Music References In JoJo's Bizarre Adventure

[PurgatoryGirl]

I would've posted this thread sooner, but was unsure of when and where to post it. I didn't know if I should post this in Toonami, since JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is currently a Toonami Anime, or to post this in Music because the series is highly music-oriented.

In the past, I already said at least a few times, that younger viewers would not necessarily catch all the music references in this franchise. If you are 30 years old or younger and only listen to a certain music genre or sub-genre, the references probably went over your head.

For example, did you already know that the main villain, Dio Brando is named after Ronnie James Dio? Some of us already knew this. However, if you are not a fan of Metal, never was exposed to or grew up listening to Dio over the last 3 decades, and happen to be much younger, chances are highly great, that you didn't catch the reference.

Anyway, here are 3 videos explaining the music references in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure for Phantom Blood, Battle Tendency, and Stardust Crusaders.

 

 

 

 

Edited February 13, 2018 by PurgatoryGirl

[PurgatoryGirl]

In case you missed this thread, it was just recently moved from Music to here. Hearing a song on the radio, or watching music videos on MTV Classic today makes me laugh. Now, I automatically associate JoJo's Bizarre Adventure characters with most singers, rappers, and groups from the '80s and '90s.

[PurgatoryGirl]

While watching Stardust Crusaders 2 hours ago, I managed to catch another music reference.

QUICK EDIT:

The man before Avdol was killed by Vanilla Ice or "Cool Ice" was Billie Jean. Originally, I thought Vanilla Ice killed Billie Jean but it was actually Iggy, who killed Billie Jean.

Just to think, last Monday made it 9 years, since the time Michael Jackson died. Literally 9 years and 2 days later, his father died of Pancreatic Cancer. Interesting.

 

Edited July 1, 2018 by PurgatoryGirl

[PurgatoryGirl]

You were probably waiting for music references regarding Diamond Is Unbreakable. There now appears to be 2 different videos, that were made.

Diamond Is Unbreakable: Music Reference #1

And Music Reference # 2:

Gotta love how the vlogger chose to use the most overplayed song by Ratt. "Round And Round." Ugh!

Edited August 6, 2018 by PurgatoryGirl

[PurgatoryGirl]

I don't know if anyone else feels this way, but I think the opening and ending theme songs for Diamond Is Unbreakable not only suck, but they also don't fit the tone of this season.

Considering that Diamond Is Unbreakable is supposed to be about Suburban Horror in Japan, during the time of 1999, I'm not buying what the franchise is selling.

The opening theme song sounds like cheesy, 1970's Porno Music, that would be used for Space Dandy.

Even though Japan's music industry and Japanese pop-culture are slightly different from American pop-culture, as well as other Western countries, Savage Garden's "I Want You" doesn't fit the series at all.

Coming from someone, who WAS in high school during 1999, Savage Garden had already faded from most charts. There were so many artists and bands before and during 1999, that the music genres and sub-genres were endless.

Since the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure franchise normally uses Rock bands in the openings and endings, they could've at least tried acquiring the rights to something that was darker, angsty, and/more aggressive-sounding. Otherwise, the franchise could've tried acquiring the rights to a Rap, Pop, or New Age song(s) that would've fit the tone or theme for Diamond Is Unbreakable.

KoRn? Slipknot? Fear Factory? Powerman 5000? Static-X? Any band or experimental project with a dark tone? Since there is a character named after Enigma, an Enigma song would've worked.

Then again, what am I talking about? The JoJo's Bizarre Adventure franchise dropped the ball by not acquiring Ronnie James Dio's song, "Egypt" for the Stardust Crusaders "Battle In Egypt" Arc.

The fact that Hirohiko Araki named his supervillain, Dio Brando after Ronnie James Dio but has NO song by Dio used as an opening or ending theme still has me reeling.

It may seem like I'm making a big deal out of nothing, but the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure franchise heavily focuses on characters named after Western musicians.

