Affectionately called "Old Cui" (老崔; Lǎo Cuī), he is credited with pioneering Chinese rock music.

Cui's departure from the band and subsequent solo career led him to become the most successful and influential musician in Chinese rock history.

[citation needed] Cui Jian first shot to stardom in 1986, when he performed his song "Nothing to My Name" on the 100-Singer Concert of Year of International Peace at Beijing's Workers' Stadium.

[10] The birth of this song marks a new era in Cui Jian's music career, as he uses this unique rock method to summon a new generation of young people.

His band, now renamed ADO, included two foreign embassy employees: Hungarian bassist Kassai Balazs and Madagascan/French guitarist Eddie Randriamampionona.

[2] Cui Jian was the first-ever winner of the MTV International Viewer's Choice Award for his song/music video "Wild in the Snow" in 1991.

Cui Jian reached the apex of his popularity during the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, when "Nothing to My Name" became an anthem to student protestors.

Before the protests were violently broken up on 4–5 June, Cui frequently appeared with the students and was affirmed by Wu'er Kaixi, one of the prominent leaders of the movement, as highly influential among young Chinese of the time.

In early 1990, the Chinese government would permit him to embark his first rock tour entitled the "New Long March", to raise money for the 1990 Asian Games.

Elsewhere in China he was permitted to play to sell-out crowds in both large and small venues, only on occasion facing government interference.

Cui toured all over the world including the United States and Europe four times each and has played numerous shows in East and Southeast Asia.

Cui's ability to fuse western styles of music and introduce local influences on it, made him a very prominent figure internationally to this day.

[19] The film, Transcendence, which evokes memories of Tiananmen Square, was screened in Beijing in May 2012 to an enthusiastic fan audience, but its prospects for mainstream release in China are doubtful.

[20] On 8 September 2000, Cui and his band performed at the Ministry of Culture-sponsored "Oppose Piracy, Support Copyright" concert held at Workers' Stadium in Beijing.

The "Snow Mountain Music Festival" was a major media attraction and was reported by the international press as "China's Woodstock".

Not until March 2004, when Cui opened for Deep Purple on their mainland tour, was he finally able to perform a full set at a major venue in Beijing.