Milestones

Spitz

Name: Spitz – Hachimitsu
Item: Hachimitsu
Author: Federico Romagnoli

Hachimitsu

1995 (Polydor)

j-rock, jangle-pop

by Federico Romagnoli

Which are the bands jangle pop that have sold the most records? In the West, any music fan would instinctively answer Rem e Smiths, but there's a third, less familiar name at our latitudes that deserves a place in that lineup: the Japanese band Spitz.

The band was founded in Tokyo in 1987 by four students: Masamune Kusano (vocals and rhythm guitar), Tetsuya Miwa (lead guitar), Akihiro Tamura (bass) and Tatsuo Sakiyama (drums), a line-up that has remained intact to this day.

Initially their style was identical to that of Blue Hearts, perhaps the most celebrated and influential punk Japanese band, but it soon shifted into a more nuanced and varied formula, making room for arpeggiated guitars, electro-acoustic interplay and a more delicate way of singing.

During a series of shows at a venue in Shinjuku, they were noticed by Osamu Takeuchi, a member of Polydor. Thanks to the mediation of Road & Sky, Shogo Hamada's agency [note 1]the band secured a deal that allowed them to preserve their artistic independence, thus sidestepping any fears of having to adapt their sound sound to the record label's demands.

After a limited-run independent EP titled “ヒバリのこころ” (“Hibari no kokoro”), released in March 1990, their major-label debut finally arrived on majorThe climb to success, however, proved extremely tough: their first three albums all failed to crack the Oricon top 100.

Polydor doesn't drop them, but tries entrusting them to a new producer: Nobuhiko Takahashi, an employee of the aforementioned Road & Sky, is thus replaced by Masanori Sasaji, a multi-instrumentalist and longtime arranger who'd been on the scene since the mid-Seventies. Despite a bit more keyboard and orchestration, the band's sound isn't distorted by the change, but rather gains in commercial appeal.

In October 1993, the single “君が思い出になる前に” (“Kimi ga Omoide ni Naru Mae ni”) earned them their first appearances on major TV programming, becoming the theme song for the information show “もっと素敵に!” (“Motto suteki ni!”) and getting them booked on “ミュージックステーション” (“Music Station”), just in time to save their career: Kusano had by then convinced himself there was no hope left, and that he himself, given the peculiarity of his voice, was the cause of their repeated failures.

The first two albums with Sasaji, “クリスピー！” (“Crispy!”) from 1993 and “空の飛び方” (“Sora no tobikata”) from 1994, both met with modest success, particularly the latter, which reached number 41 on the Oricon chart. Nothing, however, hinted at what was about to happen.

“はちみつ” (“Hachimitsu”, meaning “Honey”), the band's sixth album in just five years, was recorded during the first seven months of 1995, but its lead single was already released in May, right in the middle of the sessions: titled “ロビンソン” (“Robinson”), it's the song that would first change the band's history and then the entire course of Japanese pop rock.

Even though Kusano himself wasn't convinced of the song's potential, and the label's promotional effort was no greater than for their other releases, "Robinson" unexpectedly explodes, played constantly on radio and television: in short order, the single reaches number 4 on the Oricon chart and stays there for more than eight months, becoming one of the year's biggest hits and selling 1.624 million copies. The second single, "涙がキラリ☆" ("Namida ga kirari"), comes out in July and reaches number 2, selling 981,000 copies: Spitz are one of the bands of the moment.

Anticipation for the album became feverish, so when “Hachimitsu” hit stores on September 20, the number 1 spot was a foregone conclusion. By the end of its thirteen-month run in the Oricon top 100, sales would total 1.69 million copies.

The tracklist opens with the title tracksent jangle pop with riffs and a verse in 5/4, which immediately highlights the band's knack for unusual choices (odd time signatures are far from common within the genre).

"Namida ga kirari" reveals another facet of their sound: introduced by a riffs distorted guitar with plenty of sustain, it immediately gives way to a delicate arpeggio-driven verse, with a transition that feels perfectly natural. Throughout their substantial output, the jangle pop has gone through countless hybridizations, covering an impressive stylistic range , at times blending genres that seem worlds apart but are actually both part of Kusano's musical diet — an artist as devoted to the harsher edges of rock (from the hard rock of Cheap Trick and Uriah Heep to the garage rock of Japan's Elephant Kashimashi) as he is to the refinement of folk and singer-songwriters (from Donovan to Kuranosuke Hamaguchi).

"ルナルナ" ("Luna Luna") is one of the moments where Sasaji's hand is most evident: syncopated guitars, percussion, analog synth flourishes, alternating string and brass sections, in a hybrid of jangle pop, funk and baroque pop.

Even the seemingly more conventional moments hide subtle refinements, like the midtempo of "愛のことば" ("Ai no kotoba"), which alternates between the Ionian mode (verse and chorus) and the Mixolydian (pre-chorus e bridge).

Tamura's bass, which in more than one track climbs through non-linear scales, is especially prominent in "あじさい通り" ("Ajisai doori"), pushed to the forefront by the mix, amid intermittent guitars, vibraphone tremolos and riffs of synthesizer.

