Please point to some great bands similar to the Cantonese group "Beyond".

November 17, 2008 8:54 AM

My girlfriend grew up in Hong Kong, living there until 13 years ago. She's a fan of the hugely popular "canto-pop" group Beyond, especially their later, more "alternative" stuff. What other bands might she like and recognise from her childhood in HK?

A birthday is coming up and, as part of her gift, I'd like to find some music by bands with a similar sound to Beyond (awful midi files here, if it helps refresh your memory). Ideally it'd be stuff that is or was popular in Hong Kong, so probably sung in Cantonese. That said, if you have suggestions that come from a totally different culture but are sufficiently rockin' it'd be great to hear about those too!

I think I know her music tastes well enough to judge which albums to buy, I just have no clue what band names I should be searching for or where to hear them. Can you help?

I'm also looking for an internet or real-world shop that will let me easily buy CDs of cantonese rock/pop music and get it to me in London, UK.

Thanks!

posted by metaBugs to society & culture (3 answers total)

Use the search on last.fm to find similar bands to Beyond.

For each of those bands, look at their stats (also on last.fm) and you'll easily spot the popular songs.

I can't help you with albums or shops. Sorry.
posted by mr_silver at 10:16 AM on November 17, 2008

I can't help you to narrow down the search for similar bands, but once you have them, YesAsia will probably have what you're looking for, and they have free shipping to the UK.
posted by spockette at 1:20 PM on November 17, 2008

new band Mr. might have something similar to the more earlier pop sound of Beyond -

http://www.umg.com.hk/minisite/MR/

Zarahn is a lot more alternative, and a particular favourite of mine

http://zarahn.com.hk

there was a tribute concert earlier this year to mark the 15th anniversary of wong ka kui's passing. (sorry for yesasia link)

you might also want to look into the solo albums of members wong ka keung and paul wong. tat ming pair and tai chi she might recognise from the early 90s/late 80s.

and although i don't really want to plug them that much, yesasia is probably the easiest way to get the cds to you in the uk.
posted by sardonicsmile at 8:36 PM on November 17, 2008