竹炉山房

The day before yesterday I reviewed Kill Bill Volume I and II. I heard that music also played in the Transformers movie 2007 when the Autobot Bumblebee changed from 1978 Classic Camero into a Chevrolet 2008 Concept Camaro. Its name is Battle without Honor or Humanity. The musician is Tomoyasu Hotei, a Japanese musician, guitarist and actor. Great guitar lyric!

According to Wikipedia, Tomoyasu Hotei (布袋寅泰, born on February 1, 1962 in Takasaki, Gunma Prefecture) is a Japanese musician, guitarist and actor.

At 190cm (6 foot, 3 inches), Tomoyasu Hotei is one of the most intimidating people in the Japanese music world. This image has also been put to good use when casting him as the villain in movies and TV commercials, most notably as the sinister man in black chasing Masatoshi Nagase in the Boss coffee ads. Over a long musical career as a guitarist with one of Japan's legendary rock bands, guest artist and solo performer, he has developed a worldwide reputation as Japan's premier axeman and has sold over 25 million albums. Possessing strong skills as both a guitarist and songwriter, he has played in various configurations and styles, but has always been a rocker at heart.

Below I put the snapshot of the scenes of these two great movies when this single was played.

Battle without Honor or Humanity was played in Kill Bill Volume 1 when O-Ren Ishii (Lucy Liu) and her gangs went into a hangout called "House of Blue Leaves".

Battle without Honor or Humanity was played when Bumblebee transformed from 1978 Classic Camero to a Chevrolet 2008 Concept Camaro in the Transformers movie 2007.

P.S. According to Wikipedia, the song is also played many many times in different films, games and songs.

"Battle Without Honor or Humanity" is an alternate version of "Shin jingi-naki tatakai", an instrumental piece by Tomoyasu Hotei, originally used in the 2000 film Another Battle (aka Shin Jinginaki Tatakai) by Junji Sakamoto, in which Hotei also performs as an actor. The original version was also available in Hotei's live album Rock the Future Tour 2000-2001.

To Western audiences it is probably more recognized for its use in the 2003 Quentin Tarantino film Kill Bill (and earlier in its teaser trailer). It was also used briefly in the film Team America: World Police and during a scene in the 2007 film Transformers, where Bumblebee updates his body styling to a newer version of the Chevrolet Camaro, while in the Detroit tunnel. The screenshots can be viewed here when the music was played.

Three versions of the track are featured on Hotei's 2004 album Electric Samurai (The Noble Savage).

A cut of this song is featured on the American PlayStation 2 music game Dance Dance Revolution SuperNOVA, and a cover of this song appears on the Japanese PlayStation 2 music game Pop'n Music 13 Carnival.

The song is also the theme song for the ESPN Radio program The Herd with Colin Cowherd.

It is also used on The X Factor in the UK as the music the contestants walk onto the stage with and also was used in the 2006 BBC Sports Personality of the Year to introduce the four boxers as they were stepping into the stage in the style of a boxing match. Also, for a short period of time in 2004, it was used in the 'Half-Time' segment on Radio 1's The Chris Moyles Show, until later in the year when it was replaced by an especially-written soundalike. It was also used as the Kansas State University Basketball entrance song during the 2007 season.

Battle Without Honor or Humanity was featured in the game trailer for the PlayStation 3 game Gran Turismo HD

Many English football teams use the track as their entrance themes. Most notable was a recent occasion in which the England national team came out to the tune.

Professional wrestler Paul London also used it as a theme while competing in Ring of Honor.

The New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets of the National Basketball Association and the Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League also used it for their player introductions.

Most recently the song has been used as the pump up music for New York Yankees left fielder Hideki Matsui when he comes up to bat.