50 YMM MVs Day 16: Space-Rock

Here we go!!! With Day 16 of the 50 YMM! MV Project, we’re in the thick of YOU’LL MELT MORE! on an unstoppable hot streak. This was the moment where everything the group did became a event for me and many of their other fans. No matter what genre, what style, whatever circumstances, YOU’LL MELT MORE! proved they could be the master of any form and deliver with extra interest paid in full.

The group had released a number a couple of top-tier albums, and steady flow of rock-solid singles and EPs, one of which, the brilliantly titled “Literature and Destroy” contained this song as a closer. Shortly after, the song reappeared on their landmark album “YOU ARE THE WORLD”, which I will continue to unequivocally declare is the greatest idol album ever recorded, and when this MV arrived to promote it, it was clear that at last, the group had unleashed their magnum opus unto us undeserving souls…

Holy mountain, man…. THE SONG. All seven minutes and forty-two seconds of it. It’s pure beautiful chaotic bliss that reaches out, unfolds like a flower, and explodes like a super nova. Whenever I listen to this, I always listen all the way through. It might be over seven minutes long but it never overstays it’s welcome. I’d be more than thrilled to have this work expanded out to the length of a Sun Ra improv session and just go on seemingly without end, taking the listener into an altered state as it ebbs and flows and whispers and screams into the vastness of the universe like a cosmic Roman candle. It’s that beautiful.

The greatest idol album of all time. Artwork by Hiroyuki Takahashi.

The MV is whole epic work in itself. Once again directed by frequent video collaborator Dan Cervi, it’s mostly a mix of animation with the members dropped via digital magic into the experience. It looks like the opening to a forgotten science fiction film as it takes you to the edge of new unexplored worlds just beyond the solar system. Then the openness of space transforms into a psychedelic journey that is clearly inspired by David Bowman’s trip into the stargate in Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey”. I love the way the hook kicks in at 3:13 with the members floating inside bubbles, and then you pass through the girls themselves and finally end up at my favorite point in the song, Younapi’s solo bridge, just before the songs breaks into a crescendo. It’s stunning.

Being that’s it’s such a stunner of a tune, it makes sense that “Only You” has become Yurumerumo’s signature finale song. It’s the kind of a number that pretty much has to close a show, because honestly, how on Earth could you follow it up? As such, there’s quite a few live performances of “Only You” that have been filmed and shared online. I really have watched every single one of these, because each is a unique and powerful experience. For me, if I needed to ultimately sell you on appreciate how good YOU’LL MELT MORE! is, I’d get you to check these out.

Even before this 50MVs project had been concocted, I had toyed with with compiling an article containing every version of “Only You” I could find. So hey, why not do it now? Seriously, I’d watch them all sometime because each one brings something exciting and new. (I arranged these approximately in order.) Enjoy!