SPEED -- Go! Go! Heaven

Ahhh...more nostalgic feelings from my early days of Ichikawa. The SPEED girls were starting to make waves into the ocean occupied by Namie Amuro（安室奈美恵）and the rest of the Komuro Boom. And I distinctly remember this song by them, "Go! Go! Heaven", getting heavy rotation on the TV CD rankings for months.

Recalling all those years back when their 3rd single was released in March 1997, my nostalgia didn't particularly reach into their vocal prowess. However, Hitoe, Hiroko, Takako and Eriko had plenty of spunk in their performances including their dancing. I wouldn't have been surprised if a lot of little girls and boys badgered their parents to put them through SPEED's alma mater, the Okinawa Actors' School after watching the group's music videos.

Hiromasa Ijichi（伊秩弘将）, who also created songs for Chisato Moritaka（森高千里）and Misato Watanabe（渡辺美里）, wrote and composed "Go! Go! Heaven", and his melody got admiration from guitar-shredding Takahiro Matsumoto（松本孝弘）of B'z according to the J-Wiki article on the song. There is a certain feeling of B'z-ness in the tune when I roll it around in my head. And more importantly, "Go! Go! Heaven" also got the love from the listening public as it became SPEED's first No. 1 hit, becoming a million-seller. The video, by the way, was filmed in New York City and Miami. By the end of the year, the song was the 37th-ranked single of the year.