Meanwhile, did anyone catch the reference to Queen's song, "Another One Bites The Dust" in Diamond Is Unbreakable: Episode 7?

 

Edited October 7, 2018 by PurgatoryGirl

[Top Gun]

Yeah you're dead wrong, the OP and ED are great.  And Korn or Slipknot?  No thank you, I don't want to stab out my eardrums.

Related question: was "Roundabout" a chart-topper in the 1880s?

Edited October 7, 2018 by Top Gun

[QueenoftheDorks]

10 hours ago, PurgatoryGirl said:

Coming from someone, who WAS in high school during 1999, Savage Garden had already faded from most charts.

Um no. No, they'd hadn't. I Knew I Loved You came out in September 1999 and instantly became their biggest hit (eclipsing Truly, Madly, Deeply). In fact the only reason they faded from popularity is because they broke up in 2001.

In fact, they were so popular in 1999 that I Knew I Loved You spent 4 weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 chart, hit number 1 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary and Top 40 charts, and spent 124 weeks on the Adult Contemporary charts. Their second album Affirmation was released in November of 1999 and went triple platinum in the US.

So try again.

[PurgatoryGirl]

1 hour ago, Top Gun said:

Related question: was "Roundabout" a chart-topper in the 1880s?

"Roundabout" was a song released by the band, Yes in the early '70s and if memory serves me right, there was a character named after the drummer for Yes in Phantom Blood. I believe his name was Brumford.

Whether you like Rock Music or some other genre or sub-genre, the music for the opening and ending theme songs don't fit the tone or theme of the series. The franchise, could've used a song(s) with an ominous tone to it. Something to give the viewers a creepy vibe, since Diamond Is Unbreakable explores Suburban Horror.

I know that JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is a campy franchise but Diamond Is Unbreakable instantly gives a darker tone to the season at the beginning of episode 1. That's all I'm saying.

BTW: I recently discovered in that in another part, there is a character named after the Rap Metal band, Limp Bizkit, which is hilarious.

[PurgatoryGirl]

51 minutes ago, QueenoftheDorks said:

Um no. No, they'd hadn't. I Knew I Loved You came out in September 1999 and instantly became their biggest hit (eclipsing Truly, Madly, Deeply). In fact the only reason they faded from popularity is because they broke up in 2001.

In fact, they were so popular in 1999 that I Knew I Loved You spent 4 weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 chart, hit number 1 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary and Top 40 charts, and spent 124 weeks on the Adult Contemporary charts. Their second album Affirmation was released in November of 1999 and went triple platinum in the US.

So try again.

There was barely any mentioning of Savage Garden, when I was in high school during 1999.

Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, N'Sync, 98 Degrees, and The Backstreet Boys were more popular than Savage Garden back then.

That's not including artists and bands from other music genres and sub-genres. If Savage Garden was still popular in 1999, barely anyone I knew of talked about them.

My main point is that the current opening and ending theme songs don't match the tone of Diamond Is Unbreakable.

Edited October 7, 2018 by PurgatoryGirl

[Top Gun]

Part IV isn't meant to be explicit horror, at least not for most of its run.  It's supernatural urban fantasy in which the setting is as much of a character as any of the actual people in it.  Morioh is a crazy, noisy, bizarre town, and the opening fits just fine with the quirky bunch of Stand users that inhabit it.

And the whole point of the ED themes is that they represent the sorts of music that Araki was listening to when writing the various parts of the manga.  No one ever said anything about them necessarily matching the tone.  Does 70s progressive rock bring to mind gothic horror?  Does understated electronica call to mind a nigh-hopeless battle against an all-powerful foe?

[PokeNirvash]

Does walking like an Egyptian bring to mind walking to Egypt?

[PurgatoryGirl]

5 minutes ago, Top Gun said:

Part IV isn't meant to be explicit horror, at least not for most of its run.  It's supernatural urban fantasy in which the setting is as much of a character as any of the actual people in it.  Morioh is a crazy, noisy, bizarre town, and the opening fits just fine with the quirky bunch of Stand users that inhabit it.

