The Blue Hearts

The eponymous debut of the Blue Hearts shows their remarkable ability to make three droning major-key chords carry both a blast of energy and the "aw shucks" vibe of early rock & roll. This sound was later reflected in music of a zillion J-punk bands from Sambomaster to Beat Crusaders, but, while the record presents Blue Hearts at their freshest and most energetic, it also shows there could be a reason why their breakthrough didn't come until two albums later. This is not to say Blue Hearts is a bad release. In fact, it's one head-bobbing, toe-tapping release that maybe doesn't care much for true punk aesthetic, but scores because of its open-mindedness: the simple riffs are distinguishable from each other, there's a hefty dose of classic rock, and a couple of songs even feature a slower tempo and an acoustic guitar (who said punks don't do ballads?). The emotional vibe is perfectly balanced between cynical irony and a party-time lightheartedness, the best songs, like the opener "Mirai wa Bokura no Te no Naka," are as fun as an Elvis/Sex Pistols crossover can possibly be, and the closer "Linda Linda," Blue Hearts' most famous song, is monstrously addictive. But the end impression is still pretty plain: inspiration and energy can only replace strong songwriting to a degree, and that line is often crossed on the record — no other song on Blue Hearts can even begin to match "Linda Linda" in its ability to stick to the memory after a single listen. And catchiness ought to be the main selling point here, considering that this kind of music wasn't novel even in 1987, let alone decades later.