Beyond (band)

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Beyond
Beyond (band) in 1993.jpg
Beyond in Japan, 1993.
Background information
Origin Hong Kong
Genres
Years active1983–1999, 2003–2005
Labels
Past members

Beyond was a Hong Kong rock band formed in 1983. The band became prominent in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, mainland China, and Overseas Chinese communities. [1] The band is widely considered as the most successful and influential Cantopop band from Hong Kong. [1] In 1993, band frontman and major composer Wong Ka Kui died at the age of 31, after an accident during the filming of a gameshow at Fuji Television in Tokyo. Beyond continued to perform, record, and release music after Wong Ka Kui's death. In 2005, the remaining members Paul Wong, Wong Ka Keung and Yip Sai Wing decided to pursue their own solo careers, and Beyond officially disbanded. They are one of the most-streamed Chinese groups on YouTube.

Contents

History

Early years

In the early 1980s, lead vocalist Wong Ka Kui and drummer Yip Sai Wing started out as young musicians who were both interested in Pink Floyd's progressive rock. [2] Wong Ka Kui was notably influenced by western styles of rock, and the likes of David Bowie and King Crimson. In 1983, they decided to join a local music contest for "Guitar Magazine" and they decided to form a band with lead guitarist William Tang (鄧煒謙) and bassist Lee Wing Chiu (李榮潮). Tang wished the band's name to convey a feeling of surpassing or going beyond themselves, so the name "Beyond" was chosen. [1] [2] However, the band name was not definite at the time. [2] The band's musical style was still experimental. At this time, Wong Ka Kui and Tai Chi lead guitarist Joey Tang formed a temporary band called NASA band that did an art rock style of music with English pop. [2]

In 1984, Wong's younger brother Wong Ka Keung joined the band as a bassist. [2] At the time, the band consisted of Wong Ka Kui, Yip Sai Wing, Wong Ka Keung and new lead guitarist Chan Sze On (陳時安). [2] Chan soon had to leave for a foreign country, leaving the band without a lead guitarist. In 1985 Paul Wong, the band's designer, joined the band to in his stead. [2]

In the early years, time was difficult for the band. They had to do everything themselves, including organizing finance, selling tickets, and performing and buying their own equipment. The band's first self-financed concert occurred in 1985 at Caritas Centre in Hong Kong. The show was unsuccessful but caught the attention of their first manager. [3] He would help them raise HK$16,000, but the band was soon left with only HK$1000. [2]

In 1986, the band rented a studio to record the album Goodbye My Dreams (再見理想). [2] Lau Chi Yuen (劉志遠) then joined Beyond as lead guitarist and keyboardist. At the time Small Island, Tat Ming Pair and Beyond made a recording together. Small Island was scheduled to attend a July 1986 Pan-Asian Music Festival in Taipei, and Beyond was added to the schedule. [2] Beyond was well-liked and they joined another festival that same year. [2] They would sign with Kinn's Music record company. [2]

Commercial success

1987 - 1991

In 1987, Beyond produced the second album. The album Arabian Dancing Girls (阿拉伯跳舞女郎) was one of the band's first commercial hits. [2] They soon were in a new music underground trend along with a few number of bands, such as Tai Chi, Cocos and Raidas. [2] Lau Chi Yuen left the band in 1988, leaving the band with four members only. [2]

In 1989, Beyond became the first Hong Kong band to perform in Beijing at the Capital Indoor Stadium. As Beyond's songs were in Cantonese (instead of Mandarin), the performance was not well received by the audience. [2] The stadium had been full at the start of the concert, but only half had remained after the concert had ended. [2] However, they still considered the concert a success. [2] After a couple of flops, Beyond started to gain popularity following the release of the hit song "Great Land" (大地). [2] They would soon win their first musical awards, the 1988 Jade Solid Gold Best Ten Music Awards Presentation and 1989 RTHK Top 10 Gold Songs Awards.

