Sakanaction -- Rookie（ルーキー）

 

Throughout the Sakanaction（サカナクション）file on KKP thus far, I've been kinda jumping back and forth through their discography, and up to this point, my impression of Ichiro Yamaguchi（山口一郎）and his band has been one of a brand of technopop and rock that is slightly less caterwauling than the music of POLYSICS but no less hook-laden. In addition, I've also enjoyed their music videos which show off a deadpan sense of humour, and that includes the amazing "Wasurerarenaino"（忘れられないの）, a shoutout to the Japanese music ranking shows of the 1980s and perhaps Omega Tribe（オメガトライブ）.

Much of the Sakanaction music on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" has been from the more recent part of their discography, but I've written about "Ame (B)" which saw the first light of day in 2009 and even back then, there was that techno-rock sense about them. However, the entry this time is their 4th single "Rookie" from March 2011.

Interestingly enough, there is much more written about "Rookie" on Wikipedia than on J-Wiki so if you're intrigued, you ought to give that article a gander. The article states that the song is stylistically different from what had come before for Sakanaction although I think that Yamaguchi, who wrote and composed the song, has maintained my usual image of the band's techno-rock, although, yes, the BPM has jumped up considerably and "Rookie" heads somewhat more toward the Denki Groove（電気グルーヴ）arena.

The music video by Daisuke Shimada is also striking in that the premise seems to be something out of "The Twilight Zone" with Yamaguchi himself portraying a fellow caught in a mysterious time-and-dimension loop. It all ends with a female version of Yamaguchi lying dead at his feet. The only person missing is Rod Serling himself popping out and warning about the dangers of stray interdimensional portals. According to that same Wiki article, "Rookie" was inspired by Yamaguchi's worries at the time of where his band was heading versus where it ought to be heading, and also about the physical suffering that he was experiencing due to his sensorineural hearing loss. Perhaps some of that ended up getting into the general idea of the video. My question is whether the title of the song referred to whether Yamaguchi had felt like starting from Ground Zero again with him once more as a rookie in the music industry. "Rookie" peaked at No. 6 on Oricon.