[10/10] Morning Musume : Wakuteka Take a chance

[Parhelion69]

Wktk Chuugakusei ver. (Riho, Eripon, Zukki, Kudo, Masaki) fan recording
http://minus.com/l5ZqNcXpnMRkX

I think only Eripon did kinda badly, but the rest was fine.

And this shows us that Riho is the best singer out of the 9th and 10th gen, she was stable and nailed her lines. Well, she's been doing this for long so it was kinda expected.

[Daisuki Daiiyo]

I blame the fact that H!P wasn't in line with what the rest of Japan was doing. The some songs during that era were amazing. Stuff like Nanchatte and Shouganai are some of the gems to come out of that era.

Fixed that for you lol. Some of the songs from then were good, but only, maybe, 2 of them rival the replay-quality that 123 has. Wakuteka is weak in that it's replayability isn't as high as 123 or some of the older releases, which I attribute to its slightly lower sales. But who's to say they can't score another 19k in the coming weeks.

I'd call 2005 to 2010 or so the "Hitting Bottom And Taking Too Long To Come Up For Air Era"

But all through that time -- as it was going on -- I thought (and still think) that it was due to uninspired, stuck-in-a-rut songwriting, production, and arrangement, along with kind of directionless leadership from the top (Tsunku and above), and not the result of any problems with the girls themselves. They really deserved better.

Oh I definitely agree. The girls were always talented and willing to work (JunJun on variety shows really tried, and Sayu's Ichiban Kawaii character came out of this era), but management was just uninspired and found them few opportunities. And I am positive that nearly all of the releases from the platinum era used strings in every song.

It's just easier for me to divide it up by leader lol.

[Chatin]

^ I would like to thank you for fucking up my grammar when fixing my sentence.

I'm tired of 1.2.3, already. And I would happily go a year without having to hear Renai Hunter. RB hasn't gotten old, yet!

[Daisuki Daiiyo]

I was trying to align with Canadian-grammar rules, but I guess I made a whoopsie!

[Starra]

That's very Canadian of you to apologise, eh.

[TotallyUncool]

And I am positive that nearly all of the releases from the platinum era used strings in every song.

That's probably true. And I've been convinced for a long time that nearly every song from mid-2005 up until relatively recently was really just a remake of Osaka Koi no Uta (Ariteru and Resonant Blue being the two major exceptions).
So the basic H!P formula for success duing that era would have been:
Osaka Koi no Uta remake + strings + uninspired everything + management asleep at the wheel = let AKB take over.

OK - I'm semi-joking, but let's-be-nice-and-call-it-platinum-era Morning Musume did deserve a lot better than that.

[Jessi]

Funny how much we are trashing the Platinum Era now that it's over. Not even a year ago (Not even 6 months ago tbh) we were fans during a period of stagnation and poor sales, still remaining faithful to Morning Musume and all of H!P no matter what decisions were made.

...Sad part is that at any moment that could be us again.

[Parhelion69]

^ Yeah, I think the same. It's natural to act like that I believe.

Platinum era had very high quality music, and each single was different except for a few exceptions. OFC there will be some essential similarities between them (like ANY music act for instance, and it's even worse for any other idol group), you just have to listen each single in order and you'll see how different each one is.

Bias against that era just because low sales is evident. Low sales doesn't mean bad quality, good sales doesn't mean good quality.

The best selling artists are the best ones? Is it like that in your countries? It isn't in mine, and it think it seldom happens, usually you sell mostly because of great image and excellent marketing, you stablish trends because you can, not because you deserve it.

[RpgN]

I still adore the Platinum Era under Takahashi Ai. The group felt like an actual group for a while and had a fixed image. That make me look at the group as young women with more mature songs than being a typical idol group with a bunch of girls.

This Colourful Era is back to being about idols but with a twist, cool idols with an attitude. I'm not sure when it's considered this era has started (after kyuki or juuki?) but they took a while to adjust and get there. I've been really liking the songs and the last two albums. It's good that they're focusing more on dancing and personality in this era but hopefully they don't forget what also makes them good, and that's having some idols there who can also sing.

[Starra]

Lol, I was never that attached to Platinum Era.

---

Second week rankings, since I haven't seen them posted...
6 (Mon) - 26 (Tue) - 17 (Wed) - 29 (Thurs) - 20 (Fri) - 19 (Sat) - 29 (Sun)