[quote="Sawao Yamanaka™"]Well, the first song I heard by them was Carnival. (The full version)

the first time I listened to it, I got chills down my spine. It was so great, and it was upbeat and not whiney. The Pillows are actually what got me into music as a whole. before them, I didnt really listen to anything other than classical and some jazz. They opened a whole new world for me.[/quote]

The song that really caught my ear was when I heard carnival, and that's also the first song of their's I learned to play.

[quote="Sawao Yamanaka™"]The Pillows are actually what got me into music as a whole. before them, I didnt really listen to anything[/quote]

[quote="Kozumou"][quote="Sawao Yamanaka™"]The Pillows are actually what got me into music as a whole. before them, I didnt really listen to anything[/quote][/quote]

Pretty much the same for me. Except for Yoko Kanno (Cowboy Bebop soundtracks).

[quote="GoldenRhino"][quote="Kozumou"][quote="Sawao Yamanaka™"]The Pillows are actually what got me into music as a whole. before them, I didnt really listen to anything[/quote][/quote]

Pretty much the same for me. Except for Yoko Kanno (Cowboy Bebop soundtracks).[/quote]

You like that, too? Awesome. I feel so weird that I've never seen that show. It's kind of amazing how the music is just that good that I could get addicted to an OST without having watched the show.

I mean, it's understandable for pillows fans to have never seen FLCL, as their music is more or less independent from it.

As for me, the pillows opened up a new avenue of music to me. I am a hardcore classic rock fan (classic rock is actually what got me into music; namely, the band Queen). So in many classic rock communities, you're kind of force-fed this culture of shunning modern music, and for the most part I still agree with many of those sentiments. However, the pillows showed me that there is still a lot of great contemporary music out there that isn't based off of the blues, hard rock, heavy metal, or any of that other classic rock goodness.

[quote="sheerheartattack"]
Pretty much the same for me. Except for Yoko Kanno (Cowboy Bebop soundtracks).[/quote]

You like that, too? Awesome. I feel so weird that I've never seen that show. It's kind of amazing how the music is just that good that I could get addicted to an OST without having watched the show.

[/quote]

i agree.

the soundtrack is amazing because, to me, it feels so separated from the anime itself.....i mean as in entity. the work together just fun, but for the music, its beautiful on its own.

jazz is badass.

TL;DR:

But also, I think there are certain soundtracks (or individual songs from soundtracks) that really require a viewing of the source material in order to really..."get it" or appreciate it. Either that, or the enjoyment will many times just be enhanced.

Example: Many tracks on the Azumanga Daioh OST are waaay upbeat, kiddy, cutesy and fun. With the knowledge that the music is supposed to go along with happy-go-lucky Japanese highschool girls in an anime series...you can accept it and be like: "Ok. I get this." or "I remember where this is from! ::happy::"

Another example... there's this one song on the Witch Hunter Robin OST called "Say Goodbye". It's a really dramatic and sad only featuring strings...it's really really moving. Anyway, I've seen the anime series so I know where it's from. When I hear the song, I can imagine a crumbling anti-witch syndicate (bad guys) being set on fire...the protagonists on the roof, getting evacuated by helicopters, communicating through radio transmitters to the base, the uncertain fate of our heroine, Robin, and the general climax of the entire 26 episode series.

The musical piece by itself is already powerful. But when you can connect images, themes, and characters to it, it can sometimes be even more affecting.

I really consider Yoko Kanno and Yuki Kajiura (.hack//SIGN, Noir, solo work, and others) to be geniuses when it comes to soundtracks. Their skills in different musical styles are so diverse...and..just...AH! I fucking love anime soundtracks. Yeah, I said it.

I have the soundtracks to: Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, Boogiepop Phantom, Music Inspired by Boogiepop Phantom, Noir, .hack//SIGN, Saikano, Evangelion, Cowboy Bebop, Gunslinger Girl, Azumanga Daioh, Last Exile, Chobits, and...of course...FLCL.

