Ванг Чжун: Британдық жаңа толқын тобының тарихы

British new wave band

Wang Chung is an English new wave band, formed in London in 1980 by Nick Feldman, Jack Hues and Darren Costin. The name Wang Chung is Chinese (黃鐘, ), meaning "yellow bell" in English, and is the first note in the Chinese classical music scale. The band found their greatest success in the US, with five top 40 hits there, all charting between 1983 and 1987, including "Dance Hall Days" (No. 16 in 1984), "Everybody Have Fun Tonight" (No. 2 in 1986) and "Let's Go!" (No. 9 in 1987).

Jeremy Ryder, known professionally as Jack Hues (lead vocalist and guitarist), and Nick Feldman (guitar) would eventually form the core of Wang Chung. They first met when Hues answered Feldman's advertisement for musicians in the classifieds section of the weekly British music magazine Melody Maker in 1977. They were joined by Bud Merrick on bass and Paul Hammond (ex Atomic Rooster) on drums, forming the Intellektuals.

At the beginning of Huang Chung's career, all the members performed under pseudonyms. Jeremy Ryder was "Jack Hues" (a play on Emile Zola's 1898 open letter J'Accuse ! ), Nick Feldman was "Nick DeSpig", and Darren Costin was "Darren Darwin" (and later, just "Darwin"). The band then signed to a label called 101 Records. The first Huang Chung release, "Baby I'm Hu man", appeared on a 101 compilation album in 1980. Three live tracks were subsequently released on another 101 Records compilation in 1981. Later in 1980, the independent record company Rewind Records signed the band for a two single deal. Huang Chung's debut single for Rewind Records was "Isn't It About Time We Were on TV", followed by "Stand Still". Neither single charted, but the group had begun to attract the attention of Arista Records, who signed them on a two album deal in early 1981. Around the same time, the group expanded to a quartet, with the addition of saxophonist Dave Burnand. In keeping with the all pseudonymous nature of the band, Burnand was known as "Hogg Robinson" for the first Arista single, and later, simply as "Hogg". In late 1983, Hues and Feldman collaborated in a one off project with vocalist David Van Day of duo Dollar. A demo of the track "Ringing the Bell" was submitted to Van Day by their publisher as one of many songs for consideration by Van Day as a possible follow up to his single "Young Americans Talking". It was recorded in November 1983 but remained unreleased for some time before eventually surfacing under the band name Music Academy in 1985. Wang Chung followed up the release of Points on the Curve with a spate of soundtrack work. Director William Friedkin specifically sought out Wang Chung to score his 1985 film To Live and Die in L. A. The resulting soundtrack became the group's third studio album, and is recognizable as one of their more mainstream works. It went top ten on the US Billboard chart for soundtracks. The band recorded "Fire in the Twilight" for the 1985 John Hughes film The Breakfast Club and contributed "There Is a Nation" for the soundtrack to First Born. Wang Chung released their fifth studio album, The Warmer Side of Cool, in 1989. The album featured "Praying to a New God" (No. 63 US), which charted but was not a hit. The album was considered a commercial disappointment. Hues and Feldman then went on to other projects and the band effectively disbanded in 1990.

During the 1990s, Feldman joined up with drummer Jon Moss of Culture Club to form the band Promised Land, and subsequently released their self titled debut studio album, Promised Land, in 1992. Also in the 1990s, Hues worked on various film soundtracks, including The Guardian (1990). He was signed to a solo deal by Sony Records in the early 1990s, but his intended debut solo studio album, The Anatomy Lesson, was shelved by the label and remains unreleased. Hues later teamed up with Tony Banks of Genesis to form the one off group Strictly Inc., which released a self titled studio album in 1995.

1997 saw the return of Wang Chung, still consisting of Hues and Feldman, with a greatest hits collection entitled Everybody Wang Chung Tonight: Wang Chung's Greatest Hits. Included on this CD was a new single, "Space Junk". The group also toured North America around this time to promote the new compilation. A 2000 edition of Wang Chung played several dates in the United States, both headlining their own tour and also a part of the Club 80s Flashback Tour with A Flock of Seagulls, Missing Persons, and Gene Loves Jezebel with Michael Aston. Hues was the only original member of this iteration of the band, as Feldman bowed out due to other commitments. In March 2005, Wang Chung (once again consisting of Hues and Feldman) contributed "Akasha", a previously unreleased song, to the Of Hands and Hearts compilation, in response to the 2004 Southeast Asia tsunami crisis. In June 2005, Wang Chung appeared on the reality TV series Hit Me Baby One More Time, performing "Everybody Have Fun Tonight" and a cover version of "Hot in Herre" by Nelly. Beginning in June 2009, Wang Chung were a part of the Regeneration '80s tour along with ABC, Berlin, Cutting Crew, and Missing Persons. In June 2010, Wang Chung released a digital "double EP" entitled Abducted by the 80s. This was subsequently released as a double CD set in mid 2011. The eight song collection included four re recordings of previous hits, and four new songs. Wang Chung toured the United States from June to July 2010 to promote the new release. On 21 September 2010, The Beatles Complete on Ukulele released Wang Chung's reworking of the Beatles' "Rain", in an arrangement which features the ukulele. On 31 October 2010 their song "Space Junk" was featured in the pilot episode of the AMC series The Walking Dead (and is also included on the episode "What Comes After"). The Fighter, a 2010 film starring Mark Wahlberg, featured Wang Chung's music. They played the Rewind Festival in Perth in July 2012, and Henley on Thames in August 2012. In December that year, Wang Chung released Tazer Up!, their first studio album in 23 years. All four original tracks from Abducted by the 80s appear on Tazer Up! (some in remixed and/or edited form); the album also features a remix of the re recorded Abducted version of "Dance Hall Days". The remaining 6 tracks are unique to this release. In 2013, Darren Costin rejoined Wang Chung for a special one off performance in England.

In 2016, the band began to perform live with Gareth Moulton of Cutting Crew on lead vocals.

In 2017, Hues returned to performing live with Wang Chung, and in 2019, they recorded a greatest hits album with the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra titled Orchesography. Two EPs consisting of the orchestral versions and remixes were released of "Dance Hall Days" and "Everybody Have Fun Tonight" on both CD and digital download. Orchesography was released on 10 May 2019.