idols

admit it. everyone had at least one idol when they're a teenager.
mine? one of them in the picture below.

they're 四大天王 - the 4 kings. 張學友 (jacky cheung), 郭富城 (aaron kwok), 黎明 (leon lai) and 劉德華 (andy lau). they're not a boy band. they're the most popular hk idols in the 90's. they won almost all the music awards. they had thousands and thousands of crazy fans. their fans used to compete with one another and hated each other. i was one of them... subtly.

四大天王 in 1992

can you guess which one once made me do all of the following?

• memorized all the words to his songs, knowing them even better than my school materials
  
• knew exactly when his cassettes (yes, cassettes) and CDs were released
• spent the bulk of my allowance on his albums, his goods, and all the magazines with his face on the cover
• recorded all his tv performances
  
• begged my parents to take me to his concerts
• went crazy on everything he did

sometimes i look at my teenage cousin now and observe her idol-praising behavior, i can totally see myself 15 years ago. when i look back, i was such a fool to have spent so much energy on one person who didn't even know who i was. i would get mad at my friends who supported the other "3 kings", or when they talked sh** about my idol. my grades also went downhill...
it's not worth it.

on the other hand, this is their job and for them to be successful in their job, their supportive (and very crazy) fans are those who really make their career shine. after all, i contributed to his salary!