Bonus Episode: The Story of "Battle Point Unlimited"

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Bonus Episode: The Story of "Battle Point Unlimited"

Post by VegettoEX » Mon Dec 19, 2016 7:41 pm

Bonus Episode: The Story of "Battle Point Unlimited" (download MP3) (rss feed)
18:33; 160 kbps, stereo; 21.4 MB

Bonus episode! Tune in as Mike provides a complete history of the "Dragon Ball Z" episode 120 insert song "Battle Point Unlimited" by Kenji Yamamoto (a.k.a. "Monolith"). What made it sound so distinct from the rest of the score, and how is the obvious case of plagiarism here admittedly so different and even innovative from what came later?

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This kind of episode is a natural extension of the type of podcasts I enjoy listening to outside of this fandom, and along the same lines as the two video game music bonus episodes we've done in the past. I hope you like what you hear! I love telling stories and documenting history, and this provides a creative outlet to do both of those things.
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Re: Bonus Episode: The Story of "Battle Point Unlimited"

Post by nato25 » Tue Dec 20, 2016 8:12 am

Great editing. I really loved the "Behind the Music" style you used here as well. I'm always happy to see new podcasts come up so keep them coming in any way, shape or form! Really looked forward to that Future Trunks arc review.

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Re: Bonus Episode: The Story of "Battle Point Unlimited"

Post by TrunksTrevelyan0064 » Tue Dec 20, 2016 9:40 am

Very informative episode. I knew about Yamamoto's plagiarism, but I wasn't aware that it extended to this particular song.

So, um ... is it bad that I still really enjoy the way the song is used in the original show? :shifty: How it stops for a moment and then starts back up while Freeza and Cold are talking, as if to tell them "you have no idea how utterly irrelevant you've become, this is the sound of your oblivion approaching" as it pans over to Trunks.

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Re: Bonus Episode: The Story of "Battle Point Unlimited"

Post by Ajay » Tue Dec 20, 2016 10:05 am

I listened to this last night. Really nicely done!

Even though I'm aware of Yamamoto's plagiarism, it's always crazy to be reminded of the extent of it -- especially in such an iconic track like this. I had no idea it was quite this bad for this one!

I appreciate these types of episodes take a lot of work, but I'd definitely love to hear a whole bunch more.
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Re: Bonus Episode: The Story of "Battle Point Unlimited"

Post by RoarkVegeta » Tue Dec 20, 2016 10:12 am

Thanks for this episode, Mike!

I first listened to the podcast episode you mentioned where you and Meri talked about Trunks' music before I had even seen the scene in Japanese years ago. It didn't sound like anything special, until I watched the episode. Now, everytime I watch it and see pieces of the ground go up and hear that buildup, I get chills. I had already seen this transformation in English, and known about Trunks. But I can't imagine being a first time watcher and seeing this! I would've lost my shit. Another great part is Freeza's "Those are the eyes!" flashback!

And then the guitar solo kicking in near the episode after Trunks attacks, and that ending coming in at just a perfect time, with silence in the background, just the music. I would argue that this is the best used insert song in the series, but not necessarily the best piece of music.

Again, fantastic episode!

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Re: Bonus Episode: The Story of "Battle Point Unlimited"

Post by simtek34 » Wed Dec 21, 2016 8:41 am

The weird thing, is, this song is still on the Blu-Rays! I'm surprised it hasn't been replaced! Do they still use it on TV broadcasts in Japan?

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Re: Bonus Episode: The Story of "Battle Point Unlimited"

Post by VegettoEX » Wed Dec 21, 2016 9:05 am

Well, like I said during the episode, there's really no way for Toei to extract it from the show; it's built-in to the final mix, and that's all they have for the show in Japanese.

At THIS point, removing it from any international dubs and their mixes would just bring MORE attention to it, which is the last thing they want to do.
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Re: Bonus Episode: The Story of "Battle Point Unlimited"

Post by ParkerAL » Fri Dec 23, 2016 4:50 pm

Thanks for putting so much effort into this bonus episode, Mike.You do a good job narrating history.

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Re: Bonus Episode: The Story of "Battle Point Unlimited"

Post by MagicBox » Tue Dec 27, 2016 3:42 am

Always fun to hear this story re-told. Great episode!

I think it's worth noting that the compilation albums/sets mentioned do include other songs composed by Yamamoto ("Battle-Colored Warriors", "Brain Dance", "A Golden Compass", "My Magician", the pre-Final-Bout video game themes, and many more...). Do you think "Battle Point Unlimited" may have simply been dropped from future releases because it's an instrumental track? None of the instrumentals from the Hit Song Collection albums have ever been re-released. Even "Solid State Scouter", a near-entirely instrumental insert song, has lyrics. Perhaps the status of "Battle Point Unlimited" as an insert song was irrelevant (or possibly unknown) to the staff putting together these compilations (who might have been instructed to merely focus on vocal songs)?

Not saying somebody there wasn't aware of the Propaganda comparison, and there's no doubt they're aware of it by now. But maybe there's another explanation for why the song was excluded back then. After all, other (admittedly less popular) instrumental tracks similar to "Battle Point Unlimited" did get axed during the transition from "Hit Song" to "Complete Song" / "Legend Of Dragon World" and that could be a reason why.

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Re: Bonus Episode: The Story of "Battle Point Unlimited"

Post by LuckyCat » Wed Dec 28, 2016 2:55 pm

Good episode, and it's always fun revisiting music history, especially in the 1990s. While listening to the Propaganda tracks back to back with BPU, I still think BPU has its own distinctive feel. Like, even if I owned all 3 Propaganda tracks, I could still never produce the sound Yamamoto made here.

To me, there's no question Yamamoto used the tracks, but I still feel like there's this lingering question of whether his work was transformative enough to be considered original.

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Re: Bonus Episode: The Story of "Battle Point Unlimited"

Post by ShadowBardock89 » Fri Dec 30, 2016 7:12 pm

So, when is this going to be uploaded to Sound Cloud?

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Re: Bonus Episode: The Story of "Battle Point Unlimited"

Post by SaiyaSith » Fri Dec 30, 2016 10:26 pm

What about the youtube version? :(

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Re: Bonus Episode: The Story of "Battle Point Unlimited"

Post by VegettoEX » Sat Dec 31, 2016 8:31 am

This episode will not be uploaded to other services. The MP3 will forever be available for direct download as well as included in the RSS feed for all eternity like any other episode.
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Re: Bonus Episode: The Story of "Battle Point Unlimited"

Post by Baggie_Saiyan » Sat Dec 31, 2016 5:38 pm

So if like it seems they were aware, how come it didn't occur to whoever to check his previous works? It would have stopped the mess with Kai we could have had a new composer and we might not have ended up with Sumitomo for modern DB.

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