“China” (1983) – Red Rockers * Written by Red Rockers * Produced by David Kahne * LP: Good as Gold * Label: Columbia/415 * Charts: Billboard Hot 100 (#53)
Red Rockers made convincing, menacing noise as a New Orleans punk quartet. Named after a song title by Los Angeles’ very red Dils (“I Hate the Rich,” “Class War”), their 1981 “Guns of Revolution” paid proper tribute, at least, to the anti-capitalist sentiment of their chosen genre. By 1983 they had signed with the San Francisco label 415, which was becoming synonymous with the sound of resounding guitars. Producer David Kahne heard radio potential in their song “China” and hunkered down in the studio, crafting a milder, melody-conscious product that would appall their core audience but charm hit radio program directors. With its yangqin-like guitar lines and yearning refrain, the song came off as sincere, and not at all like the sell-out its MTV presence and musical gear-shift suggested. Those “calling out to a mystery” words in the chorus seemed to announce that Red Rockers were playing the experimentation card in their new phase, toying with a new, more abstract “redness” that would also excuse them, thankfully, from overdoing it with stereotypical orientalisms. Although lead singer John Thomas Griffith kept busy with Cowboy Mouth after Red Rockers folded in the mid-eighties, his clear charisma on “China” gives the track a certain lost-promise aura.