IT'S SHOWTIME!!
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IT'S SHOWTIME!! is the thirty-fourth single by B'z, released on March 26, 2003. The lead single from the band's thirteenth studio album BIG MACHINE, the title song quickly resonated with fans and earned a slot in numerous LIVE-GYM setlists to follow. In addition, the song shortly thereafter become the namesake for the band's fifteenth anniversary tour, B'z LIVE-GYM 2003 The Final Pleasure "IT'S SHOWTIME!!". Praise was also noted for the single's cover, whose artful text was provided by famed calligraphy artist Koji Kakinuma.
The single was the first release of the band's fifteenth anniversary year and was released in conjunction with remastered reissues of ten of the band's earlier singles. On the daily chart at launch, the band held a monopoly over the chart's top eleven slots, with the new single ranking at the top and the re-issues covering the remaining ten. Ultimately, B'z would set a record that week for holding nine of the Top 10 slots for the week of release.
A slightly altered version of "IT'S SHOWTIME!!" would be found on BIG MACHINE, with live drums provided by Shane Gaalaas as opposed to the programmed drums used on the single. The original version would later be collected on both B'z The Best "Pleasure II" in 2005 and B'z The Best "ULTRA Pleasure" in 2008. The B-side "New Message" proved especially popular with fans, enough so that it was voted all the way to seventh place in the fan-selected compilation for the band's twentieth anniversary, B'z The Best "ULTRA Treasure".
A promotional video was filmed for the single in Los Angeles, California. Shot primarily outside and inside of the Orpheum Theater, local fans were solicited on message boards such as the fan-operated B'z Net Party as well as on local radio to appear in the video. The extras that arrived for the occasion showed in the video after B'z arrives on the back of a flatbed truck and perform in the streets, surrounded by fans. A tie-in was also secured to promote the release, with "IT'S SHOWTIME!!" being used as the theme to TV Asahi's "Network Sports 2003" program.
The single for "IT'S SHOWTIME!!" debuted at the top of the Weekly Oricon Singles chart for the week of release and remained at number one for the entire month of April despite being released in March. Ultimately, the Double Platinum single spent nineteen weeks on the chart and finished as the twelfth highest-selling single of the year. Later, for the 18th Japan Gold Disc Awards held by the Recording Industry Association of Japan, "IT'S SHOWTIME!!" was named as one of the songs of the year.
Track listing
- IT'S SHOWTIME!!
- A high-energy, hard rock song, Tak set out to make a tune in a minor key. The lyrics of the song are reflective of the feelings associated with attending a live concert and as such has seen the song played live by the band on numerous occasions. "IT'S SHOWTIME!!" is also one of the few songs to have been played abroad on more than one occasion, with inclusion on the setlists for both B'z LIVE-GYM 2003 "BANZAI IN NORTH AMERICA" and B'z LIVE-GYM 2012 -Into Free-. Another version of the song exists on the album BIG MACHINE, also released in 2003. This version featured raw drums by Shane Gaalaas to replace the emulated, programmed drums found here.
- New Message
- The image of the song came about while Koshi was writing the lyrics for "ultra soul". It came quickly, and since he didn't have anything else to take notes on, he wrote the idea for the song on the back of the lyrics sheet for "ultra soul". The sheet in question was later shown on the TBS program "Utaban", at which its value was estimated to be 2.5 million yen. Initially, the song was among those remaining after the sessions for the band's 2000 album, ELEVEN. While it did not make it onto the album, it wasn't forgotten, with the guitar riff associated with the song during the sessions remaining intact even now. The song was first heard by the public as the ending music to B'z LIVE-GYM 2002 "GREEN~GO★FIGHT★WIN~". Later, a portion of the song was featured as the opening music to the home video release of the same tour. Although it initially went unperformed in the live arena, five years after its inclusion as a B-side here, it was finally played live during B'z LIVE-GYM 2008 "ACTION" to much acclaim. For the band's twentieth anniversary, they were once again called upon to vote for the tracks they wished to be included on a new fan-selected compilation. "New Message" ranked as the seventh most popular song among hundreds of options and was included on the second disc of the resulting album, B'z The Best "ULTRA Treasure".
Personnel
B'z
- Tak Matsumoto: Guitar, Music Composition, Arrangement
- Koshi Inaba: Vocals, Lyric Composition, Arrangement
Drums
- Hideo Yamaki: Drums (TRACK 2)
Bass
- Akihito Tokunaga: Bass, Arrangement