Well this is nice. The Japanese site Babymetal Database features my posts on all things Babymetal, so things like this can happen. I kind of like this, feels good to see a bit of the past in there, a bit of the 1970s. Makes me wonder if there is a tune that Babymetal could cover in one way or another?
How about “Bloodsucker” from “In Rock” (1970)? Listen to it here.
Good day today as this magazine popped up (Japanese fashion publication Nylon, May 2016). Five pages of Babymetal, plus the cover. Photography credited to Takashi Kamei, styling to Megumi Date and hair & makeup to Saori Hida. Others were involved too, it takes a lot to shoot something like this. It goes without saying that Babymetal is getting noticed by the fashion industry, and for good reason.
Babymetal & Nylon Japan did hype this, you can watch it on YouTube here.
I feel a tad nostalgic today. My God rock music was great in the 1970s (see 1975 Deep Purple spread from Japanese publication here – say no more!). Looking back now I feel so lucky to have lived it. Of course the staying power has been enormous, everything since then can pretty much be traced in one way or another to one or two bands from that era. Things have evolved but I would say that Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath are collectively like a big majestic tree in the forest, everything else are branches on that tree. You ask Metallica, Mötley Crue and everybody else and they damn well know it. And yes, the 1980s was good too. The 1990s? Well, there was a few bands that shined. The last couple of decades? Well, there are thousands of bands out there and many are quite good (Nightwish comes to mind). But it all has a certain boredom connected to it now. Too much repetition, too few exciting acts coming up. Hell, Babymetal is doing well partly because the scene needs them badly. They have what it takes to put some excitement and flare back into all this. Some fucking attitude. We should all be on our knees thanking them and I am not kidding.
Yes, times have changed. I am OK with that. Just let the old beast live. Let there be life. Bring in the next generation of listeners. Umm, I guess I got slightly sidetracked here, but I was going to end this with a plea to David Coverdale to get that Purple Tour DVD out. Daylight is wasted here and that was another good thing about the 1970s. Things fucking happened! I love you Dave but this waiting is killing me!
I want my fix of nostalgia and the latest Deep Purple album is out of the way now, we all have it. Now let´s celebrate 1973-1976!
Babymetal had one of three covers for the Japanese publication Bounce (issue) 356 back in the day and it looks really good. Not sure when this was published but judging by the session used it should have been around the time of the “Megitsune” single back in 2013.
This one is likely to be quite rare now.
I spotted this Deep Purple “Rises Over Japan” t-shirt over at CDON. I will buy anything that is related to this version of Purple so this one goes straight into the old collection. There is a story about this image that is kind of interesting. Back in 1985, when Deep Purple had reunited and were riding high, a five track video (from Japan 1975) with this design was due to be released in Europe (it had been out in Japan, with a different cover, for ages). We even saw a full page ad. However, the management of the current band stopped it and so it never saw the light of day. So this t-shirt is kind of a weird one since it is based on an ad for a product that was never released. Also, the live shot is from the UK tour in March 1976 and that was just sad in my humble opinion. I hate it when people do not respect history. Still, if they want to sell this now, fair enough.
It is kind of cool.
The Babymetal collection is growing. Bought this Japanese Tower Records poster from 2013 on import today and it should pop up over here within a couple of weeks. I plan to frame it and some day it will look really good on a wall together with some classic stuff I have now. Pretty sure my next living room will have a corner dedicated to my love for music (with the records and everything else).
This is as classic as it gets as far as Babymetal is concerned.
The business strategies behind the success of Babymetal is there for all to see. If you have a good product, flaunt it! I really do have a soft spot for the ad truck campaigns that seems to be a part of what you do if you are serious about something in Japan, and it is nice to see that Babymetal has had a number of these almost from the very early days and onwards. In this day and age, when people will snap away at anything that moves with their phones, the strategy must be very good. For an act like Babymetal, it must be right on the money.
All this activity has certainly payed off. It took them to the Budokan (in 2014), even to the Tokyo Dome (2016). The sky is the limit. Not sure how rare this sort of thing is in this day and age outside of Japan, but I really love this.
View some YouTube clips from the AdTruck48 Channel here, here, here, here, here, here and here.
