Blue Hearts Hiroto and Marcy– the Miracle of Two Poets Meeting Each Other

This is a series of articles discussing hit songs from exactly 30 years ago. This time, we will discuss the single “TOO MUCH PAIN” by THE BLUE HEARTS, which was released on March 10, 1992. Perhaps many of you may not know it. It was the highest ranked single in Oricon at No. 29 with sales of 20,000 copies.

In March 1992, Tetsuro Oda’s “Ditto Eternal Love” (No.1), which became a commercial song and sold 929,000 copies, and Airi Hiramatsu’s “Room, Y Shirt and Me” (No.4), which sold 931,000 copies, were also released.

But this time, I dare to go with Blue Hearts. I want to talk about the greatness of the Blue Hearts, especially the solitary charm of their lyrics, which have not (seemingly) created any followers since then.

Generally speaking, Blue Hearts would be “Linda Linda Linda” (1987) and “TRAIN-TRAIN” (1988). Or rather, I do too. I used to listen to them a lot back then, and I used to sing them in karaoke boxes, which became very popular after 1990.

I sang it a lot and jumped around a lot.

Jumped around?　Yes, I jumped up and down. I used to jump up and down on the sofa in a karaoke box with my colleagues who had just started working at the same company, getting drunk and singing “Linda Linda Linda” and “TRAIN-TRAIN” together in chorus. Of course, we were imitating vocalist Hiroto Komoto’s stage action.

The tautological title “♪ Rinda Rinda! Â “Toreen-toreen! is repeated, the audience is in a hysterical trance, and the excitement finally builds. But as the excitement builds, somewhere in the back of my mind I think to myself–“Was this song ever this silly?” The “M” is the word for the “M” in the Japanese word for “a.

This is because “Rinda Rinda Rinda! ™” The literary and sharp Japanese expressions scattered before and after the

In “Linda Linda Linda,” for example

 “I want to be beautiful like a rat.

And

 “I have only one strength that I will never lose.

is a very moving and moving song. The lyrics were written by vocalist Hiroto Komoto.

In the case of “TRAIN-TRAIN,” the most notable song is

 “The weak will beat the weak at dusk.

is sharp. It is a string of letters that seems to allude to Japan today. The lyrics were written by guitarist Masatoshi Majima (Mercy). By the way

 “What in the world do they know about me by the place of my birth, the color of my skin, the color of my eyes?

The song “Aozora” (1988), which has the definitive phrase “Aozora,” was also written by him.

Yes, the Blue Hearts were a band with two outstanding poets, Hiroto Komoto and Masatoshi Majima. That is why, even after the so-called “Blue Hearts Boom” had run its course and single sales began to decline after “Linda Linda Linda,” “TRAIN-TRAIN,” and “Jounetsu no Roses” (1990), the band maintained a large core fan base and has remained a presence that continues to be talked about to this day in 2028.

TOO MUCH PAIN” and “1000 Violins

TOO MUCH PAIN,” also featured in this issue, has good lyrics by Masatoshi Majima.

The song starts out with the words

 “The legend of a distant summer of the outcasts is rusting away in an abandoned car yard.

The first part is good. Legend of a Distant Summer” and “Abandoned Car Yard” are good, but the last one, “Teraa,” is outstanding. Please give it a listen. The way Hiroto Komoto sings “Teraa” in his aggressive way will make your heart skip a beat.

In addition, there are two punch lines

 “With each pain in our hearts, we tried so hard to understand each other, gnashing our teeth.
 “I’m never going back, I’m trying to take another step, even though it’s a little scary.”

Earlier, I described the appeal of their lyrics as “literary and sharply expressed,” but what lies behind this is that their words vividly convey that they, like no one else, are “in pain,” “trying to understand each other,” “gnashing their teeth,” and still “trying to take the first step forward. I think.

The “self-identity of the lyrics,” so to speak. In other words, their lyrics are drifting with “TOO MUCH PAIN” that they themselves were carrying.

Their lyrics are different from the “Ganbarou-kei songs” that were all the rage at the time, which were just a bunch of “ganbarou” (hang in there) songs, and they convey their own “pain” and “hang in there” as they try to climb out of it, with a tingling reality. That is why Blue Hearts’ lyrics still fire me and young people.

In this song, Hiroto Komoto consciously sings the phrase “♪ TOO MUCH PAIN” in Japanese reading, “♪ TOO MUCH PAIN. This “pein” is not an English “pain” borrowed from Western music, but a Japanese “pein” that Masatoshi Majima, who wrote the lyrics, and Hiroto, who sings the lyrics, actually carried with them.

Why is it that in this age of 2025, there are no Blue Hearts follower bands that play with literary and sharp lyrics?　It’s a world where it’s okay for them to come out. It is a world that is longing for them to come out.

Come on, “Blue Hearts of Reiwa”, come on out. And it’s about time for “Downtown 2025” to come out too!

Now, I think the best of Masatoshi Majima’s lyrics, or rather the best of the Blue Hearts, is “1000 Violins” (1993).

Kinji Fukasaku, the director of the “Battles without Honor and Humanity” series, loved “1000 Violins” so much that this song was played at his farewell ceremony (some say there is another version of the same song, “1001 Violins”).

Incidentally, Southern All Stars’ “Shiori no Theme” (1981) was played at the funeral of rakugo storyteller Shinsyo Kokontei. What is wrong with me, who loves both the Blue Hearts and Southern music?　A medley of Blue Hearts “Shala La La” (1987) and Southern “Shala La La” (1980)?

No, I plan to live another 20 years (I’m 55 now), so I guess I’ll stick around a little longer and hope for a great “Blue Hearts of 2021” song with literary and sharp lyrics that I would want to play at a funeral.