There is considerable temptation – both spoken and unspoken – to compare Morning Musume and AKB48 to each other in the J-pop community, both in the blogosphere and amongst those who frequent boards and chat rooms. In many ways, this is an apples vs. oranges argument. Morning Musume are an established act with over a decade’s worth of albums, singles, and DVDs under their collective belt. AKB48 are practically the new kids in town, not even five years old. One is a more compact unit (albeit one that once boasted 15 members on recordings), the other is a veritable rotating talent pool/reparatory company. One act is more of a singles band than an album act, while the other could be either/or. One has eleven studio albums (counting a forthcoming March 2010 release and a cover/concept album that wasn’t traditionally numbered), the other has several album-length releases, but none could really be called studio albums in the traditional sense – more like cast recordings of their theatrical performances. One band has eleven Number One singles and only ever missed the Oricon Top 5 twice in their entire career to date – and both times, they never peaked at a position lower than #6; the other only has one Number One single so far, and didn’t break the Oricon Top 5 until the fall of 2008 – until then, #6 had been their highest chart position.
However… they both make great recordings. And that is where this series – in planning since last November – comes in.
Over several parts – each devoted to a single apiece from both bands – this author will be comparing the singles of Morning Musume and AKB48, strictly on musical grounds. Neither single covers nor PVs will be involved in the comparison. Sales numbers and chart rankings will have no relevance here, either, especially since neither has anything to do with the long-term impact of the music itself. (Consider how three of the most influential and beloved albums to be released in the mid-Eighties – the Minutemen’s Double Nickels on the Dime, Husker Du’s Zen Arcade, and Slayer’s Reign in Blood – have had far-reaching cultural impact in the twenty-some years since those records were first released, even though their initial sales were a fraction of what the major pop acts of the day were selling.)
How this works will be quite simple: Each Morning Musume single will be evaluated alongside its AKB48 counterpart – or vice versa, depending on which single came out first. The first installment, for example will pair MoMusu’s “Sexy Boy ~Soyokaze ni Yorisotte~” with AKB’s “Sakura no Hanabiratachi”. There will be no pre-determined outcome; there may not even be one. Yes, I refer to Morning Musume as my favorite band almost as regularly as I eat, shit, and breathe, but I am also a big AKB48 fan. If I had disliked AKB48, I would not even be writing this series, let alone be owning, hosting, and collaborating on a site dedicated to a favorite member of that group. This will simply be a somewhat scientific/scholarly look at where each act was when they released singles within weeks of each other.
In most cases, their release schedules for singles happened within weeks of each other, making the comparisons easy. In a couple of cases, AKB48 released singles within weeks of a previous single of theirs while Morning Musume had no brand new release to counter it; one single, the 2008 “re-release”/re-recording of “Sakura no Hanabiratachi”, will be left out of this comparison for reasons to be fully explained later, and their digital-only single “Baby-Baby-Baby” will also, most likely, be left out since there was no Morning Musume single to counterbalance – using the MoMusu side band High-King’s single “C/C (Cinderella Complex)”, released around the same time, would not be a very fair comparison, even if for many fans the single filled what has to be the longest gap between Morning Musume singles (April 2008’s “Resonant Blue” and September 2008’s “Pepper Keibu”) ever. “Boku No Taiyou” has also left me with a bit of a dilemma, given that it dropped seemingly within days of the release of “BINGO!” – I haven’t decided on whether or not it will be part of this survey. It might be, but pitting two AKB singles against one MoMusu single from the same time period will probably be pushing it. No matter. This is strictly for fun, not part of a contest to determine which band is better than another.
You can name and/or recognize half or more of the AKB48 research students or H!P Eggs. I couldn’t even name anybody in AKB48 proper, except for Megumi Ohori because of her solo single.
You own at least 10 photos of your favorite idol. Guilty as charged!
You buy t-shirts advertising your favorite idol/idol group and wear them on a regular basis. If you’re a man 25+, you don’t feel any regret or embarrassment about this. Regrettably innocent. Japan doesn’t seem to make their shirts in American XL size, otherwise I’d have at least one Morning Musume shirt and one Reina Tanaka shirt.