Hot damn. But yeah, all of you guys really need to see Cowboy Bebop, anime fan or otherwise. The dub is especially kick ass. Hell, you can buy the entire season of it for about $30 on...some sites. and ebay. It's from a Chinese distributor who just rips the US DVDs. English audio, with accurate subtitles. It's a fantastic deal.

edit: and one more thing, cause this post isn't nearly long enough! The thing with soundtracks, is that much of the time, each individual track will be trying to express some emotion or event in specific. There's not much room for ambiguity, as it was made to correlate to something happening on screen. That means a death scene will sound like a death scene, and a romantic encounter between two people will likely sound like one.

That's where it gets fun...listening to the stuff on your MP3 player of choice, and totally turning the mood of whatever you're doing around. I was listening to "Say Goodbye" while walking to the busstop with my girlfriend the other day. I was thinking: "Damn. If this were a movie, we'd totally be about to commit suicide or break up."

Music is the soundtrack to life, yes. But it's particularly enjoyable when your soundtrack to life...is a soundtrack.

[quote="sheerheartattack"][quote="GoldenRhino"][quote="Kozumou"][quote="Sawao Yamanaka™"]The Pillows are actually what got me into music as a whole. before them, I didnt really listen to anything[/quote][/quote]

Pretty much the same for me. Except for Yoko Kanno (Cowboy Bebop soundtracks).[/quote]

You like that, too? Awesome. I feel so weird that I've never seen that show. It's kind of amazing how the music is just that good that I could get addicted to an OST without having watched the show.

I mean, it's understandable for pillows fans to have never seen FLCL, as their music is more or less independent from it.[/quote]
Yeah, I've never actually watched all of FLCL, just the first two episodes a long time ago, and that was after I started getting into the music. Though it's still thanks to the show that I found the pillows. And I do watch anime, sometimes. There's no good reason that I never watched the whole show, especially considering how short it is. I'll get around to it sometime...

I've never seen any Cowboy Bebop, and I doubt if I've heard the music, but maybe I should check it out, haha.

And before the pillows I still liked music. I mean, I appreciated it. I was in the concert band in school, generally liked it, noticed its effectiveness in movies and shows. But the random popular stuff that I always heard, that I grew up hearing (especially since my dad's always been a DJ for radio stations that specialize in popular music) didn't appeal to me enough to want to go out and buy a CD and take the time to just listen to it. the pillows changed that. Since then, I've been listening to music almost constantly, it seems.

Wrong section

I liked them because they sounded different. From other bands groups. And each song was good. ...around 03...but i was afraid that i would end up hating them..because i never really liked a band..but i ignored them but i couldnt stop listenign to them ^__^ my own version of crack:P in a good way

It was fun listening to them through FLCL. Most of the music in America was getting pretty stale at the time and getting worse with every new artist. I thought what the hell let's try it out.

[quote="GoldenRhino"]


I have the soundtracks to: Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, Boogiepop Phantom, Music Inspired by Boogiepop Phantom, Noir, .hack//SIGN, Saikano, Evangelion, Cowboy Bebop, Gunslinger Girl, Azumanga Daioh, Last Exile, Chobits, and...of course...FLCL.

[/quote]

miyazaki's films in general have had really good music in them, makes them quite more enjoyable. Last Exile's music was pretty damn good, i meant to dl it at some point but never got around to it.

but yeah, i'm one of those who listened to the Pillows back in 04 off of FLCL and it luckily steered me towards enjoying music. before that i listened to country...eewwwww

The first song of theirs I heard was Strange Chameleon, back in around 2004. A guy on a forum made a thread about how awesome the song was, and I was curious so I asked him to send it to me, he sent it, I listened and enjoyed, and that's when I started liking The Pillows. He just kept sending me a bunch of random songs from their albums, like Carnival, Funny Bunny, One Life, etc. Just a ton of good songs. The Pillows are amazing. And I'm not sure why you guys are saying their recent stuff is less good, I still think it's good.

i like how manabe makes lead guitar look so easy.

[quote="zenkalia"]i like how the pillows make music look so easy.[/quote]

[quote="itamae"][quote="zenkalia"]pillows music is easy[/quote][/quote]