All Morning Musume singles ranking - Part 1 of 3

And FINALLY, here comes my Morning Musume singles ranking!

A few weeks ago, I stumbled upon the H!P rankers on American Wota after reading a Morning Musume ranking entry on Infinite Seasons.

I've allowed these Wota Distractions to thoroughly distract me. :) This ranking includes the other MM singles (ie. The Gumi's and MM Tanjou 10nen Kinentai and the pre-MM single, Ai no Tane), a total of 42 singles.

I'm going to break this ranking into 3 parts (14 singles per part) simply due to the volume of songs. Some of these songs have stories which go along with the reasons for my liking or not liking the single, which makes my breakdown very lengthy. So here goes!

NOTE: If there's no clarification on the group, it was obviously a regular MM release.

42. Aruiteru
This is at the bottom of my list because of the very first line. When I first heard this song, I hadn't been following MM very closely. My brother got me to listen to it, and I cringed when I heard that first line. Some voices blend well together. Takahashi Ai and Kusumi Koharu's voice simply DO NOT! It was too painful for me and pretty much turned me off to the entire song. Don't get me started on live performances of this...

41. Ai no Tane
I took this ranking very seriously, because I really wondered my favourite order. In order to really figure out which singles ranked best for me, I went back and listened to the older songs that don't get on my playlist much. So, I was really surprised when I realized that I had actually never heard this song in my life... That was an eye-opener. In general, the song didn't really stand out to me, thus the low ranking. There was only minimal harmonizing in this song, which is one of my favourite things about the old school MM singles.

40. Morning Musume no Hyokkori Hyoutanjima
I can't quite explain it, but this song just never interested me. I somehow had originally missed its release and heard it at a concert. I thought they were promoting a new single or it was song random album song I'd never heard before, but my brother clarified that it had been out for some time. The PV was... interesting to say the least, and the song just wasn't musically stimulating for me.

39. Itoshiki Tomo e - Morning Musume Tanjou 10nen Kinentai
I don't understand why Koharu is in this group. She brings down the vocals, and seeing as there are only 5 girls in this group, she gets a lot of solo lines. You'd figure for a 10th year anniversary group, you'd want some quality songs with some quality singers. Unfortunately, I just couldn't get into this group (as much as I love Risa). Nacchi, Maki and Kaori were never my favourite members of MM. I normally love ballads, but this song never got stuck in my head. If you asked me what it sounded like, I wouldn't be able to hum it off the top of my head.

38. Bokura ga Ikiru My Asia - Morning Musume Tanjou 10nen Kinentai
Basically, the same reasons as #39. Too much Koha and not too interested in the other members of the group (minus Risa).

37. Furusato
The reason this single is so low is because I find it's not really a MM single so much as it's a Nacchi single. I mean, come on. There were 6 other girls in the group at this point in time. Massive Nacchi overload. I actually really enjoy this song on the fanclub releases (ex. I love Takahashi and Risa's versions of this song). People can talk about line whores all they like (ex. Takahashi, Suzuki Airi of C-ute) but they've got nothing on Natsumi in this single.

36. Namida ga Tomarani Houkago
As much as I love Konno, her voice isn't one of my favourites in the history of MM. With her, Rika and Sayumi taking many of the solo lines in this single, I couldn't bring myself to listen to it very often. It was did have a catchy tune though, and I often found myself humming it to myself.

35. Chokkan 2 ~Nogashita Sakana wa Ookiizo!~
Not too much to say on this one. Never listened to it much. The "souda souda souda mattaku" parts are catchy and have gotten stuck in my head once or twice. It's a weird song though, looking at the translation. >_<

34. Memory Seishun no Hikari
I don't know where the mp3s of the older songs went, so to refresh myself, I found the PVs. I realized that I had never actually seen this PV before. My inital reaction to the PV: THERE ARE BOYS!! :O I was completely shocked in a very amused way. I mean, there are never boys in MM PVs. But in general, I don't like the PV much. The dancing leaves much to be desired (which was the case in most of the old school MM singles). What I really like in this single is the harmonization. I don't understand why they don't utilize such a wonderful musical device in the current MM releases. It's not like the current members are lacking the ability or talent to harmonize.

33. Egao Yes Nude
And we get to my lowest ranking 8th gen song. It was kind of funny, because not only did I have to refresh myself on the older songs, but I also had to do it on the newer singles as well. Mikan is the only current MM single I've listen to on a regular basis. I've been more distracted with the H!P Kids groups recently. Anyway, when this single first came out, I was like o_O in regards to the title. I actually really like the vocals in this song, particularly due to the line distribution (lots of leader/subleader solo and duet lines in this song, both the current and former leader/subleader duos). I think what puts this song so low for me is the PV. I just didn't like it all that much (and really didn't enjoy the outfits).

32. Joshi Kashimashi Monogatari
When this single first came out, I was all over it. It's catchy and cute, and I enjoyed that much more when someone translated the PV (I mean, since it's little stories about each member, it's nice to know what they're telling you). However, I found the novelty wore off fairly soon, which is why this song is in the bottom half of my list. However, I really enjoyed this PV and dance.

31. Summer Night Town
Again, another song with harmonies that I just love. I don't care much for the PV (the oldest MM PV that I actually enjoyed, and basically when the PVs started getting more enjoyable overall, was LOVE Machine).

30. Sexy Boy ~Soyokaze ni Yorisotte~
I really enjoy the "SEXY ooh wa ooh wa"'s for some reason (both the singing and the dance). I really like the melody in this song as well. I like the vocals for the "Ippai kitai" lines. The PV just had a little bit too much white for me. The girls could fade into the walls.

29. Manatsu no Kousen
As I re-listened to this song, I noticed a very annoying guitar (I think) sound during the instrumental bits (like in the intro to the song). That's the only thing I can hear at those points in the song now. But it can't bring down the love I have for this song. It's such a happy, bright song (as it should be, since they're singing about an endless summer). And once again, enjoyable harmonies in this oldie.

There we go! My bottom 14 MM singles. It's sad to say, 'cause I definitely enjoy almost all of these songs, but something has to go at the bottom of the list, right?