Ча Ла Хед Ча Ла: История одной песни из Dragon Ball Z

1989 single by Hironobu Kageyama

"Cha La Head Cha La" (チャラ・ヘッチャラ) is a song by Japanese musician and composer Hironobu Kageyama, released as his sixteenth single. It is best known as the first opening theme song of the Dragon Ball Z anime television series. Columbia released the single on vinyl, cassette and mini CD on May 1, 1989. It is coupled with the first Dragon Ball Z closing theme, "Detekoi Tobikiri Zenkai Power!" (でてこいとびきりZENKAIパワー!) performed by Manna. "Cha La Head Cha La" opened the first 199 episodes of the television series and the first nine films of the film adaptations. The single has sold 1.7million copies. It has been re recorded in many other languages, with an English version performed by Kageyama himself that was released on his third greatest hits album entitled Hironobu Kageyama Best Album 3: Mixture in 1996.

Hironobu Kageyama received the offer to record the opening theme song to Dragon Ball Z from the director of Columbia Records. With his background in a rock band, Kageyama said this director had previously revitalized his career by choosing him to sing the theme to Dengeki Sentai Changeman when he wanted a rock singer who could sing the upbeat theme songs that were being written for anime in increasing number in the 1980s. This director told Kageyama he would be singing the theme to Dragon Ball Z and wanted him involved from the earliest stage. Kageyama and his band made a demo of the song that the singer described as American rock in the vein of Bon Jovi. Kageyama said, "At the time, mainstream rock music did not have that kind of sound, and there were no arrangers who could have made arrangements like that. I think the sound as well as the lyrics were quite innovative." Because of the music's complex chords and structures that can not be played with a single guitar, Mori sensed an atmosphere of progressive rock, which he is a fan of. He also explained, "The opening [theme song] is usually flashy and dramatic, but you have more freedom in what the ending sounds like, so I thought it'd be fun if we made the song like something out of an amusement park." After "Cha La Head Cha La", Kageyama estimated that he went on to sing around 70 songs for the Dragon Ball franchise as of 2021.

Kageyama recorded a new version of "Cha La Head Cha La" that was released as a single on August 3, 2005, under the title "Cha La Head Cha La (2005 Ver.)". This version features a completely different composition and is coupled with a new recording of "We Gotta Power", a different Dragon Ball Z theme that Kageyama performed. Various remixes of the two songs are also included. The single's cover art features characters from the anime. A "Self Cover" version of the single, featuring Kageyama as the cover art, was released as an iTunes exclusive; however, it omits one track, "Cha La Head Cha La (Mobi[le re]make Version)". The 2005 version of the song peaked at number 118 on the Oricon Singles Chart and charted for two weeks. It served as the theme song of the video game Super Dragon Ball Z, which was released four months later.

Since its release, the song has been covered by many artists. In 2001, the Anipara Kids recorded a version for the album Club Ani para presents: Ani para Best & More. In 2004 the compilation album Anime Trance 2 features a version by Tora + R SEQ. The 2005 Anime Speed compilation and the 2006 Speed Buyuden compilation feature a version by Lee Tairon. The Italian band Highlord recorded a version that appears as a bonus track on the Japanese release of their album Instant Madness. The anime cover band Animetal recorded their take on "Cha la Head Cha la". It first appeared on Animetal Marathon VII as part of the "Jump Into The Fire mini Marathon" at the end of the disc. The Animetal version also appears on Animetal's 2006 "Decade of Bravehearts" Concert CD/DVD. In 2007 the compilation album Zakkuri! Paratech feature the song as part of a megamix performed by the 777BOYS. They would later team up with Pinpon and produce another version for J Anime! Hyper Techno & Trance. The anime adaptation of the yonkoma manga Lucky Star substitutes conventional ending theme songs with parodies of famous anime songs, episode five of which was "Cha La Head Cha La" sung by the lead character, Konata. This was done at the request of Aya Hirano, Konata's voice actress, who is said to be a great fan of Kageyama. The song was later released as a part of ending song compilations CD for the show. In 2008 another version would be recorded by Black Steel on the compilation Hi Speed Kirakira Jk. Visual kei rock band Screw covered the song for the cover album V Rock Anime in 2012. Idol group Momoiro Clover Z included a cover of the song on their single "Z no Chikai", which is the theme song for the 2015 movie Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection 'F'.

"Hero ~Kibō no Uta~ / Cha La Head Cha La" (HERO ~希望の歌~ / CHA LA HEAD CHA LA) is the twentieth single by Japanese rock band Flow, released on March 20, 2013, as a double A side. Both songs were created for use in the 2013 theatrical film Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods and included on Flow's eighth album Flow the Max!!!. "Hero ~Kibō no Uta~" is used as an insert song in the film, while the cover of "Cha La Head Cha La" is used as its theme song. The first press edition includes a special card for the card video game Dragon Ball Heroes. Flow's version of "Cha La Head Cha La" went on to be used in the video games Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Z and Dragon Ball Xenoverse, as well as part of the Anisong & BGM Music Pack in Dragon Ball FighterZ, Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2, and Super Dragon Ball Heroes: World Mission.