Offbeat Holiday Music: A J-Rock Christmas

DBSK: Silent Night

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B'z: Itsuka No Merry Christmas

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GLAY : Karera no HOLY X'MAS

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Kiyoharu: Christmas

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Tell me you're surprised that I'm posting J-Rock Christmas songs. I've got lo-o-o-ots! Clearly, being a Buddhist/Shinto nation doesn't preclude embracing the Christmas spirit. I can personally attest that in early November, the Starbucks in Kanazawa, Japan, was cheerily blasting out Dean Martin's Let It Snow! despite the warm fall weather.

Japanese musicians seem to crank out just as much Christmas music as their western counterparts (probably for the same reasons). The quality is comparable as well, but I've spared you the truly horrific stuff, like the cover of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer by the metal band Nightmare.

The first selection isn't actually J-Rock, though, it's K-Pop. DBSK was a highly popular Korean boy band who made it big in Japan about 6 years ago, but recently broke up. Everyone's holiday collection needs a German carol sung in Japanese by a Korean boy band, right? You'd be the only one on your block playing it, that's for sure.

The next two are pretty straightforward, original Christmas-themed songs by big-name J-Rock bands. Every now and then, the seasonal English words shine through: dah dah dah dah dah Merry Christmas!

That last one, by one of my fav singers, Kiyoharu, sounds like the kind of Christmas song you'd play just before deciding to top yourself. I mean, I do actually like it, but it's awfully grim going for what's supposed to be an uplifting season. Apparently some of the lyrics translate to: I made a wish and touched my rosary; let's kiss. I smiled at the transparent blue orchid. You are my Christmas, running along my frozen skin. Er, yeah, well it does have the requisite (English) holiday words in it:

Merry Christmas!

Homonyms: Sherry

The Four Seasons: Sherry

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SADS: Sherry

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Forty-one years separate these odes to girls named Sherry. The older of the two is by far better known—it was the first number one hit for those Jersey boys, the Four Seasons. The other is less well known (to say the least) outside Japan, by the Kiyoharu-fronted band, SADS. These songs are near-polar opposites except maybe for the vocal idiosyncrasies of each lead singer. The first is one of those early sixties tunes with a catchy pop melody and the world's simplest lyrics: Sherry, can you come out tonight? It implies the budding of a new relationship (or is it only puppy love?). The second is a straight-out rock song full of anguish about the end of a relationship, and okay, I know you can't understand the lyrics, so I'll tell you what the first part says:

Sherry, softly I could hear the goodbye,
Sherry, once upon a time you said to smile,
Sherry, I can no longer see the withered falling flowers,
Sherry, Sherry, Sherry, and you were not here.
(courtesy of Myspace Kiyoharu fan page)

The song ends with some effective repetition of lyrics with one word change:

Kimi ga kureta zetsubou (ushinai/yorokobi/akirame) no uta wo…

Which means: The hopeless (lost/happy/forsaken) song you gave….

My own Japanese consists of only the basics: thank you, good morning, where is the bathroom? But have you ever noticed that when you don't speak a language, certain repeated words pop out at you in songs? When I listen to Brazilian music, I always hear "coração" (heart). I think it's a law somewhere that all songs with Portuguese lyrics must contain it.

In Japanese, in every song I always hear "sayonara." I think that says something.

The Night Sky: J-Rock version

Hideto Matsumoto, wearing heat-trapping vinyl

hide: Rocket Dive

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Buck-Tick: Jupiter

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Kiyoharu: Venus (Shocking Blue cover)

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It's the space-age J-Rock entry you've all been dreading anticipating!

I've posted all these Visual Kei artists before, and I know you remember them all really well, right? The first is by guitarist nonpareil (and romanticized dead rock icon) hide (say it "hee-day"). It's a full-out speed metal tune best enjoyed at full volume while roaring down the highway. The second is a more ethereal song by long-time rockers Buck-Tick. The third is one you'll actually recognize – it's the Shocking Blue song. Like Antony Hegarty, who I posted earlier this week, Kiyoharu has an unusual voice: kinda strangled and with lots of vibrato. His Engrish admittedly doesn't add much to his appeal, either. Nothing anyone can say, though, will dim my love for him.

