I think the last time I actually had a day off from writing on the blog was during my trip to Japan in 2017. But after nearly five years, that's what happened to me yesterday so I am grateful to my fellow co-administrators Larry and Noelle for putting in their articles of choice and passion on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" on the 13th. And of course, Happy Birthday Akina Nakamori（中森明菜）!
Now the reason that I was a non-blogger yesterday was that I got together with an old friend of mine for the first time in nine months to have lunch and a movie. And as you can see from the thumbnail and that familiar smile above, it was "Top Gun: Maverick". To be honest, I never expected to catch this one since I'd never seen the original 1986 movie "Top Gun". It really wasn't my cup of ocha, so to speak. But over the years, I've managed to catch all of the main scenes through various sources including Pete "Maverick" Mitchell buzzing the control tower, Goose getting his name cooked, Maverick and Iceman digging into each other, and of course, the dogfights. Oh, yes...there was some romance in there, too.
Watching the sequel yesterday, I had a good time especially with those amazing scenes on the jets and all of the dogfighting there. Basically, the two hours were very much a coda to Maverick's career in the navy. I just had to keep track of all of the pilot nicknames (Bob was easy, though).
Of course, the "Top Gun" soundtrack probably made oodles of money, and though as I said, I didn't catch the original movie, some of the individual tracks from the album became huge hits on their own. There was Kenny Loggins' "Danger Zone", Berlin's "Take My Breath Away", and of course, the "Top Gun Anthem" by Harold Faltermeyer with Steve Stevens (from Billy Idol's band) on the guitar. I remember hearing the rock ballad back in the 1980s all the time alongside those two other hits, and I have to admit that hearing the reprise of it on the trailers for "Maverick" and in the movie itself did activate my goose pimples. It also raised enough interest at the Grammies and as such, the anthem won an award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance in 1987.
Seeing that the soundtrack was released in May 1986, how were the Japanese singles doing that month? Well, here are Nos. 4 and 6.
No. 4 KUWATA BAND -- BAN BAN BAN
No. 6 REBECCA -- Raspberry Dream
The new movie is a worldwide smash but it did especially well in Japan. The soundtrack for both the old and new one are charting pretty high on Oricon right now. Tom Cruise and the rest of the cast members visiting Japan to promote the movie also didn't hurt either.
ReplyDeleteYeah, as I was saying to my friend, "Maverick" has got legs. I heard about Cruise and the cast stopping by in Japan. Apparently, the seiyuu for "Uma Musume" were at the promotion for some reason, and the dubbing cast has some of the big A-list seiyuu.
Delete