What did you guys actually think of the heavy metal music in the DBZ movies in the 2000s?

[VejituhTheWarriorGuy]

Personally, I thought it was always weird and that was way before I even knew that Faulconer's score wasn't the legit score.

[VegettoEX]

I don't think I've ever actually watched a DBZ movie that way.

Needless to say from my perspective probably, but I think it's pretty gross and I have no interest in that. It was already an out-of-style marketing practice by the time FUNimation got around to it, and it was as transparent as could be.

What freaks me out is when people say that was their first exposure to rock music. Blah blah blah, I'm old, holy cow, yadda yadda yadda.

The nice thing about it was that, despite having zero interest in watching them with a replacement rock score, they came out during a time when FUNimation had already moved to uncut/bilingual DVDs. They literally could not affect me in any way... other than the usual questions about translations mistakes and never being on the same wavelength when comparing your viewing experience and emotions with someone else. I could otherwise just ignore the dub track! Choice! Hurray!

[404FILENOTFOUND]

Me and a friend decided to watch the movies like Cooler's before graduating and when Disturbed came on...oh boy. First of all, I could. barely hear what was being said by the characters, second, cringe.

[floofychan333]

It's the most putrid thing to ever happen to the franchise. Deciding to put random songs that have nothing to do with Dragon Ball in movies that already had Shunsuke Kikuchi's wonderful work is practically spitting in Kikuchi's face. Any replacement score is usually rubbish and is extremely disrespectful to Kikuchi and detracts from his amazing tracks.

[Hellspawn28]

I don't like it. It makes the dub feel so dated with bands that don't exist anymore or hardly relevant anymore. It was common for movies market to kids to have popular rock band music like the Digimon Movie did. Not to mention bands like Disturbed had the "Parental Advisory" label on their first album which means kids can't buy the album which feels pointless to add songs from Disturbed in the movie. Why promote music to kids if they are not allow to listen to them.

[sintzu]

Like GT's replaced soundtrack, it was a really bad move cause they didn't fit the scenes they were in and to make things worse they weren't even good to begin with.

What they did back then really makes me appreciate them not changing anything now, regardless of how flawed a show's original music is.

[LSSJGODSSJ4Gogeta]

Hi! Minority here based on what's been said above me......I....actually liked the rock music? (DON'T HIT ME!)

The music gave the scenes an epic feel. I don't know why people think it's out of place with dragonball. What's out of touch is the music in super. (Accept hello hello and the theme song). I mean, why can't epic intense fighting music fit in with intense fighting scenes? The original Japanese music is GRAND, but doesn't do the scenes justice. Sound much better on their own, not really good for scenes sometimes. Sometimes I prefer the Japanese track, but that's only for some scenes in the frieza saga or when certain themes play.

Back to the rock music-Like disturbed....how can you NOT love their songs put in the DBZ soundtrack?! And haji's kitchen ...slow rosevelt...not only are these songs GREAT but they fit the scene so much! Broly's scene of tanking the Kamehameha, mixed with day after day is just pure perfection.

I miss funimation putting in more effort and giving us a second soundtrack to choose from. Like if you don't like the English or Japanese music you can switch it in the horribly remastered sets...but audio wise it's the king. Let everyone enjoy dragonball, because I know people who cant get past super's lifeless repetitive soundtrack, or the fact kai's replacement score is like 2 songs....can't blame em. I know I'm personally replacing the music of super when I get the dvds. I don't like the unfitting music. Sounds like I'm watching tele tubbies.

[VegettoEX]

Back to the rock music-Like disturbed....how can you NOT love their songs put in the DBZ soundtrack?! And haji's kitchen ...slow rosevelt...not only are these songs GREAT but they fit the scene so much! Broly's scene of tanking the Kamehameha, mixed with day after day is just pure perfection.

I just have the exact opposite reaction. How can you LIKE that music AT ALL when paired with DBZ?! I'm at a complete loss here, as equally as you are, right on the other side of the line. Does not compute.

And I'm not against upbeat music, or even instrumental rock music, when it comes to the series. There's plenty of game soundtracks I like that invoke that style. But that's just a game, and the DBZ games aren't trying to do much else other than showcase the fight-fight-fight aspect. I ask more from my show soundtracks, and Kikuchi's score delivers in spades, particularly in the movies when all-new compositions are created specifically on a scene-by-scene basis. I can't ask for much else!

