SCANDAL, the self-proclaimed “Most Powerful Japanese Girlie Pop Rock”, appeared on NHK’s MUSIC JAPAN Shinseki Anisong Special (新世紀アニソンSP) earlier this month. While I didn’t know anything about them prior to today, some of you may know them for performing “Shoujo S”, the tenth opening theme to Bleach.

Anyway, instead of performing one of their songs on this TV special, SCANDAL opted to perform a cover of the ever-so-popular K-ON! ending theme, “Don’t say ‘lazy'”. They’re not quite the Yui, Mio, Mugi, and Ritsu we know, but they are a real-life group of high school friends from Osaka who formed their own band and made it to the big leagues, so it was pretty cool to hear their rendition of this awesome song. The only thing that would’ve made this a bit cooler is a keyboardist for the true Houkago Tea Time composition.

 

P.S. Anyone else see a bit of ZONE in them?

42 Comments

  1. two main differences:

    vocals: Scandal. though Mio voice is awesome, dual vocal is always my choice

    Instruments: Original. Though the shuffle-feel is interesting, the lead guitar part I loved so much wasn’t there…

    vin-nii
  2. Well… nice…. Somehow I liked some parts in the original song. Like the keyboard. Well at least it’s not that repetitive like the original. I only liked the original in the short version. But once I heard the full it felt too dragged on too much.

    megalith
  3. Watched b4 liao, was rather disappointing in this video, think K-ON!’s still better; my friend, who was a fan of SCANDAL thought otherwise, and thought I crazy about Heavy Metal. So? K-ON! mah… moe moe kyun!

    kaineng
  4. They have talent, but they lack charisma.. I feel strange watching the drummer bounce her head and they keep smiling every time… I feel weird

    The original is still better. It needs more bass

    Ryonusuku Akutagawa
  5. I really don’t get the Zone vibe from them. Probably because Zone were more idols turned into a band and Scandal is more…I’m not sure how to put it. More self made as a band? More of a raw sound (nothing wrong with that)? They write their own songs for the most part. They are also anime fans.

    tenton
  6. You guys have to remember this is a LIVE recording (as opposed to in-studio). 😀

    For some reason I’ve always thought the mangaka was inspired by SCANDAL! It’s really cool that they’ve done a cover of this song~

    miki
  7. That was good, especially for a live.

    Audience seemed enthused.

    Sometimes I think the fantastic ending theme will be the major legacy of K’On, outliving
    the series and popping up in covers every so often for the next decade or two.

    DLP
  8. I prefer the Niconi☆school version… which is a mash up of Japanese net legends like Tissue Hime and Piko. Plus, it’s funny having a bunch of guys cover it when two are acting as traps.

    jaysus
  9. I really like this cover,doesn’t sound like the original but they didn’t even try too,they just re adapted it in their own way,i like the intro and how at the last chorus the guitars all stop and restart at the same time a couple of times (i think that wasn’t in the original).

    It sounds more raw because in a sens,it is!They’ve got no keyboard player so a lot of the backround keyboard parts during the chorus are gone,then there’s almost no effect on the voices (just a little reverb) contrarly to a studio recording where they put a few effects in.

    That’s what great about covers you don’t need to compare it to the original,there’s more than one way to interpret a song,just like there’s more than way to paint the same subject.

    totoum
  10. I think they have some potential…. but frankly they’ve got a ways to go before they hit “ZONE” quality of vocals. OTOH, they’ve got a nice rough edge to their music though. Hopefully they’ll avoid the sugary crap ballads ZONE was too often set up to do (ZONE’s best stuff that made them stand out was the harder edged music).

    vexx
  11. with scandal being the “in” thing went in watching this video, expecting something really good, on par with the nico band ver. but really all i found was a half hearted performance. I really found this performance disapointing, instrumentaly wise, it lacked any punch whatsoever IMO, and rhis ver made even the original song sound better. and seriously from such a popular band i expected better. Some might say it’s their take on this song, but seriously musically wise i expect more, i cringe at the fact that at certain moments they made such a smooth and rockish song feel soo….choppy.

    All i have to say if i were to base my opinions of them on this video alone, is that they’re popular just because they look cute/good. they’re good(or averagely good), but they don’t deserve this kind of attn or recommendation for pulling a lousy cover of a song many have pulled off wonderfully. of course this is MY OPINION so yea . ._.

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