Poll, Japanese Female Garage Band Division: Shonen Knife vs. The 5.6.7.8.s

[MindGoneHaywire]

Anyone have an opinion on this besides me?

[mad rhetorik]

I've heard a little of both of those bands. The 5.6.7.8's contributed that wacky "Woo Hoo" or whatever track to the Kill Bill soundtrack. Damn thing got caught in my head for days, so I guess my vote is for The 5.6.7.8's. ; P

[tentoze]

Anyone have an opinion on this besides me?

My kid, Unklebob, is into some of that- what little I've heard of either made me wanna cloister myself forever.

[MindGoneHaywire]

I tried to set this up as a poll, but I'm a putz, so what can you do. I was thinking about this after renting Kill Bill Part 1 the other day. The 5.6.7.8.s are in the movie. They don't really have much in common w/the Knife besides being an all-girl Japanese trio playing garage rock...though I guess that's plenty in common. But Shonen Knife are very Ramones-y, walls of guitars, and cutesy songs about food; the 5.6.7.8.s are pure garage, single-coil city, strictly grease-covered 1-4-5s & not much else. I love both takes on garage rock & don't exactly have a preference. I've never had any 5.6.7.8.s records, but the couple Shonen Knife recs I've had in my day were uneven, with great tracks & stinkers alike. Still, I have to give my vote to Shonen Knife, for a very problematic reason: the 5.6.7.8.s simply don't sound like they have even the remotest command of their instruments. They may be able to play better than they sound, but they sound like they need a few more years of rehearsal. This may sound strange coming from me, but I do have an absolute minimum standard of instrumental competency, and they ain't got it. Their execution is as shoddy as it gets. I mean, they're friggin' Shaggs-like. Is that the point? I don't know, but I have a feeling not. This may not make much sense, but while I'm not into people that can't play at all, I am into people who can play, yet play in ways that sound as though they're not as good as they actually are. Not premeditated sloppiness, mind you, just an artful way to not let perfectionism creep into a very imperfect form. The 5.6.7.8.s simply sound inept. Anyone who listens to a band that plays simply & decides they 'can't play' because they don't have the chops of Joe Satriani is deluding themselves, but I don't see anything wrong with actually being able to play better than the 5.6.7.8s sound. And, unlike, say, the Replacements, there is absolutely nothing going on that indicates their abilities are any better than what's heard based on the lack of proficiency heard in every note.

All of which is a shame, because I LOVE what they do, and if only they did it well, I'd probably think of them a lot more highly than Shonen Knife. They're fun, if gimmicky, but it's just not enough. Shonen Knife does have plenty of good songs...hell, they've been around for a long time. Check out some of their food tunes.