"Cha-La Head-Cha-La" - Iconic For What Reasons?

[MagicBox]

I'm sure I'm not the only one here who can honestly say that "Cha-La Head-Cha-La" has a special place in my heart as a DragonBall fan. Not only do its lyrics sum up the spirit of the series perfectly, but they also manage to avoid many of the typical lyrical cliches that normally pop up in songs for Shonen series. Everything about it, from the animation it's paired with to Hironobu Kageyama's vocals, help make it the most iconic song in the entire franchise.

Now, whenever I see praise for this song, in addition to what I typed above, I usually see comments about how it is so iconic because it's the first opening of Dragon Ball Z. It's the first thing viewers ever saw or heard of the most famous series in the DragonBall trilogy, and because of that, it can be thought of as the entire series summed up into one song. So, in addition to its merit as a fantastic song on its own, people also like saying that one of the reasons why it is so iconic is because it was the first.

This got me thinking. If, for some reason, "Cha-La Head-Cha-La" was not the first opening of Dragon Ball Z, would it still be seen as this iconic, franchise-defining song? Let's consider this hypothetical scenario. Let's pretend, for the purpose of this thread, that in episode 102 of the original Dragon Ball cartoon, instead of having the opening switch to the second animation of "Mystical Adventure," it switched to "Cha-La Head-Cha-La" instead, with the exact same lyrics and slightly different animation (younger versions of the characters with Gohan excluded, etc.). It runs for the remainder of the series, and then episode one of Dragon Ball Z starts off with "We Gotta Power" as its opening song.

If this had happened, would "Cha-La Head-Cha-La" still be such an iconic song? The lyrics would still be exactly the same, and the song would still carry the same message, but the only difference would be that it's the second opening of Dragon Ball instead of the first opening of Dragon Ball Z. "We Gotta Power" is now the song that's the first track on every soundtrack CD, and it is the first opening of DBZ now.

So, considering this hypothetical reality, do you think "Cha-La Head-Cha-La" would still be seen as such an iconic song? Is it really the merits of the song itself, or does it's fame have more to do with the fact that it was "first" than we realize?

[MCDaveG]

I think that there are more reasons for chala to be iconic.... The first one is, that in 80' and first half of 90', it was obvious that majority of anime series had their title track (I really don't like that trend of pop group's songs playing in intros and endings, changing to different pop group song fter 12 episodes). It's the same as Makafushigi Adventure is iconic for Dragon Ball, Chala is sign theme of Dragon Ball Z, more memorable than We Gotta Power because it was broadcasted for 5 years in original dub and it is the most translated and interpreted theme of DBZ all around the world.
Next thing is, that chala-head-chala chorus is really catchy thing, that most of people can sing along. What I consider iconic for the next is, that first chala I saw was from German dub, when they started to broadcast it on RTL2, after I was watching the French dub. That opening really rocked me hard along with the cinematic, becuse all I knew to that day was soft and weird French Intro)))

[Rocketman]

The song is complete nonsense. If it wasn't in the honored position of "First Song", it wouldn't have the prestige it does now.

[jjgp1112]

The song is complete nonsense. If it wasn't in the honored position of "First Song", it wouldn't have the prestige it does now.

I remember when I first saw the theme song on a fansub of DBZ Movie 9, I couldn't stop laughing.

[kenisu3000]

^Well, I like "Cha-La", so nyehhh.

That's part of why I have so much trouble seeing eye-to-eye with so many people in my general fan-nerdy demographic nowadays. They like hardcore "badass" theme songs, and there's absolutely no love for the cheerful stuff, like the song in question.

[Herms]

Nothing wrong with some good ol' fashioned complete nonsense.

Anyway, it's not like Cha-la Head Cha-la is really the first DB opening; that would be Makafushigi Adventure, after all. I think Cha-la's popularity has a lot to do with both it being the opening used for the longest number of episodes and most of the movies, as well as it being used during the episodes that were when the series really took off in popularity.

[VegettoEX]

Nothing wrong with some good ol' fashioned complete nonsense.

Anyway, it's not like Cha-la Head Cha-la is really the first DB opening; that would be Makafushigi Adventure, after all. I think Cha-la's popularity has a lot to do with both it being the opening used for the longest number of episodes and most of the movies, as well as it being used during the episodes that were when the series really took off in popularity.

I think Herms sums it up pretty well here, but I'm shocked that there hasn't been a single note of Hironobu Kageyama's name since the first post.

Combined with the care-free, nonsensical lyrics of the song itself... Kageyama's already-iconic delivery is really what pairs it up so well and pushes it to new heights. None of its individual pieces are all that spectacular, but the entire package combined goes above and beyond the individual parts.

[Adamant]

Anyway, it's not like Cha-la Head Cha-la is really the first DB opening; that would be Makafushigi Adventure, after all. I think Cha-la's popularity has a lot to do with both it being the opening used for the longest number of episodes and most of the movies, as well as it being used during the episodes that were when the series really took off in popularity.

Probably. I saw the Dragonball anime before the Dragonball Z anime, and always considered Makafushigi to be THE series-defining song.

Also, I think We Gotta Power is a better song than Cha-La, so there.

[Timo]

It's simply the best. 'Nuff said.