"Show Me the Way" (stylized as ''"Show me the way"'') is the second single by the four-member Japanese hip-hop group

Lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...

, released on October 17, 2002. It charted better than their debut single, ranking in the top ten on the

Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan and Western music. It started as, which was founded by Sōkō Koike in ...

charts at #7. "Show me the way" was the song that helped Lead secure the spot for ''Best Newcomer'' during the 44th annual

Japan Record Awards is a major music awards show, held annually in Japan that recognizes outstanding achievements in the Japan Composer's Association. Until 2005, the show aired on New Year's Eve, but has since aired every December 30 on TBS Japan at 6:30 P.M JST ...

at the end of 2002, alongside the band day after tomorrow,

Mika Nakashima is a Japanese singer and actress. Five of her studio albums, one of her mini-albums and one of her compilation albums have reached number one in Japan's Oricon album chart. She also embarked on an acting career, most notably as Nana Osaki in the ...

and Sachika Shino.

Information

''"Show me the way"'' is the second single by

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

hip-hop

group A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together. Groups of people * Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity * Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic ide ...

under the

Pony Canyon , also known by the shorthand form , is a Japanese mass media publishing company founded on October 1, 1966. The company publishes mainly physical home media on compact discs, including music, films and TV shows and video games. It is affi ...

sub-label Flight Master. It debuted higher than their debut single, '' Manatsu no Magic,'' breaking the top ten on the Oricon Singles Charts at #7, and it remained on the charts for six consecutive weeks. The success of this single and their previous single helped Lead to win the ''Best Newcomer'' award during the 44th Japan Record Awards alongside newbie band day after tomorrow and up-and-coming soloists

and Sachika Shino. The single was released as a standard CD, which contained the title track, the b-side "Step by Step" and a remix and instrumental to "Show me the way." While the

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...

was released for syndication to the public upon the single's release, it was not available for the public to purchase until their

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

/ VHS release '' Lead Movies 1'' in September 2003. "Show me the way" was written and composed by

musical composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

Yasushi Sasamoto, who is part of the rap unit known as BANANA ICE. While the b-side, "Step by Step", was also composed by Yasushi, the lyrics to the piece were written by Kentaro Akutsu, while KATSU wrote the rap portion of the song. KATSU and Yasushi had previously worked with Lead for their prior single. The remix of "Show me the way" was done by Japanese music group COLDFEET, who debuted in 1998. "Step by Step" would be given a remix on their debut studio album '' Life On Da Beat,'' which was released in April the following year. The remix would be rearranged by Gen Ittetsu, who is most famous for his works with legendary Japanese artist Gackt.

Promotional advertisements

To help promote the single, Lead performed "Show me the way" on the Japanese

talk show A talk show (or chat show in British English) is a television programming or radio programming genre structured around the act of spontaneous conversation.Bernard M. Timberg, Robert J. Erler'' (2010Television Talk: A History of the TV Talk Sh ...

''HEY!HEY!HEY! MUSIC CHAMP.'' Along with performing the song, they group appeared on the game show portion later on in the month to boost their notoriety. At the time of their appearances, Hiroki was seventeen, Shinya was fifteen and Keita and Akira were fourteen.

Track listing

Charts

References

External links

Lead Official Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Show Me the Way 2002 singles 2002 songs Pony Canyon singles J-pop songs Lead (band) songs