"I would much rather have the accident happen to me."
--Ka Keung, days after the accident
Beyond, under Amuse and Warner, had become relatively more free in their
music writing than they had under Cinepoly. In fact things seemed ideal:
they had a major label backing them, the freedom to publish (almost) what
they wanted to, and an audience larger than they had every thought of.
They happily produced their second Cantonese release under Amuse/Warner,
called "Rock and Roll". The style of music in this release was definitely
much more raw than they had performed previously, and the messages were
somewhat politically/sociologically satirical. An excellent example of
this can be found in "Ba Ba Ma Ma", where the UK is symbolized by the
father, China is symbolized by the mother, and HK is the child that is left
to its own devices due to the incessant squabbling between the two.
However, this fairy-tale relationship soon faced a violent end. A month
and a half after the release of "Rock and Roll", Ka Kui and another person
(a host of the game show they were participating in at the time) were
injured in an accident at the Fuji studios in Tokyo. Both were rushed to
the hospital; the host was found to have non-life threatening wounds to the
chest, while Ka Kui was unconcious from his fall, which resulted in his
head impacting on the ground. For many long days, there was hope that Ka
Kui could be saved, and his wounds healed. Jackie Chan had faced a similar
fall...didn't his doctor bring him "back from the dead"? A frantic search
was made to locate the doctor in what is now the former Yugoslavia, which
was war-torn at this point, but to no avail. Finally, after 6(?) days of
critical, but semi-stable, status in the hospital, Ka Kui's condition
finally turned to the worse. On 4pm, local time, he left us forever.
His death had serious implications on the band. For a time, there was
doubt that the band would be able to perform again, since Ka Kui was the
heart, soul, and voice of the band. Losing him was like having no pulse,
thought, or speach. Slowly, the band negotiated a settlement with the Fuji
studios. Then, they expired their contract with Warner. And finally, they
went back home; home to the island where it all started.