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*[[27 February 1989]]: Ah, Singapore (8" mini-album - Pretty Little Baka Guy) Zero
  
*[[27 February 1989]]: Ah, Singapore (8" mini-album - Pretty Little Baka Guy) Zero
 
*[[20 November 1989]]: I Wanna Eat Choco Bars
  
*[[20 November 1989]]: I Wanna Eat Choco Bars
  +
;1990
 
*[[24 November 1990]]: Elephant Pao Pao (album - [http://www.discogs.com/Shonen-Knife-Shonen-Knife/release/5522995 Shonen Knife]) Giant / Gasatanka GR1 60472
  
*[[24 November 1990]]: Elephant Pao Pao (album - [http://www.discogs.com/Shonen-Knife-Shonen-Knife/release/5522995 Shonen Knife]) Giant / Gasatanka GR1 60472
 
'''1991'''
  
'''1991'''

Revision as of 19:05, 17 September 2014

Shonen Knife

Shonen Knife, written in Japanese as 少年ナイフ, which transliterates as Shōnen Naifu, literally "Boy Knife", is an all-female Japanese pop-punk band formed in Osaka, Japan, in 1981. Heavily influenced by 1960s girl groups, pop bands, The Beach Boys, and early punk rock bands, such as the Ramones, the trio crafts stripped-down songs with simplistic lyrics sung both in Japanese and English. Despite their pop-oriented nature, the trio maintains a distinctly underground garage rock sound rooted in edgy instrumentation and D.I.Y. aesthetics, which over the course of their long career has earned them a solid, worldwide cult following and made avid fans out of seminal '90s alternative rock bands such as Sonic Youth, Nirvana, and Babes In Toyland. The band has been credited with making the international pop underground more international by opening it up to bands from Japan. They have also performed as a Ramones tribute band under the name The Osaka Ramones.

Links To Peel

Peel seemed to discovered the band in the mid-80's, possibly through his trip to Japan in 1986 with Janice Long for a BBC Radio One documentary on the World Popular Song Festival. The band didn't get a chance for a session on Peel's show until the early 90's, despite Peel regularly playing them. However after 1992, Peel seemed to lose interest in the group, after they were signed to major record labels and their sound became more commercial.

After Peel's death, the group performed at the John Peel Centre in 2013. Singer and guitarist Naoko Yamano commented:

“I remember we had John Peel sessions twice. I had no chance to see him directly. I was very honored to do the sessions. He even played our song A Day At The Factory in the early 1980s on his BBC radio program. At that time, our albums were released just in Japan and I’d never been overseas. I was surprised about it. I’d like to have thanked him.” [1]

Sessions

1. Recorded: 1991-12-08. Broadcast: 25 January 1992. Repeated: 03 April 1992, 18 July 1992

  • Flying Jelly Attack / Watchin' Girl / Tortoise Brand Pot Cleaner's Theme / Antonio Baka Guy / Boys / Chinese Song

2. Recorded: 1992-09-01. Broadcast: 02 October 1992. Repeated: 28 November 1992

  • Get The Wow / Animal Song / Ice Cream City / Elmer Elevator / I Am A Cat

Other Shows Played 

(This list was compiled only from the database of this site and Lorcan's Tracklistings Archive. Please add more information if known.)

1987

1989

1990

1991

  • 14 April 1991: Blue Oyster Cult
  • 20 July 1991: Neon Zebra (7" - Neon Zebra b/w Bear Up Bison (Live)) Sub Pop SP108
  • 17 November 1991: Space Christmas (single) Seminal Twang
  • 02 December 1991 (Ö3): 'Space Christmas (7")' (Seminal Twang) (JP: 'I'm one of those people, I have to admit, who really dislikes the whole Christmas period, mainly because it's the time of the year at which we become incredibly sentimental about children, and the old, and also the homeless by and large, whereas the rest of the year round, of course, we couldn't give a toss about them. I really hate that: it's their one day a year they really needed us. The rest, forget it. I'm sure it's not the same in Austria. Is it, I wonder, the same in Japan?')
  • 08 December 1991: Making Plans For Bison (LP - Pretty Little Baka Guy) Subversive
  • 26 December 1991 (Radio Mafia): Bear Up Bison (7" - Space Christmas) Seminal Twang
  • Tiger 91: 'Space Christmas (7")' (Twang)

1992

  • 04 September 1992: (JP: 'On the Saturday at Reading, I was unable to get along to the tent at all because the whole of the backstage area was so jammed with people pretending to be NME and Melody Maker journalists that you couldn't really fight your way through them. But our Thomas, even before he got to Reading, in fact for weeks before, was saying that the thing he was looking forward to most was Shonen Knife. Where he got this from I simply don't know at all, but this is what he was after, and after he had seen them, he pronounced himself well-satisfied with them. So, Tom, if you're listening, this is a record by Shonen Knife, and you ought to be asleep by now.') 'Bear Up Bison (CD single-Space Christmas)' (Seminal Twang)
  • 06 September 1992 (BFBS): Space Christmas (7") Seminal Twang
  • 07 November 1992: Riding On The Rocket (7") August 
  • 24 December 1992: Space Christmas (7") Seminal Twang

Others

External Links

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