Rock band Penicillin. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Rock 'n' roll may be harsh medicine, but it's not everyone's choice as a cure, at least not discovered by Kong and Yang before this summer.

At an event on New Year's Eve 2017, Cui performed Greenhouse Girl. Introducing the song, he said: "People didn't know who we were during the rehearsal, but they'll l realize who we are once we start singing this song."

About 20 years earlier Chinese rock music had been in decline. In 1995 Zhang Ju, one of the founders of The Tang Dynasty band, died in a car accident. Then Zhang Peiren, the founder of Magic Stone, left Beijing and went back his roots in Taiwan to cultivate younger pop stars. Some performers even found themselves being sidelined because of delinquent behavior. However, by the turn of the century Chinese rock music had begun to get its act together to be presented in a different way.

The rock stars and bands of that generation, including Wang Feng, Xu Wei, The Miserable Faith and Reflector, attempted to produce music carrying more positive meanings, even combining some popular musical elements. In fact they couldn't stop mainstream Chinese music from being replaced by more relaxing, unreflective pop music.

"The era of peace arrived," Xu says. "People's living conditions had improved; they no longer had to act out their anger or fear, which they had been carrying in the age of turbulence, through rock 'n' roll. And the development of the internet and technology kind of intermediated the close bound between the fans and the music, heavily dependent on live performance. Internet benefited other types of music and stars more naturally suited to the context."

Kong was a fan of pop music in his youth, especially love songs, whether bitter or sweet.

"Undeniably, love is an important part in life, but there is much more worth exploring. Unconsciously, our vision and imagination are shaped by pop culture, including music."

Also, most pop songs are not so difficult to sing, which allows Kong to perform at karaoke gatherings and have fun with friends.

"After watching The Big Band I realized that I'd been eating fast food," Kong says, "low barriers to entry, easy to enjoy, but with little nutrition."