Crowdsourcing something fun

[Bob Schroeck]

So, in chapter 3 or so, Doug's going to end up throwing Usagi an iPod he picked up in another Earth.  Being an iPod, it's going to have a few thousand songs on it.  I know Usagi's going to spot a song called "Gimme chocolate!!" and discover BABYMETAL (and through them, metal in general).  I also plan on her discovering Lindsey Stirling, leading to a reference to Shadowjack's "In Which I Watch Sailor Moon" where Usagi ends up with a stash of violin CDs under her bed.

But I thought it might be fun to ask folks to suggest other things for her to discover, either individual songs, or chains of things where one song that seems like it'll appeal to her 1992 J-Pop sensibilities but it inexorably leads to something completely unexpected.  I don't guarantee I'll use anything, but hell, we can all have some fun with it in the mean time.

[robkelk]

Too rushed to make suggestions right now (we don't have the day off on this side of the border), so I'll just mention that according to episode 6 (the first one directed by Kunihiko Ikuhara), Usagi does listen to other musical styles as well.

EDIT: Although she did think Naru was "mature" because she listens to slow jazz.

[robkelk]

...

But I thought it might be fun to ask folks to suggest other things for her to discover, either individual songs, or chains of things where one song that seems like it'll appeal to her 1992 J-Pop sensibilities but it inexorably leads to something completely unexpected.  I don't guarantee I'll use anything, but hell, we can all have some fun with it in the mean time.

Still having trouble coming up with some playlist chains, but I just reworded and passed along the playlist question to a friend who is both a DJ and an otaku. His immediate reply: "Does it have to be all Japanese stuff? How many steps? How weird can the music get? This is shooting fish in a barrel with a bazooka." My answers: "It doesn't need to be all Japanese. I'm limiting myself to eight-to-ten steps; Usagi might lose interest with more. As for weird... it has to keep Usagi interested, no probably no "noise" or such. Yes, get out the bazooka and aim at the barrel."

[Bob Schroeck]

I have generally thought, too, that the novelty of listening to songs from the Future and Other Planets and Other Universes would carry her through a few things she might not otherwise try, but she is 14 and despite the changes Doug's already working in her by the end of chapter 2 she's not all that mature or patient. I just got through rewatching episode 4 for plotting chapter 3 and I was marveling at just how much a shallow dip she is at this point in canon.

[Dragonflight]

Rob Kelk passed this one over to a bunch of us, and it occurred to me that Usagi might like Nightcore. Link posted for example (there's a 10 second pause at the front.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P73SwTkY_VM

[Bob Schroeck]

Too rushed to make suggestions right now (we don't have the day off on this side of the border), so I'll just mention that according to episode 6 (the first one directed by Kunihiko Ikuhara), Usagi does listen to other musical styles as well.

I'll get to that one soon; chapter three is going to get to episode 8 and a bit beyond, and I'll be rewatching all of them up to that point to figure out how to incorporate them into the plot.  And you've already requested I pay especial attention to 6 for other reasons,

[Dartz]

The answer is of course Vocal Paradox!

[robkelk]

Too rushed to make suggestions right now (we don't have the day off on this side of the border), so I'll just mention that according to episode 6 (the first one directed by Kunihiko Ikuhara), Usagi does listen to other musical styles as well.

I'll get to that one soon; chapter three is going to get to episode 8 and a bit beyond, and I'll be rewatching all of them up to that point to figure out how to incorporate them into the plot.  And you've already requested I pay especial attention to 6 for other reasons,

Well, yes: (a) music, and (b) it shows canon Usagi is not the idiot that fanon Usagi has become. Ditz, maybe, but not idiot.

[hazard]

I've said it before, including on this forum I think, but Usagi is actually really smart. Her ability to understand and connect with people is not to be underestimated. She's just not booksmart.

[Bob Schroeck]

Rob Kelk passed this one over to a bunch of us, and it occurred to me that Usagi might like Nightcore.

You know, I think you might be right.

ETA: Although Nightcoring t.A.T.u.'s "All the Things She Said" is just ridiculous.

[Norgarth]

She might become intrigued by the title of Sabaton's Shiroyama, though she might not like the fact it's heavy metal.  Ami might listen to it at least once, seeing as it is based on Japanese history and the band tries to be accurate/true to the facts,  in this case the battle of Shiroyama.

edit
Speaking of titles that catch her attention: The Vapors 'Turning Japanese', Alphaville 'Big in Japan' 8)

[itsune9tl]

heh, in no particular order...
Take Ten Teriffic Girls...

https://youtu.be/tuIo6gv8VB8

Hey, Big Spender!
https://youtu.be/8e6pDJJFO98

What ever Lola Wants...
https://youtu.be/96hC32WwfKw

[Bob Schroeck]

Heh. "Hey Big Spender" reminded me of when Valerie Bertinelli did it on one of the "musical" episodes of One Day at a Time -- forty freaking years ago. YouTube being what it is, of course they had the clip... and sadly it wasn't as good as I remembered. Oh well.

Anyway, lots of good stuff. "Shiroyama" has gone into my personal collection.

[DHBirr]

If the power metal aspect of "Shiroyama" doesn't put her off, it might lead her to other songs from that album, titled The Last Stand.  The title song is about how the Pontifical Swiss Guard "gave their lives on the steps to Heaven" in 1527 to defend the Pope; since at this point Usagi thinks she's the reincarnation of a guard who died in defense of a ruler, that could resonate with her.  "The Last Battle" tells of US troops and Wehrmacht soldiers joining forces — "enemies leaving the past" — to protect French prisoners from being murdered by the SS.

