This week it's all (or mostly) H songs. No, not that kind of H*, songs that start with H.megchan(God, I haven't thought of her as Megchan in years) did another of those alphabet memes (I tried for a little while last year but I've never been good at narrowing shit down, so I'd have 100 or more songs that would take me forever and a day to write about, so I decided to just stick to recent stuff because it's more manageable.) I wound up grabbing a ton of songs, so I listened to those instead of albums.

*That's next week, by the sounds of it. This song by B'z that I'm listening to as I'm typing this has a line that I think is supposed to say "You're tasty girl", but actually sounds like "Your testicle". I'm pretty sure there's another song in next week's batch that set off my dirty mind too.

Ah yes, here it is: Kimi No Naka De Odoritai (I Want To Dance Inside You.) This would make me giggle at the best of times, but having just rewatched Borat last week (for those who haven't seen it, at one point he talks about making romance explosions on Pamela Anderson's "stomatch")...yeah. Dying here!

Which just reminded me of a somewhat embarrassing moment in Year 13 Japanese, where our teacher (who, incidentally, I had a gigantic crush on) read out the description of this speech contest we could enter. Year 13s had to talk about an element of contemporary Japanese culture, and one of the suggested topics was "chapatsu (dyeing hair)". Most NZers under 35-40 apparently pronounce "here" and "hair" the same, but my mum is British, and while she's pretty much lost her British accent, it's not 100% NZ either, so I have always distinguished between "here" and "hair" (my dad pronounces them the same, but I always thought that was a quirk, not the other way round.) So when my teacher read out "dyeing hair" I misheard it as "dying here" and thought a whole lot of Japanese people came to NZ to die and told several other people that they did. I was really embarrassed when I saw the paper for myself and found out what it really was, and I have never told anyone about this before.

First up is not an H song, it was after we got on the topic of Matsuda Seiko, who starred in Natsufuku No Eve, where the main characters go to NZ (it was an 80s movie set in Christchurch/the South Island, not 00's Auckland (my hometown, which is on pretty much the other end of the country), but it was still pretty cool to watch.) I don't remember how we got on the topic, butmegchansaid the only song by Matsuda Seiko she really liked was this one, and since it was just the one song I just added it to the list with the H songs.

So I give you Watashi Dake No Tenshi ~Angel~. It's a soft ballad and quite pretty.

B'z - Hadashi No Megami
One of my favourites of the bunch. It has that early 90s boypop sound that I love so, so much. <3 <3 <3

Bad Religion - The Handshake
megchandescribes this as "melodic punk". I am beginning to discover that I quite like punk music. I preferred Slumber, which she posted in her S meme, but this is pretty good too.

The Blue Hearts - Kimi Ni Yasashiku
Japanese punk music with a male vocalist. I don't like it as much as Linda Linda, which is awesomesauce, but it's pretty good.

Blumchen - Heut Ist Mein Tag
German electronica. I took German in high school and remember enough to know that the first few words mean "I feel ---" but translate literally as "I feel me/myself ---" which makes me think of Natasha from Cycle 8 of America's Next Top Model (it's #2 in the general commentary after the Tyraisms.) One of the first icons I ever made was about that. *points to icon*

The Brilliant Green - Hello Another Way ~Sorezore No Basho~
Mellow, acoustic-y ballad. Not my favourite song to begin with, but it's really pretty and once I got done squeeing over EARLY 90S BOY BANDS OMGWTFBBQ I got to really like it.

Damn Yankees - High Enough
80s hair metal. I didn't know what hair metal was before this and pictured something really heavy, but this is actually a very nice, melodic rock ballad. (And I swear I've heard the opening verse before, maybe in an ad or at the beginning of a video, but I can't think where.)

Don Henley - The Heart Of The Matter
80s power ballad. Not my favourite, but pretty good.

Faster Pussycat - House Of Pain
I downloaded it purely because Potes on Television Without Pity referenced it as the title of this recap of America's Next Top Model...wait, no, it was the actual title of the episode! Huh. Either way, you should check out this video about it by Rich on fourfour, because it is freaking hilarious. The best stuff is from 1:38 pretty much all the way to the end.

Anyway, this song is another 80s power ballad and it's pretty good. The verses don't do much for me but I like the chorus quite a bit.

Fukuyama Masaharu - Heart
Laidback acoustic song, released in *wikis* 1998. Nice song.

Gin Blossoms - Hey Jealousy
Midtempo rock song from the early 90s. It's kind of catchy, but there's also something kind of beautiful about the vocals. Also, not that I'm a tad preoccupied about how I'm going to get my translation career started in a few months or anything, but the first few times I played this playlist I wasn't looking at the track names, so I heard the part that goes "Heyyyy jealousy" as "Aaaaagency". XD

GLAY - However
J-rock ballad that came out in 1997. It didn't do much for me at first, but as with Hello Another Way, once I was done squeeing over early 90s boypop I realised how beautiful and powerful and awesome it is and I really like it.

Hide - Hurry-Go-Round
I'm going to take a guess and say that this came out in the late 90s *wikis* Yes! I thought so! It just has that sound, that takes me back to my early days of high school in the late 90s, even though I've never heard it before.

