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Happy birthday to our one and only dear Mr. Sakurai Atsushi! Today, my friends, he celebrates a full half century of life on earth. Boy have we been glad to have him here, and we hope he sticks around for at least another fifty years! So go nuts, friends. Drink, dance, and make merry in his honor. He might be busy angsting about his age, but that doesn't mean you have to.
And as our own birthday present to him, we are proud to present an all-new in-depth article: The Cacophony of Mortality - a step-by-step, song-by-song analysis of I Am Mortal, in its entirety. We really spent a long time on this one, and we urge you to read it even if you don't like The Mortal...it might just help you understand them better and come to like them after all. Plus, it's our birthday present to Acchan-chan, so how can you say no to that! As always, please leave your comments on this post, since NGS doesn't allow commenting.
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As for celebrations...Mr. Sakurai, we know you might not be in the mood for partying, but if you get into the mood after all, we extend a formal invitation for you to come drinking with us at this real actual bar in Tokyo. We know the owner, and she tells us you've hitherto been too busy watching cat videos to ever come over and check it out. Whaddaya think?
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(I think he wants to)
Plus, it rained all day here in Tokyo, so maybe he's in the mood for partying after all.
So without further ado, let's have some cake, shall we? Oh give me chocolate! Happy fuckin' birthday.
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Wow, such cool pictures!
ReplyDeleteDo I see carabiners and some sort of bondage equipment there?
That makes me really horny...
Oh and happy birthday to Sakurai. I hope that some silly numbers won´t prevent him from partying.
It's a bondage bar staffed by dominatrices. It's a delightful place and they have a pet snake.
DeleteThat clearly makes me even more horny and curious
DeleteOh god Cayce that was brilliant. It was worth every second waiting for it, thank you so so much. Now back to re-listening the album!
ReplyDeleteGeez Louise, this is just amazing! Cannot thank you enough (would offer return tickets to the Bosch2016 special exhibition but i am afraid that is over budget at the moment) As a student, I was not much of a fan of poetry, but this feels so warm and informative - thank you for taking us by the hand on this journey and arranging the bits of info that were all over the place in a coherent way. And thank you for the lovely wording. This not only made my week, it probably made my month.
ReplyDeleteThank you for all that hard work. Its a lot to take in and I will be reading and re-reading it for the next little while!
ReplyDeleteSo glad you all enjoyed it! If you have anything to add to the discussion, feel free to discuss here.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for this article, it was a lovely analysis and vary poignant. You really don't get enough credit and appreciation, so I'd like to thank you again for all your hard work.
ReplyDeleteWhat a fantastic bar! I wish I could be there every night!
ReplyDeleteAnd thank you so much for the Mortal review! So much to think about, so much extra information and a wonderful analysis.
Your writing always delights me, Cayce. I hope you'll write a book one day, it would be an instant classic!
Dear Cayce,
ReplyDeleteThe live report made my weekend! But your album analysis is so precious and stunning, that it is making my week! ;)
You really did a great work like a professional art critic.
Thank you for sharing your point of view and your knowledge.
Best,
Manu (&Pat ;)
Amazing analysis, I'm totally stunned and couldn't finish the reading in one take, had to take breaks in between! I thought Sakurai-san had some sort of mid age crisis for such a solo theme, but didn't realise the depth of it until reading your analysis, great job! :)
ReplyDeleteThank god he didn't name the project Mother, bless me if I could find the courage to fly all the way to Japan for such a band. Maybe the members lied to him about copyright issues.
Mother would have been a perfectly good name for the band, especially considering Sakurai's life history - which, if you are a new fan, I encourage you to read up on, as his messed up family life has had a strong influence on his work since the very beginning. He lost his mother when he was still in his early 20's, shortly before Buck-Tick released Kurutta Taiyou (this, after his father died of alcoholism when he was about 18.) "Jupiter" and "Sakura" (which was the b-side of the Jupiter single) were both songs Sakurai wrote in memoriam for his mother, as were a number of later songs over the years, including "Yuuwaku" and "Long Distance Call." I don't want to venture into speculating about the details of his feelings, but it's clear the loss affected him profoundly. If he'd named the band Mother, it would have been a dedication to her.
DeleteThe copyright issues were surely not a lie, but the legal stuff was of course handled by the management office and certainly not by the band members (who may not even have been hired yet at that point.)
You're absolutely right about his mother complex that's deep in his soul and part of what makes him adorable. Actually my favourite song from his last solo was Taiji (胎兒) and I dedicated it to my own mother on facebook, which she replied not understanding a word of the song at all (....................)
DeleteBut asking a fan to see a band titled Mother is just too Sadistic! (And I suspected he's M!!) I can't imagine myself ending up with a goth T-shirt that says 'Mother'. Did I miss something important in Goth school?
I simply do not understand your opposition to the idea of a band named Mother. Surely it's better than a band named Cherry Poppin' Daddies, for instance (a real band, doncha know?)
DeleteLet's just say I'm perfectly happy with 'The Mortal'. No I wouldn't realise Cherry Poppin' Daddies was the name of a band :)
DeleteSorry for the late comment but just had to congratulate you on your awesome work as usual. The live report was brilliant, those fan girls though are getting out of hand! I'm so glad I didn't get any trouble when I saw B-T I would have been devastated. Hats off to you for continuing to sing and dance I would have done the same, it's a concert not a museum! The album analysis is a superior work. I will be re reading that a number of times. It is clearly a labour of love and gives new depth and understanding to the songs. I for one love this album and I always suspected that Sakurai san was a metal fan! Thankyou very much for your hard work.
ReplyDeleteBuck-Tick's fans are still enthusiastic. The problem with fans was unique to The Mortal. The crowd enthusiasm at the DIQ 2016 was through the roof. It just makes me sad that Sakurai's fans turned out to be such a joyless lot.
DeleteI have no idea if Sakurai is a metal fan or not, he has never given any indication either way. The point I was trying to make in the music analysis is that a number of the songs on I Am Mortal use musical devices that are most commonly seen in metal music, and perhaps that confused some of the fans whose musical tastes aren't very wide-ranging.