#046 Band Theory 13 | THE BLUE HEARTS
I have too much emotional attachment to The Blue Hearts (I hate it when people abbreviate them as 'Buruha').
My cousin, who was five years older than me and taught me about rock music, loved them, and my sister, who was four years older, also loved them, so their music was always playing in our house and car, and I was aware of The Blue Hearts by the time I was old enough to understand things.
(That was around the time 'Jounetsu no Bara' was a hit.)
However, as a soccer-playing boy at the time, I was only interested in J-POP in real-time, and since they broke up just as I was waking up to music, I barely listened to them in real-time. If anything, I have a stronger attachment to The High-Lows, whom I did listen to in real-time, but I still went back and listened to them extensively.
The legendary band, The Blue Hearts.
What makes Hiroto and Mashie so cool is,the fact that they don't cling to the pastafter all.
Even though The Blue Hearts' songs would get the crowd incredibly hyped if played by The Cro-Magnons today, they never play them. That part of them is admirable.
Artists like Benzie play Blankey Jet City songs all the time in their solo acts, which makes the listeners happy, so it's a difficult issue from a listener's perspective, but regardless, I truly admire Hiroto and Mashie's stance.'Dobunezumi no Uta'is something I've read many times.
Well, if I keep talking, it'll get long, so let's get to the BEST 10.
This is also really hard to narrow down, so this is the best 10 as of April 2022.
BEST 10 Songs by The Blue Hearts That Touch the Heartstrings
10th Place: Linda Linda
This is a story from when I went to Vietnam on a business trip.
The Vietnamese employees at our subsidiary love karaoke, so at a drinking party, they told me, 'You sing a song too,' and I said,'I'm going to sing the most wonderful love song in Japan,'and sang this.
Catching the Vietnamese staff off guard, who probably thought it would be a sentimental song based on the ballad-like intro, I let out the repeated roars of 'Linda Linda'.
Before I knew it, the Vietnamese staff were getting hyped, and it turned into a storm ofmosh pits and stage diving.That's the kind of song it is. Finding beauty in a sewer rat, and the fact that the lyrics don't even contain the words 'Linda Linda' is also great.
It's the ultimate love song.
9th Place: Hito ni Yasashiku
The Blue Hearts made a name for themselves with this song, and the impact of hearing it for the first time was incredible. I thought, 'What a cool song.'
It must have been even more shocking at the time, and it's understandable why people like Ken Yokoyama, who heard this song in real-time, were so impacted.
This song really comes down to'Ganbare!'I wonder how many boys and girls were supported by that 'Ganbare' back then.
It's an immortal rock and roll standard.
8th Place: Shounen no Shi
My sister loved this song too, so it left a lasting impression on me.
It's told like a story, and while it's bittersweet, it's incredibly melodic and cool. I really think if I had been born in that era, I would have admired The Blue Hearts even more than I do now.
Words are always full of crap, but I'm thinking about things properly too
Things that can't be helped are fine to just let be
I don't hold a grudge against anyone, I just don't want to be the kind of fool who gets praised by adults
And right up to the final line, 'I wish everything would go the way I want,' the lyrics really hit home. It's a masterpiece.
7th Place: Boku no Migite
I love this one too.
I think it's a truly beautiful song.
Humans are all weak, but dreams will definitely come true; an unbreakable heart that was about to fall asleep deep in your eyes.
You can't write lyrics like this, can you? I really love this song, including the melody.
As for the live version, I like the one from the two-disc American live album in "MEET THE BLUE HEARTS" the best. The scream in the intro is great, isn't it?
6th Place: TRAIN-TRAIN
This song was in my music textbook in 1994, when I was in 5th grade.
It gained such mainstream acceptance that we even performed it in music class, and that makes sense. It's packed with all the elements that make Mashima a philosopher.
First, the piano. Shirai-san's piano is indispensable for this song. It's truly too beautiful.
And while the melody is great, it has to be the lyrics. It's no exaggeration to say that the lyrics to this song will seriously remain in the history of Japanese literature.
He is the Chuya Nakahara of the modern age.
The weak strike at those even weaker at dusk.
These lyrics are truly deep. Too deep.
All the ills of modern society around the world are condensed into this one sentence.
