Asian Rock

[g5000]

Do NOT soil this topic with K-Pop. I weel keel you.


So let's start off with a kickass use of the shamisen:

 

[g5000]

Here's a pretentious Mongolian band.

Not sure how Genghis Kahn would feel...

 

[Vastator]

I thought for sure someone was going to post a link to “Journey”...

 

[miketx]

A tribute to the OP.

 

[TNHarley]

I have experimented with Asian metal. Its not bad but its so dark!

 

[Montrovant]

I'm pretty sure this Japanese band does not count as K-pop.

 

[g5000]

A tribute to the OP.

I followed the link and watched a couple more of their videos.

Very good!

 

[g5000]

Even the North Koreans rock!

Keep your eye on the video screen behind them...

 

[g5000]

I have experimented with Asian metal. Its not bad but its so dark!

This one's not bad:

 

[Pogo]

Does Luna count?

​

check out that solo at 1:00

 

[Mac1958]

 

[g5000]

Does Luna count?

​

check out that solo at 1:00

"I got blisters on me fingers!"

 

[g5000]

I'm pretty sure this Japanese band does not count as K-pop.

Whoa. That was weird.

 

[g5000]

Who can forget this classic:

 

[g5000]

Have you ever wanted to feel like an Asian rock star?

You, too, can have the Ostrich Egg Microphone for only $19.95. Just call the number at the bottom of the screen before supplies run out!

And if you call in the next five minutes, you will receive a Ginzu knife...absolutely FREE!

 

[fncceo]

I love Asia ...

 

[Pogo]

Who can forget this classic:

Or when they found out what it was actually about:

>> In the late 1950s, there had been huge protests against the continued American military presence.

"There was a virtual occupation of the Diet, which is the Japanese parliament, and student protests were happening all over — tens of thousands of people marching and chanting," Condry says. "Nevertheless, the government went ahead and signed the security treaty."

Condry says that experience left many young people disillusioned about protests. And so, in Sakamoro's song, he says he hears the longing for a fresh start.

"'Walking along, looking up, so that the teardrops won't flow out of my eyes / I look back on a spring day on this lonely night,'" Condry says, translating the lyrics. "Later he goes on to say, 'A good fortune is beyond the clouds / A good fortune is beyond the sky / So I'm looking up and I'm looking forward, imagining that good fortune in the future.'

"It really is a song about the sadness of looking back, but also being on the cusp of something being better in the future," Condry says. "In some ways, that also helps explain the timelessness of that kind of sentiment."

So while "Sukiyaki" may have come out of a failed protest movement in Japan, that same song — with its hummable melody and sweet disposition — became an unlikely hit in an American summer of change: the summer of 1963. << -- How a Japanese Protest Song Topped the Charts in 1963​

Kind of eloquent that a song about the despair of one's country being occupied by the West got to record executives who decided to name it after a food that had nothing in the world to do with what it was actually about, like a dose of Huxley's Soma.

>> Early drafts of the new [ANPO] agreement were spearheaded by then Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi of the Liberal Democratic Party in Nov. 1959, and introduced to a National Diet suspiciously devoid of opposition. Kishi’s actions along with Anpo itself, inspired mass protests. Demonstrators were greeted with police resistance on the steps of the National Diet Building in Nagatachou, and approximately 500 people were injured.

This initial clash laid the groundwork for continued grassroots demonstrations against the ANPO treaty throughout 1960. In spite of growing opposition and student protests, Kishi secured ratification of the treaty on May 19, 1960. Rare was the day that did not go without resistance, and unrest continued to grow throughout May and June. On June 15, thousands of protestors met with police opposition at the parliament building, leading to the death of student Michiko Kanba and injuries to approximately 600 people. At the request of Kishi and the Japanese government, President Eisenhower cancelled a June 19 visit to Japan because of the Anpo protests. Millions participated in the demonstrations, and although Kishi did see out the official ratification of Anpo on June 17, he subsequently stepped down from office on June 23.

These protests would later prove as a template for future Japanese student activism in the 1970s; however, they were seen as largely unsuccessful by participants due to the fact that the treaty was ratified regardless. While walking back from an ANPO demonstration, Rokusuke Ei penned the lyrics to “Ue o Muite Arukou” (I Look Up as I Walk), expressing his frustration. Saddened by the perceived ineffectiveness of the protests, Ei wrote of a man who looks up at the sky while he walks, lest his tears fall to the ground. The song was released in Japan in 1961 and sung by Japanese pop star Kyu Sakamoto. It quickly conquered pop music charts both in Japan and abroad to become one of the best-selling singles of all time. In the United States it was released under the title “Sukiyaki” in spite of having nothing to do with the Japanese dish, as the shorter title was thought to be catchier for an English-speaking audience. << --- A Brief History...
​

Not to mention, it buries the politics doesn't it.

I never thought about it before but this is very much a Japanese version of Chico Buarque's Apesar de Você, an allegorical pop song disguised as a love song protesting the military dictatorship in Brazil at the time.

 

[hjmick]

I love Asia ...

Saw them in concert. Damn good.

 

[impuretrash]

 

[Ridgerunner]