A common way people get into music of another culture or language is through movies and television. Most Japanese animes and dramas will feature an artist in either the beginning or end credits and if the show itself is popular, the song will usually be just as popular as well. I don't watch either, but even in Japanese movies you will find a wealth of music. The first instance of this for me occurred when I watched a film called Blue Spring (Aoi Haru) by Toshiaki Toyoda. Toyoda likes to use his favourite bands in his soundtracks, and in this case he used a band called Thee Michelle Gun Elephant. Well I will tell you it was love at first listen.
The movie concerns a group of teenage Japanese boys attending a low-rate, gang-run highschool. Ryuhei Matsuda plays the main character, Kujo, who wins the title of head boss by playing the "clapping game" you can see demonstrated in the trailer. There is a lot of dirty fighting in the movie, murder and some humour. But the bigger items this film is about is dreams. These boys have no future within the confines of the concrete walls. They are set to live their lives as hard labourers, bums, gangsters or else, in jail. One older boy chased his dream of professional baseball, but in losing a game he loses it all and instead turns to the only thing he knows: gang life. Kujo and his best friend Aoki struggle together in the last term of school to come to terms with the possibilities that forgo them. In the end the two end up butting heads, but I won't ruin the ending. I watched this movie when I myself was nearing the end of my highschool education. I was filled with the same questions, thoughts and dreams, but luckily I am privileged to have had more options than the boys in this film. Still, I related to them and this film defined me for a long time. It caught on to the hopelessness of the future, the struggle to cope with our destinies and the lonely existence that is teenagehood. Naturally, the music only redoubled me feelings towards this film.
Thee Michelle Gun Elephant is one of my favourite bands. I don't have number one favourites of anything, even colour, but TMGE is easily in my top three. Yusuke Chiba was the lead singer for this group which has been disbanded for a while now. But Chiba succeeded with two other bands Rosso and then The Birthday, both of which have a very similar if not identical sound to each other and its predecessor. All the songs are good. The writing is so simple yet so moving; there is really no other rock music that sounds purer than this. And Chiba's vocals are always so gritty and powerful no matter what sound is backing him. Just from the clip of the film in Blue Spring which plays Akage no Kelly (the Redhead Kelly) I still get that tugging feeling inside. Here is a clip from ROSSO:
And The Birthday:
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