No, he’s not William Hung. It’s a shame that mainstream America only has limited exposure to some really talented Chinese/Hong Kong Pop Stars… One of the artist that I love over the years is Anthony Wong. He’s been around since the mid 80s’ as the front man of the synth-pop duo DatMing-Pair. Back then, with their clever lyrics and heavy use of synth, they were the closest thing you can get in terms of “Hong Kong Alternative”… Songs that talk about gay culture, social problems and endanger teens were not that hard to find in Western music, but DatMaing-Pair was the first group that bring the theme to the scene.

After DatMing broke up in early 90s, Anthony has a mildly successful solo career… Be honest, not all of his songs are that great and some of them I would even consider boring… haha… but once in a while, he and his creative team (People Mountain People Sea) can still deliver…

Now I am regretting I didn’t go back to Hong Kong last year and check out his 03 live show. The costumes were outrageous and um… what can I say “GREAT”…. They remind me of early Juan Paul Gaultier outfits with heavy mixture of raw punk… To my surprise, the new music arrangement at the concert was also heavily synthed to the 70’s and 80’s snyth sound…the original Moog sound, Kraftwerk you know…. Having 4 people dressed in red and standing in front of the stage playing keyboard motionlessly is also oh-so-YMO and oh-so-Pet Shop Boys.

Tears could come down from my eyes. lol.

DatMing-Pair will be back together one more time and release a new album later this year, and a concert is also promised. I’ll probably go back and check out the show later this year.

Keep up the good work, Anthony. We’re still listening and watching.