MORNING MUSUME IN AMERICA: Part 1 – First Things First…
Highly recommended reading. Some of you may be rolling your eyes and going, “Not again,” while I’m pretty stoked to see CJ jump into another round of it. This entry focuses on which record label Morning Musume should sign to if they decide to come to America in the fullest capacity, and CJ shows his knowledge of the various labels before reaching what strikes me as a sensible choice. Seriously, I trust Starbucks marketing a band a whole lot more than most record companies.
I’m not sure if CJ is going to focus on the sheer logistics of Musumes in America or also work his way through the broader cultural issues at play, or if the latter folds into the former as he goes along. Whatever the case, this is going to be worth watching closely.
Comment by Radicalpatriot — 2008/03/03 @ 7:06 am
Great piece and I, for one, will never grow tired of reading stories about Morning Musume coming to the US, whether it be in the form of CDs/DVDs or live touring. So, bring it on!
But this essay backs everything I’ve said about how ridiculous a notion it is to get Momusu or Hello Project a more pronounced presence in this country. Heck, the idol groups don’t even have that in their own country. It’s a suppressed and, albeit sizeable, cult movement in Japan, and its handlers want no part of expanding into any other country right now.
Getting a label for Morning Musume? It’s a pipe dream, because of the many reasons C.J. has so brilliantly outlined. Yes, it is very comparable to the 1960s Beatles, who were walled off from prying ears for years by their own label, EMI, which sabotaged that group until the American public’s screaming (yes, literal screaming from armies of 14-year-old girls) became overwhelming.
C.J. also educated me on how Puffy’s 2006 album got whacked. I had never heard that, and that makes me even more volcanically angry. Damn, Puffy is a hell of an act with great songs and deserves to at least not get jackstomped in that manner. Well, Puffy is owned by Sony. That’s explanation enough.
The only entry point into the US, it seems, is through indie means and the Internet. The tough little group of J-pop bands touring later this month through the US in “Japan Nite 2008,” for example, are pushing primarily indie CDs, and some of the singles haven’t even been released. Distribution? Screw the major outlets and labels. Do it on your own, or let iTunes handle the new indie stuff. That’s where I’m getting all of my music right now. I haven’t bought a CD in a store in years. And YesAsia is my favorite company in the universe.
Finally, there is the clash of cultures, and I don’t mean just regular friction, but a major-league train wreck. The glorious, surreal arena concerts put on by Hello Project in Japan — along with the innumerable smaller single-unit tours that show up at almost every school auditorium or theater — simply cannot be duplicated here. One, they are infinitely expensive to stage; I don’t know how UFA can afford the hundreds of support staff at Yokohama Arena or Saitama Super Arena. No promotor in his right mind would attemot it here. An outside corporation would have to sponsor it as a major loss-leading promotion into something else. This might, just might, be possible with groups like Puffy or Buono! which have developed an outside audience (i.e. gearheads), but tougher with the other H!P acts.
And look at the credits at the end of any H!P concert DVD. UFA contracts out for everything — lighting, videography, technical support, lighting, costuming, even hairstyle and makeup. All that support apparatus has to be part of the live show. It would take an astonishing expenditure and multiple charter jets to get that done for any live show here.
Are there enough American Wotas to make it happen? Not yet, though this blogging universe is growing geometrically. It will take years for the market to blossom.
In the meantime, save your coins. Go to Tokyo. Enjoy an H!P, Morning Musume, C-ute or Berryz concert while you still can, while the girls remain on their game, before Japan’s music juggernauts or the Diet tries to shut Tsunku down.
Seize the moment.
Comment by CJ Marsicano — 2008/03/03 @ 9:21 am
@Radicalquisling: To quote Bob Dylan’s response to John Cordwell at Manchester Free Trade Hall on May 17, 1966: “I don’t believe you… You’re a liar.”
In one single response, you’ve given me plenty of material that I am going to enjoy disproving tremendously. Perhaps maybe that was your intention, but at this point and time I don’t trust you as far as I can throw you.
One thing I need to blast right out of the way: if the notion of bringing Morning Musume and Hello! Project to an audience outside of Japan is a ridiculous notion, what the fuck are they doing going to Hong Kong and Taiwan?
And another thing; EMI was not trying to suppress the Beatles. Capitol Records were afraid to take the risk of trying to push the Beatles in America. It took a couple of DJ’s playing import copies of “I Want To Hold Your Hand” to light a fire under the asses of the execs at that round building on Hollywood and Vine.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to turn around and tell the band to “play it fucking loud!”.
Comment by Radicalpatriot — 2008/03/03 @ 9:51 am
Hold on, brother. Hong Kong and Taiwan are in … Asia, remember? And JunJun and LinLin are … Chinese, don’t forget. That’s thousands of miles from any willing venue in the US.
And, if you’ve kept up with that development, Hello Project has had a brutal time trying to set up these Taiwan engagements without full-blown riots breaking out. How much tougher will it be out here?
