What comes to mind when you think of Heavy Metal? Is it three cute little girls wearing Lolita dresses and doing synchronized dance moves? Well if you answered "no" you're out of touch, my bruh!

Welcome to the preposterous world of Babymetal, a Japanese girl group that combines the saccharine imagery of J-pop with the bone-crushing heaviness of metal. Sounds incongruous? It is, and yet this group is one of the best-selling hard rock acts of our age, earning millions of fans across the globe with their unique brand of so-called kawaii metal.

In the first of a multi-part series, we examine the origins of Babymetal by exploring the wild and often problematic world of Japanese Idol music. Why do millions of Japanese men devote endless hours and thousands of yen to support 13-year-old girls who sing the lamest music on Earth? We spent 90 minutes talking about it, and we still don't know...

WARNING: This episode contains some rather dark subject matter, including sexual abuse of children. (Don't worry, it's still super funny, but also kinda fucked...)

Nick's stupid travel blog that he plugs toward the end of the episode: https://ghostonthehighway.blog/

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