Edit to above:
Seen as a YouTube comment:

new universal rule: "If there's any anime with cute girls battling, there exists an AMV with Sabaton music"

Well, yes, of course.  What did you expect?

Second edit:  I don't know why I forgot to mention this before, but "The Last Stand" song contains four uses of the phrase, "In the name of ..." and one of them is a very intense, practically Punctuated! For! Emphasis! "In – the – name – of – God!"

Resonating, indeed.

-----
God made me an agnostic — who are you to question His wisdom?

[Norgarth]

On the topic of Sabaton, here's one that might appeal to Uranus

Night Witches  about a Soviet all-female bomber unit in WW2

Also, here's a link for The Last Stand that DHBirr was talking about.

And The Last Battle

[ckosacranoid]

I know one song that has become very weird around the country is Psycho Stick with their "Beer Song" It is funny and has become the 5oclock song on friday to start the weekend. They have been playing it for years and the rest of thier songs get funny also. "I can count to four" "girl directions" to name a few.
But still have to thing that that the group Priss sings for should be part of the list also and some comment about sailor loon....We have to have the ref to Chapter 2 of the bubblegum world.

Lizzy Hail and Hail storm is really cool from just about anywhere for being hot and a great singer and did a song with Miss Sterlling also.
Meybe Marlon mason for just a WTF take or the angry germans of Ramstein.

[Bob Schroeck]

MM? Maybe. I know I'm going to have Usagi headbanging to beat the band at some point, just not to who. And no need to tell me about Lzzy Hale. Or "Shatter Me". <grin> I'll have to look into Psycho Stick, though.

As for everyone else's posts, as usual I never seem to remember to look at linked stuff when I have the time away from work. I'm behind in "The Game", too, for that reason. <sigh>

[Black Aeronaut]

I'm imagining Usagi setting the entire thing to 'shuffle' now and then, just so she can listen and discover without being prejudiced by names and cover art.

And then on one track, she hears an intro of beautifully sorrowful synthesizer strings, followed by the intensely emotional voice of Ronan Harris...

The paths that I once tread have all but gone
Only embers now smoulder where bridges once burned
I feel alive and yet I fear what may happen now

I know I can't return

And I hear me say again, "Oh, let me not return."
Damn the illusions of redemption and the hopes that held me here
I will oppose all that would befall me, with this rage inside of me
I'll defy what I would become

The solitude and anger that do battle inside me
Will always guide me to the answers that I know I may not see
They are the bonds that hold me tighter, they are the chains that weigh on me
One day I know they will be gone

Can I start again and erase this pain
By casting doubts into the waters,
Asking judgement of the sea?
Though fortune may guide to the fools
I have no wish to be free
Until I am gone.

It's a short song, but at the end, I can see Usagi in tears.  It's an emotional assault on the heart, but one that holds within it a kernel of wisdom.

And yet, despite the terrible picture it paints, she listens to the rest of the music of VNV Nation.  The anger, the thirst for justice, and the hopes and dreams for better futures.

And looking at the cover art, she finds that she likes the style - the stark chiaroscuro and clean, dramatic lines of the Art Deco edifices.  She starts to look into it more and discovers Erte and it is all downhill from there.

Even though Art Deco tends to be a very masculine style, the images it presents of a strong, (and most importantly) prosperous and hopeful future, where people create marvelous and beautiful machines and the equally beautiful cities that hold them.  (The fact that Erte tended to make such glamorous portraits of beautiful women in the Art Deco style helps a lot.)

[Bob Schroeck]

Mm. There's an entire side story in that, BA -- and a bit more than i can fit into what's going to be an admittedly minor subplot that was intended to deliver some light humor with Usagi developing unexpected musical tastes. That said, I'll see what I can do with it.

[Black Aeronaut]

My apologies. I thought somewhere I read "roundabout path". I just figured "Usagi hears one track, samples the rest of the artist, kinda digs it despite the early-on angst, gains appreciation for Art Deco by way of the cover art."

If you want an alternative to Distant, then you can go for a full-on romance catharsis assault through their song, Beloved. (Basically? It's almost like something Edgar Allen Poe may have written if he was able to focus on the joy of their time spent together rather than the pain of loss. Very cathartic and intensely romantic stuff.)

[robkelk]

...  I also plan on her discovering Lindsey Stirling, leading to a reference to Shadowjack's "In Which I Watch Sailor Moon" where Usagi ends up with a stash of violin CDs under her bed. ...

A fun reference rather than a fun piece of music - By any chance was Doug introduced to the music of Lindsey Stirling by a professional violinist named Ranko Saotome?

(Yes, a reference to Deborah Goldsmith's fanfic Genma's Daughter. You've complained about not wanting to have a typical Ranma crossover, after all... )

[Bob Schroeck]

Heh. If I can do a shout out to Terawatt, I can probably get away with that.

[robkelk]

Went on an archive dive for a different reason -- didn't find what I was looking for, but I did find these:
http://www.accessdenied-rms.net/forums/s...p?tid=7131
http://www.accessdenied-rms.net/forums/s...p?tid=6984
http://www.accessdenied-rms.net/forums/s...p?tid=6980 (trigger Doug's metatalent, ask for whatever the Axman feels like playing, and get some seriously good improv)
http://www.accessdenied-rms.net/forums/s...p?tid=6924

[Bob Schroeck]

i'll have to re-listen to those when I get home tonight. (And pick up where I left off in my great re-read of the Game board again.)

Thanks!

[robkelk]

"Naru, you've got to hear this! It's like the jazz that you like, but it isn't like it at all!"

"Usagi, you aren't making sense."

"Just listen!"



"Where did you find that?"

"My tutor lent it to me."



(And I can see why they won a Grammy this year.)