自由論題［投稿論文：研究ノート］

Guest Lectures in “Indie Rock ’88 to’98” by Naoko Yamano of Shonen
Knife

少年ナイフの山野直子さんによる『インディーズロック ’88 ～ ’98』ゲスト講義
David Hoenigman

Visiting Lecturer, Faculty of Environment and Information Studies, Keio University

デイビッド・ヘニグマン
慶應義塾大学環境情報学部訪問講師
Correspondence to: david072@keio.jp

Abstract:

The purpose of this article is to give a progress report about the “Indie Rock ’88
to ’98” course that I teach at Keio SFC. I explain the concept behind the course, andhow it is constructed. I give the uninitiated an idea of what is meant by indie rock. I
mention some of the albums that we focus on in the course, including Japanese band
Shonen Knife’s 1992 album Let’s Knife. The article portrays some of the history of
Shonen Knife, and explains their impact on the international indie rock world. The
article recounts Shonen Knife leader Naoko Yamano’s online lectures in the “Indie
Rock ’88 to ’98” class (6/10/2022 & 11/25/2022) via Zoom. Naoko Yamano has been
active as the leader of Shonen Knife for over 40 years. During her virtual visits, among
other topics, she told the students stories of her band touring with US grunge legends
Nirvana in the early 1990s. This article includes an excerpt of her speech from her
second visit, as well as selected material from the question and answer session.
本稿の目的は、私が慶應 SFC で担当している『インディーズ・ロック ’88 ～’98』講座の実践報告である。
まず、コースのコンセプトや構成について説明している。インディー・ロッ
クとはどういうものなのか、初心者の方にもご理解いただけるだろう。日本のバンド、少年ナイフの 1992 年のアルバム『レッツ・ナイフ』など、このコース
で取り上げるアルバムについて触れている。また、少年ナイフの歴史の一端を描き、海外のインディーロック界に与えた影響についても解説している。バンドのリーダーである山野直子が、ゲストスピーカーとして 2 回（2022 年 6 月
10 日・11 月 25 日）Zoom 訪問された授業を紹介。
2 回目の訪問では、リーダーとして 40 年以上活動している彼女が、1990 年
代前半にアメリカのグランジレジェンドである Nirvana（ニルヴァーナ）と共にツアーを行った際のエピソードなどが語られた。本稿では、学生への講演の模様と、質疑応答を抜粋し掲載している。

70

Guest Lectures in “Indie Rock ’88 to ’98” by Naoko Yamano of Shonen Knife

Keywords: Shonen Knife, Japanese indie rock, Nirvana tours

少年ナイフ、日本のインディーロック、ニルヴァーナのツアー

1

The Unclear Meaning of the Term Indie RockIn the first “Indie Rock ’88 to ’98” class of the semester, as a way to give

students an immediate workable understanding of the imprecise criteria of the music
to be discussed throughout the course, I invite them to simply think of indie rock as
1990s rock music. From that point, I hope that the dozens of artists, bands, and songs
that we focus on throughout the term provide the students context to consider the
inexact notion of what constitutes indie rock. My syllabus refers students to Novara
and Henry’s (2009) description of the genre as “the careful balancing of pop
accessibility with noise, playfulness in manipulating pop music formulae, sensitive
lyrics masked by tonal abrasiveness and ironic posturing, a concern with
ʻauthenticity,’ and the cultivation of a ʻregular guy’ (or girl) image” (p. 817). To oﬀer
students further (perhaps more readily applicable) guidance from an undoubtedly
familiar source, my syllabus also includes an excerpt from the Wikipedia page
concerning indie rock:Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became
associated with the music they [the labels] produced and was initially usedinterchangeably with alternative rock or “guitar pop rock.” … During the
1990s, grunge and punk revival bands in the US and Britpop bands in the
UK broke into the mainstream, and the term “alternative” lost its original
counter-cultural meaning. The term “indie rock” became associated with thebands and genres that remained dedicated to their independent status.
As the rise and fall of both grunge and Britpop, including their cultural aftermath, arediscussed at length in the course; this definition provides some of the footing on
which to begin our analysis.
To view the album list included in the syllabus, one would be right to surmisethat for the purposes of this course I employ a deliberately broad scope. At times, I
found it hard to resist adding certain albums that stretch the deﬁnition of indie rock,
KEIO SFC JOURNAL Vol.23 No.1 2023

