Taiwan's ultimate rebel

"I pursue light and heat. I like this kind of beautiful lavish life. So I push myself, burn myself, and see how far I can go." So writes Taiwan's star rocker Wu Bai (伍佰) about himself in the preface of a new book titled Moonlight Symphony (月光交響曲).

After starring in last year's action movie Time and Tide, Wu Bai, also dubbed the King of Live Concerts, has taken a break from recording and touring to focus instead on the biography-cum-photo album retrospective which documents his rise to stardom during his 10-year music career.

With his trademark black dress, unmistakable helmet hair, powerful blues rock and lyrics in Taiwanese, Wu was the first to popularize live rock performances in Taiwan, drawing crowds of up to 100,000 and generating record sales of more than 600,000 copies for his most popular albums.

In Moonlight Symphony, Wu and a host of coauthors bring across the explosive energy of his live performances with colorful photo spreads and provide some valuable insight into the Wu Bai phenomenon by re-publishing articles written by music critics, record company managers and cultural critics. The image created is of a fiercely charismatic artist who hit all the right notes in trying to bring about his own success.

Born in 1968 in a town called Garlic Village in Chiayi County, Wu was a typical country boy who packed off to Taipei at 19 with a guitar and ambition. Once in the big city, his wild, unrestrained character quickly caught people's eye. "When I heard his demo tape, the first thought that came to mind was the word `energy,'" said Ren Chiang-ta (任將達), head of Crystal Records (水晶唱片).

Despite his obvious charm and energy, Wu's first album, released in 1992, saw disappointing sales. "We realized his music was far removed from the mainstream market. At that time, people still weren't going to live houses to listen to music," writes Ni Chung-hua (倪重華) owner of Mandala music, Wu's record company that time, and a contributor to Moonlight Symphony. The music industry back then was even more dominated by pretty-faced idols singing syrupy love ballads than it is currently.

"So we arranged for him to sing at a pub called Shijang (息壤) to build up a following. He sang at the pub for two years every Friday, playing sometimes to sparse audiences and sometimes to full houses. His band got tighter and Wu began to develop his own stage presence," Ni recalled.

Wu did not linger long in the underground music scene. His aim from the beginning was to edge his way into the pop music mainstream, but with his own music.

His blues rock melodies tinged with uniquely Taiwanese influences such as local puppet theater (布袋戲) and old TV variety shows, helped Wu quickly become the undisputed figurehead of Taiwanese rock.

"Many voices of my environment come out in my music. They could be really cool tunes, or cheesy pop ballads, but they are part of my society, part of my life. But I always want to maintain a certain kind of attitude toward music. If the attitude is there, then whatever I wear, whatever I sing, I'm still being myself," Wu said in an interview.

Wu has even taken his brand of Taiwanese rebel rock overseas. In a press conference prior to his first concert in Hong Kong's Hom Hum Stadium, in 1999, Wu told reporters "I don't care if tickets sell well or not, I will sing. I don't care if you understand Taiwanese or not, I will sing. And I don't care the stadium regulations, I want [the audience] to stand up, sing and dance with me,"