“Robinson”, as already mentioned, is the most important track in the band's catalogue, the anthem of the jangle pop and more broadly of indie Japanese music of the the Nineties (where by indie reference is made to the sound itself, since the band has in fact never worked with alternative labels).

It opens with two crystalline arpeggios that intersect at slightly staggered volumes, making it instantly recognizable, but perhaps that's not the real reason for its success: while the verse is sung in a calm tone, the vocal keeps climbing higher through the following sections, up to the high note at the end of the chorus, apparently without any exaggerated strain. Kusano's gift for gracefully soaring, reaching high notes with remarkable power and never giving the impression of shouting, creates an emotional pull that is at once energetic and intimate, steering clear of cheap showmanship. Although he isn't regarded as a virtuoso singer, his songs are notoriously difficult to sing. This distinctive melodic and interpretive construction was already typical of Spitz before "Robinson", but it's here that it evidently reaches that generational peak that makes it so compelling.

A mostly acoustic ballad, “Y” is the slowest track on the album, but also one of the most complex: a double minor-key verse and a double chorus on its relative major, while the harmonies pile on sevenths, sixths and major sevenths as if it were raining them down.

“君と暮らせたら” (“Kimi to kuresetara”) closes the album with a galloping rhythm marked out by a groove of acoustic guitar, before surprising everyone with an ending just a step away from progressive rockthreaded through with keyboard layers, bass glissandi and drumming jagged with a jazz flavour.

Kusano's lyrics, without ever tipping into sappiness, are essentially all built around love or the perception of one's own feelings, with heavy use of metaphor: the one in “Robinson” [note 2 perfectly represents the writer's style.

For some reason, the days of the new season are sad,

pedaling along the riverbank, I chased after you as you ran,

a record of memories, an exaggerated episode,

are hanging behind my weary shoulders,

I winced at the dazzling beauty.

The same words at the same moment,

spoken unintentionally,

with this simple magic, we created it:

a land just for the two of us, where no one can touch us,

I won't let go of your hand,

if we had the great power to float in the sky,

we would ride the wind of the cosmos.

A cat abandoned on the street corner

won't stop panting,

somehow we resemble each other,

I pick it up and press it against my cheeks.

At the usual crossroads,

I looked up at the round window, it was a bit dirty,

the crescent moon, barely visible, was watching me,

I waited a long time on the edge of a dream,

your gaze was surprised,

we will be reborn here and now.

After the breakout success of “Hachimitsu”, Spitz's career continued to thrive, racking up twelve million albums and eleven million singles sold, on top of the digital market (official certifications cite four million and 100 thousand download purchases, plus 700 million streaming premiumplays: both figures are actually on the low side, though, since the Riaj only updates them periodically and upon request). To this day, “Robinson” is the most-viewed Japanese song of the Nineties on YouTube (173 million views at the time of writing).

Spitz's influence on the Japanese music that followed them is immense: virtually every indie pop band with a male singer (but also some with a female singer) owes them something, from Sunny Day Service to Kirinji, from Advantage Lucy to Mitsume, not to mention the Indigo La End: the latter's name is, not coincidentally, derived from a Spitz album, “インディゴ地平線” (“Indigo chiheisen”), released in 1996.

In this regard, it's telling to notice how many anime theme songs sound as if they were cover of their songs. Just to name a few: “Tomorrow” by Mikuni Shimokawa (from “Full Metal Panic!”, 2002), “Waltz” and “Split” by Suneohair (from “Hachimitsu To Clover”, 2005), “青い幸福” (“Aoi koufuku”) by Nobuko (from “Hanbun no tsuki ga noboru sora”, 2006), “燃えるような恰じゃないけど” (“Moeru you na koi janai kedo”) by Tsuru (from “Cross Game”, 2009), “きみにとどけ” (“Kimi ni todoke”) by Tomofumi Tanizawa (from theanime omonimo, 2009), "青い栞" ("Aoi Shiori") by Galileo Galiei (from "Ano hana", 2011), "Youthful", "Star" and "Colorful" by 99RadioService (from "Chihayafuru", 2011-2020), "徒然モノクローム" ("Tsurezure Monochrome") by Fujifabric (from "Tsuritama", 2012), "キラメキ" ("Kirameki") by Wacci (from "Shigatsu wa kimi no uso", 2014), "名前を呼ぶよ" ("Namae wo yobu yo") by Luck Life (from "Bungo Stray Dogs", 2016), "籠の中の僕らは" ("Kago no naka bokura wa") by Aiki (from "Hoshiai no sora", 2019), "虹" ("Niji") by Color Bottle (from "Kyashan Sins", 2019).

[note 1] Not a random choice. Shogo Hamada, a leading name in Japanese singer-songwriting, is one of the few artists to have achieved mass success with strongly socially engaged lyrics, and is known for having always safeguarded his artistic integrity, never bowing to pressure from record labels.

[note 2] Curiously, the word "Robinson" has nothing to do with the lyrics: it actually comes from the name of a Thai department store where Kusano happened to be when he got the inspiration that led him to write the song.

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28/04/2024

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This article is an English translation of the original Italian text by Federico Romagnoli, published on OndaRock.it. It was translated with the help of artificial intelligence, under the editorial responsibility of OndaRock's editor-in-chief, Claudio Fabretti.

Read the original in Italian · About the English edition