And the whole point of the ED themes is that they represent the sorts of music that Araki was listening to when writing the various parts of the manga.  No one ever said anything about them necessarily matching the tone.  Does 70s progressive rock bring to mind gothic horror?  Does understated electronica call to mind a nigh-hopeless battle against an all-powerful foe?

Not that I'm a died hard Tim Burton fan or anything, but the franchise would've been better to use a campy score similar to a Tim Burton film as an opening theme song.

The opening for Diamond Is Unbreakable sounds like something, that would've been used for Space Dandy. LOL!

As for Prog Rock being used for Phantom Blood, there was a character named after the drummer, Bill Brumford from Yes.

[PurgatoryGirl]

3 minutes ago, PokeNirvash said:

Does walking like an Egyptian bring to mind walking to Egypt?

At least The Bangles' "Walk Like An Egyptian" has something to do with Egypt. BTW: I enjoyed that song growing up in the '80s.

[Top Gun]

1 hour ago, PurgatoryGirl said:

Not that I'm a died hard Tim Burton fan or anything, but the franchise would've been better to use a campy score similar to a Tim Burton film as an opening theme song.

The opening for Diamond Is Unbreakable sounds like something, that would've been used for Space Dandy. LOL!

As for Prog Rock being used for Phantom Blood, there was a character named after the drummer, Bill Brumford from Yes.

Part I was literal Victorian gothic horror that almost entirely took place at night.  Did you think its opening and ending were inappropriate?

Real talk for you: have you seen or read all of Part IV?  Do you have any idea as to its overall tone?

And there have been at least two hundred musical references in what's aired of the franchise thus far.  A one-off name on a minor character isn't the reason that song was used.

[QueenoftheDorks]

1 hour ago, PurgatoryGirl said:

There was barely any mentioning of Savage Garden, when I was in high school during 1999.

Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, N'Sync, 98 Degrees, and The Backstreet Boys were more popular than Savage Garden back then.

That's not including artists and bands from other music genres and sub-genres. If Savage Garden was still popular in 1999, barely anyone I knew of talked about them.

My main point is that the current opening and ending theme songs don't match the tone of Diamond Is Unbreakable.

Oh so I guess your high school was the center of the world? Cool.

As someone who has seen all of Part 4, yes they do. The series starts as an suburban fantasy. The creepy horror part doesn't even start till the middle of the series. The first OP is fun, funky, loud, and colorful... just like Josuke, his friends, and Moriah Town. The other two openings fit perfectly as well.

Spoiler

The second OP is a harder rock song and the visuals are darker and even the color palette for the opening is muted. This opening covers the section of episodes that truly introduce Kira and the underlying mystery of the series. The third OP becomes colorful and upbeat again, but there's still a touch of darkness which can represent the growing hopelessness Josuke and the others feel about losing their lead on Kira and also a happy, fun facade much like Kira's new identity. 

As for the ending it perfectly captures the fun of the late 90s. If you want to get semantic over the endings then I guess the first half of Stardust Crusaders needs a new ED because they don't actually get to Egypt until the end.

[PurgatoryGirl]

11 minutes ago, QueenoftheDorks said:

As someone who has seen all of Part 4, yes they do. The series starts as an suburban fantasy. The creepy horror part doesn't even start till the middle of the series. The first OP is fun, funky, loud, and colorful... just like Josuke, his friends, and Moriah Town. The other two openings fit perfectly as well.

  Hide contents

The second OP is a harder rock song and the visuals are darker and even the color palette for the opening is muted. This opening covers the section of episodes that truly introduce Kira and the underlying mystery of the series. The third OP becomes colorful and upbeat again, but there's still a touch of darkness which can represent the growing hopelessness Josuke and the others feel about losing their lead on Kira and also a happy, fun facade much like Kira's new identity. 

 

Ah, I see.