Are there people that actually hate the Vegeta's Hells Bells music?

[Thanos]

Or a re-contextualised (Barry Watson era Funimation preferred 're-versioned', I believe) product for a new market.

Frankly, I think that's giving FUNimation's product far too much credit. Essentially, you're entrusting borderline amateur Americans with no real context for the series (as they've often admitted having no idea what was coming next, which presumably follows that they had little knowledge of the original Dragon Ball series), secondhand translating from the Spanish version as the "re-versioned product for a new market." Hardly. Their only motivating factor seemed to be viewership and money. Every decision was clearly made as an attempt to appeal to kids/preteens at the time of airing. Most likely throwing in godawful Disturbed songs from 2001 in a DBZ feature made in 1993 wasn't part of some grand vision for how they wanted Dragon Ball Z to be beyond "this is what kids like, putting it in this movie will make kids like it more."

[VegettoEX]

Right. We know that's precisely the case. RE: Rock the Dragon-

It’s a very distinctive sound, and I’m told it’s of the sort that’s very popular among American children right now.

Not even "kids love it" but "I dunno man I guess someone told me they like it?"

(I know I'm throwing shade at someone over a twenty year old interview, but eh.)

Over and over they kept throwing shit at the wall to see what would stick with kids, except they were constantly a few years the trends, making it all the more transparent.

[Thouser]

Footnote: I've never heard music from the 60-70's that sounds like Dragon Ball, but I could be mistaken.

Well, there is the stuff that Kikuchi himself made in the '60s and '70s, but that should be obvious because it's the same guy:
-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0W12gsUMAI
-https://youtu.be/kzqVNlHAdwg?t=1m46s

As for the idea that Kikuchi was invoking the '60s in his Dragon Ball score, or that Kikuchi's music sounds like it's from the '60s, I'm not sure I agree. I think it might be that those are just the kinds of melodies that Kikuchi composes, rather than him invoking a certain era.

In the Kamen Rider example I posted, it's recognizably Kikuchi's style, but through a kind of funky '70s filter. By contrast, when you listen to his score for Dragon Ball, some of the tracks are Kikuchi's style through an "80s filter," making use of synthesizers in some cases. Tracks like M10 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jB6acJ4MguE), and M701B (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUP_2hAIhkU), for example, are undoubtedly products of the 80s.

These tracks are the exceptions, though. In most of Dragon Ball, I don't see it so much as Kikuchi invoking the '60s or '70s specifically, but just that he uses classical instruments usually, and uses synthesizers to evoke a kind of threatening "alien" mood, since the synthesizers sound so different from the usual music in the show. Some examples are when Coola begins to transform (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bga4AAzXvyE), or the first version of the Saiyan theme (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ApDxmmv8Z0), or Vegeta's first theme (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L18H12DObi8), which was used in many scenes involving the Saiyans, who were literally foreign invaders of the Earth.

In other shows from the '80s, Kikuchi did not shy away from using a more "80s" style of arrangement, although still recognizably his melodies:
-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zf3Ju1NSNCA
-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOr0dnd2SSo

[Blade]

Or a re-contextualised (Barry Watson era Funimation preferred 're-versioned', I believe) product for a new market.

Frankly, I think that's giving FUNimation's product far too much credit. Essentially, you're entrusting borderline amateur Americans with no real context for the series (as they've often admitted having no idea what was coming next, which presumably follows that they had little knowledge of the original Dragon Ball series), secondhand translating from the Spanish version as the "re-versioned product for a new market." Hardly. Their only motivating factor seemed to be viewership and money. Every decision was clearly made as an attempt to appeal to kids/preteens at the time of airing. Most likely throwing in godawful Disturbed songs from 2001 in a DBZ feature made in 1993 wasn't part of some grand vision for how they wanted Dragon Ball Z to be beyond "this is what kids like, putting it in this movie will make kids like it more."

Yes, ergo - it's a re-contextualised product for a new market. What exactly are you disagreeing with here? You've basically just given the statement of mine that you quoted an explanation.

[MasenkoHA]

It sounds like all the rest of Faulconers music: Your cell phone default ringtone going off in your washing machine.


Incidentally I'm watch DBZ off Funimation Now and I'm impressed how much more tolerable the english dub is with the Japanese score.

And I'm not even that attached to the Kikuchi score but at least it can qualify as music

[TheMikado]

Right. We know that's precisely the case. RE: Rock the Dragon-

It’s a very distinctive sound, and I’m told it’s of the sort that’s very popular among American children right now.

Not even "kids love it" but "I dunno man I guess someone told me they like it?"

(I know I'm throwing shade at someone over a twenty year old interview, but eh.)

Over and over they kept throwing shit at the wall to see what would stick with kids, except they were constantly a few years the trends, making it all the more transparent.

To be fair, there's a strong possibility that without it the franchise may not have been as popular or lasted for so long. I dint understand whys there's so much distain for things that arguably helped establish and shape its legacy.

[MasenkoHA]

No the show being the most violent action heavy cartoon targeted at 2-11 year old boys is what made it popular. The music is just part of the nostalgic package.

Nobody cared that the score was changed or the entire cast was replaced in the third season (well some did) they just wanted to see the action. If anything increased DBZ's popularity after the first two seasons it was the heavy Toonami promotion and now faces were bleeding.


Hell they could have kept the Japanese score and little boys wouldnt care as long as faces were getting punched. American DBZ dub fans only care now because they grew up with the Falcouner score