OFF-TOPIC: 10 Songs & Videos with Popular Song, Movie, Anime and Video Game References

Have you ever spotted a song, movie, anime or video game reference in a visual band's song or music video?
Well, some of them are pretty hard to discover while others are very obvious.
We did some brainstorming for you and came up with ten songs and videos including all kinds of references!
Please tell us if you already knew about them and add more in the comments below!


1. Back to Retro Video Games With Souiumono's シスター村 (sister mura)!

Left: Screenshot from シスター村 (sister mura) MV
Right: Screenshot from The Legend of Zelda for Game Boy Advance

Let's start with a reference in Souiumono's シスター村 (sister mura) music video!
Do you remember some retro games for Game Boy or old consoles like Nintendo 64? As you can see, the band is clearly refering to those adventure games and when seeing it most of you probably think of Zelda and Pokémon at once. It's hard to tell if they want to hint at a specific game since the RPG's title in the music video is the song's title.
However, it's not surprising Souiumono put this reference in one of their videos because after all gaming and game characters were part of their band concept.





2. Getting Emotional With GOTCHAROCKA's Fairytale References!

Snow White clip in GOTCHAROCKA's Emotion MV

In GOTCHAROCKA's music video for their song Emotion you can see the band appearing in a huge 3D book. To establish the perfect fairy tale feeling they also added scenes of well-known Disney movies like Snow White!
Go check it out and tell us what else you spotted!





3. For SuG It Smells Like...?

Screenshot from SuG's Smells Like Virgin Spirit MV

Not teen spirit but virgin spirit! Everyone knows Nirvana's song Smells Like Teen Spirit. SuG used the title and guitar riffs and made their own track called Smells Like Virgin Spirit. But don't worry, it's still an entirely different song and not a cover!





4. Come to VAMPS' Vampire Metal City!

Left: Screenshot from Detroit Metal City Opening
Right: VAMPS

Did you know VAMPS' song KYUKETYU is their own version of anime Detroit Metal City's opening? Compared to the original the band changed the sound and lyrics and thus added their personal vampire theme.
So, what do you think? Which one do you prefer?



5. If Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Were a Band...

Screenshot from Royz' Emotions MV

Royz definitely surprised their fans when they uploaded new band photos with all of them wearing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles costumes. In fact, they even recorded a MV for their song Emotions in those outfits! It's not as well known as the original Emotions MV though.



6. LIPHLICH's Opinion About Visual Kei...

Screenshot from LIPHLICH's HURRAH HURRAY MV

There are even two references in LIPHLICH's song HURRAH HURRAY! It starts with Queen's famous We Will Rock You intro and later on they even added Joan Jett's well-known chorus lines from her song I Love Rock 'n' Roll! Latter has been changed a little though:

I love visual, so put another dime in the jukebox baby!
I  f* visual, so come on take some time and dance with me!





7. Game Over Equals Death

Left: Screenshot from movie Battle Royale
Right: Screenshot from GAMEOVER's START MV

Overseas, Battle Royale is one of the most well-known Japanese movies and of course, the action thriller is pretty popular in Japan too! Since the members of GAMEOVER are fans as well they even wore collars from the movie in their music video of song START. Besides, you can also spot Tetris in the background!





8. Kamehameha!

Left: Drummer Takeshi as Son Goku
Right: The real Son Goku

Kameleo added a little easter egg in their Shinjuku MV too! At 3:40 you can see drummer Takeshi as Son Goku from Dragon Ball on a huge screen in Tokyo.
It's only a very short scene, so did you ever notice before?





9. I Eat You Alive!

Left: Screenshot from Limp Bizkit's Eat You Alive MV
Right: Band EAT YOU ALIVE

Especially former EAT YOU ALIVE guitarist Ryohei is a huge fan of American band Limp Bizkit, so here is the simple explanation for the choice of their band name: Eat You Alive is the title of one of Limp Bizkit's songs!
Moreover, you can hear the chorus lines of Eat You Alive at the end of EYA's song XII ROSARY!
You don't believe any of this? Well, convince yourself:





10. Revival of 90ies Visual Kei Bands!

Left: Screenshot from Malice Mizer's
Shiroi Hada ni Kuruu Ai to Kanashimi no Rondo MV
Right: Screenshot from Golden Bomber's Yokubou no uta MV

There are plenty of Golden Bomber music videos with references. 欲望の歌 (yokubou no uta) is only one example, but it's a very interesting one because the band is cosplaying several visual kei bands like Malice Mizer, Dir En Grey and Lareine!
They have done a pretty good job, don't you think?

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