71

自由論題

but nonetheless incorporate the zeitgeist of the era and act as an entry point for
students to gain a deeper understanding of the time period and its cultural output.
Yes, my deﬁnition of indie rock is far-reaching in this course, but pointedly so; and I
pause to stress this to students when I feel that certain songs we are analyzing in classthreaten to belie what I have already taught them to consider indie rock. Some of thefeatured artists have evolved beyond the term, others’ relationship to it had only everbeen tangential. Though my deﬁnition of indie rock is rather expansive, I still prefer
the term to alternative rock which I feel became overused in its day (especially by
proﬁt driven radio program directors), and included many artists who did not have ashred of abrasiveness, irony, or outsider sensibility.

2

The “Indie Rock ’88 to ’98” Course at Keio SFC
Included below is an excerpt from the “Indie Rock ’88 to ’98” syllabus:

Course Summary
This class will explore indie rock from 1988 to 1998. It will be a ﬁrsthand accountof album (cassettes/CDs) buying and concert going during that time period. We
will discuss bands and solo artists within their cultural and historical contexts. We
will analyze albums, song lyrics, music videos, and footage of live performances.
We will have discussions based on these materials. Students are expected toparticipate enthusiastically. There will be weekly homework that relates to the inclass topics. There will be a midterm essay test and a ﬁnal presentation.
Objectives / Intended Learning Outcome
Students will
1. gain insight into indie rock and why it was/is signiﬁcant,-be introduced to dozens of relevant artists-discuss the artists in relation to mainstream culture
2. improve listening skills through the use of authentic materials-be given YouTube playlists and corresponding homework- listen to weekly lectures concerning the playlists

72

Guest Lectures in “Indie Rock ’88 to ’98” by Naoko Yamano of Shonen Knife

3. analyze and discuss challenging artistic content,-join in classroom discussions-express their reactions to the music
4. gain an appreciation of subcultures and music scenes,-consider the subcultural origins of the artists-gain an understanding of subgenres within indie rock5. choose an artist/album to focus on for the ﬁnal presentation.
-give a detailed analysis of an album or artist of their choice-consider why certain artists resonate with them

Pop culture is usually considered in terms of decades: the ʻ60s, the ʻ70s, etc. I
was inspired by Simon Reynolds’ excellent book Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk
1978-1984 (2005) to not be inhibited by this conventional chronological framework.
Though I wanted my course to highlight a decade of music, I felt that in my case theyears 1988 to 1998 were the most formative in my feelings concerning the type ofmusic I wanted to discuss. Jane’s Addiction’s Nothing’s Shocking (1988) and Neutral
Milk Hotel’s In the Aeroplane Over the Sea (1998) would operate as bookends. My
ﬁrsthand accounts of discovering these artists and the profound eﬀects these albums(and dozens in between) had on me would begin as a 16-year-old MTV-obsessed highschool student and end as a 26-year-old indie rock devotee in my own “aeroplaneover the sea” from my native Ohio en route to Japan. Beginning in week two of thecourse, each class focuses on a certain year (week two:1988, week three:1989, etc.).
As much as possible, I try to include personal memories of my reactions to the music
upon initial exposure to it. My lectures contain anecdotes of when and how I ﬁrst
discovered the artists, and ideally recollections of seeing the bands perform live at
crucial points in their careers. I believe that a personalized account of the time period
and its landmark creative achievements offers students a deeper cultural
understanding of the topic.
It may be through multiple readings of Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral
History of Punk (1996) by Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain that I gained a special
KEIO SFC JOURNAL Vol.23 No.1 2023

73

自由論題

love of rock history through storytelling: the artists and fans become humanized,
songs from past generations become approachable and relatable, and the atmosphereof the time period takes shape in our minds. In class, I speak from the perspective ofan enthusiast of the music and do not claim to have special insider knowledge of theartists other than how the music aﬀected me and those surrounding me at the time of
its release. In this capacity, I see myself as a curator compiling lists of works forstudents to interact with and consider. Though the more well-known artists on mysyllabus may be somewhat familiar to them, I suspect that a good portion of thematerial will be entirely new to their ears. Ideally, students will come to gain anaﬃnity for certain albums or artists. Homework consists of viewing YouTube playlists
that I’ve constructed (1992 playlist, 1993 playlist, etc.) to correspond with the yearthat we are focusing on the following week.

