George Wendt Eating Bean Paste?
I love taking surveys, when it’s of my own volition and people aren’t interrupting my dinner with telephone calls demanding I take them.
So, I see on IntlWota that there are a couple of J-Music surveys doing the rounds on the blogosphere. Sounds like fun, so let’s have a look, shall we?
First up, Cutie Party has a simple ten question quiz designed to direct her toward new J-Music. Her questions (in bold), followed by my answers, are…erm…are as follows (what an awkward turn of phrase…)
1. What was the first Japanese song that you ever listened to?
The theme song from Star Blazers, but as for actual J-Pop, it’d be Kumi Koda’s cover of the theme from Cutie Honey. I was looking up her version of the song from Final Fantasy VII, and found this one first.
2. Did it inspire you to like that group/singer, or did it turn you away?
Oh yes. Despite Kumi’s reputation for being slutty (which I have no objection to and didn’t actually know about at the time anyway), the thing I remember most about the song and PV is the stylish disco-jazzy vibe it exuded. Now while I don’t know all of Kumi’s songs, most of the ones I have heard, I’ve liked, so yeah, I’d say it inspired me to like her.
3. What is the one song that you have been listening to for the longest time?
Probably Cutie Honey. I haven’t listened to it much recently, just when it comes up randomly in Windows Media Player, but it would technically be the longest.
4. What group/singer have you liked the longest?
Again, technically, Kumi Koda. Although I wouldn’t say she’s my favorite. I’ve discovered more since then, but I guess I’ll always have a soft spot for her. If not for her, I wouldn’t have discovered BoA, Heartsdales, SOUL’d OUT, m-flo, and so on. I owe that lady a lot.
5. What is the song with the most plays on your itunes/media player?
Currently, I’d say SOUL’d OUT’s cover of She’s a Bad Mama Jama. I prefer it much more than the original.
6. Is that song your favorite?
No. It’s not even my favorite SOUL’d OUT song, let alone my favorite J-Pop song ever (if it even qualifies as J-Pop, I’m not sure).
7. If not, what is?
SOUL’d OUT – Alive, J-Pop in General – It’s a tie between Egao YES Nude (Morning Musume) and Dopamine (m-flo loves Emyli & Diggy-MO’)
8. Is there any one group that you can listen to all/most of the songs by? If so, who?
Three-way tie between SOUL’d OUT, Heartsdales, and Morning Musume
9. What is your favorite agency?
I don’t really follow agencies, I follow the artists and groups who work at them. I guess UFA, since H!P work there, and Tsunku is a musical genius.
10. What is your favorite group/singer?
Male Group – SOUL’D OUT
Female Group – Morning Musume
Male Singer – Diggy-MO’
Female Singer – Ai Takahashi/BoA (Tie)
Okay, secondly, pengie from unchained wants to know what music is important to me and if there are any strong memories I have of particular songs or artists, and so forth. Brace yourself kiddies, we are going to be leaving the “on-topic” area of this blog for a bit.
Asian music is a recent interest of mine. Like many who grew up without the internet in their lives, my tastes ran to what was available in my neck of the woods, namely the southeastern United States in the late 80s/early 90s. Rather than do an entire essay on what I like, I’ll mention a few memories associated with the music I listened to back then.
- I lived with my grandparents when I was little, but every Sunday morning, they would take me down to my mother’s house (ten miles into the country), and I’d go to church with my mom and dad. There was a “playlist” of songs I just had to hear every Sunday on the ride down to their house. These included Dixieland Delight by Alabama, and four songs from Hank Williams Jr. – The Pressure Is On – namely A Country Boy Can Survive, The Coalition to Ban Coalitions, Tennessee Stud, and The Ballad of Hank.
- My Grandmother, the person I loved most on this Earth, used to rock me to sleep as a little boy. She was a big fan of Loretta Lynn, and sang a lot of her songs to me while she would rock me. One of them, See That Mountain, always made me cry. I was always afraid she would die and leave me, and every time she’d sing that song, I knew she was singing to me about that happening one day. And on March 30, 2000, it finally did. I was grown up by then, but it didn’t hurt any less. It hurt exactly as much as I thought it would, and more. (Another musical memory about her, I recited Celine Dion’s Because You Loved Me at her funeral. I’m not perfect, but everything that is good in me today, I attribute to her influence. Anything else, like Jimmy Buffett said, “It’s my own damn fault.”)
- The first compact disc I ever bought was Dr. Feelgood by Motley Crue. I was in the eighth grade at the time. (I’m not saying that I was young and didn’t know any better, I’m just saying that’s when I bought it.)
- Hotel California by the Eagles is the only album I’ve owned on 8-Track, Audio Cassette, and CD. I kinda hate that I don’t own the vinyl version so I’d have a complete set.
- I was first exposed to Enya in high school by my art teacher. She wanted us to paint what we felt as we listened to her music. “Anywhere Is” is still one of my favorite songs of all time.
- My favorite band of all time is Ace of Base. My favorite song of all time is one of their songs, Never Gonna Say I’m Sorry. I understand three of the four have reformed the group and will be making a comeback in the next year or so. I’m cautiously optimistic about this.
- The band that I owe my love of non-English-language music to is Eiffel 65. Their third album (which was self-titled) had two discs, one in English, one in their native Italian. It was upon listening to both that I decided that music truly is universal, and is good no matter what language it is in, even if I can’t understand what they’re saying when they sing.
- I tend to have headaches (though not as many as I used to, since I steer clear of caffeine these days), and I like to take a nap and listen to soothing music while I try to recover. My albums of choice for doing so are the first Pure Moods collection, the first four Deep Forest albums (Deep Forest, Boheme, Comparza, and Music Detected), and Maxi Priest’s Best of Me.
- I owe Charmy of Renai Project an incalculable debt of gratitude for introducing me to the International House of Tsunku (IHOT) a.k.a. Morning Musume/Hello!Project by showing me the PV for Joshi Kashimashi Monogatari. Also, I wouldn’t be writing this blog today, if I weren’t inspired by her own. Arigato gozaimasu, Charmy-chan!
Hmm, I think that’ll do, for now. Hope this answers a few of your questions, guys.