God, this song is amazing. It's a midtempo soft rock song and it's so beautiful. I love the instrumentals. They take me straight back to 1997/98 (even though, like I said, I heard this song for the first time last week) and just omg. So beautiful. Da-dada-dada-da-dada-da-dadada, da-dada-dada-da-dada-da... LOVE. <3

Hootie and the Blowfish - Hold My Hand
Early 90s rock. Not bad.

Hyde - Hideaway
I always assumed Hyde's stuff would be too heavy for me, but this song is actually really catchy. The chorus makes me think of the end theme of a movie or something, which is a surefire way to my heart.

Although is it just me or does "You've grown a big bojangle" sound kind of dirty?

Hysteric Blue - Haru ~Spring~
Late-90s pop-rock, reminiscent of Judy And Mary. I can't listen to a whole album of their stuff, but individually their songs are pretty good. Again, the chorus of this song sounds like it could be the end theme of something, so it makes me happy.

Kahara Tomomi - Hate Tell A Lie
I actually bought the single of this from megchan in 2005 but didn't like it all that much. Then I re-listened to it last week and liked it quite a bit...because it reminds me of 2005! Gotta love the way my mind works. She does have quite a distinctive squeaky voice, though, so the distinctiveness would have helped.

KAT-TUN - Haruka Na Yakusoku
I don't generally like KAT-TUN, but this song is so upbeat and catchy that I can't not like it.

Kiss - Hide Your Heart
Rock/metal. As with Hyde I'd assumed that they'd be too heavy for my liking, and I don't think I could listen to a whole album of their stuff, but this song isn't bad at all.

L'Arc En Ciel - Honey
J-rock. L'Arc En Ciel are one of those bands that I get bored stiff listening to a whole album of, but when Grace posts individual songs I often quite like them (especially Vivid Colours and Snow Drop. God, I love those songs.) I didn't like this one quite as much as those two, but I like it quite a bit nonetheless.

Le Couple - Hidamari No Uta
Ballad with a female vocalist. It took a little while to grow on me, but it's quite pretty.

Letters To Cleo - Here & Now
Alternative rock with a female vocalist. It's not my favourite song by them (that's I Want You To Want Me...god, I love that song. Although the fact that it makes me crazy nostalgic for high school doesn't hurt) but pretty good.

Me First and the Gimme Gimmes - Hello
Punk cover of the Lionel Richie song. Between this and their cover of The Rainbow Connection, I have to conclude that punk covers make everything better.

Mr Children - Hoshi Ni Naretara
Early 90s guypop. God, I love that stuff.

My Little Lover - Hello Again ~Mukashi Kara Aru Basho~
Mellow, acoustic rock with a female singer. Another one that took awhile to grow on me but I really like now.

Rocket Diary - Heart Messenger
Korean rock, not bad. Pretty catchy.

Saitou Kazuyoshi - Hey Mr Angryman
I translated this song a little while ago without ever listening to it, and I always associated it with Hey Mr Wonderful by Smile, which is the cheesiest of Europop. XD (And incidentally reminds me of the first time I came to Japan, in 2003.) The song is actually laid-back guyrock and pretty good.

Spitz - Hadaka No Mama De
Slow early 90s j-rock. Not my favourite of the bunch, but it still has that nostalgic sound that takes me back to my childhood days when I've never even heard it before.

TM Revolution - High Pressure, Hot Limit
Oh, man. Early 90s boypop at its awesomest. At first I actually thought they were Being, a studio that produced most of my most favourite 90s boypop EVER. They're not, but still awesome, catchy and so very 90s. LOVE.

Tommy February 6 - Hey Bad Boy
I'm not a fan of most of Tommy February 6's stuff (other than Where Are You My Hero, which is <3 <3 <3) Euro is very, very hit or miss with me, and Tommy February 6 is usually a miss. This song isn't my favourite either, but it's not bad, I guess. If you like Euro you'll probably like it.

Yuzu - Hajimari No Basho
Guy folk music. I love the harmonica melodies.

Blu Cantrell - Hit 'Em Up Style
Not a couple of hours before I read megchan's post, I read this snark in bsc_snark, in which the snarker says:

...she can hear the screaming before she even gets to her door. Her dad must have just gotten the credit card statement and he’s pissed by how much money Mrs. McGill has been dropping on jewelry. It sounds like she did go overboard—her jewelry tab  adds up to $2000 on one statement. Mr. McGill generally acts like a giant douchebag in all the books, but I’m on his side here. That’s a lot of money to throw down in one month on luxury items. Anyways, her defense is that he works so much that he neglects her, so she shops. Clearly, she took advice from the divine Blu Cantrell and decided that she’s going to “hit him up style” and spend all his cash. 

I had already been debating looking for the song and then I came across megchan's post! 'Tis fate!

This song is really good. I did remember it from when it first came out so there's a bit of nostalgia there, but I was a lot pickier about my music then, so I never listened to it all that much, so in some ways it was like hearing it for the first time, especially since I'd never properly listened to the lyrics, which are hilarious. XD