Bump of Chicken and collaboration with Miku Hatsune
I think Bump of Chicken is not famous in overseas that I picked up in my blog.
Maybe you might thought “What a name!!”.
They have a sense of naming, haha.
Anyway I think most of us have some kind of songs that remind us good old days when you listened to certain music.
Bump of Chicken is one of them to me.
I have great friend who always think ahead of time before it becomes boom.
He told me Radiohead, Oasis, Kula Shaker, etc. when I was a high school student.
They were super famous in overseas but not famous in Japan in those days.
And this Bump of Chicken was also recommendation from him and it became super popular band in a couple of years after he told me.
This band was the first band which I went see the real live in my life.
Why Bump of Chicken got so popular
I understand the popularity.
Actually the music itself might not have been that high quality or modern rock in those days rather it sounded like simple but like old days rock to me.
Still I really came to like their music at the time because of unique voice of Motoo Fujiwara and deep lyrics he makes.
Actually some lyrics might have been like cheesy if you say it to someone face to face but he sings a song with all his heart without care and from the song we could feel his strong will of not giving in to anything.
And the lyrics stroke a chord within us, especially young people including I in those days.
He was like representative of soul and encouraged us, not giving up.
Like you used to be, hearts of teens are really sensitive, fragile and Bump of Chicken scooped them up and delivered them in the rhythm of the music perfectly.
You might think there are many musicians that can scoop up these delicate things of teens’ hearts perfectly and I think, not all but mostly, that kind of musics are something related to love.
If they do the same I think they didn’t become such a popular band in Japan because there are so many of them.
But what they sang was always something related to life itself, not love or romance but was focusing on individuals.
And I felt most of the lyrics are from his real experiences and thoughts that the music they make touched our hearts deep inside.
K
“K” is the first one I listened to in my friend’s house.
I still remember how much impressed I was at the time.
If you read this blog please listen to “K” from above YouTube video in advance if possible and give it a thought why the title of the music is “K”.
Because what I write here contains spoiler.
Actually I didn’t know why it is “K” first and after I knew the meaning of it I was impressed much more.
Why this K made me move that much?
Because it was a song which was dedicated to a lonely cat?
I think people really feel sad after listening to K and I was also felt really sad.
But I felt like the cat was really happy at the same time.
From here what I write is my opinion that the band never said or talked it that please take it as just one of the thoughts.
I think what the band wanted to do was not make us feel sad but opposite.
Because it might have been just a relationship of a painter and a black cat but they had become real friends from the heart even though it was really short time.
Both of them might have been isolated from the society but at least they found each other who can understand each other from the heart in the world.
And the cat delivered the letter of a painter at the sacrifice of its life.
I wonder how many of us have this real friend who cost one’s life for someone.
They met and spent together even for a short time and that was really happy thing.
But what I most focused on was not that.
I thought this might be telling us most important thing.
That’s the painter’s life and cat’s life.
As you know, in this society result is everything, not process.
People say whether process is great if one didn’t make result, the effort and the process is worthless.
Yes, I understand and actually that’s really true.
But still I always think most important thing is effort and the process, not result.
I’m not saying result is not important, rather it is very important but if I asked which is important, I would say process.
If you think result is important, the painter was just a poor loser who was dead without any success.
Cat’s life is also the same.
But the painter never gave up and enjoyed every moment with the cat, he enjoyed every moment and every days, I mean he lived every present, not future and past or result.
What we can live is only present, and the present or the every day form the result in the end, right?
He certainly didn’t success but he lived his life to the end without giving up painting.
I always think value of one’s life is measured how one lived whole one’s life regardless of whether result is great or not.
I felt like what the song really wants to tell us is not superficial face of the death but the life itself.
But please take this as one of the opinions as I wrote before Bump of Chicken never say this.
Ray Collaboration with Vocaloid Miku Hatsune
This was really surprising to me.
I never imagined Bump of Chicken collaborate with Miku Hatsune.
I think I don’t need to introduce Miku Hatsune as it is super famous now.
“Ray” is the song which realized this collaboration.
This song was different from those of their songs before.
Like the song Tentaikansoku or Celestial Observation that made them very famous, this song was different than before.
It was a strange feeling that Miku Hatsune and Bump of Chicken appear on the same stage and vocaloid Miku Hatsune and vocal Motoo Fujiwara sing together.
It is also interesting to see Miku Hatsune’s dance.
Haha, certainly the dance of Miku Hatsune was Kawaii.
But as you know there are some fans on both sides, I mean really core fans since old days on vocaloid Miku Hatsune’s side and on Bump of Chicken’s side.
So some people say I don’t like this collaboration.
And some core fans of Bump of Chicken also said they sold the spirit for the business.
But I feel like the view is a bit one way and narrowed view.
And if I add, they (Bump of Chicken) were Otaku who love anime since old days from the first.
Before this Ray they have already made some music for anime or this kind of thing.
And if the fans know well them, they know they are the last band who do things just for business.
If you ask me, I think it is OK to make music even just for business.
That’s not the point.
What important thing is if the thing has spirit in it.
Doing thing without heart and spirit just only for profit didn’t make the song or band this popular or even if it became popular most of it would soon ends.
And isn’t music the thing which is free from any limitation such as what is good or what is bad?
Lyrics of Ray says “I was not lonely as I could feel loneliness” “The transparent comet doesn’t disappear as it is transparent”.
Beautiful lyrics is that of Bump of Chicken.
If you want to know the English lyrics here is the link.
Bump of Chicken Awesome English Lylics
It was a beautiful song in a fantastic view.
Summary
The time I used to listen to Bump of Chicken is more than 15 years ago.
Their songs really resonated with me in those days.
And when I listen to their music now, it still resonates with me like the days before.
Actually when I listened to Radwimps recently which is the band that sang a song of movie “Your Name” I remembered Bump of Chicken as their voice was similar.
Radwimps is also very popular now among young people.
I don’t know well about Radwimps but there might be some kind of similarities in them when I think of this popularity.
(Later I knew Radwipmps were big fan of Bump of Chicken)
I’m very glad Bump of Chicken is always Bump of Chicken even now and their music is developing with the change.
Do you have any music that you used to listen to and reminds you of the days before?
It might be good to listen to it once again as you can listen to it in a different feeling and the song gives you a new awareness sometimes which you didn’t notice before.
