Sadly, Sakai-san herself lost a battle with cancer a few years back at the age of 40, but we like to believe she too never gave up. During what was a bit like Japan’s own 1929 stock market economic crisis, this song, which literally translates to “ please don’t lose,” or “ don’t give up,” was a rallying cry for a generation needing a morale boost. “ Makenaide” by Zard is an anthem of the 90s by J-Pop icon Izumi Sakai. It is almost certainly no accident that Marty opens the album with a song of weighty cultural importance, even if it does fall under the pop music banner. With few exceptions, all systems are “go” for a fifty-two minute shred metal demolition derby.
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Unlike some of Marty’s solo work of the 90s, like “ Scenes” and “ Introduction,” which are largely acoustic or semi-clean electric playing, “ Jukebox 3” is a “Full Assault Fire Threat,” to borrow from Dave Mustaine. Marty hammered out rapid-fire back-to-back releases of volumes 1 and 2 of Tokyo Jukebox, in 20 respectively, and now, after a ten-year hiatus, he scratches the J-Pop itch one more time with “Tokyo Jukebox 3,” an even dozen choice cuts of Marty Friedman’s Japan. Instrumental, and often blisteringly technical, the covers of these songs resonate with the native Japanese audience, as well as with Marty’s loyal international fans who may not recognize the songs themselves, but can appreciate good writing and masterful musicianship when they hear it. It is this unique convergence of cultural constellations which has given genesis to Marty’s Tokyo Jukebox recordings, which are mainly a collection of popular Japanese (or “J-Pop”) music in a stylized Friedman flavor. In fact, so omnipresent and magnetic is Marty, that the Japanese Imperial Government appointed him as an official Ambassador of Japanese Heritage, no small feat for an American living abroad. While Americans generally recognize Friedman as the virtuosic lead guitarist of the most successful Megadeth records, Japan knows Friedman-san as a linguistically fluent, full-time Japanese resident and star of both stage and television. Marty Friedman may stand alone in rock and heavy metal with the singular distinction as the foremost bridge between western metal and Japanese culture.