Momoe Yamaguchi -- Zettai Zetsumei（絶体絶命）

 

Japanese television loves to use its fair share of musical cues within programs such as variety shows. For example, if there is an instance where a couple of celebrities are about to come to a screaming match or physical blows (mostly joking...mostly), Tomoyasu Hotei's（布袋寅泰）famous "Battle Without Honor or Humanity" roars in like an oncoming storm.

Well, I think another song intro which is much older than Hotei's classic could have been another perfect shredding guitar cue, and I have to admit that I have to give myself another Gibbs slap upside the back of my head since I had unintentionally omitted it from the pages of KKP for years and years. When it comes to Momoe Yamaguchi's（山口百恵）"Zettai Zetsumei", her 23rd single from August 1978, I put it up there with her "Imitation Gold"（イミテイション・ゴールド）and "Playback Part 2" （プレイバック・パート２）as the 70s aidoru's songs of fury...as in "Hell hath no fury than a woman scorned".

"Zettai Zetsumei" can be interpreted as "desperate situation" or "stalemate", and both definitions can set the scene described by Yoko Aki's（阿木燿子）lyrics of irate showdown and her husband Ryudo Uzaki's（宇崎竜童）hard rocking confrontation music. You see, we have a love/hate triangle at a cafe somewhere in which at least one of the women has finally had enough of the status quo, and she and the other woman are giving the ultimatum to the guy they share. Who will win? Who will lose? And are there any sharp utensils nearby? You'd be surprised at how much damage a butter knife can do. 

Even the cover of the single has Momoe looking terrifying. She looks like she's saying "Oh, really? THAT'S what you're going with?". Ay, carumba! "Zettai Zetsumei" peaked at No. 3 and ended up as the 34th-ranked single of the year. It's also a track on the singer's September 1978 15th studio album "Dramatic"（ドラマチック）which went as high as No. 6 on Oricon.