Well, I'll have you know that it's for a good reason. A few, in fact.
(1) I have begun scanlating once again. It's good for my brain.
(2) I am no longer sitting at my computer for the better part of the day. Being out of college will do that to you.
(3) I am constantly on edge due to this whole find-a-job, decide-your-future, where-are-you-even-GOING issue, so posting on my blog is not really my number one priority.
Nevertheless, I simply cannot allow myself to abandon you for too long.
This is, after all, my creative outlet. ...or, at least, one of my creative outlets. Definitely the one that is most likely to earn me some recognition, although admittedly that's not saying much. (I'm looking at you, fluctuating reader base.)
Anyway.
Today, we will again be discussing the delightful, classic, head-banging sounds of the Sex MachineGuns, the band (or rather, blog-post-subject) who single-handedly changed the opinion my dear grandmother had of my person. This, dear readers, is what happens when you distribute your blog address haphazardly.
We will take a slightly different track today, however, and look at one song in particular:
とうちゃん (Tou-chan, Daddy)
(... is it just me, or does Anchang get more attractive every time you look at him? Really, I just like how he's smiling the whole time. ...also, I rather hope that those are his muscles and not the shirt's... )
While you non-Japanese speakers may be confused as to why I selected this song for some further analysis, anyone with even a slight grasp of the language will immediately notice something amuck. Heck, I gave you a hint by translating the title, right up there.
Yes, this is a heavy metal band, writing and performing a song called "Daddy." And while I'm sure it could be interpreted as ironic or satirical, but I think that it's rather sweet.
A rough translation (that yes, I wrote) of the chorus would be as follows:
Work hard, daddy! Don't lose, daddy! I'm waiting for you to come home!
Do your best, daddy! You're so awesome, daddy! I'm happy because you're here!
Old man! ...Daddy
And you all said that metal had no heart.
(Side Note- I apologize for the lack of Japanese lyrics; unfortunately, my internet sources are being very tetchy at the moment, and I don't have the patience for them this early in the morning.)
So, the question is this.
Are the Sex MachineGuns special in that they are not all death, violence and sex? (They also have a song about recycling...)
Or is there a movement in metal that non-metal-heads simply don't understand? Do these men, in fact, have hearts of gold that are simply covered in spikes, chains, and a hard black varnish?
Have we been misunderstanding metal this entire time?
... ok, so I doubt that, but it's fun to think about, regardless.
So let's just listen to some more music then, shall we?
Songs about volcanoes are always good.
Look, that one's even sort of soft!
That one too! And here I thought I couldn't draw the non-metal-heads into the Sex MachineGuns fanbase... I clearly just wasn't trying hard enough.
Anyway, in keeping with this theme of unexpected metal, I love the closet-head-bangers that seem to be lurking all throughout Japan. You can see a few up there in that とうちゃん live video; you know, ladies in pretty, floral tops with long, flowing hair... slamming their heads around with the best of them. Melon and I were seated next to a number of these closet-types at the Dir en grey live at Osaka-Jo in 2008; it was quite the experience.
This is Edo, signing off wishing that she could just head-bang her troubles away.
No comments:
Post a Comment