Ok, so here’s something for all the Shonen Knife freaks, as they call themselves. Imagine three office clerks, young women, who found their work and life kind of boring in the patriarchal japanese society. Yeah, guess why. Now imagine the three being under havey influence of Ramones and Red Kross rock music. Now give them instruments and let them be fucking creative. Shonen Knife, founded by Michie Nakatani (vocals and bass), Naoko Yamano (vocals and guitar) and Atsuko Yamano (drums), quickly turned into a famous, much more influenced and influential band, recognized well among all of the j-rock fans, creating an incredibly persistent cult of followers, including bands like Nirvana (yes, actually yes, Cobain was fond of them) and Sonic Youth. So what the fuss is about?
Basically, most of their stuff is so sweet you wanna puke, lyrics about cookies and ice-cream and pizza and bananas and mushrooms… and, well, food mostly. Sometimes the band turns out to be very caring about the members of the society, they are giving them advice, and for example making them believe they’re gonna catch the morning bus (uhhh… yeah). Please forgive me the introduction, but these features are the ones that usually repell potential Shonen Knife fans. However, to be honest, it’s hard to find a band with such energetic, positive, and uplifting music, totally wild, spontaneous and with so many fucking incredible riffs. Like an excellent rip-off the Ramones, but not exactly. Like the funniest interpretators of classics, but not exactly. And like The Beatles in a pool full of sharks, but not exactly. And the ‘not exactly’ thing is the biggest problem for a reviewer and any potential listener – cause while it’s easy to say they might be a rip-off, it’s totally unfair to say they ain’t original.
The only way to understand it, is to listen to them. Their lyrics might be innocent and sweet, but the girls rock, and they can really kick ass, so basically, I’m not surprised at all that they have made such a stir in the rock society of 90′s. And they are not fading away. Though miss Nishiura has died in a terrible traffic accident while on a tour, the band did not split up or went belly up. Instead, the girls put themself together, found a new member, played a special concert for the memory of Nishiura (rest in peace, darling), and issued another album. And since they’ve got their years (though being japanese they just don’t seem to get older at all) they put the sweet lyrics aside and went more into the area of punk, creating a hell of cd – Genki Shock. Which I highly recommend. Just for a taste, I’m attaching a video of S.P.A.M. It’s nice to listen to some solid rock and solid beat, especially in the times of faggy and stupid music. Rock on, girls.