You know all of your favorite idol’s stats by heart. I know Reina Tanaka’s birthday, where she’s from, and what her first single with the band was. Beyond that, fuggedaboutit.
Whenever anyone insults your favorite idol or idol group, you immediately come to their defense… even if you know you’re b.s.ing half your compliments. (i.e. “They’re good singers!” “She can dance well!” “She has more personality than [insert some famous TV personality here]” “They’re NOT ugly!”) For one thing, I don’t bullshit my compliments when it comes to J-Pop. Other than that, guilty as charged, especially where my fiancée is concerned. All that having been said, anyone in MoMusu could run circles around [name of a certain teen pop/TV star deleted as I vowed never to mention her name on this blog ever again].
You have spent more than you make a day on idol goods. Guilty!
You can recognize all of your favorite idols’ voices. Yep.
You have almost a stalkerish obsession with wanting to meet them or even just see them in person. I definitely don’t know about stalkerish obsession, but let’s be fucking blunt: Morning Musume are my favorite band along with Iggy Pop & The Stooges, and since I’ve gotten to see the Stooges play live last year in what was the best fucking concert I’ve ever seen in my life, I need to get my ass to Japan someday so that I can complete that equation! If I got to MEET them, I’d probably be extremely fucking nervous.
You hear someone say something that remotely sounds like your favorite idol’s name and you immediately assume they’re also a wota. Let’s just say that it doesn’t help that Reina is also a common name for Latin females!
You heavily anticipate any news from your idol. Guilty.
You have sent fan-mail. Honestly, I wouldn’t know where to send them fan mail.
Your favorite idol appears in your dreams more than once. Hasn’t happened with Reina Tanaka yet, but I do remember a dream where I was supposed to be going away somewhere the next day and I’m in a room with my parents and Mika Todd.
You have wondered what would happen if your idol dated you. (Mainly for guys, but if we include Johnnys here…) Actually, I haven’t wondered what a date with Reina would be like. A record-shopping trip with Reina would be quite interesting, though…
Your husband/wife/boyfriend/girlfriend/immediate family has learned to deal with your obsession long ago. Perhaps.
If your favorite idol is suspended/fired/retired/graduated/has no work with their agency/other you check more than two sources of possible info everyday and accept any rumors about his/her return to be true immediately. Um, seriously, I’m trying to put what happened with Ai Kago out of my mind, but…
You have at least 3 photobooks or DVDs of your favorite idol. To date, four photobooks and two DVDs of Reina.
You could colorcode a song sung by AKB48 O.o (I’m afraid of those who can!) I couldn’t even colorcode a song sung by MoMusu!
You do fandubs, cosplays, or fandances of your favorite idol or idol group. This would be fellow Cancerian wota Vee’s department. Personally, on a related note, I’m surprised I haven’t sat down with my guitar and figured out the chord changes to MoMusu songs!
You make birthday and worship posts on a blog/forum. Guilty in the first degree – hell, I started So Hot She Shits Fire on Reina’s 18th birthday and did birthday posts that day on MotokoAoyama.com and YODC as well.
You don’t take the cheap route and buy your idol’s songs from iTunes or another mp3 site, you spend the money to order every edition of the CD/DVD. Unfortunately, I’ve taken the impatient route and downloaded a few things from either iTunes or Hello-Online.org’s tracker when the mail service for an advance order was way too slow for my liking.
MESHIBE OHORI (Megumi Ohori of AKB48) “Amai Kokansetsu” single
(VAP)
Available on CD Rating:
According to legend (well, actually the news as reported here), AKB48′s oldest member, Megumi Ohori, was alleged to be “struggling” to be a popular idol within the band. Her age, 25, is being used as an excuse as to why. AKB48′s creator and lyricist, Yasushi Akimoto, reportedly put forth the challenge: sell 10,000 copies of a CD single under an assumed name, or be next to graduate from AKB48. The reason for an assumed name is said to be insurance for the rest of the band in case the single flops. The single is also released on a label other than AKB48′s new label, King or their previous label, DefSTAR/Sony Japan. Talk about covering your ass! Members of the band seem to be behind her, given that a reproduction of a note of support for Meetan-hime is being given to buyers of the single. Will she get those 10,000 sales (well, 9,999 more, since a copy sits on my desk)?
