Forum - View topicAnswerman - Why Does Anime Occasionally Use English Songs?
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Gewürtztraminer
 Posts: 1028 Location: Texas - Its like whole other country. |
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This question reminds me of my favorite movie.
"Seems that Sex Farm is on the charts in Japan." "Spinal Tap's recording of Sex Farm?" "It was at number five last week, actually." Back on topic, always thought "The Light Before We Land" by The Delgados did a good job of selling the melancholic portions of Gunslinger Girls. It might have been one of those chosen totally on how the song makes you feel. |
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Brand
 Posts: 1028 |
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Still remember popping in my fansub VHS of Lain (that I picked up at the sketchy I-95 Marketplace) and hearing "PRESENT DAY PRESENT TIME" And then the Boa song comes on and my friends and I just start looking at each other like WTF?! just happened.
Of course since it was Lain that was only the beginning of a very WTF night. |
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Joe Carpenter
 Posts: 503 |
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The spy themed anime Licensed by Royalty uses "Go where no one's gone before" by Billy Preston for the OP.
It's always unusual but cool when you hear an English song used for anime OP. |
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BodaciousSpacePirate
 Subscriber Posts: 3017 |
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Boa's album Twilight - the first and only album they produced while signed with Pioneer/Geneon - came out right around the time I got into anime, so my parents presumably got really sick of hearing the Lain opening theme over and over again. |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11348 |
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If I remember correctly, Preston wrote and performed that specifically for the anime, and the song wasn't released on CD until midway through the series' airing. I think the producers asked him because of all his collaborations with the Beatles, Harrison, and other British musical acts, since the series was set in a thinly veiled alt England. |
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curtisd88
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I remember hearing Paranoid Android by Radiohead in Ergo Proxy and was shocked to even hear it on there. Funny enough I didn't start listening to Radiohead seriously until 2011 and didn't watch Ergo Proxy until a year later.
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MoonPhase1
Posts: 492 |
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Beck Mongolian Chop Squad had I've Got A Feeling from The Beatles for the closing song. Though it's kind of a modified version or at least that's how I remember it from watching Funimation's DVDs.
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Wandering Samurai
 Posts: 875 Location: USA |
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The Hellsing TV series used Shine by Mr. Big for it's ending theme song. The band is more popular in Japan than it is in the US.
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Kadmos1
 Posts: 13552 Location: In Phoenix but has an 85308 ZIP |
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Sometimes the original English-language song is now public domain. As such, a particular recording, remix, or performance of said song is fully copyrightable. SukaSuka had the ballad "Scarborough Fair".
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SolHerald
 Posts: 99 |
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That song became one of my favorites as soon as I heard it on Hellsing. 'I Want You' from Savage Garden (Jojo Part 4), is pretty great as well. |
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#875965
 Posts: 1 Location: Harrow, London |
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Song selection for anime is mostly the domain of theshow's director, but most of the time there's a music publisher involved with the production committee
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Admiral Pizzaman
 Posts: 504 |
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You know, I've been wondering for a while, but when you write message to Answerman, do you leave blank in the subject part, or do write something here? Because, none of my messages I sent have appeared in the weekly column.
Just cutious. |
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kevinx59
 Posts: 959 Location: In sunny California |
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I always get a kick hearing an existing english language song used in an anime,
though its a shame about how often licensing issues come into play when bringing it to the states. Appleseed and Vexille had some english language electronica artists on the soundtrack. I was pretty surprised to find out an MIA song was in the latter.
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Snomaster1
 SubscriberPosts: 2796 |
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Although I've heard a few English language songs in anime,I'm still surprised they use them at all. A lot of Japanese barely understand English. In my opinion,I think they use them in certain shows so it'll be easier to get audiences in English speaking countries to watch them. While a lot of Japanese language songs in anime are good,it's nice to hear a song in my own language and it's also nice that they would go the extra mile to make it more attractive for those who don't speak Japanese and I appreciate that a lot.
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vanfanel
 Posts: 1242 |
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That lain opening sure sold me a Boa CD back in the day. Good times.
I think a lot of the pleasure in listening to music in a language you don't or only barely understand is that the instrumentation and vocal performances convey a lot of raw emotion, but the lyrics themselves remain a blank canvas you can paint yourself with whatever the song makes you feel. |
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