3

Shonen Knife: Japanese Indie Rock Pioneers
As this is a course delivered in English, I have almost entirely focused on works

by native English speakers written and sung in English (Björk from Iceland, andStereolab’s Lætitia Sadier from France are two exceptions). However, to add cultural
insight and give students a sense of the role Japanese artists played in theinternational indie rock scene, I have included Japanese musicians when I thought it
relevant. Shonen Knife’s Let’s Knife (1992), Blonde Redhead’s Blonde Redhead(1995), Cibo Matto’s Viva! La Woman (1996), and Boredoms’ Super æ (1998) are
discussed in class1). Of these four bands, I give Shonen Knife a place of particularsigniﬁcance. I point out that in the pre-internet days, before American young people
had ready access to Japanese manga or anime online; for a certain subset of mygeneration, Shonen Knife was our ﬁrst meaningful connection to Japan.
All-female Osaka trio Shonen Knife struck a chord with western audiences for anumber of reasons. The music was wonderful; it was catchy, quirky, and tight. The
playful subject matter of the lyrics (“Twist Barbie,” “Flying Jelly Attack,” “Cycling Is
Fun,” etc.) was refreshing. As a necessary reaction to the good-time hair metal of the80s, harder rock may have overcorrected with the heavy-handed earnestness of74

Guest Lectures in “Indie Rock ’88 to ’98” by Naoko Yamano of Shonen Knife

industrial rock and grunge. It had become too serious, too fast (for example, Let’s
Knife was released less than two weeks after Pearl Jam’s hit single “Jeremy” that told
the story of a 15-year-old boy who committed suicide by gun in front of his entire
class). The feelings of social unrest that came to a boil in the Los Angeles riots ofspring 1992 infused gangsta rap albums such as Dr. Dre’s The Chronic (1992) and
Ice Cube’s The Predator (1992) that were released, and took the genre mainstream,
later that year. Though the emotional weight of all this music was justified andinevitable, it did lead to a certain fatigue among young people who were eager toembrace a brand of detached apathy that Richard Linklater’s 1990 ﬁlm Slacker had
crystallized and put in motion.
Kurt Cobain of Nirvana was somewhere in between weightiness and apathy.
Though many were eager to attach coherent meaning to his cryptic Gen X call toarms “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” few succeeded in a discernable way. While the lyrics
to the Nirvana singles that followed did not indicate anything mirthful or lighthearted;
in interviews at the time, it seemed Cobain was trying to shrug oﬀ the responsibilityof being the voice of a generation and wanted to simply revel in poppy escapism. In
comments to the British magazine Melody Maker in 1991, Cobain stressed what
attracted him to Shonen Knife onstage, repeating the word “pop” as if it were a kindof insecticide against a swarm of earnestness-carrying ﬂies:“We saw Shonen Knife and they were so cool. I turned into a nine-year old
girl at a Beatles concert. I was crying and jumping up and down and tearing
my hair out –it was amazing. I’ve never been so thrilled in my whole life.
They play pop music – pop, pop, pop music.” (Scanlon, 1991, p. 37)
Cobain had been a Shonen Knife fan for years at this point. He especially loved their
1983 album Burning Farm. From his comments here, we can see that when
discussing the topic with journalists his enthusiasm for the band included a certain
forcefulness and defensiveness. The idea of “pop” was scorned in some circles of the
US at the time, still a few years away from when Britpop would breathe new life into
the term.
In addition to the much-needed lightheartedness they brought to western fans,
KEIO SFC JOURNAL Vol.23 No.1 2023