This is precisely what people are talking about when they say "it's like the dub is another show entirely". We have very different viewpoints on what makes the show the show. The music is a huge part of that, and it shapes a massive part of our emotional connection to the show.

[Kakacarrottop]

On it's own merit, i don't hate that nu metal music they used, but it's just so out of place in the context of Dragon Ball. Even as a little kid i thought this. It manages to make Faulconer's depressing techno and Nathan Johnson's generic movie music somehow seem fitting in comparison.

[BrandonR24]

This is the first way I experienced the movies, so I don't watch them unless it has the rock music in it. I grew up with the Falcouner soundtrack and the nu-metal phase, during those times I had no idea it was a Japanese show until stores started carrying imported trading cards. So in the minority here I enjoy it, but I hate the fact that in the steel book blu rays they screwed with it and you can barely hear the music. I just can't get into the original soundtrack in Japan except for "Head Cha La", "Angel", "Hakari no Willpower", and a couple others. I really liked the music choices in 'Battle of Gods' and 'Ressurection F' though. I'm one of the few people that grew up still enjoying that type of rock (Papa Roach, Disturbed, Deftones, etc, etc. And Linkin Park is still my favorite band. Haters hate haha.)

Still my favorite soundtrack for any type of movie is for the History of Trunks Funi dub.

I really think it's just the nostalgia factor as like I said, I grew up with it. Wouldn't have it any other way.

[VegettoEX]

I really think it's just the nostalgia factor as like I said, I grew up with it. Wouldn't have it any other way.

Can you and some other folks define the "grew up" portion of your answer?

For comparison's sake, I graduated high school in 2000. (I was already into the show for four years, and running my site for two.) (I really like the first two Linkin Park albums, myself.) (I don't want that stuff in my DBZ, though.)

[LSSJGODSSJ4Gogeta]

Back to the rock music-Like disturbed....how can you NOT love their songs put in the DBZ soundtrack?! And haji's kitchen ...slow rosevelt...not only are these songs GREAT but they fit the scene so much! Broly's scene of tanking the Kamehameha, mixed with day after day is just pure perfection.

I just have the exact opposite reaction. How can you LIKE that music AT ALL when paired with DBZ?! I'm at a complete loss here, as equally as you are, right on the other side of the line. Does not compute.

And I'm not against upbeat music, or even instrumental rock music, when it comes to the series. There's plenty of game soundtracks I like that invoke that style. But that's just a game, and the DBZ games aren't trying to do much else other than showcase the fight-fight-fight aspect. I ask more from my show soundtracks, and Kikuchi's score delivers in spades, particularly in the movies when all-new compositions are created specifically on a scene-by-scene basis. I can't ask for much else!

This is precisely what people are talking about when they say "it's like the dub is another show entirely". We have very different viewpoints on what makes the show the show. The music is a huge part of that, and it shapes a massive part of our emotional connection to the show.

I agree the music is a big part of the show, and should have a range (it's why I like the Japanese score more then the English score for GT)
But to me, Z's soundtrack didn't do much but have fighting music that didn't match the scenes most of the time, and then have high tension music at random.
Now the FIRST dragonball, while ironically the SAME composer had a much better score. It was cheerfull when Goku ran, it was adventurous on the journey's background, inspirational when you see Flashback of goku's training with those monkeys to train his tail. I liked ball's music best in the terms of the Japanese scores. But Z's...sometimes the lack of music is kind of awkward. Do you like the music on it's own NOT paired with dragonball?

Now kai BEFORE the replacement OST was grand. Much better then Z's score IMO. (And I have kai as my LEAST favourite of the 5 dragonball shows)
Kai's OST in the first run was dramatic when it needed to be, and was always fitting the mood. Had a real range like bruce faulconer's and the first dragonball, and most importantly it was CATCHY! Gave you a feeling of getting hyped for a scene. Kai's new music and super's doesn't do that for me. It just sounds so bored and bland.