Your deep knowledge of music history should at least acknowledge that the Beatles’ ultimate US invasion almost put Motown and the other US labels out of business, except maybe for Elvis and a handful of others. That’s precisely why Sony jackstomps Puffy and blocks, indirectly, J-pop from gaining any meaningful foothold. Bluntly, the US pop scene is so awful that J-pop would run wild and carve deeply into the profits of those lads at Hollywood and Vine.
As for “Radicalquisling,” I wear the title proudly.
Finally, I offer up a challenge: You name the time and place, preferably at a major anime convention or some other suitable venue, and I will gladly sit in on a live panel discussion with you on the opposite end of the table (and any other guests who would care to weight in on this topic) and let the debate commence in earnest. With any luck, we’ll upstage the upcoming C-ute/Berryz Kobo batlte concert.
Ray would be an ideal moderator (bring armor and pepper spray).
Of course, an online duel might even be more fun.
The ball is in your court, Ceejarama!
Comment by wu-san — 2008/03/03 @ 10:40 am
CJ, fair enough, we’re all allowed to be opinionated here, considering we’re dealing with blogs for one thing, but man, unless Rad is literally calling you an ass right to your face, I dont see why you’re getting so defensive and being so damn right rude to him. Sure, you’re defending your opinion, but dude…we’re just f****** blogs here. I’m not asking for fairy dust and picnics, just a little rationale.
aaah watever. I’m not hating on anyone here, ok CJ, just strikes me as a little brash, you know.
pfft…*goes to do something fun and stupid*
Comment by Ray — 2008/03/03 @ 10:42 am
I, personally, would like fairy dust and picnics.
I’m not speaking metaphorically, either.
Comment by CJ Marsicano — 2008/03/03 @ 11:09 am
@Radicalquisling: How is Sony stomping Puffy AmiYumi when Sony US was the outlet assisting Bar-None in releasing Nice, Spike, and Illustrated History (and Tofu with Splurge) here as well as putting out the HiHi compilation themselves? Why are you looking for a conspiracy when there is none here?
Any chance for a live debate will have to wait – I have too much on my hands this year as it is.
Quite frankly, Gerald, I think you’d wear any title with pride no matter how ridiculous or unflattering it looks.
Comment by craig — 2008/03/03 @ 11:09 am
don’t upset our little wu-wu hahahaha
Comment by CJ Marsicano — 2008/03/03 @ 12:46 pm
@Radicalquisling: P.S. If you haven’t noticed, Hong Kong is a place that Morning Musume was going to long before Li Chun and Qian Lin entered the picture, and Hong Kong and Taiwan are still quite different from Japan.
@Wu-san: The word you’re looking for is “passionate”.
Comment by wu-san — 2008/03/03 @ 2:01 pm
@CJ: sometimes it’s the same difference – urgghhh, I hate that term – but whatever. You know how to handle your own s*** so I’m not gearing up for playtime with knifes. Just…chill sometimes is all
. Dont wanna preach anymore, coz it’s sucky. please dont stab me.
@Craig: little? awww no! I’m still taller than Saki, so, I mean, come on man, gimmie some height here XD. Plus I’m 22 now, so time to think about pensions and all, which I got a letter about in my beginning uni days. Never too early…they say. Are you planning for the future?
@Ray: If you can supply the fairy dust, it’s on!
Comment by Vee — 2008/03/03 @ 2:49 pm
@Everyone (as Ceej already knows my thoughts and I left them in a comment on the Pagoda)):
*brings picnics* >____> *bakes cupcakes*
Comment by Radicalpatriot — 2008/03/03 @ 8:36 pm
@Ceejarama: Did you happen to see any of the video off Morning Msuume’s “tour” of Hong Kong? They played some dumpy club, it looked like to me, with a moldy stage and ancient sound equipment. It was worse than a high-school gym. The point is that Morning Musume has not been able to tour well outside Japan. Why is it that whenever they go to Hawaii it’s just for vacation and the general population never gets to see them?
@Wu-san: Appreciate the support, but the hot air I’m receiving actually feels good after a while. It’s only early March.
And … why can’t we all just … get along?
Comment by langdon alger — 2008/03/03 @ 8:58 pm
“Why is it that whenever they go to Hawaii it’s just for vacation and the general population never gets to see them?”
I wouldn’t say its just for vacation, they do perform and hold events for there loyal fanclub members who pay up the butt to make the trip to Hawaii. Its basically a very expensive field trip with your favorite idols..I mean how many jpop idols do that?
“They played some dumpy club, it looked like to me, with a moldy stage and ancient sound equipment.”
it may be dumpy club but the fans who attend those type of concerts get to see the girls up close compared to a huge arena where they just look like ants dancing…thats a fair trade in my book
Comment by craig — 2008/03/03 @ 10:01 pm
Alright wu ave it your ay. you’re grown now… wu-man sdhida;das (joking)
Comment by Ray — 2008/03/03 @ 10:30 pm
I thought this topic was covered a while ago, but they’re not on vacation, they’re working. When Morning Musume comes to Hawaii, it’s part of a tour with hundreds of Japanese fans. Giving a concert for those not on the tour would be a bad business decision, not a good one. I’d love to see Ongaku Gatas later this month when they’re on Oahu, but I know it’s not in the cards. (So instead, I’m going to try to crash H!P’s temporary store again…)
Comment by CJ Marsicano — 2008/03/04 @ 3:07 am
@Radicalquisling: First of all, do NOT call me “Ceejarama” – I resent your trying to kiss my ass, something you’ve been trying to do since I called you a fucking Judas after you came back from your little trip and said “Don’t bother.”