75

自由論題

Shonen Knife were a bizarre, yet charming echo of our own culture reﬂected back to
us via a heart-shaped pocket mirror from a distant Asian underground music scene.
As Edward K. Chan (2016) writes, “They rocked in a similar way as the Ramones, towhom they are inevitably compared, with infectious power pop chords and songs
about ice cream, public baths, choco bars, and other elements of Japanese pop
culture.” (p. 120) In their music, we could hear wonderfully distorted reverberationsof the Beach Boys, the Ramones, and Buzzcocks. As Shonen Knife’s sound became
more hard rock oriented at certain moments in their career, we would heartransﬁgurations of Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, and Kiss. The trio had a knack forretaining their own charismatic spirit and identity while putting western inﬂuences
through a grinder.
Shonen Knife are a success story. With little reason to expect that they would
break out of their local Osaka music scene in the 1980s, they were discovered by
Calvin Johnson of US-based K Records who released their music in America, leading
to the band’s ﬁrst live shows in the US. The original lineup (’81–’99) consisted of
Naoko Yamano on vocals and guitar, Michie Nakatani on bass, keyboards and vocals;and Atsuko Yamano (Naoko’s sister) on drums and backing vocals. They were invitedby Kurt Cobain to tour with his band twice (a UK tour in 1991, a US tour in 1993) atthe height of Nirvana’s popularity. Shonen Knife also toured the US as part of the1994 Lollapalooza Festival. The trio performed at the All Tomorrow’s Parties Festival
in England in 2010, and again in 2016. According to setlist.fm, they have performed
in: the US 277 times, the UK 113 times, Australia 41 times, and in Canada 23 times,
as well as multiple times in various countries throughout Europe2). Though lineupchanges began to occur in 1999, Naoko Yamano has been locked in as the frontman
and primary songwriter of Shonen Knife for over 40 years. Since 1982, the trio hasreleased 22 studio albums.

4

Naoko Yamano’s Virtual Visits to Keio SFC
It was a great honor for us to welcome Naoko Yamano as a guest speaker (via

Zoom) to the Indie Rock ’88 to ’98 class at Keio SFC on June 10th, 2022; and back76

Guest Lectures in “Indie Rock ’88 to ’98” by Naoko Yamano of Shonen Knife

again for an encore performance in the fall semester on November 25th, 2022. Beloware excerpts of a transcript from the recording of her second virtual visit. Included
here is a passage from her speech to the students, as well as selected material fromthe question and answer session.
4.1

Naoko Yamano’s brief history (in English) of Shonen Knife:“We formed Shonen Knife very late in 1981. It was December 29th and we had

our ﬁrst rehearsal in Osaka, and since then we’ve been based in Osaka. Then we had
the ﬁrst show in Namba, Osaka. The ﬁrst show was organized by our friend. After we
had our first performance, people who watched our show invited us to perform attheir show, and then after that we’ve never booked our shows by ourselves, we’ve
always been invited by other bands or other people. One day when we played in
Kyoto, a Japanese minor record label called Zero Records, the owner was Shin
Hirakawa, asked us to release our album through his label. So, we recorded our ﬁrst
album Burning Farm and we released it in 1983, a very long time ago.”“After we released our ﬁrst album, an American guy from Olympia, Washington,
USA came to Japan for his university graduate travel or something, his name wasCalvin Johnson. He had his own record label, and he picked up our albums at an
import record store in Tokyo. He took many Japanese underground albums back to
the US. He had picked up Shonen Knife and he wanted to release our album as acassette tape from his label called K Records. After people listened to our firstcassette of Burning Farm from K Records, they invited us to release other records, so
after that a record label called Gasatanka Records in Los Angeles invited us to play
one show in Los Angeles in 1989.”“At that time in Osaka we had a big audience, but usually Japanese audiences
are very polite and very calm, just clapping hands after each song; but in America ouraudience was dancing and screaming, and so energetic. I was so surprised about that.
Then in 1991 we were invited to the United States again, so we had four shows in
America: L.A., San Francisco, New Jersey, and New York. Kurt Cobain from Nirvana
came to our show in Los Angeles. After that, Kurt Cobain invited us as a support
KEIO SFC JOURNAL Vol.23 No.1 2023

