Rate Your Music score: 3.46 out of 5!
Before this lost hit by this New Orleans band came out, most information I had about China - and other countries - came from old cartoons and was full of misunderstandings. These days, we have to contend with American news outlets that have partnerships with Chinese state media or have capital projects in China, and the false ideas of today are different from those of old.
At the time of the Red Rockers' hit, what interest I had in China was fueled by the antiquated misconceptions I had. I was only 10. But most of this entry is not about a country. It's about yet another personal anecdote.
One evening back in 1983, Men At Work's Colin Hay appeared on MTV as a guest VJ. During that hour, Colin conducted a brief interview of members of the Red Rockers...
Now, the thing about this is that I considered Men At Work to be the greatest band in existence. In fact, I thought they were the greatest anything in existence! Nothing in the history of the universe had ever been better. So I waited all week to watch Colin's MTV appearance.
I started watching it, but after a few minutes, my mom decided that my behavior was too unruly to be permitted to continue. So I wasn't allowed watching the rest of it.
That story has a connection to China. A couple years later, Men At Work planned on giving concerts in China. But the Chinese government scuttled this plan, saying that another act from the Western world - namely Wham! - had destroyed the morals of the country's youth by performing there. It was as if the Chinese government had its own PMRC. Or maybe the PMRC had its own authoritarian government. Or maybe it was both.
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