THE DAY OF DISCOVERY

I had never heard of Shonen Knife when I saw the Let's Knife 
cover, and I thought they looked really cool, but then a lot 
of crummy bands have a cool look, so I wasn't willing to 
gamble and buy the CD. Then I read an article in the Metro, 
San Jose's weekly free paper, that was about foreign bands 
in general, and the part about Shonen Knife wasn't exactly 
complimentary, but it did make me think, "This sounds like 
something I might like." A few days later (May 30, 1993), I 
bought Shonen Knife and We Are Very Happy You Came (both on 
vinyl) -- I picked the former because I saw the word "banana"
in a couple of the titles -- and the first time I played them 
I was completely blown away. They were instantly my favorite 
band. That never happened to me before, any other band had to 
grow on me. The next day I went to Tower Records in San 
Francisco and bought every CD they had: Every Band Has a Shonen 
Knife Who Loves Them, Get the Wow (both versions), Shonen Knife 
(had to have it on CD too!), Pretty Little Baka Guy, 712 and 
Let's Knife. The cashier remarked, "Wow, the whole catalog!"




GATEWAY TO THE EAST

When I first heard Shonen Knife, I knew very little about 
Japan. I had seen some anime and Godzilla movies, that was 
about it. But SK made me curious to try out other Japanese 
bands, and I discovered many I really loved, much more than 
anything coming out of America or England, groups like 
Angel'in Heavy Syrup, the Boredoms, Pizzicato Five, Melt 
Banana, the 5,6,7,8's, the Nelories, and Violent Onsen 
Geisha -- soon I was listening only to Japanese music. 
Then I started watching Japanese TV dramas with subtitles 
and eating Japanese food and drinking Asahi Super Dry and 
reading Japanese novels and going to Japanese films -- 
eventually, everything I was into (aside from Howard Stern) 
came from Japan. Over the course of a year, without intending 
to or really thinking about it, I evolved into a full-blown 
Japanophile. Now I'm studying the language and hope to visit 
Japan many times. I've been there once so far, and it was the 
highlight of my life!

SHONEN KNIFE was my gateway to the East!
SHONEN KNIFE changed my life!




Flaming in the Hazy Sunlight