Bump of Chicken -- Tentai Kansoku（天体観測）

 

I once encountered a chart showing the Heisei era karaoke rankings and found out that this particular song was one of the most popular ever sung at karaoke from that period between 1989 and 2019. It stood out for the fact that I had most likely covered the rest of the list of that Top 10 in KKP but this one was new to me.

The rock band Bump of Chicken was a group that I had never covered in the blog and yet for years on end, I kept hearing their name from time to time, going back to my Japan days. With that name, it definitely stuck in my head, and I'm sure Bump of Chicken's manager was quite glad for it. Therefore, wondering what the origin behind the name was all about, I discovered that when the group of four (all born in 1979 and all from Sakura City, Chiba Prefecture): vocalist and main songwriter Motoo Fujiwara (藤原基央), guitarist Hiroaki Masukawa (増川弘明), bassist Yoshifumi Naoi (直井由文) and drummer Hideo Masu (升秀夫), had officially brought together the band in 1996 (they first started playing together at their school's cultural festival back in 1994 under the name Hage Band), they opted for a name that meant "a counterattack by a weakling". Personally, I had thought it had something to do with goose bumps but I now stand corrected.

Getting back on track, I did mention that one song on that list at karaoke. Well, it was Bump of Chicken's 3rd single "Tentai Kansoku" (Stargazing) from March 2001. As the title states, it's all about the joy of taking out that telescope and exploring the heavens. Never thought that a song about astronomy would get the rock treatment but actually "Tentai Kansoku" by Fujiwara is a fun and romantic romp filled with the excitement and glee of children setting up the telescope to view Polaris or Jupiter for the first time. 

"Tentai Kansoku" went as high as No. 3, going Gold. More than twenty years after its release, Bump of Chicken were able to perform this and one more song on the 2021 edition of the Kohaku Utagassen. The song was also included on the band's first album as a major act, "jupiter", which was released in February 2002. The album was a No. 1 hit and ended the year ranked at No. 45.