77

自由論題

band for his band’s UK tour in December 1991. So, I didn’t know the band Nirvana,
but when I saw the photographs I was so scared to tour with them because theylooked very wild, and it would be our ﬁrst long overseas trip, so I was a bit scared.
But our manager at that time said, “You should go,” and we decided to go for a three
week UK tour in December 1991 and once I met the members of Nirvana they werevery kind to us, and very much were gentlemen, so we could have a very good timewith them. Nirvana were just breaking out big in 1991 and they played at venues
between 1,000 and 2,500 seats. We were invited to the shows as a support band again
in 1993, it was for Nirvana’s US tour. At that time, they played at very big arenas, sotens of thousands of people, very big places.”“We were playing music constantly and releasing our albums constantly, and in1991 we released albums from a major label, ﬁrst Crown Records and then Universal
Records, and after that Warner Records. Since then we are touring constantly, andespecially in these past 10 years we’ve toured overseas a lot; so in 2019, I was touring
almost half the year: UK tour, European tour, US and Canada tour, and Australian
tour. But after COVID-19 happened we had to stop touring overseas, but next year
we will go to Scandinavian countries and the UK too.”
4.2

Excerpts from the Question and Answer Session: 3)

Student 1: Yohitomo Nara’s painting was used as the cover for the Shonen Knife
album Happy Hour released in 1998. His work also appears in the music video forthe song “Banana Chips” from that album. I was very surprised considering how wellknown he is today. I don’t really connect the band with his artwork, how did thatcome about?
Naoko Yamano: The album was released by a record company called Universal
Victor, and our contact there suggested that we ask Yoshitomo Nara, who is anamazing painter, to design the album cover. And we liked it, it was not famous yet,but very good. We were told if we liked his work, we could have him design ouralbum cover.

78

Guest Lectures in “Indie Rock ’88 to ’98” by Naoko Yamano of Shonen Knife

So, we contacted Nara-san and he liked us and knew our work, and agreed to design
the cover for us. At the time, he was living in Düsseldorf, Germany, and there was nointernet yet, so I remember we communicated with him by fax. Just recently, our live
performance was uploaded on Nara-san’s Instagram, so if you are interested, please
have a look. By the way, I just met up with him last week.
In 2016, when we had a live concert at Colchester Arts Centre, an old church turned
into a live house in a suburb of London, Nara-san also had an exhibition at a gallery
in Piccadilly Circus in London. So, he came to our concert, and we also went to see
his exhibition. He also invited us to his 60th birthday event and we performed forhim. We met through the Happy Hour cover, and have been in contact ever since.
Student 2: Which band member writes the songs?
NY: For the last 10 years or more, I have been doing it. In the beginning, Michie, thebassist, and I wrote the music together. After that, Atsuko, the drummer, wrote two or
three songs. So, I can say that most of the songs are written by me.
S2: What do you think about when you compose?
NY: First of all, I think about the lyrics. I think of keywords that I feel in my daily
life, such as “this is interesting,” “this is cute,” “this is delicious,” “this phenomenon
is fun,” and so on. I write down the keywords in a notebook. Then, when it comestime to write a song, I remember those keywords and make a long lyric from them.
Since we do a lot of overseas activities, the main lyrics have to be in English. In the
beginning, there were many lyrics in Japanese, but there are still more songs withEnglish lyrics. If I don't start writing lyrics in English, translating Japanese lyrics into
English changes the number of words and makes it difficult to match the sound.
English is smooth like a wave when you add a melody. Japanese has one sound per
character, such as “a-i-u-e-o” or “o-ha-yo-u-go-zai-ma-su.” Japanese is very digital,and English pronunciation is very analog. So, I make the lyrics in English ﬁrst. And
KEIO SFC JOURNAL Vol.23 No.1 2023

