TM NETWORK -- Resistance

After first seeing TM NETWORK on an episode of "The Best 10" back in my university days, I heard my very first recorded song by the band on a compilation album of Japanese pop songs at Wah Yueh. It turned out to be "Resistance", and after seeing that "The Best 10" performance with Tetsuya Komuro, Takashi Utsunomiya and Naoto Kine（小室哲哉・宇都宮隆・木根尚登）and then listening to this particular song, I definitely got what the TM NETWORK sound was all about. In fact, at one point, I thought B'z was an offshoot of the band.

"Resistance" was TM NETWORK's 12th single released on New Year's Day 1988. Written by singer-songwriter Mitsuko Komuro（小室みつ子）and composed by Tetsuya Komuro (and apparently the identical last names were just a wild coincidence and not any familial connection), the suspenseful music by Tetsuya had me thinking that "Resistance" was all about the final battle between an underground resistance movement against the evil state. But looking at the lyrics, it was actually the story of seeing a soon-to-be ex-boyfriend seeing off his love at the station as she goes off to bigger and better things. And just to emphasize how much of a nice guy he is, the lad encourages the lass to not let the bad things get her down.

According to the J-Wiki article, "Resistance" had initially been arranged to be a ballad for their 4th 1987 album, "Self-Control" but thanks to the suggestion by the producer Yoji Kosaka（小坂洋二）and supported by vocalist Utsunomiya and guitarist Kine, it was re-arranged to become this uptempo "pump you up" number that got its own single release. And good thing, too. It peaked at No. 6 and became the 56th-ranked single of the year. The new dynamic version had already been placed as a track on their 5th album, "humansystem" which was released in November 1987. The album hit No. 1 and sold about 775,000 copies.

"Resistance" was even used as the theme song for the 1988 TBS drama "Tsuukai! Rock n' Roll Douri"（痛快!ロックンロール通り...Thrilling Rock n' Roll Street）.

The compilation album