The End of Guso Drop

/ Homicidol Maniac

Sigh.

We’ve been waiting for it for a while now, but the end of the Heaviest Idol in the World, Guso Drop, finally came. I wanted to post something appropriate yesterday, but there wasn’t any video up yet when I had time to look; major sleuth Viz Major came to the rescue:


Just pretend like it isn’t real!

And in a lot of ways, at least from my vantage point, thus ends an era.

Guso Drop was part of that big, loud class of 2014 — some of the projects preceded that date a little bit, but while 2012 always feels like the year that idol had its first big creative* explosion, 2014 was the year that the loud gauntlet really got thrown down. Maybe it was partly Babymetal blowing up, maybe partly BiS’s original disbandment, maybe both, maybe just timing, I don’t know, but it was a hell of a starting point for loud idol projects. Hell, half of what I started off this site with was born in 2014, and a lot of that is dead now because idol, and while it’s not accurate to say that Guso Drop was right in the lead on all of that, it is perfectly accurate to say that they were pushing boundaries and making noise and bloodying themselves with abandon the whole way, and they made a lot of friends doing it.

Gyuzo:

C-Style:

Just for example. The point is, they loved being what they were, even if their creator was ultimately unsatisfied with what came of it:

As for the members:

If you think about it, the significantly loud, hardcore-and-metal-and-idol side has really been in decline, with the various flavors of mashing punk rock into idol much more prevalent and flexible and ultimately successful (though I’m sure that whatever fad comes next will conquer as well). Nobody was or ultimately could have been more punk than Guso Drop, though, not in the same all-in way, not with the same combinations of music and chaos and joy. The world will be a less cool place without them in it.

What was Guso Drop to the scene, ultimately? I don’t know; I never got to see them in their natural environment. I do know that they were friends with just about everybody they crossed paths with, and were always seemed supportive of others trying out this whole ridiculous scene, from members of their own agency through those they shared stages with.

To the fans, they were one of the most genuinely beloved. The hard core of Guushin never grew enough to support the group forever, and grand gestures like the ZEPP Tokyo show were more moral victories than chances to break out of the underground, but people who got into this wild stuff tended to dig on Guso Drop like few other groups, and rarely was there a cross word said in their direction.

Sayonara, Guso Drop. You probably never got everything that you deserved, and in that are the closest to “normal” as anything. Your fans will love you forever.

*I’m talking alt- stuff here specifically

4 thoughts on “The End of Guso Drop”

  1. Was at their last show yesterday and I still can’t believe the sad news. Their live shows were always amazing and so full of energy and chaos……..their disbandment really leaves a void behind :(((

  3. My favorite live idol group, but maybe I will be more safe now… I’ve had 2 concussions and one broken leg when seeing them (obviously all because of my own foolishness).

    I hope to see some of the girls in new projects.

  4. I’m old enough to have been a teenager when punk was spawned into this world.
    Guso Drops lives remind me the early gigs of bands like the Dammed, full of a visceral excitement with not knowing what was going to happen next and just a sheer joy at making noise. A bunch of teenage girls from Japan have shown me (at least) that the punk spirit is alive and well. That’s why it’s so sad they are no more. If there was one idol group to survive the apocalypse I’d choose Guso.
    in other news, COcocos departure is a real pisser too!

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