Down Week Rewind: GLAY and "Global Communiation"

Thanks to everyone who answered the survey! I got some responses saying I should take a day off (so I took a couple for my sister's birthday, as you may have noticed - it was lovely, thank you!) and some responses saying that I should review the singles and albums that got me into Japanese music. Now that I've had my days off, I'll be doing the rewind. First up: GLAY's single "Global Communication!"

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The very first song I ever heard that was definitely Japanese music without coming from an anime soundtrack was GLAY's "Global Communication." I figured that it's title perfectly described what I wanted to attain by listening to Japanese music, so how could I possibly go wrong with it? I remember the first time I heard it. I had exactly two thoughts: "This shit is weird," and "This sounds way too much like American music." I don't know what I was expecting. I'd already been listening to anime music. I knew Japan had electric guitar and synthesizer technology. I knew it wasn't all shamisen and taiko. But "Global Communication" sounded so mainstream pop-rock that I had trouble swallowing it. I obviously wound up coming back to it later, and it continues to get at least 85% of the credit for what got me into Japanese music, but at the time I was less than impressed.

It's hard to review it now, when I've been listening to it for ten years. It's part of the "soundtrack of my high school years," for gods' sake. I'm not even going to try to pretend that I can review it as though I've just heard it for the first time, in a complete GLAY vacuum. I won't try. "Global Communication" is one of the songs that I think of as being part of the First GLAY Golden Age. These are songs that GLAY recorded after they'd hit their stride at a major label, but before they had their souls crushed by the recording industry machine. Included in this list: "Glorious," "Mermaid," "Survival," "Winter, again," and "Yuuwaku;" classics all. Still, despite being a classic, "Global Communication" still isn't one of my favorites: I'd give it a ranking of three or maybe three-and-a-half stars out of five. I like the synth elements, the guitar work is great as always, and I like that it's very upbeat, but it's a little too poppy for my taste and Teru's "Ooh yeah!" gets annoying when you've heard it for as long as I have. Also, with all the guitars and synth and drum the sound tends toward the messy side, which makes it a touch difficult to listen to. Still, it's a solid song from a good time in their discography, and I'm happy that this was my first instead of something ridiculous like "Trouble on Monday," or worse, "Shuumatsu no Baby Talk." Definitely a worthy track for newbie and oldbie alike.



(Sadly, the PV isn't as good as the song. Such is the nature of GLAY PVs. This is a fact I have sadly learned to live with.)