The Blue Hearts

I mentioned these guys before, and linked to a cover of their stuff from the movie Linda Linda Linda.

I'm not sure I've talked about them before.

I wish I'd heard of them earlier, but I have to admit I don't think I did prior to 2005 or 2006. I stumbled across the movie Linda Linda Linda, discovered The Blue Hearts, and then had friends (and a great Japanese teacher, Kimura-sensei) lend me their stuff.

I wish I'd known about them much earlier. I'd have loved them when I was in high school and college, when I was discovering bands like Naive and digging deeper and deeper into punk's roots.

Once I discovered this band, I got turned on to The High-Lows, and later onto Cro-Magnons, both successor bands to The Blue Hearts. Neither band really grabbed me as much as the original did, but they're good, too.

Here is a quick selection of standout tracks of theirs:

Owaranai Uta


Linda Linda


Train Train


Here is a good, full, live set. That YouTube user has a number of full set videos.