[Mughi]

Originally Posted by Tatiana Razajev

I also liked how they handled the music. The songs were spread out, yes. However they were treated as important events. They didn't pull the obligation song ***** where you hear the same exact song every episode as just background noise. Not that I don't watch series, but it's a nice change.

I think this, now at the end, is an important note. In another post I made a joking aside about K-On and the old 70's Hanna-Barbera cartoon, Josie & the Pussycats. In many ways, what was so successful about K-On was the way the music played by the cast was handled. The performances and exposure of the songs have been doled out in small and often fleeting amounts. Early on in the Season 1 there was an outcry of how awful and unprofessional, lazy and unfair this practice was. Many members here complained that if there wasn't going to be enough music, there was no point in watching the show. IMHO, we are finally getting the genius of this tactic.

The typical way that U.S. shows LIKE Josie & The Pussycats, The Archie Show, Jem and their imitators used music was a song a week method. Often times, this formula really worked out to 3 -4 weeks of the SAME song played over and over until you got sick of it. As Japan began to introduce music and idols into their shows, they replicated this pattern. Go back and watch the original Macross. How sick of Watashi no Karewa Pilot were you by the 10th time Minmay sang it? I was thankful it was a short song, because much as I loved the show, I wanted to claw my ears out hearing it again! Since then musical shows have pretty much followed the same formula of play one song at every opportunity, sell image albums in the stores that never were played IN the show.

K-On was equally guilty of selling the un-exposed songs in the backchannel, but it never drove a single song into the ground during the showing of the series. We got to see fantasy videos, live performances, snippets of practices, references from other character's point of hearing and even alternate versions done within the context of a talent fair, or played by another pairing of club members. Of all of the songs, (With exception of the OP's and ED's, Fuwa Fuwa Time is the most oft played and identified with the show, but while its the "first" song they performed together and used throughout both seasons, it never gets tiring to hear it. On the contrary Fuwa Fuwa is used sparingly enough that when we hear it at the end of the series, it becomes nostalgic and appreciated, instead of "Oh they cheap'd out and relied on the ONE song they used all season..."

In retrospect, I'm really happy and satisfied that the music in K-On, a show we all THOUGHT was about music, was used just enough to support what the show was REALLY all about: Friendship.