In 1990, they released one of their signature songs, "Glorious Years" (光輝歲月), a song about racism and the struggle of Nelson Mandela in South Africa. [2] [4] The song was a huge hit in Hong Kong. The song was from the band's album Party of Fate (命運派對), which achieved triple platinum. [2] According to a later interview with Wong Ka-Keung, Mandela was "deeply moved" when he heard about the song during his final days in the hospital. [5]

In 1991, Beyond released another critically acclaimed song "Amani" from the album Hesitation (猶豫). The song was written during Beyond's trip to Tanzania. [6] The song's title means "peace" in Swahili and the song was written about the plight of war-ravaged Africa and the yearning for world peace. Part of the song's lyrics were written in Swahili. The song is still often used by Hong Kong's human rights bands to spread the message of peace. [6]

1992: Continue the Revolution

In the same year, Beyond made their first appearance on Japan's NHK station. They immediately signed with record company Amuse. [2] Beyond started to become a more international band, and began to focus more time in Japan and Taiwan. [2] The album Continue the Revolution (繼續革命) achieved commercial and critical success.

1993: Rock N Roll and Death of Wong Ka Kui

In 1993, after a brief stint in Taiwan promoting their third Mandarin album, ‘’Belief’’, Beyond began working on their ninth studio album, ‘’Rock N Roll’’. The album emphasizes on the spirit of rock and roll, as well as the strength of music. Amuse gave the band a larger budget and creative freedom on the album. The band even shifted from a small cabin near Mount Fuji to a studio in downtown Tokyo for the album recordings. Most of the lyrics and compositions were done by Wong Ka Kui, and arranged by the band and with the help of Yang Bang-ean. Beyond was satisfied with the album and enjoyed the creative freedom from Amuse throughout the arrangement and recording sessions.

On May 1993, Beyond released their ninth studio album, Rock and Roll . Lead singles of the album included “Father and Mother” (爸爸妈妈)，”Lover” (情人) and their signature song "Boundless Oceans, Vast Skies" (海闊天空). [7] [2] This album would become Wong Ka Kui's last tenure with the band. [2]

On 24 June 1993, the band appeared at a Tokyo Fuji Television game show If Uchannan-chan is Going to Do It, We Have to Do It!(ウッチャンナンチャンのやるならやらねば!). [8] The stage platform was 2.7 to 3m high. [9] [10] Actor Teruyoshi Uchimura and Wong Ka Kui both fell off a broken stage and sustained massive head injuries. [9] [11] Wong was sent to the Tokyo Women's Medical University hospital. [11] He fell into a coma and died 6 days later at aged 31. [9] [10]

The death occurred at the prime of the band's career, with the tremendously successful song "Boundless Oceans, Vast Skies" released around the time. [2] His funeral procession caused traffic in various major streets in Hong Kong to come to a standstill, and many top Hong Kong Cantopop singers of the time attended and paid tribute at the funeral. Criticisms followed that the Japanese were having too many late night shows of this type, and the TV station crews were overworked. [10]

During this period, both the Mandarin and Japanese versions of the album were on halt. The Japanese version, “This is Love 1” was released on 25 July, 1993 and was intended to be a double album. However, this plan was changed due to Ka Kui’s death before finishing it. A day after Ka Kui was admitted to the hospital, Fun House released the band's third double A-side Japanese single, featuring two lead tracks "くちびるを奪いたい", the Japanese version of "Wan Quan Di Ai Ba" sung by Ka Kui and Steve, while 遥かなる夢に～Far away～ is the Japanese version of "Boundless Oceans, Vast Skies" to celebrate the band's tenth anniversary.

The Mandarin version, “Boundless Oceans, Vast Skies”, same name as the lead single, was released on 9 September, 1993. The album was recorded by the remaining members of the band to fulfill Ka Kui’s wish of finishing it. Steve and Paul recorded their respective vocals for “It’s Hard to Express Love” and “Cannot Help”, Mandarin versions of “Wan Quan Di Ai Ba” and “Wishful Thinking”. Songs that included Ka Kui’s vocals were untouched out of respect for him. Singles included from the Cantonese and Japanese version of the album were also included in it.