79

自由論題

then make them rhyme. This makes the song groovy. While looking at the lyrics, I
play the guitar and add the melody that comes into my head. I add the A melody, B
melody, chorus, bridge, and guitar solo. It is more diﬃcult to write the lyrics than the
melody.
Student 3: Do you play music or create music for your fans or for yourself? I thinkit’s the diﬀerence between the designer and the artist, you know? I think there areboth. Some people create music for their fans, and some people create music forthemselves.
NY: Actually I don’t have any consciousness about that. People who want to earnmoney through music might write songs for fans without the musician’s taste inmind, but in my case, I would like to express my feelings, and the main purpose of
my music is to make people happy through our music. So, if I write songs I write
happy songs or fun songs people can be happy to. I usually pick up very positive
things for my lyrics, sometimes cute animals or very tasty foods, and sometimes I
write songs about Japanese food like sushi or something, because I would like tointroduce very tasty Japanese food to everywhere all over the world.
S3: So, we can see musicians on our cell phones or on the internet, but in past eras,
people had to go to a concert hall to listen to music. We could see the musicians andmake more of a connection. The musicians and fans could more easily communicate.
So, the opportunity to personally connect the artists and the fans has decreased. It’s
harder to make that connection now.
NY: Yeah, you are very right. Of course, listening to music through a smartphone orsomething, I can be happy if I listen to music that way. But the actual live
performance is very diﬀerent and we can share a music groove directly, and of course
the sound is very loud. I can be motivated so I can be happier, and we can exchange
our energy with our audience. So if people at the club get excited their energy comes

80Guest Lectures in “Indie Rock ’88 to ’98” by Naoko Yamano of Shonen Knife

to me, and I get excited more and I express my music. It’s like playing a game ofcatch with our feelings. After the show, people can be happy and get healthy, so it’s avery good opportunity to experience real live shows. Of course, I can say funcomments between songs. I’m from Osaka so I like joking. I’m happy if people arehaving fun or laughing or getting excited. So, experiencing the actual live shows isvery important, especially for young people.
Student 4: Comparing Japanese to foreign audiences, how are they diﬀerent? Whichis easier to perform to?
NY: In the past, the reactions of foreign and Japanese audiences were diﬀerent, but
recently, for the past 20 years or so, they’re not so different. However, there are
diﬀerences depending on the city. In some places, the audience listens quietly, whilein others the audience makes a lot of noise. In Japan, Osaka and Tokyo are diﬀerent.
Osaka audiences are more responsive to jokes and the like. Tokyo audiences are more
reﬁned.
Student 5: The music scene has changed from when you were touring with Nirvana
to now, but do you think you can successfully convey old music in a new form to thecurrent era?
NY: Nowadays, with the use of PCs and machines, even people who cannot play
instruments can create the music they want, and the range has expanded to include
sounds that cannot be produced by human singing voices, sampling, and so on. In
contrast, the old, indigenous, live music, such as folk music, for example, has adifferent quality from that of machines. It would be good if we could create
individuality and uniqueness rather than imitation. In addition, with the recent spreadof streaming subscriptions, some people listen to one song at a time or skip to thechorus. In the past, people used to listen to a single album, and it was not possible toskip to the middle of a song. The way of listening has also changed. Incidentally, old
KEIO SFC JOURNAL Vol.23 No.1 2023