If she doesn’t get those sales, there’s something wrong. The song, a Latin-infused number a la Sexy Otanajan’s “Onna, Kanashii, Otona” (only several beats faster in tempo, very sexy-sounding, and not so bossa-nova’ed), is very well written and played by an all-live band, and Megumi/Meshime’s voice reminds me a lot of Kaori Iida’s.
The only caveat? No coupling track. I would have liked to have heard a B-side that complimented “Amai Kokansetsu”, because I was left wanting more than just the A-side and an instrumental version.
Hopefully Megumi/Meshime will still be a part of AKB48 after this single reaches its sales target, because I want to hear more.
Five stars.
ETA: When I got home from work, I had a chance to see the PV on the single’s bonus DVD. Let’s just say that it’s been a long time since I had difficulty picking my jaw up off of the floor…
Some time ago, another blog covered by IW (I tried to find the link through IW itself but couldn’t locate it – if anyone knows what entry I’m talking about, let me know and I’ll replace this part of the text with that link) asked about the buying habits of fellow bloggers. Given that over a year ago I wrote an entry on Stuck In A Pagoda v2.0 that pretty much lambasted people who rely primarily on pirated mp3’s for their music, and that I practice what I preach, I started to calculate how my buying habits went for new music this past year.
Obviously, my intake of Japanese CD’s has continued at a steady rate this year – loyal grabbings of Morning Musume/Hello! Project releases, Koda Kumi’s most recent album and singles, EPs by The Husky and SCANDAL, the best-of anthology from The Possible, Mai Kuraki’s newest effort, and some initial forays into the world of AKB48 (which is going to be an article in and of itself soon) all come to mind. My interest in enka has also taken a turn towards mostly digital works (both CD and legal downloads – another reason to keep the account balance up on my Japanese iTunes account), which is a good thing.
Then I tried to think back to what non-Japanese CDs I’d bought this year. That was harder, as I tried to recall what was the last non-J-Pop CD I bought.
I kept trying to think it was Metallica’s Death Magnetic, given their having Rick Rubin replace Bob Rock and do some music that harkened, if not to their Ride The Lightning/Master of Puppets days, then at least to …And Justice for All. And kept thinking that I was wrong. It’s on my iPod – that much is sure as I went right to AmazonMP3.com for that one. Why am I thinking that the last American CD I bought was Hawthorne Heights’ new release? Read the rest of this entry »
Major news breaking this morning as AKB48, the outsized J-pop unit that even has its own theater in Tokyo, has firedAyaka Kikuchi from their lineup. I’m not a fan (actually, I’ve never heard a note of their music and I’m sure some folks would say I’m missing out) but this news still made me say whoa (as did the fact that Tokyograph, a frequent news source for J-Pop bloggers, actually linked to IntlWota and one of its member sites – nice job, guys!).
With such a large lineup (albeit often split into three smaller groups), I have to wonder if the departure, forced or otherwise (six members have already graduated from the group), actually affects the makeup of the band in any way. When someone graduates from Morning Musume, the effect is obvious at first with the next single to come out after the member’s departure, but the band adapts relatively quickly and continues to make high-quality music. I wonder if someone separating from AKB48 would be as noticeable as a member or two leaving a symphony orchestra – again, though, I’m not familiar with AKB48′s music so I personally don’t know for sure. I am sure, however, that like with Morning Musume, when a favorite member departs it’s a sad day for their fans. I’m sure that Cat at the AKB48 blog Aitakatta! is taking it hard – the news that Kikuchi had been caught had already upset her before today’s news broke. Being a longtime MoMusu fan, I can’t help but sympathize with AKB48 fans in an instance such as this.
Whether AKB48′s handlers are looking to be more hardcore than Up-Front Works regarding the personal lives of their contracted talent is up for debate – members have already stated in interviews long before today’s news broke that having boyfriends while being a member of the band is prohibited. It will be interesting to see if (god forbid) any of the older members gets in worse trouble for following an Aibon-esque path in their offstage lives.
ETA: Ouch. They sure moved fast. Her picture’s been ripped off of the wall at their theatre (thanks to Julia for the pic):
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