Post Ka Kui era

1994: Second Floor Back Suite

After the death of Wong, there was debate as to whether the remaining trio should continue to record and perform as Beyond. Eventually, they reappeared on 30 November 1993 in Hong Kong at the Composer's Tribute Night concert. [12]

Throughout Beyond's trio era, their sound shifted from progressive rock to alternative rock.

Beyond's first album as a trio in that era was 2nd Floor Back Suite (二樓後座), was released on June 4, 1994. [2] This album pays tribute towards the deceased Ka Kui with "Paradise" by Paul, the instrumental "We Don't Wanna Make It Without You" composed by the band, "Scar" and "Wishing You Happiness" by Ka Keung. Ka Keung sang "Wake Up", composed by the trio as well to express how Hong Kong fans are blindly supporting singers during their era which stirred up controversy. They have also written the sweet melody song "There Is Always Love" to their fans as a gift of appreciation for supporting them throughout the years.

A month later after 2nd Floor Back Suite was released, the Mandarin version of the album was released titled Paradise. They have also released their third Japanese album under the title Second Floor, however rest of the track are the same as the Cantonese album with the exception being "Paradise" have been rewritten into Japanese. Beyond would quit the Japanese market after deciding to sign with Rock Records over Amuse. The band also established the Beyond Publishing Co. Ltd to manage their own song copyrights, while their record label is only responsible for their distribution

1997: Please Let Go of Your Hands and Surprise

On 8 April, 1997, Beyond's thirteenth studio album Please Let Go of Your Hands was released, a reference to Hong Kong's cultural changes after the handover of Hong Kong to China. [2] [13]

8 months later, the band's fourteenth studio album Surprise was released

1999: Good Time and first disbandment

At this time, Paul Wong and Steve began to clash in many aspects of music production. Both musicians fought over the band's future and artistic style whilst slowly drifting apart. This came to a head after Paul claimed that his pay should be higher than that of Yip Sai Wing, as he believed that he had contributed much more to the band's composing and producing. The band had been splitting earnings equally since Wong Ka Kui had formed the band in 1983, and Steve believed that Paul's claims to money were in direct violation of the band's sense of equality which had made them so powerful to begin with.

On November 1999, Beyond released their fifteenth and final studio album, "Good Time". The album have exceeded in the traditional hard rock arrangement, using more harmonic and rhythmic patterns for it. They have released the lead single under the same name to promote it. Beyond performed the "GOOD TIME" concert at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre at Wan Chai throughout December 24 till December 26 1999, announcing that they would pursue their own solo career after the concert. [1]

Reformation and Together

In 2003 for the band's 20th anniversary, they came out to embark on a world tour. The tour included stops in Toronto Canada, and various cities in mainland China.

In 2005, they played their last tour (The Story Live 2005) under the name Beyond and announced their disbandment at their last stop in Singapore. [2]

For the first time in three years, the three remaining members of Beyond reunited to play "Boundless Oceans, Vast Skies" for the Wong Ka Kui Memorial Concert. The concert was organised by Wong Ka Keung as a birthday tribute to his brother 15 years after his death which featured covers of Ka Kui's songs by bands and artists such as Kolor, Tai Chi, Soler and at17. [14]

Yip Sai Wing and Paul Wong held a concert called "Beyond Next Stage Live 2008" on 11 Oct 2008 in Genting Highlands, Malaysia and later on 8 November 2008 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

In 2009, Wong Ka Keung and Paul Wong held a series of concerts called "This is Rock & Roll" between 24 July and the 26th in Hong Kong. [15]

Legacy

The song "Boundless Oceans, Vast Skies" has been used in many charity events. For example, the song's lyrics was modified and used for the massive Artistes 512 Fund Raising Campaign after the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. [16] In 2022, it became the first Cantonese song to record over 100 million views on YouTube. [17]

The original lyrics of the song "Boundless Oceans, Vast Skies" epitomizes the untamed pursuit of ideals and freedom despite obstacles.[ citation needed ] The song was widely sung by the protesters during the 2014 Hong Kong protests, which aimed to fight for the implementation of universal suffrage in accordance with the Hong Kong Basic Law and Sino-British Joint Declaration. [18]

