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Half Japanese is a lo-fi indie rock band formed by brothers Jad Fair and David Fair in their Uniontown, Maryland bedroom around 1975. Like The Shaggs, the Fair brothers were self-taught and thoroughly unconventional musicians; their early raw, unvarnished sound careened between naïvely amateurish-sounding canoodling and avant-garde experimentation.

Their quirky song lyrics often deal with monsters and the supernatural (especially as influenced by campy “creature feature” and scifi movies), in addition to more conventional themes, such as the visceral thrills of crushes and infatuations. They have stated that all their songs are either “love songs or monster songs.”

Fans of Half Japanese include Penn Jillette, who helped the band release some of their albums on his ad hoc 50 Skidillion Watts label, and the late Kurt Cobain, who had them open for Nirvana’s 1993 tour. Over time David Fair became less involved, ultimately quitting the band in favor of married life, and Jad brought in more outside musicians who have contributed to an increasingly coherent and organized sound.

They have worked with the Orthotonics, Moe Tucker, Teenage Fanclub, Daniel Johnston and John Zorn, among others.

The band’s history and influence was chronicled in the 1993 fan documentary Half Japanese: The Band That Would Be King by Jeff Feuerzeig.

Tagged as:

lo-fi, post-punk, indie rock, indie, punk
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Charmed Life
Half Japanese
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Greatest Hits
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Sing No Evil
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Hello
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Top Tracks

1	Put Some Sugar On It full track	80
2	Charmed Life full track	68
3	Said and Done full track	60
4	1,000,000 Kisses full track	59
5	Penny in the Fountain full track	57
6	Roman Candles full track	47
6	Evidence full track	47
8	On the One Hand full track	40
9	Love at First Sight full track	39
10	Miracles Happen Every Day full track	37
11	Red Dress full track	35
12	Day and Night full track	32
12	Double Trouble full track	32
12	Firecracker full track	32
15	Bright Lights, Big City	28

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johntardsbaby66 wrote:
last week

not as good as the shaggs [2]

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mietpistole wrote:
17 days ago

No fair!

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kaylastarkiller wrote:
24 days ago

no, he's just weird.

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IanCad wrote:
last month

is jad fair mentally handicapped? i saw their doc and it seemed like that kind of.

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SmellyTongue wrote:
last month

IF ANYONE GOT HALF JAPANESE' "4 FOUR KIDS EP" PLEASE LET ME KNOW!!!!

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spiderburps wrote:
September 2009

two types of songs: monster songs and love songs awesome

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dallin_kapp wrote:
September 2009

the band that would be king.

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Cthulberg wrote:
September 2009

TN TN TN TN KI !

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kaylastarkiller wrote:
September 2009

the conclusion i always come back to is that half japanese is the only real music in the world. the best music in the world.

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sdl1986 wrote:
September 2009

HOW COME I KEEP HEARING ABOUT THE SHAGGS WHEN THE RIFFS ARE SO INCREDIBLE

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serv2r wrote:
September 2009

fuck the shaggs

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curare_curare wrote:
September 2009

"the only chord i know is to how plug my guitar in"

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Pands wrote:
September 2009

not as good as the shaggs

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CoyoteDuster wrote:
September 2009

such a great band

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Raketenish wrote:
September 2009

Red sun, shining down on us.

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kibelezlek wrote:
August 2009

fuckin geniuses

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polymorphous71 wrote:
August 2009

Here group ------>http://www.last.fm/group/Oblique+Satellites

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HaloBurns wrote:
August 2009

My Pussy Is Hanging Out!!!

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IanCurtis13 wrote:
August 2009

getting into them

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MassiveKill wrote:
July 2009

the real thing. undeniable.

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Recent Activity

ChikenEetsMonki added Half Japanese to their libraries. 4 hours ago
outoffocus_ connected Half Japanese to the group Postpunk & No wave guitar players. yesterday evening
and 14 other people added Half Japanese to their libraries. yesterday evening
ericagangsei tagged Half Japanese with ‘rec-list’. last week
OneState, swerve_drive, downer88 and 14 other people added Half Japanese to their libraries. last week
Gurdon wrote about Half Japanese in Half Japanese - Calling All Girls. last week
borgoparigi77, HarpoGarza, lilac_00 and 16 other people added Half Japanese to their libraries. 13 days ago
schoenburger tagged Half Japanese with ‘the shaggs are shit’. 20 days ago
crhisgbibon and lmbiggie added Half Japanese to their libraries. 22 days ago
AZIndependant added Half Japanese to the lineup of Nirvana at Wallace Civic Center. 22 days ago