Friday, October 22, 2010

Shonen Knife - Japanese Punk Girl Group


Japanese. All-girl. Punk pop. Yeah!

Shonen Knife, which literally means "Boy Knife," is an all-female rock band from Osaka, Japan. Heavily influenced by 1960s girl groups, pop bands, The Beach Boys, and early punk rock acts, such as the Ramones, the trio crafts no-frills songs expressing infectious melodies and simplistic, exuberant lyrics sung both in Japanese and English.

They've been on the scene forever, and have picked up a lot of fans along the way, including high profilers like of Sonic Youth and Nirvana.

Kurt Cobain is quoted as saying:

"When I finally got to see them live, I was transformed into a hysterical nine-year-old girl at a Beatles concert".

Shonen Knife's popularity with alt-rock musicians was probably best expressed in 1989, when over twenty different bands came together to record renditions of their favorite Shonen Knife songs for a tribute album entitled Every Band Has A Shonen Knife Who Loves Them.

And we love them because they've been credited with making "the international pop underground more international".

Check out this totally trippy music video from the girls called "E.S.P." Trust me - you've never seen anything quite like it...

1 comment:

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