Jackie Chan part of the fictional Indie Rock Band ‘The Hand of Death’ from Hong Kong
Jackie Chan’s life has been so intensely public since the 1960s that he has not only left the audience with many films and songs, but also knows how to trigger the creativity of his fans with them. This anecdote is part of the fictional collection of chapters in my “Jackie Chan Extended Universe”.
After the tragic death of Bruce Lee in 1973 and the associated demise of Hong Kong action cinema, the newly founded film studio Golden Harvest had to reinvent itself. Although comedies and dramas continued to be produced, along with the occasional kung fu and wuxia films, the majority of stuntmen and filmmakers were forced to seek out side projects to earn a living. With the rise of Cantonese pop music, Golden Harvest expanded its business into music production.
The three brothers Sammo Hung, Jackie Chan and Yuen Biao teamed up with a few friends from the film industry and formed Hong Kong’s first indie rock band, “The Hand of Death” (少林門). Their sound was raw, experimental and combined Chinese opera with English punk. Their songs were multilingual, in Cantonese, Mandarin and English, and deliberately provocative.
By the end of 1974, the band was already performing in pubs and small clubs in Hong Kong and Taiwan. After a bar brawl in a nightclub in Taipei shortly before Chinese New Year in 1975, allegedly triggered by drunk fans, the band retreated to the studio to record their first album. A few months later, their debut album “The Hand of Death” (少林門) was released, which was reissued in a remastered CD edition in 2025 to mark its 50th anniversary. The record is now considered an extremely rare collector’s item. Even though it only appealed to the young rebellious audience in Hong Kong and Taiwan at the time and was disliked by critics, some of its hits are still considered classics today.
First and foremost is the title track of the album, “Countdown in Boom Fu“, produced by Joseph Koo Ka-Fai, who was responsible for all of the band’s albums between 1975 and 1982. The song is about resistance during the Vietnam War and thus takes a rare political stance for Hong Kong artists of its time. The critical lyrics caused a stir in the mainstream at the time; although an official investigation found no wrongdoing, the song was banned from radio and television.
In 1983, “The Hand of Death” disbanded as a music group when the Hong Kong film industry, with contemporary Cantonese films, once again promoted the need for stuntmen and filmmakers in the action genre. All former members look back on a proud filmography in their careers and smile today about their punk rock days.
Countdown in Boom Fu (Fast Buck, 2024)
In 2024, German music producer Fast Buck used a sample from the song “Countdown in Boom Fu” and created his own version for his experimental album “Young Dragon – The Art of Sampling Jackie Chan“.
You can find out more about Fast Buck in my article “Hip Hop & Martial Arts: The chantastic Soundtrack for the Year of the Dragon 2024“.
Disclaimer: None of this ever happened. This is a fictional story and is intended solely for entertainment purposes. I created the album cover. However, the photo showing the six people is real.
