The Blue Hearts: Train, Train

It may be another catchy pop-punk tune with a repetitive English title and Japanese lyrics like "Linda, Linda" but "Train, Train" is no Nickelback-esque re-write. Instead, as if challenged to top their previous hit, the Blue Hearts (see here) wrote a stunning song that ended up out-selling "Linda, Linda". In 1988's "Train, Train", the chorus is still incessant and staccato but they prettified the intro, amped up the riff and crafted an even stronger, more anthemic melody. Y'know most English-speakers turn a deaf ear to music in another language and that's really to our own detriment.



Train, Train 7"



Supporting the band may be difficult for Westerners but Amazon does stock a few things.

And while the Blue Hearts broke up in the mid-nineties, Hiroto Kōmoto (vocalist) and Masatoshi Mashima (guitarist) have kept at it with great aplomb, as their current band, the more garage-rockin' Cro-Magnons, proves.

The Blue Hearts: Linda, Linda

MRML makes no claim of being a world music blog or even an internationalist one. Call us ethnocentric if you must, but we fuss over Britain and its one-time colonies because that's what we know. Sure we've visited Germany and France (with more Euro-punk to come) but it's all been so...Western. Case in point, the only Japanese album I've ever owned was a Shonen Knife CD and I'm guessing that Shonen Knife, like pizza, are not considered an exemplar of the culture from which they originated. After all, while Shonen Knife built up a North American cult following, the Blue Hearts stormed Japan's arenas and pop charts.



(Charming video but scroll down here for a more accurate version of the lyrics).


I'm woefully ignorant of the intricacies of Japanese pop culture, so I'll spare you theories of the Blue Hearts' breaking of cultural taboos or their use traditional melodies etc. Instead, I'll just say that through Western eyes and ears they sound like the Ramones being fronted by Darby Crash - especially with this song's recurring animal imagery. It's hard to believe that this was any nation's idea of what constituted a pop song in the saccharine year that was 1987. The glory of the song, however, is that joyously infectious hook, "Linda!, Linda!" - hear it once and you'll be singing it forever, hell, so will anyone else in the world.



Linda, Linda 7"

(There is a Japanese film about school girls learning the song for a battle of the bands-type event, and yes, to me this version does sound a bit like Shonen Knife, which is only a good thing.)



(Thanks to Bookhouse over on MetaFilter for inspiring this post.)



Supporting the band may be difficult for Westerners but Amazon does stock a few things.

Shonen Knife: Riding the Rocket

Let's just settle this right up front: yes, Shonen Knife were cute and yes, there was a massive novelty appeal to these Japanese women playing ultra-simple guitar-pop.
Done?
'Kay.
Now as for what's sharpest Knife? It's the 1992 album Let's Knife. Yup, the Major Label Debut with 'translated' English lyrics and hi-fi production. To many of their earliest fans that album is seen as watered down but actually it shows off their Shangri-La's-Ramones hybrid to maximum effect. Not unlike the Blue Hearts, Shonen Knife used the Ramones as a basis for their own twisted vision of pop culture, matching outfits and all!. "Riding the Rocket", was the first single from Let's Knife and it's full of vintage sci-fi sounds, Cheap Trick echoes and that unforgettable chorus:

Uka boo, uka boo everybody uka boo
Uka boo, uka boo, space walk, uka boo
Uka boo, uka boo, let’s do the uka boo

The CD single, has a few charming bonuses, including a different version of "Burning Farm" as well as a space-surf instro called "Milky Way".


Riding the Rocket CD single



Support the band!

• Homepage
• MySpace
  
• Amazon