Foreign Music You Don'T Understand But Like

[SRN]

Maximum The Hormone, japanese mix of everything.. in a punk / metal version. And alot of Finnish bands like Moonsorrow and Korpiklaani. Also Finntroll.

I actually was just introduced to Maximum The Hormone last night. My brother mentioned something about the opening theme of Death Note ("What's Up People?!") and so I watched the show just to hear the theme he was talking about and it's all kinds of fucking awesome.

Hurr hurr, MTH is probably the only Punk stuff I like the moment but damn, they are all kinds of super duper awesome yes. I really need to get a hold of some of their albums.

[Colly]

Super Furry Animals. Its not Finnish, its not metal, but it works. And obviously their English stuff is ace too.

[Toa]

I mostly listen to Japanese stuff these days, and I don't speak Japanese, so yeah. The majority of other bands I listen to mainly sing in English or Danish/Swedish/Norwegian, so that's not a problem. French Prog Rock band Nemo is really the only band I can think of that has lyrics that I don't understand (despite having had French for years. >_<) and that I actually wish I did.

The greatest folk metal band of all time, Kalmah

Kalmah isn't a folk metal band, is it? Granted, I haven't heard all that much of their stuff, but it sounded very Children of Bodom-y.

[Benji]

I listen to a bunch of J-Pop, and I don't understand a word of most of it.

Does Rammstein count?

I came in here to mention them too. I understand some (from looking up lyrics and stuff) but nowhere near all and they're still one of the most kickass bands ever.

I like some Rammstein, even though I don't understand it. Funnily enough, I think the English language version of "Du Hast" sucks, and I've purposely avoided looking for anything else they've done in English - if they've even done anything else in English, that is.

My favorite song by them is probably either "Sonne" or "Engel".

It's the Shawshank factor, not understanding the words only makes them and the music more powerful.

[Dan]

Lange Frans en Bass B - Zinloos.

What an awesome song.

[lari]

Cargo, the Romanian band. Nice, catchy, 70's/80's style heavy rock, but I don't understand anything of the lyrics.

[Liam]

I third Boris.

[Jack_Attack]

I've got one song by an Italian band, Punkreas. It's called Chirugo Plastico, and I have no idea what any of the lyrics are about but it's decent enough.

[GhostMachine]

I listen to a bunch of J-Pop, and I don't understand a word of most of it.

Does Rammstein count?

I came in here to mention them too. I understand some (from looking up lyrics and stuff) but nowhere near all and they're still one of the most kickass bands ever.

I like some Rammstein, even though I don't understand it. Funnily enough, I think the English language version of "Du Hast" sucks, and I've purposely avoided looking for anything else they've done in English - if they've even done anything else in English, that is.

My favorite song by them is probably either "Sonne" or "Engel".

It's the Shawshank factor, not understanding the words only makes them and the music more powerful.

No, its the fact it just sounds more badass in German, not the fact its not understandable.

I recently listened to the English version of Engel, and its okay.

By the way, does anyone who is big on Rammstein know if there are two different videos for Engel? Because I could have sworn I saw a video for it with a blond or white haired woman singing instead of the caged kid back when the song first came out.

[lari]

Oh, and Axxis' "Engel Aus Hass", their new album bonus track. Fun. Though it sounds too much like "Better Fate" from the actual album.

[JairusCain]

I listen to a bunch of J-Pop, and I don't understand a word of most of it.

Does Rammstein count?

I came in here to mention them too. I understand some (from looking up lyrics and stuff) but nowhere near all and they're still one of the most kickass bands ever.

I like some Rammstein, even though I don't understand it. Funnily enough, I think the English language version of "Du Hast" sucks, and I've purposely avoided looking for anything else they've done in English - if they've even done anything else in English, that is.

My favorite song by them is probably either "Sonne" or "Engel".

It's the Shawshank factor, not understanding the words only makes them and the music more powerful.

No, its the fact it just sounds more badass in German, not the fact its not understandable.

I recently listened to the English version of Engel, and its okay.

By the way, does anyone who is big on Rammstein know if there are two different videos for Engel? Because I could have sworn I saw a video for it with a blond or white haired woman singing instead of the caged kid back when the song first came out.

I believe when MTV aired a full Rammstein concert, they had a blond woman singing the part live. Is that maybe what you're thinking of?

[VerbalPuke]

It seems that a lot of my favorite foreign music comes from Sweden, such as Puke, Asta Kask. There are a lot of other good Swedish bands in the vein of those two, but sing in English so they don't count.

Atoxxxico from Mexico are pretty cool, just some old Mexican punk, there is a good story involving their lead singer. I'll just quote it: "Alejandro "Mosh", who sang for Atoxxico for awhile (as well as for Natas), became famous years later as the leader of the student movement that closed the UNAM (University of Mexico) for over a year. They even had a few punk gigs inside the campus while it was closed."

France had an array of good Oi bands, there's a good compilation out there called "Oi the French Connection". It has a good representation of the different bands from that era, Camera Silens and the Warrior Kids being the stand outs.