This isn't heaven, but it's not hell either.
They aren't all good people, but they aren't all bad people either.
I want to hold you under the romantic starry sky.
I want to dream surreal dreams while being blown by the south wind.
Grand and realistic. Truly wonderful.
Hiroto and Mashima are both so good that I can't choose. Though there's no need to choose.
Wanting an invisible freedom, I fire an invisible gun.
Let me hear your true voice.
I saw it in some music review, and I was very impressed by an article stating that this one phrase blew away everything Yutaka Ozaki had said and sung.
That makes sense. I can kind of understand it (well, I like Ozaki too).
I can't become a saint, but it's better to be alive.
That's why I sing, with the loudest voice I can muster.
It seriously makes me cry. It's a timeless masterpiece that surely remains in current textbooks as well.
5th Place: Aruku Hana (Walking Flower)
I really love this song too. It's not just the melody, it's the lyrics, the lyrics!
Hiroto is just singing this song, and it has nothing to do with The Blue Hearts as a band name, but even so, this song remains a historic track in the history of The Blue Hearts.
Born under an ordinary star, walking under an ordinary star.
Meeting you in an ordinary town, and falling in a special love.
Wonderful lyrics. The choice of words is truly skillful, and it's surely a masterpiece that will be passed down.
4th Place: Passionate Rose
This was the song where I first recognized The Blue Hearts.
I remember the chorus part, 'Passionate bright red rose...' very well.
This song is truly a masterpiece no matter where you cut it. It's good that the chorus only appears once at the end, and the lyrics are just wonderful.
The lyrics at the very beginning soak into me.
Is it eternal, is it true? Will the flow of time continue?
Is there such a thing that never changes no matter how much time passes?
And this poem—back in junior high school, we had an art class where we had to write a flower and our favorite words on colored paper, and I selected the following.
Let's collect as many small happinesses and as many small unhappinesses as we can.
Anyway, it's truly wonderful. It's a masterpiece.
3rd Place: Twilight
Twilight is The Blue Hearts' last single, and it's my favorite from their later period.
I've listened to it so many times.
It doesn't have to be clear, it's fine to leave it vague.
We will become happy in our own way.
With just these lyrics, I didn't hesitate to choose this song for the end roll of my wedding.
It's the best love song.
2nd Place: Melody of Massacre
The album 'HIGH KICKS,' which contains 'Melody of Massacre,' is probably the least memorable album for other Blue Hearts fans as well.
However, this song is exceptionally cool. To put it another way, it gives me the chills to think what would have happened if this song wasn't on this album (though there are songs I like, such as 'Fighting Man' and 'Neon Sign').
The opening drums (limited to the live version), the bass riff, the lyrics, the guitar solo in the chorus, and even the final 'In the darkness of the night...' part—it's incredibly cool at high speed until the very end.
1st Place: Good-for-Nothing
My favorite song by The Blue Hearts is this one, 'Rokudenashi' (Good-for-Nothing).
To be honest, I was thinking about my ranking while writing this, but this song is immovable. I seriously love it.
How many times have I been saved by this song...
It hit me the hardest after I started working as a professional.
After failing at my first job out of college, I joined an editorial production company for my second. While it was fun, I felt inferior due to the extremely low salary and low social status. Since most of my friends had joined major companies, my complex grew even larger, but at that time, these lyrics truly saved me.
There is no need to change yourself to fit someone else's size
There is no need to kill your true self; isn't it fine to just be who you are?
I can say that without this song, I wouldn't be who I am today. It is that much of a masterpiece.
I will likely keep listening to it until I die.
Summary
10 songs just isn't enough...
There are other songs I wanted to write about, such as 'Mirai wa Bokura no Te no Naka' (The Future is in Our Hands), 'Owaranai Uta' (Never-ending Song), 'Dance Number', 'Rokudenashi II', 'Denkou Sekka' (Lightning Speed), 'Aozora' (Blue Sky), 'Koi no Game' (Love Game), 'Navigator', 'Tabibito' (Traveler), 'Tsuki no Bakugekiki' (Moon Bomber), '1000 no Violin' (1000 Violins), and 'Tegami' (Letter), but that's it for today!
I'm currently considering what to write about next!