PUFFY NEWS!!!
Yumi-chan is married! She and glam king TM Revolution were married last February (or so). Hopefully some craziness will come of it!
Puffy rock! They show us that all there is to pop music is cute girls, riding
barefoot in convertibles, playing with small black children in Evanston, Ohio,
and singing about rabbits and love. I wish I could properly express why they
are so great, maybe you just have to hear them. The first time I heard Puffy
was in an electronics store in a part of Osaka called DenDen Town. I said
to myself, "hey, I like this song" and asked everyone around me who the band
was. A unanimous reply of "It's Puffy, where have you been, you dork?" led
me directly to Tower and made me $30.00 poorer but god, it was money well
spent.
What is it with Puffy? Well, all there songs are basically covers of extremely
famous pop songs with different lyrics and vocal melodies. Like the first
track off their JET CD, which puls the main line of the Who's "Don't Get Fooled
Again" literally note for note and has them singing "There's a jet engine
in the rocket, oh yeah, etc...". It's like they took all the best in pop music
and made it digestible for hardened cynics like me. The brainchild of Okuda
Tamio, one of the most famous singer/songwriters in Japan, he's taken everything
that has ever been great about pop music but somehow maintains some sort of
sarcasm, but dresses it up in a cuteness that definitely doesn't exist in
American pop music and is somehow more intellectual that the existing cuteness
in Japanese pop music. OK, so even I would go out with them. At least one
of them.
Puffy are two girls, Ami-chan and Yumi-chan. Discussing them with Japanese
people will invariably lead you to the subject of "Which do you like better?"
since they hail from the two major (and rival) cities of Tokyo and Osaka,
respectively. If you say Ami-chan, you are siding with those occursed imperialist
hellions from the east (Kanto) in the mighty metropolis of Tokyo. You also
like cuteness before brashness and prefer someone you know won't spike your
Yakisoba. Basically you can marry her and Mom won't complain. If you say Yumi-chan
(as I do), then you side with those wacky freaks from the west (Kansai) who
talk funny but eat and have created all your favorite foods in Japan and are
responsible for all the best comedy on TV (fuck Tokyo manzai, it sucks). She
might spike your Yakisoba but she'll drink you under the table and will talk
more than you can concieve. Basically, you'd be hesitant about marrying here
(although she'd force you) and you'd worry that she and your mother would
get together and plot against you. Osaka power!
Puffy are one of the most famous entertainment acts in Japan right now. They
ae on TV multiple times a week, have their own weekly series and grace the
covers of magazines almost daily. I can't keep up with it all, and I'm a dedicated
Otaku of the first class. If you ever come to Japan, be sure to buy as much
as you can, you won't regret it. For more info check out these other links
so I don't have to waste any more of my time entering this stuff. If you want,
write me, send me money and I'll pick the stuff up for you and mail it directly
to your door! What a nice guy I am!
DISCOGRAPHY:
For Love...「夢のために」 | June 9, 1999 | CD Single | |
Puffy del Runba「パフィーdeルンバ」 | Dec, 12, 1998 | CD Single | |
Sunday Girls 「日曜日の娘」 | April 1, 1999 | CD Single | |
Ta-ra-ran「たららん/パフィーのツアーメン」 | Aug 29, 1998 | CD Single | |
Jet Video | June 10, 1998 | Video | |
Jet CD | April 1, 1998 | CD | |
The Knowledge of Love「愛のしるし」 | May 14, 1998 | CD Single | |
Mother/Nahorina Nahorina「MOTHER/ネホリーナハホリーナ」 | Dec 12, 1997 | CD Single | |
Tout! Puffy! Tour! | Sept. 21, 1997 | Video | |
Solosolo | Aug. 6, 1997 | 2xCD | |
Celebration of the waves, etc「渚にまつわるエトセトラ」 | April 16, 1997 | CD Single | |
Circuit Girls「サーキットの娘」 | May 12, 1997 | CD Single | |
Run! Puffy! Run! | Dec. 1, 1996 | Video/Book | |
This is the way of my life「これが私の生きる道」 | Oct 7, 1996 | CD Single | |
Amiyumi | Aug. 22, 1996 | CD | |
Asia no junshin「アジアの純真」 | May 13, 1996 | CD Single |