Second and more to the point (and not the one on top of your head), I have seen some of the footage from Hong Kong (specifically Reina’s cover version of “Koi Wo Shichaimashita” and the place looked nothing like you described. It was a small venue, yes, probably something akin to the Electric Factory in Philly, but as Langdon pointed out in his last comment, often the smaller venues are the most intimate and enjoyable gigs.
Comment by Julia — 2008/03/04 @ 3:30 am
*Jumps in* I agree with what Langdon said about small venues. When Dir en grey headlined in North America, sure, they only played clubs and smaller venues, but because of that, all of us loyal fans got to be THAT CLOSE to them. If I’d been seeing them live in a much bigger venue, my chance of being mere metres away from them for the entire show would’ve been much smaller. Yes, they’d be happy if they could play a bigger venue here and have the fanbase to support it, but they might not even have the fanbase here to support it, anyway, so it only makes sense that a smaller venue is booked and us loyal fans get to be that close up to them. It *does* seem a bit weird for a non-fan club Momusu concert, but if they did it in Hong Kong, why not?
Comment by Radicalpatriot — 2008/03/04 @ 5:49 am
@Julia: That’s the great side-benefit of the J-pop tours getting relegated to smaller venues — they are really big fish in a very small pond and VERY entertaining. Twice I was able to get right next to Puffy AmiYumi, once at the Fillmore in San Francisco and last year at The Key Club in Hollywood. The same thing’s about to happen with the “Japan Nite 2008″ tour March 14-23. I would love, somehow, for H!P units to somehow perform here, noi matter what the venue, but it’s likely not in the cards.
@Ceejarama: Sheesh, go take a chill pill. Get a life, bro! I’m just not worthy enough to get bashed like this!
Comment by CJ Marsicano — 2008/03/04 @ 6:18 am
@Radicalquisling: The more you keep saying asinine shit like “It’s not in the cards”, the higher I’m going to work to raise their profile and make this a reality.
Right now, you’re not worthy of anything other than getting bashed by me, so you might as well get used to it, bitch.
Comment by Ray — 2008/03/04 @ 8:14 am
Okay, not to intrude on all the fun here, but I really do want to avoid ad hominem attacks. While I understand there’s provocation involved, I do not want to allow a precedent where name-calling becomes acceptable on this site.
So please, just focus on insulting each other’s ideas, okay? I don’t want this to start feeling like Christmas again.
Comment by Kd — 2008/03/04 @ 8:46 am
@CJ: Even a snarky blogger such as I can see that you really need to calm down and take a step back for a sec. It’s easy to be aggravated by someone’s style of speech, commentary, or way of typing, especially when there aren’t any emoticons to give a clue as to the tone of voice being used. Heck, I’ve had arguments in my own blog, some of them a bit more personal than I’d like.
If this back-and-forth should even be happening, then sure – in your own blog comments where you can reign supreme. I don’t think that Rad is deliberately out to wind you up here, and I certainly don’t believe that any of this conversation should be taking place out here in the more publicly seen wilds of IntlWota.
@Ray: Sorry for also butting in to mediate, but I wanted to say something.
Comment by pengie — 2008/03/04 @ 9:08 am
What the…
This is disappointing, guys. Really. Not that I have any say in this matter, but at what point does it become okay to insult the person you’re discussing a topic with, ESPECIALLY on a website on which you are a contributor? I know Rad’s enthusiasm is sometimes frustrating, and this discussion should have been on the blog post itself, but that is no excuse to get personal. If you want to call somebody a bitch, do that privately.
I can understand playful jests, but this is just too much. I can only imagine what everyone else is thinking as they read this. I almost want to clear the comments on this post, but that’s Ray’s call and not mine.
Comment by CJ Marsicano — 2008/03/04 @ 9:12 am
@everyone: If Radicalquisling wants to take his nonsense off of here and over to the AW board, I welcome it. I’ve been going through so much asanine horseshit in my personal life that I am at the point where bitches like him are liable to get the wrath of my soon-to-be-ex-employer that has been living on stolen time (etc,) for the past two years.
Comment by jimhaku — 2008/03/05 @ 5:02 am
Rad, please stop instigating. This was a friendly disagreement at one point you obviously (to everyone else) pushed over the line. Just stop. Please. Write up what you think in your blog and leave it alone. Even when you agree you’re pushing buttons! Please just stop.
Comment by pengie — 2008/03/05 @ 5:14 am
To anyone else who may read this comment thread, I’m pretty sure the issue at hand has been resolved. Unless you have something SERIOUSLY important to contribute, I would suggest not adding fuel to the (hopefully already fanned) flames.