Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
ese band
The Blue Hearts
was a Japanese punk rock band active from 1985 to 1995. They have been compared to such bands as the Sex Pistols, The Clash and the Ramones.
. It was released on November 21, 1987, the same time that the band's second album, ''Young and Pretty'', was released. Lyrics and music were written by
Hiroto Kōmoto
is a Japanese rock singer who has fronted bands such as The Blue Hearts, The High-Lows and The Cro-Magnons.
Early life
Kōmoto was born in 1963 in Okayama, Okayama Prefecture and graduated from the junior high school attached to the School of E ...
, the band's lead vocalist, and was arranged by The Blue Hearts. The single is 9m17s in length.
The B-side of the single is , a
blues rock
Blues rock is a fusion music genre that combines elements of blues and rock music. It is mostly an electric ensemble-style music with instrumentation similar to electric blues and rock (electric guitar, electric bass guitar, and drums, sometimes w ...
song written and sung by
Masatoshi Mashima
is a guitarist who has performed with Japanese rock bands such as The Blue Hearts, The High-Lows and The Cro-Magnons.Junnosuke Kawaguchi, the band's bassist. Though he generally speaks with a low voice, he sings in falsetto for a number of songs.
"Chain Gang" was originally planned to be on their debut album, but was shelved due to concern with the lyrics, particularly the line about killing
Christ
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, names and titles), was ...
.
Related media
The promotional video was an animated video. In the video, Kōmoto was a monkey, Mashima was a penguin, Kawaguchi was a pig and Tetsuya Kajiwara (the drummer) was a polar bear.