81

自由論題

LPs (vinyl records) are back in vogue these days, but I hear that CDs are going to be
the next big thing, so those who have been listening to CDs may already have theireyes on them. I think that the impression and the way of hearing music also changes
depending on the listener’s state of mind at the time, so it is impossible to distinguishbetween now and then, or between analog and digital.
Student 6: Do you have any painful experiences of your activities in the US?
NY: I have not had any hard experiences with people in the US because people arefriendly and fun. However, the country is large, so when we travel to multiple cities,
we have to drive 8 hours one day to do a gig, and then travel another 7 or 8 hours thenext day. That is hard for me because I am not a fan of long car rides. Then there is
the fact that the food is almost always the same no matter where you go. Although
recently, I can sometimes have a seafood bowl like poke-don. I like to eat a little bitof everything, but there is only one kind of food, like hamburgers. The amount offood is also large, so it pains me when I can’t finish it and end up leaving somebehind.
Student 7: How has the COVID-19 pandemic aﬀected your work life?
NY: We haven’t been able to perform overseas since our March 2020 event in Perth,
Australia. Until 2019, I was busy going overseas half the year, so when the pandemic
started, I thought, “This is my chance to take a break” and relaxed a bit, cyclingaround the neighborhood. In 2021, the band resumed a bit in Japan, performing live
in western Japan, Tokyo, Nagoya, and Osaka.
At the Okayama concert, face shields, which they had made themselves, were handed
out to the audience. The audience wore shields like astronauts wear over their masks,
and from the stage it looked like a row of Barbie dolls in boxes. This was a rare sightthat I think I will never see again. These days, we are back to our old activities inJapan, and I look forward to seeing fans on tour in Europe and the UK next year.

82

Guest Lectures in “Indie Rock ’88 to ’98” by Naoko Yamano of Shonen Knife

Student 8: I learned from the internet that Shonen Knife’s cover of The Carpenters’“Top of the World” was used in the movie The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. I
was surprised, because I like this movie and have seen it many times.
NY: (smiles and nods)
S8: You have performed with Kurt Cobain several times, what was he like oﬀstage?
NY: Kurt was rather quiet and very gentle. He was a nice, pure person with deep blueeyes. The ﬁrst time I met him was on a live tour in the UK in November 1991. At one
point, he asked me if he could play our song “Twist Barbie” at a secret concert. I
taught him the guitar chords, and he learned them right away, and he really did play
the song live. When Nirvana came to Japan in 1992, their manager and others did nottake good care of them, so we took the band members and staﬀ to dinner. The next
day they played at the Osaka Kokusai Kouryuu Center and we went to see them;
Shonen Knife were scheduled to play somewhere else in Osaka later that night. Then
Dave Grohl, the drummer, said on stage, “We are going to see Shonen Knife live after
this!” And a lot of people in the audience followed us to a smaller live music club,and the neighbors in the area got mad at us.

5Conclusion
In addition to her firsthand knowledge of the time period and music that we

discuss in this course, I believe there is something deeper that Naoko Yamano’s visit
conveyed to my students. The Shonen Knife story is inspirational. From the earlydays of the band, there’s been a style and a purposefulness to their sound thattranscends culture and language (the Burning Farm album that Cobain so loved, wassung mostly in Japanese). When the band was given the chance to shine on theinternational stage, they played their hearts out, and won over thousands of fans.
From there, Yamano never looked back. Over the years, she has turned Shonen Knife
KEIO SFC JOURNAL Vol.23 No.1 2023

83

自由論題

into an indie rock institution. Central to her success, was the creative spirit, selfbelief, and determination that continues to infuse the band’s recordings andperformances. By having a chance to interact with Naoko Yamano, I hope that mystudents reﬂect on how far her creative vision has taken her, and how they can do
likewise in their own careers.
Endnotes
1)
2)
3)

Cornelius’ Fantasma (1997) was also originally included on the syllabus, but was cut whennews of Keigo Oyamada’s bullying controversy appeared in 2020.
Search for setlists: shonen knife | setlist.fm.(n.d.b). https://www.setlist.fm/
search?artist=6bd39a9a&query=shonen+knife
Some of the material is translated from Japanese. Students are usually only allowed to
speak English in class, but for Naoko Yamano’s visit they were given the choice to speak
English or Japanese.

References
Chan, Edward K. (2016) “Interview with Shonen Knife”, Civilization. 21(36), pp. 119-25.
Novara, V. & Henry, S. (2009) “A Guide to Essential American Indie Rock (1980-2005)”, Notes.
65(4), pp. 816-833.
Scanlon. (1991) “Nirvana: Heaven Can Wait”, Melody Maker (London). 67(37), pp. 36-37.
Wikipedia contributors. (2023, March 12). Indie rock. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Indie_rock〔受付日 2022. 12. 10〕〔採録日 2023. 3. 31〕

84