The legendary live venues and the changing music sceneshistory of the bands, which acted actively in the indie rock subcultural scene in Taiwan in the late
80s and early 90s. There were several bands who were scouted by major music labels and entered
the mainstream music market, for example Wubai & China Blue and May Day. The first and second
generations are the “underground” bands that were active during 1990–2000. The third and fourth
generations are the “indie” bands that were active during 2000–2010. From the first generation to the
fourth takes approximately two decades. After 2010, the term generation is rarely used not only because
there are a very large number of bands, but also because the boundary between mainstream and indie
is rather obscure.
3 For example, records of 88 Balaz, Won Fu, Tizzy Bac, Peppermint, and Nipples, were produced and
distributed by indie labels such as Taiwan Colors Music (角頭音樂), Wonder Music (彎的音樂), and
White Rabbit Records (小白兔唱片).
4 The band 1976 wrote a song about Underworld in 2009 (using Underworld as a song title) to describe
how Underworld became a special locale for fringe musicians and audiences with the same poetic taste
to meet and give encouragement to each other.
5 For example, the band Chasing Sparrow (追麻雀), Fall of This Corner (一隅之秋), Angry Young Man
(生氣的年輕人), and bands involved in the post-punk scene in Taipei after 2008, such as TOUMING
MAGAZINE (透明雜誌), Wayne’s So Sad (傷心欲絕), Hang In The Air (盪在空中), Sleaze (湯湯水水),
etc. These emerging rock bands were inspired by Nirvana, and other monolithic Western alternative
rock bands such as Fugazi and Superchunk. They also worshiped senior bands in Taiwan, and were
influenced by indie music from Japan. Their music style is fused with Taiwanese, Japanese, and Western
rock styles.
6 Legacy is a live venue that can be found in Huashan 1914 Creative Park in Taipei, run by Street Voice
(中子文化), an emergent music group that regularly holds music festivals and owns its own online
music site.
7 In the collection album released by Scream Records, there were two songs called “The Bored Army”
and “The Scream Club.” The song titles and their lyrics were all referring to the anarchist ideology
of themselves: “Come and enjoy the boredom! Come and join the Bored Army” / “I want to go to a
place called the Scream Club, to sing, to dance, to laugh, to make noise!” The Chinese researcher Sun Yi
believed that the group followed the idea of the British punk culture and the American beat generation,
and constructed the Scream Club as the Utopia of their youth life (Sun 2012).
8 “Zooming Night” is an early song of the iconic local band, P.K. 14, admired by this new generation of
musicians.
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