh it looks like Krazy Kranky Ken wrote about the rise and fall of Cantopop about 4 years ago. And it seems that things really haven't improved since then.
Image credits: asianstarbiz.com, bonnielai58.mysinablog.com, celebritygalleryphotos.blogspot.com, chinese.altocelebs.com, dianying.com, facebook.com, hk.myblog.yahoo.com/jamesgor2001, musicasia.net, newprophecy.net, spcnet.tv, xes.cx