South America also had some good punk bands in Los Violadores (Argentina) and Colera (Brazil). Both follow a 77 style that would have fit well in New York or Los Angeles.

Poland has perhaps one of my favorite bands that doesn't speak English, that being Dezerter. Just very good punk, it's catchy as hell, and can be song along to even if you don't understand Polish. There is also the thrash metal band Kat, they're also pretty fucking good in their own right.

And since I don't feel like writing anymore I'll also mention GISM and The Stalin from Japan, Riistetyt from Finland. And everybody should grab a copy of this Turkish Psychedelic compilation, it's excellent.

[livid]

Does Pearl Jam count? Seeing as how Vedder seems to have made up his own language, I think they should.

But nah seriously, the only ones I can think of are Boris and Rammstein.

I guess I don't listen to a lot of music that don't use the English language as I don't think I've heard that many bands not use it.

But this thread just reiterates how awesome Boris is.

[Lowerdeck]

Does Pearl Jam count? Seeing as how Vedder seems to have made up his own language, I think they should.

You could almost say the same thing with Snoop Dogg at times.

Or quite a bit of rap if you think about it.

Anyway... I don't listen to much music that's not in English. Reggaeton sounds pretty cool at times, but I don't understand Spanish. Maybe that's a good thing, considering I'd probably think the genre would be stupid if I did. Since I don't know Spanish, it's just a novelty.

[ScentlessApprentice]

Does Pearl Jam count? Seeing as how Vedder seems to have made up his own language, I think they should.

Yellow Ledbetter is one of my favourite songs just because I make up my own words to it (Y)

[illmatic]

I listen to alot of Korean music. Don't understand some of it, but I am learning Korean. I also like Japanese music, don't listen to it as much as I did a few years ago. Also Spanish music, don't understand alot of it even though I am half Mexican, Kinda sad I know more Korean than I do Spanish.

[Skummy]

I love a lot of Japanese music, Boris already mentioned as one of the main offenders there, also Flower Travellin' Band, Ghost, Boredoms, Speed Glue & Shinki, Les Rallizes Denudes, Polysics, Sigh, Taj Mahal Travellers, etc.

I listen to quite a lot of Jacques Brel from time to time, despite having a pretty limited knowledge of French - I know the odd few words, but know nothing of grammar or sentence structure, so most of the time I haven't really a clue what he's singing about unless it's a song of his I've already heard in English by somebody else (Scott Walker, predominantly). Same goes for Brecht & Weill, I listen to a lot of versions of their songs in both German and English, and can't speak a word of German.

I've also got the "Ethiopiques" collection, which is a load of Ethiopian jazz, funk and soul from the '60s and '70s, that's pretty good.

Sigur Ros are brilliant, and I can always find time for KUKL, Tappi Tíkarrass and "Gling-Gló" by Björk Guðmundsdóttir & Tríó Guðmundar Ingólfssonar, as well as the few Björk and Sugarcubes tracks with Icelandic vocals....Iceland gave us beautiful beautiful music, and Lazy Town, so it may well be the best country on the planet.

[Scott McFly]

Not that I listen to it all that much, but there's something about the t.A.T.u girls wailing in Russian that makes it sound quite powerful.

[Bushmeister]

Kotteteliosuus (Bushy will correct that later, can't be arsed )

Kotiteollisuus

My list consists mostly of metal bands, surprise surprise. Týr have some amazing songs sung in Icelandic, which is a badass poetic language to begin with. Then there's a whole slew of black metal bands who sing in French, both from France and Canada: Peste Noiré, Vinland Anti-Christian Kommando and Hell Militia. Some German viking metal bands, like Bombensturm and Thrudvangar as well.

Most of the other stuff from countries whose languages I probably couldn't understand are ambient music most of the time, so it doesn't really matter

[Zaz]

I listen to a bunch of J-Pop, and I don't understand a word of most of it.

Does Rammstein count?

I came in here to mention them too. I understand some (from looking up lyrics and stuff) but nowhere near all and they're still one of the most kickass bands ever.

I like some Rammstein, even though I don't understand it. Funnily enough, I think the English language version of "Du Hast" sucks, and I've purposely avoided looking for anything else they've done in English - if they've even done anything else in English, that is.

My favorite song by them is probably either "Sonne" or "Engel".

It's the Shawshank factor, not understanding the words only makes them and the music more powerful.

No, its the fact it just sounds more badass in German, not the fact its not understandable.

I recently listened to the English version of Engel, and its okay.

By the way, does anyone who is big on Rammstein know if there are two different videos for Engel? Because I could have sworn I saw a video for it with a blond or white haired woman singing instead of the caged kid back when the song first came out.

I believe when MTV aired a full Rammstein concert, they had a blond woman singing the part live. Is that maybe what you're thinking of?

Man, I only realised how awesome Mein Teil was when I saw the show they did in France on DVD.

My favourite is probably Adios though.