This is NOT Greatest Site 100th Anniversary!

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Good morning, folks.

Such is the passage of time, that the day comes when you look over your shoulder and realize you've turned 100 years old without realizing it...and for us, today is that day.

Today, my friends, is the 10th anniversary of This is NOT Greatest Site! We launched on January 27th, 2006. Which means we've turned 100 in internet years, so happy birthday to us!

Conceived in 2005 as a refreshingly ridiculous antidote to all the self-serious and shiny yet content-free j-rock websites that dominated the non-Japanese internet at the time, we also made it our mission to provide an archive of English translations of Buck-Tick lyrics, because at the time, there were approximately none available outside of closed communities on LiveJournal - over at Centigrade-J they had a translation of "Sasayaki" (and "Speed," too, we think...but we can't remember because I'm getting old and our memory's going to hell! But holy shit guys remember Centigrade-J?) and at Hyluko's Buck-Tick gallery (which contained approximately five pictures, one of each band member), there was also a translation of...guess which song...yes you guessed it, "Sasayaki." But if the lyrics to "Sasayaki" read like an intro to Japanese grammar, that's not the fault of Mr. Sakurai. We happen to know that he intended those lyrics to function as an intro to dancing the Masochism Tango.

Anyhow, thus did we begin our work, in the same year that YouTube launched. Over the course of the past decade, we've gone through three different iterations and added numerous features along the way, not least of which is this blog, The Blog-Tick Phenomenon, which launched in 2009 (Blog-Tick is still a seven-year-old baby.) And just between you and us, we'll say that it's a bit of a small miracle that we're still in operation now. Though our love for Buck-Tick has never faltered, there were a few moments in there when we sincerely worried whether it would be possible to continue with this project, especially after the departure of Kame in 2010 and our subsequent complete overhaul. But this project would never have existed without Kame, so if you're going to have a not greatest drink with us, make sure you toast Kame as well.

Anyhow, thank you for all your support, even though none of you emailed to wish us a happy birthday. We're aware that in today's age of social media, it's too much work to remember people's birthdays unless FaceSpace tells you about them, and it's not like we're exactly a person anyway. Plus, your complete and utter silence really is not greatest birthday tribute.

And if you're curious, this is what we looked like, back in the day.

Version 1.0

Version 2.0

Version 2.0 banners

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Now excuse us while we go have some cake.

(mmmm....CAKE!)

...and beer...

(mmmm....BEER!)

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...and if you'd like to join us at the party pictured below, you're welcome.

This is NOT Greatest Site

~~~Celebrating 100 Internet Years~~~

Happy birthday to us!

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Good Schaft Lyrics (and a birthday!)

Over on This is NOT Greatest Site, we have added an all-new lyrics section for Schaft, including all the lyrics to their 1994 debut album Switchblade. This is it, ladies and gents: now you get your chance to read all about the life and times of Raymond Watts and his misogynistic, homicidal, suicidal P3N1$. Rhyme, chyme, blood and grime, now lie right back and praise the Schwein...oh wait, wrong band there! But you get the idea.

In fact, it must be said that the only people who wrote good lyrics for this album were Johnny Stephens (lyricist for inFORMation - early 90's doomsaying techno-phobia that still has alarmingly prescient relevance today), and Imai Hisashi. Oh wait, Imai Hisashi didn't write any lyrics for this album! Instead we got Susanne Bramson's teen angst poetry. Methinks it's a mercy she only ever released one album.

The lyrics for Ultra will be coming soon, but will take us a bit more time, owing to the fact that half of them are in Japanese, so we will need to translate them. But from what we've read so far, they're a lot sexier. It appears that Fujii Maki wants your soul and flesh, girl. Make sure your body is ready.

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In other news, the Schaft tour starts tomorrow! If I see you there and you're not dancing, I will personally make you dance. Make sure your body is ready.

Also, if anyone wants Cayce's help in purchasing Schaft tour goods, contact us right away. We will be attending all the shows, excluding the one in Osaka. If we're not the only ones who attended all The Mortal and all the Schaft shows, we'll be extremely impressed. If you know someone else who did, point them our way so we can give them a not greatest Certificate of Mad Fandom.

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Oh, and next Wednesday is This is NOT Greatest Site's TENTH anniversary...which means we're like 100 in internet years. Hands up if you were still a babe in diapers when we were born! Hands up if you'd like to help us celebrate with birthday cakes and firecrackers! In fact, how about firecracker cakes? Everyone loves an exploding cake!

But seriously. If you have any words or pictures of celebration, email them to us by next week and we'll post them! Since y'all are scattered across the planet, consider it in lieu of us inviting you to our birthday party (we know you can't afford the plane fare.)

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The Starman Returns to the Stars

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Like I said, folks.

David Bowie is not dead.

He came from the stars, and to the stars he has returned.

It was great having him as Earth's houseguest, at least for a little while.

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Join the members of Buck-Tick and raise a glass to him.

We would post Mr. Sakurai's cover of Space Oddity as tribute but it appears that the YouTube police have taken it off YouTube, so go look it up for yourself, or buy the copy of the Ai no Wakusei DVD we currently have on offer and watch the whole thing as many times as you want. Fuck capitalism, just get drunk and cry.

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Empathy for the Beast

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The Buck-Tick official website have announced that none other than Mr. Hoshino Hidehiko, more commonly known to readers of this blog by his official Buck-Tickistani title Sexy Beast Hide (#sexybeasthide), has composed a song for a commercial for EMPATHY Corporation, which will air on Fuji Television between 7:30 and 8:55 AM on January 10th, 17th, 24th, and 31st. If anyone feels like recording this commercial for posterity, please let us know, since we certainly will not be awake at those inhumane hours but we're dying to share Mr. Hoshino's jarring voice with the Blog-Tick readership at large.

Those of you who are curious about the product Mr. Hoshino will be endorsing can visit EMPATHY's website for more info here [http://www.empathy.co.jp/index.php]. Belying its name, EMPATHY is not a developer of mutual human compassion, but a developer of various and sundry app products, including one called MySound BGM Service, which allows you to create a customized soundtrack for your shop or bar. Our bets are on Hide endorsing this service, but who knows, maybe he's advertising their mobile payment platforms instead. Even Sexy Beasts gotta make money somehow.

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So You Want to Be a Goth?

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Before venturing into the live report of The Mortal's tour (which will be coming, by and by), by popular demand, we have posted a new article on This is NOT Greatest Site, entitled, "So You Want to Be a Goth?" Explaining the entire goth subculture in the space of one tiny article is probably impossible so we probably failed, but y'all seemed curious about gothness, so we have thusly endeavored to deliver you some education on the matter.

But if you haven't got the attention span to read the full article, this is how to be goth, folks. This, right here.

Yes, that is really Peter Murphy skivving out of his knickers. Thanks, internet. You're welcome.

I'd say more, but it's almost dawn here in the Land of the Rising Sun, and I must be getting back to my coffin.

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