It's nothing to do with growing up with bruce faulconer. Which I have, I love Z's soundtrack, but more of just having the CD play after I downloaded it to the xbox. very catchy, but doesn't have as much of a range as bruce faulconer or the rock music in the films. It wasn't always just intense fighting music. Panterra's ten REALLY sets a you're fucked kind of mood and really brings in the tension for the scene.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

I'm not a fan of metal so the addition of it to the movies did nothing for me.

That said I think replacement scores should be avoided at all costs (unless it's a situation like Kai where the replacement score was imposed by the studio because of some unavoidable consequence caused by the composer's actions) and I'm grateful Funimation doesn't do it anymore, because at the end of the day they didn't create Dragon Ball, their job is to make dubs as faithful as possible to the original Japanese version.

[Crinchy]

It's as if someone spray painted the Mona Lisa.

[thaman91]

As someone who enjoys Faulconer over Kikuchi for Z, I hated the rock soundtrack for the movies. Even though I grew up with them (elementary/middle school), I think the music alone really soured my experience with the movies.

Say what you will about Faulconer not fitting with how the original show is supposed to be, but it was at least scored to picture and fit with the dub dialogue. The rock songs in the movies, on the other hand, just seemed to be utilized in a very distracting manner. Like I don't want to be hearing the lyrics to some outdated rock song while Goku is transforming into a Super Saiyan; I want music that is complementing the visuals instead of distracting from them. The rock songs almost always accomplished the latter.

[VegettoEX]

Like I don't want to be hearing the lyrics to some outdated rock song while Goku is transforming into a Super Saiyan

That's been one of my biggest sticking points with the replacement soundtracks. I'll argue until the cows come home that the Faulconer Productions soundtrack style was already outdated by the time it was in use in the show. Using "real band" vocal rock songs only serves to directly pinpoint the timing of the replacement music, and that's going to age even faster and make the mishmash feel even MORE out-of-time.

To go with how you opened your own post: say what you will about the "dated-ness" of the Kikuchi music, but at least it is when it's from, knows when it's from and what specific style it's trying to be!

[Lord Beerus]

Completely unnecessary, ruins some of the poignant moments the movies provides and aided in creating the warped idea among the western fanbase that Dragon Ball (Z) was an "edgy" show.

[Hellspawn28]

I was into Nu Metal too during the 2000's too because I was really into it in middle school up to the end of High School. I still don't like having these type of music in DBZ because it feels like that they are Americanizing it by adding popular rock bands. I know the Street Fighter II animated movie did the same thing, but I feel like that work for that film than DBZ Movie 4, 5, 8 and 10 in my opinion.

[Nejishiki]

Hm, I don't remember which film it was where I was first exposed to it, but I remember thinking it was wildly out of place back in the day. Beyond that, I tried each of the movies like this once and never tried it again. It's just not for me, or Dragon Ball, for that matter. Getting more specific with my feelings for those soundtracks is a bit of an impossibility as I've mentally blocked them out. Try as I might, I cannot recall them, nor will I look up them up. I'm happy with the original placements and leaving that period behind me for the rest of my days. Mind you, I don't I have a problem with the genre itself.

[Zephyr]

They're out of place, even if I thoroughly enjoy the music itself. Much like the Faulconer score. It entirely misses the point of the series' intended atmosphere, I think.

Iron Maiden and Megadeth are my favorite bands, but they definitely don't belong as parts of the musical score to a piece of Dragon Ball animation. The songs would certainly be paired well enough for me in something like an AMV whose point is to emphasize the intense action and combat. Particularly instrumental pieces.

Even then though, I can't think of any songs from the two that would contain lyrical themes befitting the series (I mean I can, but even the few cases I could present would be stretching it pretty far), so they'd have limited applicability even for AMVs. Iron Maiden sings a lot about western history and mythology, and Megadeth sings a lot about government conspiracies and killing. I feel like the same would apply for songs from bands like Disturbed. Lyrically, nothing about the song "Stupify" applies to Goku's battle with Slug. Dragon Ball just isn't a series that delves into the sort of themes that hard rock and heavy metal songs tend to focus on. Tonal whiplash at its finest.

It typically ends up ranging from absolutely cringe-inducing to absolutely unintentionally hilarious:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyUfwaW9wME