Liu Lixin agrees, but does not see this as a big deal. "We have to imitate first and then mix our elements with foreign influences, making it more Chinese," he said, confident that Chinese rock music will improve in its own way.

He believes the future looks promising. Only two years ago few people would go out to bars to watch live rock music, let alone lay an entrance fee. That's all changed and today as many as 500 people cram into 13club every day. "It's terrific," said Liu.

Along with 13club, its neighbor D-22 is another live venue for rock music in Wudaokou, run by a professor from Peking University. Together the bars form the rock axis of the city and on weekends, up to 20 bands blast the roof off both bars.

"For many people in China, rock music is still considered to be played by bad boys, and is far from main stream. Its reputation has largely improved and is attracting more and more young people," said Slow Me's Jiao Chuanbo.

Rocking good future

This growing popularity is evidenced by three major music festivals taking place in Beijing during 2007. The Midi Festival in May, Beijing Pop Music Festival in September and Modern Sky Festival in October all drew massive crowds. And many of the bands taking part were full-on hardcore rockers. At the same time, Shuhe, an old town at the foot of Yulong Snow Mountain in Yunan Province, southwest China, has already successfully held the Snow Mountain Music Festival for five consecutive years. Music festivals are bringing together rock lovers from across the country and with the increase in exposure comes new ideas.

Chinese rock bands like Confucius Says mixes ancient Chinese poetry with rock, Spring & Autumn combines Chinese folk music with rock, and Second Hand Roses are blending the sounds of errenzhuan (cross-singing) original to the northeastern region of the country with rock melodies.

Despite his earlier criticism, Will Jameson agrees the sounds of bands like these shows Chinese rock musicians are extremely open-minded when it comes to new ideas and they are beginning to produce a unique China sound.

Jiao is confident that Chinese rock is headed in the right direction. "We have an easy attitude toward rock," he said, adding that this approach will produce a whole new look to the local rock scene in the not too distant future.

Guitar riffs, thumping drum beats and pounding bass lines-after all the debate has subsided it is still always about the music and the fans. Seeing Beijing's rock venues in the wee hours of Saturday, it seems those fans just want to rock and roll all night.