THE New China News Agency once described Cui Jian with po-faced solemnity as 'a controversial young man' but he is usually known as China's greatest rock star.
In fact, he is virtually the only rock star China has ever produced, despite the frequency with which Western journalists have excitedly announced the emergence of a flourishing rock 'n roll culture in the Middle Kingdom. The Chinese may be taking to McDonald's hamburgers but this is one Western import which, like democracy, has never quite taken off.
'It never happened here because the Chinese people just don't like it. No one is willing to pay for it,' explained Kenny Bloom, director of Dragon International Company and who, since 1988, has been working in China's music and entertainment business.
'This is a melodic culture in which ballads sell well but anything with a beat does not,' he said.
A few bands like Tang Dynasty and Black Leopard have appeared - perhaps 20 in all - tried and failed to build on Cui Jian's success. Meanwhile, the rest of Chinese pop music and karaoke scene is sinking deeper into the Canto-pop crooners' culture.
This is what makes Cui such a unique performer. Virtually alone, he has been able to take a foreign and very alien tradition and turn it into something - at least with a few songs - that became wildly popular.
The 30-something started out after graduating from the Industrial Institute High School and joining the prestigious Beijing Philharmonic as a trumpeter before setting up an amateur band, Ado, in 1986. It included a Madagascar diplomat's son and a Hungarian bass player as well as several Beijing dropouts.