Third album: Variety [News]

[HEDOfloe]

Originally Posted by Tokyo Jihad

If Shiina said "we're not playing that shit" (in a nicer way) you better believe that shit wasn't to be played. When the Variety press release came, what was the gist of it? "Shiina rummaged through Uki/Izawa songs and decided which would be played." -- Said so straight from the top. Shiina.

This is totally true and she should be " "blamed" "(if you don't like the music) for choosing what to play, but ultimately, she did not write the song. So I think it is unfair to her when things like "her talents went down the drain" or anything to that extent is said about her. You can question her judgment but how can you question her skill? Or as you said before how she disowned her rock roots by singing to this new music? She didn't write it. She can be blamed for choosing it but the writing was not hers. I don't know where you got off on thrashing her when Uki and Izawa are CLEARLY credited for the compositions. You can blame her for choosing " "bad" " songs to sing to but the fact that the other musicians are credited for the songs mean that they should be responsible for it just as much as she is.

[imkookoo]

Originally Posted by Tokyo Jihad

IT IS a rule. =P
Thats the job of a leader. To make sure shit gets done, and comes out sterling. When a sports team or an army underperforms, who gets the blame? Leadership, coach, Colonel, whatever. If theres a scandal or money problems in a business, who takes the heat? The head, CEO, for letting it happen under his watch.

That's only cause people always need a point of failure. They can't settle with "nobody's at fault" or consider other angles. The blame is placed only to settle the general public's uncertainty, and to remedy the fault quickly at the perspective of an enterprise. A band is not an enterprise, however. It's just, in TJ's case, 5 people. Things get a lot more personal at that level.

Again, SR giving the reigns to the band is a move to keep the band more passionate and cohesive. She probably has given input, which may be why at least the songs have some quirks here and there... but she can't control everything. I know she said that the songs were picked from demos given by the band (never read anything that -she- was the one to do it. That could have been a decision by the band, not just her.) But even if she was the one who chose the songs, could you imagine how the other songs sounded? Probably even crappier.

Anyway, I don't want to give the impression that I'm hating Variety either. I've listened to 4 bad quality short clips. So I can't really judge the album. Genjitsu wo Warau is my favorite TJ song, but it wasn't a single or showcased that much before Kyoiku was released so there's still hope for me. But even if it does flop, SR will take that as a lesson and hopefully teh band will too.

I don't think most people will be blaming SR anyway. They'll blame Tokyo Jihen as a group. It's only the SR-followers who will be most critical of her. The irony..

[Tokyo Jihad]

Stuff doesn't fall apart by itself. Now an artists quality tends to decline, and I think this is when an artist's legacy is truly etched. How do the handle it? Do they make increasingly weaker renditions of a previous success? Do they flip and try a new approach that might be more an exertion of force than true release of spirit? Or do they just take it in stride, keep doing like they do, do what they feel is natural.

Im not necessarily saying Shiina is declining, but i think she fashioned a decline either way by means of not writing any songs.

And I think you'll be surprised at the blame game. Some might still cling to the idea that Shiina is a pristine beacon and its all Uki/Izawa; I think its time to come to terms.

HEDO EDIT: Sure, its not like Uki and Izawa don't get scathed -- but if Shiina had said "maybe lets wait a while and let me write some stuff too. And you guys can write some more." and maybe fermented the product a little more -- they wouldnt have gotten scathed (so much) to begin with.

[HEDOfloe]

Originally Posted by Tokyo Jihad

RETO EDIT: Oh Hedo. Ok, see it this way. Maybe one day I really want to post, but for whatever strange and bizarre reason, I get Maou or Justin to write my post for me. They show me what they write and I say "yes, post that under my name." Now lets say one of my two compadres had a brain fart and made a post that was shit (anyone makes the obvious joke here gets banned.) and I seemingly didnt pay enough attention to catch it. So, the post is under my name, I get all the heat for it, and I rightly should. No, I didnt write it, but I let it past my gate. I said "this is worthy to be under my flag."
Now, if I went and sold Maou and Justin out, "They wrote it, not Me! Bitch at them!" -- Then I'd be a horrible friend. Just as if Shiina said "hey, its not my fault Uki/Izawa wrote shitty tracks" -- then she'd be a horrible leader. She wont ever do that tho. Moreso, Shiina didn't HAVE to ok the songs anyway. If she didn't think they were good enough to ok, then wait on a third album til you got the goods

Your example makes complete sense but that is not exactly what happened in Ringo's case. She did say that it can fly under her name, but the other artists are also credited for writing it. In your situation, they wrote it under your name and no one know, they thought it was you instead. In this case, everyone knows that Uki and Izawa are writing the songs so the blame can't go to Ringo alone. Like I said in my previous post, they all share the blame and you can't just blame her because it's not like they wrote it and she was credited, they wrote it for their band and they were credited.

EDIT: I just want it to be clear that I really like/love their new music (I won't judge the album previews since they are not full songs) and I don't see any decline. I'm just arguing in Ringo's defense for being blamed for everything like if she wrote everything.

And just to add about HF, there were no excuses, that album was great and the only way you could not like it is if you don't like that kind of music. FACT.

EDIT #2: There is no decline in Ringo's talent/abilities, whatever. There is only transition into genre/genres that is/are not within the realm of some people's tastes/likes/enjoyments. Another FACT.

[Op2]

Holy crap.

Every topic, seriously every single topic, it's argue, argue, argue, Hirama vs. Uki, Phase 1 vs. Phase 2, "Old Shiina" vs. "New Shiina".

Hirama is NOT coming back.
Phase 1 will NOT reunite.
Shiina will continue to do what she wants, regardless of how much you guys argue. Arguments that have no possible solutions are meaningless. Arguing about the past of Shiina Ringo has no possible solution - she isn't going to time travel, as much as some people hope. Therefore, what do people want to accomplish by beating a dead horse?

There is no point at all.

[HEDOfloe]

I feel you, but how many arguments relating music really have solutions? We can just say you like that and I like this and we could call it a day in any thread.

Plus, it was newer members that started it.

[insanitykun]

Lolz, Ringo is such a sellout bitch. I mean, what's up with Muzai being on the charts for 79 weeks and every album cracking the top two on the charts? She has betrayed us!

[Tokyo Jihad]

Originally Posted by Op2

Holy crap.

Every topic, seriously every single topic, it's argue, argue, argue, Hirama vs. Uki, Phase 1 vs. Phase 2, "Old Shiina" vs. "New Shiina".

Hirama is NOT coming back.
Phase 1 will NOT reunite.
Shiina will continue to do what she wants, regardless of how much you guys argue. Arguments that have no possible solutions are meaningless. Arguing about the past of Shiina Ringo has no possible solution - she isn't going to time travel, as much as some people hope. Therefore, what do people want to accomplish by beating a dead horse?

There is no point at all.

Originally Posted by Tokyo Jihad

Then feel free to re-rail the fucking thread instead of complaining. >=|

.

EDIT: Stop saying the word FACT, Hedo, if youre not going to use it properly.

[HEDOfloe]

As long as everyone gets " " blamed " ", then it's ok with me.

Ps. Stop editing previous posts, I only caught them because the page loaded from the top and I had to scroll down and quickly noticed it.

Notice how blamed is in double quotes because I think it is BS to blame anyone for making awesome music ^___^

[Tsuchiya]

Jihad, you really are the king of spouting bullshit!