The song "Glorious Years" (光輝歲月) is also used as the theme song for Hong Kong's political activities. For example, the song was used for Hong Kong's Five Constituencies Referendum where the pan-democrats tried to push for a by-election. [19]

Members

Principal Members

Former Members

Roadie

  • Wong Chung Yin (黃仲賢) – guitars (2003, 2005) as a touring musician

Timeline

Beyond (band)

Discography

Filmography

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 HKheadline.com. "HKheadline.com." Beyond 一代搖滾班霸. Retrieved on 27 December 2010. (in Chinese)
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 Big5.china.com.cn. "Big5.china.com.cn Archived 27 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine ." Beyond. Retrieved on 27 December 2010. (in Chinese)
  3. ↑ Chow, Vivienne (24 June 2018). "Beyond: 25 years after the death of Hong Kong rock giants' frontman". South China Morning Post . Archived from the original on 24 June 2018. Retrieved 5 June 2021.
  4. ↑ Arts.cultural-china.com. "Arts.cultural-china.com Archived 6 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine ." Arts. Retrieved on 22 December 2010.
  5. 1 2 "Beyond's Wong Ka-kui: 5 things you didn't know about the Hong Kong singer". South China Morning Post. 29 June 2018. Retrieved 5 June 2021.
  6. 1 2 http://www.greenpeace.org. "www.greenpeace.org." 雍容 政府與公共事務主任. Retrieved on 27 December 2010.
  7. ↑ 雷旋 (30 June 2018). "《海闊天空》25年：超越時代的黃家駒絶唱" (in Traditional Chinese). BBC. Archived from the original on 2 July 2018.
  8. ↑ McClure, Steve (10 July 1993). "Hong Kong Rocker Dies After TV Mishap". Billboard . p. 32. Retrieved 5 June 2021– via Google Books.
  9. 1 2 3 Arts.cultural-china.com. "Arts.cultural-china.com Archived 9 March 2011 at the Wayback Machine ." Wong Ka Kui. Retrieved on 27 December 2010.
  10. 1 2 3 Bagua.ifensi.com. "Bagua.ifensi.com Archived 13 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine ." 黃家駒從2.7米高台上墜下 遺憾告別人世. Retrieved on 27 December 2010.
  11. 1 2 Tsurumitakanori.com. "Tsurumitakanori.com Archived 21 March 2008 at the Wayback Machine ." Ka Kui's accident. Retrieved on 27 December 2010.
  12. ↑ Beyondmusic.net. "Beyondmusic.net Archived 21 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine ." Beyond. Retrieved on 27 December 2010.
  13. ↑ Music.douban.com. "Music.douban.com." album review. Retrieved on 27 December 2010.
  14. ↑ "YESASIA: Wong Kar Kui Memorial Concert Karaoke (2DVD) DVD - Beyond, Wong Ka Kui, Go East (HK) - Cantonese Concerts & Music Videos - Free Shipping". www.yesasia.com. Retrieved 12 June 2019.
  15. ↑ "Beyond "THIS IS ROCK n ROLL" special concert merchandise with Red Monkey Company". Archived from the original on 4 October 2013. Retrieved 2013-07-04.
  16. ↑ Sina.com. "Sina.com." 兩岸三地演藝界齊動員 獻唱《承諾》祝福災區. Retrieved on 27 December 2010.
  17. ↑ "HK rock band Beyond's classic 'Hai Kuo Tian Kong' viewed 100 million times on YouTube, first Cantonese song to reach milestone (VIDEO)". Yahoo News. 15 April 2022. Retrieved 13 April 2025.
  18. ↑ "The soundtrack of this year's Hong Kong protests marks a somber turn from the Umbrella Movement ". Quartz. 26 September 2019. Retrieved 13 April 2025.
  19. ↑ "晚會繼續高呼「起義」" Archived 21 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine , Hkdailynews.com. Retrieved on 24 January 2010.
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