Credits

I would like to give credit where credit is due. Videos are from YouTube and other sources such as NicoNico while Oricon rankings and other information are translated from the Japanese Wikipedia unless noted.

Sunday, July 29, 2012

B'z -- Love Phantom


Man, was this the coolest song when the duo's 18th single came out in October 1995! Used as the ending theme song for "The X-Files" when the then-popular Fox series had debuted in Japan via TV Asahi, I thought Inaba and Matsumoto just hit the bull's-eye when they made this song. Whether or not the B'z boys had intended to or not, they made the song a perfect fit for the spooky and exciting mood of the show. And with Inaba's banshee vocals, Matsumoto's riffs, a full orchestral intro at the beginning, and the opera singer near the end, you couldn't have asked for a more over-the-top arena rock song for Halloween.

Released also as a track on their 8th album, "LOOSE" in November of that year, "Love Phantom"sold close to 2 million copies, about half of which was sold in just the first week of release. It hit the top of the charts and quickly became the 10th-ranked single of 1995.

There were also a couple of brief backing vocals on the song as well. Keiko Utoku(宇徳敬子) appeared first; she was part of the B.B. Queens chorus and the retro-kayo trio Mi-Ke. And the second vocal was provided by actress Naoko Iijima(飯島直子).


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