I need Pachinko music.

April 28, 2006 5:23 PM

Where can I find pachinko music?

My roommate, who has lived in Japan, claims the music played in pachinko parlors is the most annoying music ever. Naturally, I want to hear it now. Does anyone know where I can find CDs, or, better yet, MP3s of this sort of music? Heck, even some artist names would be helpful. Oh, and I know that there's a band called "Pachinko;" they're great but not what I'm looking for.

posted by jtron to media & arts (16 comments total)

The quickest thing I can think of would be to rent Lost in Translation, there's a scene where the two main characters are chased through a pachinko parlor, and the noise is indeed cacophonous.
posted by tiamat at 5:51 PM on April 28, 2006

Pachinko In Your Head
posted by chocolatepeanutbuttercup at 6:04 PM on April 28, 2006

You did Google, no?
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 9:15 PM on April 28, 2006

Pachinkophonous is the new cacophonous.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 9:19 PM on April 28, 2006

You hear plenty of pachinko music in Wim Wenders' beautiful documentary about Tokyo, entitled Tokyo-Ga.
posted by jayder at 9:28 PM on April 28, 2006

Yes, I googled several combinations of words and didn't find what I was looking for, which is why I came here.

'Pachinko In Your Head' is awesome and I'm probably going to pick it up, but it's still not exactly what I need...

Thanks for the Tokyo-Ga recommendation; I'll check it out.
posted by jtron at 9:30 PM on April 28, 2006

There's an annoying pachinko parlor by my house (Shinjuku, Tokyo), but it's a small local place that probably isn't as pachinkophonous as a monster-sized one. If you're really interested and don't mind waiting a few days, I can pop in the next time I pass by a big one and capture a movie for you.

(Did I really just offer to capture movies inside a random pachinko parlor, for a random person I've never met? Unbelievable! I love this site...)
posted by QueSeraSera at 10:31 PM on April 28, 2006

That would be utterly fantastic of you, and would in fact reaffirm my faith in humanity.
posted by jtron at 2:49 AM on April 29, 2006

Here are a few clips with audible music. (The quality isn't especially good, but I doubt the composer expected much in the way of fidelity.)

YouTube video
mp3s: 1 2 3 4

All found via searching and may require authentication from a frequenter of Pachinko dens.
posted by Busy Old Fool at 8:50 AM on April 29, 2006

99.9% of pachinko "songs" that I hear around my train station are thumping "bah-um bah-um bah-um" techno beats that are pretty much drowned out by the machines except for the basslines. I would think any rave compiliation would be equivalent.

On a side note, I just got a flyer in my mailbox for a new pachinko machine called "We Will Rock You" that's a total bootleg tribute to/shameless license of Queen.
posted by ejoey at 9:34 AM on April 29, 2006

What ejoey describes sounds like Clip 1 in busy old fool's post.
posted by rolypolyman at 11:50 AM on April 29, 2006

"Tokyo-Ga" is essential, glad to see it available (in VHS only!) at Amazon -- thought it had been withdrawn, for some reason.

I believe its reoccuring pachinko scene music is the Imperial Navy march. I read somewhere that martial music was common in pachinko parlors, but that hasn't been my experience, and I wonder if it's a custom no longer fashionable.
posted by Rash at 4:30 PM on April 29, 2006

QueSeraSera - good luck shooting video or taking pictures inside a pachinko parlor. Each time I tried i got promptly booted out my the management...
posted by quibx at 5:41 PM on April 29, 2006

Tokyo-Ga seems to be available on DVD, at least Japanese region. Hoshii!
posted by ejoey at 8:59 PM on April 29, 2006

Sorry I've been away. Camera discreetly in hand, I stopped into 2 different pachinko parlors on my way to work today... no luck. quibx was right. There was one employee to every 5 patrons, it seemed, and they eyed me up and down and immediately spotted my camera. (Pro-pachinko-ers apparently analyze the machines' pins to determine which ones are more likely to pay out, so I'm guessing this is why camera aren't allowed.)

Busy Old Fool's mp3s sound pretty representative. Though the music I heard today might have been a bit more "unce unce unce" trance-y.

For the love of humanity, I'm going to give it another shot on my way home.
posted by QueSeraSera at 10:08 PM on April 30, 2006

Doesn't answer your question, but here you go.
posted by QueSeraSera at 5:38 AM on May 1, 2006