[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLDFgD2uP4w&hl=en_US&fs=1&] Let’s get one thing clear right away…the above song isn’t remotely good. It’s some borderline Up With People group therapy bullshit loaded with enough pep to power an aircraft carrier. Imagine AKB48. Now imagine the players in AKB48 replaced with the Lots-o-Huggin’ bear from Toy Story 3. Now imagine those bears exploding, and the…
A lot of red flags surround Osaka rock outfit SCANDAL. They wear schoolgirl outfits, for one – I needed to shower away the grimey feeling I had after downloading the album art you see above. More pertinent to the music, SCANDAL are only “rock” in the sense they hold guitars; much like Vampire Weekend’s Columbia…
I’m not ready to write up some grand thesis on the matter, but I believe one of the biggest differences between American and Japanese pop is the degree to which their audiences go along with the star’s images. In the U.S. message boards chirp with discussions about the politics of Lady GaGa and don’t question…
Bands wearing schoolgirl uniforms rarely get a second glance from me, so when I saw uniform-clad SCANDAL on the TV show Music Fair this weekend I didn’t pay much attention. While working, though, I realized the song coming out of the television was surprisingly catchy. I looked up and…surprise, SCANDAL. SCANDAL bill themselves as a…