| Message | |
| Type: | Album |
| Artist: | Mongol800 |
| Cover: | Message (Mongol800 album).jpg |
| Released: | September 16, 2001 |
| Genre: | Punk rock, indie, ska punk, J-pop |
| Length: | 67:45 |
| Label: | High Wave, Tissue Freak Records |
| Producer: | Mongol 800 |
| Prev Title: | Go on As You Are |
| Prev Year: | 2000 |
| Next Year: | 2004 |
Message is the second album released on September 16, 2001 by the Okinawa band Mongol800 via High Wave and Tissue Freak Records.
At the beginning, the album received only regional attention. After the song Anata ni was used in an advertisment the album became a national success, selling approximately 3 million copies and reaching first place in the Japanese albums charts by Oricon.
The album received no promotion like single releases or media coverage. Message contains 14 tracks with a running time of 67 minutes and 45 seconds.
The lyrics of the songs featured on the album are mainly about war and peace. These lyrics were written like if the words could have come out of the mouths from Okinawian people. The song "Ryūkyū Aika" for example is about loving nature without using violence while in "Mujun no Ue ni Saku Hana" the lyrics metaphorically tells the listeners to overcome war through using words of kindness.[1]
In an article published in the Japanese regional daily newspaper Ryūkyū Shimpō in January 2018 the writer stated that it was weird and creepy that the album had been released only a few days after the September 11 attacks.[2]
When the album was released it only received regional attention. After the song was used in a TV commercial the album became a national success through mouth propaganda.[3] When the album was initially released it peaked seventh in the Oricon Albums charts before jumping to the top-spot in following year.[4] Message became the first album released by an indie label to sell more than one million copies and peaking at no. 1 in the official music charts.[5]
In the year-end charts of 2002, the album ranked at third place with more than 2.1 million copies sold.[6] The following year, Message ranked at no. 56 selling 230.000 copies.[7] In the meantime, the album sold more than 2.8 million copies in Japan.[8]
| Peak position | |
| Japanese Albums (Oricon) | 1 |
|---|---|
| Position | |
| Japanese Albums (Oricon) | 84 |
|---|---|
| Position | |
| Japanese Albums (Oricon) | 3 |
|---|---|
| Position | |
| Japanese Albums (Oricon) | 56 |
|---|---|
See main article: Chiisana Koi no Uta. "A Small Love Song" became popular and has seen various cover applications in multimedia. It is used as an insert song of Operation Love[9], and also for the soundtrack of Teasing Master Takagi-san. More recently, a cover sung by Manaka Iwami acts as the ending of The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten.[10]
"Chiisana Koi no Uta" has becom a very popular karaoke song in Japan.[11] It has been covered by more than 60 artists.[12]