Loud again after 7 years

The reunited Black Panther band: (from left) guitarist Li Tong, American guest artist electric violinist Jamii Szmadzinski, keyboardist Hui Peng and bassist Wang Wenjie.

Rebel band Black Panther is back for a fresh encounter with fans, Chen Nan reports.

Back in 1990, five young men in their early 20s walked on the streets of Beijing sporting tight leather pants and long, wavy hair. They raised a red flag on the Great Wall and jumped about in front of the Forbidden City. The crowds around them looked shocked, though the five were immersed in their own world and didn't seem to care.

Those scenes are in the music video Wu Di Zi Rong, or Shameful, one of the band's hits. Black Panther was then China's first rock 'n' roll band.

The song was on the band's first album, Black Panther, released in 1991 which also included another hit, Don't Break My Heart. The album sold more than 1.5 million copies in China - and is still China's best-selling rock collection ever.

Their second album, Spirit of Light, was released a year later, followed by a rock concert in the Tibet autonomous region. The third album in 1995, No Right No Wrong, sold 500,000 across Asia within a month and the band held a concert in Tokyo as the "first Chinese rock band".

When Li Tong, the guitarist and one of the founding members of the band, recalls their heyday, he seems calm and peaceful.

"We just showed off our confidence and attitude. Our music expressed ourselves," the 48-year-old Beijing native recalls. "We believed we did a great job in music and luckily we got good feedback from fans, who were as young and reckless as we were then."

Those glory days fuelled the young men's passion and desire of success, but all that overwhelming attention also took its toll on the band.