Music / Murdered by the Music

Murdered By The Music is the second album by Yukihiro Takahashi. Released in 1980 through Seven Seas Records, it is the first album he released while being part of Yellow Magic Orchestra (and for that reason a lot of artists affiliated to the band appear on this album).

In a stark contrast to the City Pop / Chanson vibes of Saravah!, Murdered by the Music leans closer to what Takahashi wrote for the Technopop trio he was part of (with some Ska thrown in as well). This is the first album in his discography which is exclusively sung in English (thanks to Chris Mosdell writing all of the lyrics). Its lead single was the Title Track which also had its own music video.

Tracklist:

1. "School of Thought"
2. "Murdered by the Music"
3. "Kid-Nap, the Dreamer"
4. "I-Kasu!"
5. "Radioactivist"
6. "Numbered from a Calculated Conversation"
7. "Bijin-Kyoshi at the Swimming Pool"
8. "Blue Color Worker"
9. "Stop! In the name of Love"
10. "Mirrormanic"
11. "The Core of Eden"

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He troped what he troped within earshot!

• Album Closure: "The Core of Eden" has the appropriate lyrics: "This is the end of Eden".
• Album Intro Track: "School of Thought" greets us with ''Welcome to the school of thought!"

• Cover Version: "Stop in the Name of Love" is originally a song from The '60s by The Supremes.
• Downer Ending: The album ends with the dramatic "Core of Eden" which talks about a deserted paradise.
  A ghost town now
  The garden run down
  No one lives here
  No one lives here anymore
• Dramatic Shattering: On "Mirrormanic".
  It's hard
  When she's the last to know
  The mirror CRACKED!
  [glass breaks]
• Dramatic Unmask: The music video for "Murdered by the Music" reveals us that Takahashi was the Mad Scientist all along. Why has he killed the other Takahashi then?

• Event Title: "Bijin-Kyoshi at the Swimming Pool".
• Face on the Cover: Takahashi poses in a similar manner to what we see near the end of the music video for "Murdered by the Music" (in fact, the MV shows an LP copy of the album).

• Killing Your Alternate Self: What could be implied by the end of the music video for "Murdered by the Music". After Takahashi dies in a empty pool, the scientist removes his mask to reveal that he is also Takahashi.
• Mad Scientist: The music video for "Murdered by the Music" depicts a scientist experimenting music on a strapped Takahashi (his own album, to be more precise).

• Never Suicide: The music video for "Murdered by the Music" is a nice complement to the song, implying that the character who died of a music overdose was killed by a Mad Scientist through sonic experimentations.
• One-Word Title: "Radioactivist" and "Mirrormanic".
• Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: "Stop! In the Name of Love".
• Ska: "Murdered by the Music", "Kid-Nap, the Dreamer" and "I-Kasu!" fit the genre pretty well. This is no surprise since Yellow Magic Orchestra released during that same year the album ×∞Multiplies which also featured Ska music.
• Special Guest:
  • Takahashi's YMO bandmates Haruomi Hosono and Ryuichi Sakamoto play on the album. YMO's touring guitarist Kenji Omura appears as well and Hideki Matsutake (who is YMO's sound technician on top of being nicknamed the "fourth member" of the band) is the album's computer operator.
  • YMO lyricist Chris Mosdell wrote all of the album's lyrics and also provides spoken vocals on "School of Thought" and "Core of Eden".
  • Makoto Ayukawa (guitarist of the bands Plastics and Sheena & The Rokkets) plays on the album.
  • Japanese singer Sandii (known for being the frontwoman of The Sunsetz) sings lead vocals on "Blue Colour Worker" and "Stop in the Name of Love".
• Spoken Word in Music
  • "Kid-Nap, the Dreamer" ends with a Japanese spoken passage (the only time on the album where we hear this language).
  • Chris Mosdell's vocals on "School of Thought" and "Core of Eden" can be considered as shouting instead of singing:
  Now you're just like the rest!
• Synth-Pop: Takahashi's first album to embrace that genre (the same can be said for the many albums following this one).

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