The Kiss: J-Rock Kisses

Kuroyume: Kiss

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Alice Nine: Kiss Twice, Kiss Me Deadly

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Buck-Tick: Just One More Kiss

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Kiyoharu: Just One More Kiss

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It's been a while since I've shared some J-Rock with you. Luckily(?), there are many such songs that actually have the English word "kiss" in the title, and here are a few.

Kuroyume was one of the big Visual Kei groups of the '90s, and the lead singer was Kiyoharu, whom I introduced to you already. The lyrics are typically vague and emotive and a few of the phrases are sung in English:

Too Far Away, a kiss on the cheek... you, so innocent, unable to say a word
Silence, a deep kiss... you, crying, unable to do a thing…
Too Far Away, a distant kiss.. where has your innocence been hidden away?
Be Silent, a long kiss... too beautiful, I can't even speak. (translation from JPopAsia)

Alice Nine, on the other hand, is a current darling of J-Rock fans. Probably because the vocalist, Shou, is cute as a button – that's him in the image, getting affectionate with his bandmate. Hey, if boyhowdy can post girlkissing this week, I think it's only fair to represent the opposite sex at play. Oh, right, the song…as far as I can tell, it's not a James Bond title track, but instead an ode to vampire love:

If my attention fades, it's all over
In just one moment
My throat gets bitten through
My voice becomes husky
Shall we deadly dance with... (translation from JPopAsia)

Like the earlier song, some of the lyrics are English, including that title. This is my favorite of the 4 songs, mostly 'cuz Shou's voice is surprisingly deep and rich.

Finally we've got a 1988 Buck-Tick tune, with a cover by our friend Kiyoharu, from a BT tribute album, PARADE. Buck-Tick (from a Japanese word meaning 'firecracker') was another of the defining Visual Kei bands of the '80s and beyond—they're still quite active. If it inspires you, check out the YouTube video of the two vocalists singing it together recently in front of adoring fans.

Mononymic Artists: Kiyoharu

Kiyoharu: Note

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Last time in J-Rock 101, we were treated to the mellow tones of Hyde and Gackt. I think you all are ready for someone a little bit more challenging (just a little bit, though---I'm not sure we're ready for the screamo artists yet, like Kyo from Dir en grey).

Kiyoharu's voice can be a bit of an acquired taste. Whereas in western music, any vocalist who sings with such a pronounced nasal tone and quirky vibrato would find it hard to find a recording contract, that sound's not uncommon among Japanese rock singers (Hakuei is another one with the same sound – they're hard to tell apart sometimes). And yet Kiyoharu's wildly popular in Japan both as lead vocalist for the bands Kuroyume and SADS and as a solo artist (yeah, he's older than he looks - he's 42).

I've avoided any of his rock-y songs in favor of this ballad that starts out more like something by Gordon Lightfoot or Jeffrey Foucault. The more I listened, understanding none of the lyrics but hearing that intensity, the more I was sure that this song wasn't some simple boy-meets-girl tale. So I poked around and found out my impression was right. According to Kiyoharu, his father was diagnosed in the final stages of pancreatic cancer so while he worked on this album (Forever Love), he often returned home to take care of him. He stated, "Because my father was the only one who approved of me becoming a musician, this is a work packed with my thanks, and I'll never forget it." I found the translated lyrics by Cayce on NotGreatestSite.net, and I have to say that after I read them, I was so moved by Kiyoharu's grief for his dying father that I cried.

I read the notebook that chronicled our days together,
I’ll break away from the grey sky, ah,
Your hand was weak holding mine,
You left me, saying “I’ll come again”… bye bye.

“The end was faster than we are,
Was it just that I wanted more time?”
I said, “I think I just gave up a little,”
I wanted to stop it, but it didn’t change.

complete lyrics here