I finally got into music around that time with me diving into Billy Joel, Michael Jackson and the British New Wave, so my brain was attuned to hearing all sorts of stuff. When I went to Japan that year, then, I just got blown away by all this strangely appealing pop music that sounded Western but wasn't.
One of the very first songs I heard that year was Jun Horie's （堀江淳）"Memory Glass", which was really his only big hit for this Hokkaido native. The single was released on April 21, and stayed in the Oricon Top 10 from late July to early October of that year, reaching a peak of No. 3 in August.
At the time, I'd started getting into the Yellow Magic Orchestra, so hearing the synths in the introduction immediately tugged at my ears. Plus his high voice made me wonder if Jun had earlier encountered a tragic castration accident. No matter....it was a pop song done in a style that I'd never heard before, and it, along with several other hit songs that year, put me on the path of kayo kyoku.
Saw Jun Horie make an appearance on NHK's "Kayo Concert" tonight. Usually the program features enka and mood kayo singers, but the now-51-year-old Horie also appeared to do his best (and only) hit. Man, 31 years just fly by....even tonight's rendition sounded very mood kayo-like.
Wow. Thanks for posting this. I was just going through a box of memorabilia from my year in Japan teaching English in 1981-82, and I found the lyrics to this song that I had typed out in Romaaji. I learned this song to sing in karaoke bars so I could surprise all my Japanese friends that expected me to just sing songs in English. I decided to Google this song and up came your blog. Thanks for posting it - I can still sing along perfectly with it now that I have the lyric in front of me.
ReplyDeleteA pleasure, Jeff. I guess this became your 18-ban at the bars; for me, when I was doing my teaching up in Gunma, I had to internalize "Yuki Guni" by Ikuzo Yoshi.
DeleteOmigosh. Seriously, you taught in Gunma? That's where I taught as an MEF that year, in Maebashi. Please email me at carleton1958@gmail.com.
ReplyDeleteYeah, actually, I was teaching up in Tsukiyono-machi (now part of Minakami City) from 1989-1991 on the JET Programme. I was an AET up there. I used to visit Maebashi monthly...there was a restaurant that had some great chuukadon.
DeleteI'll contact you at your address.
Man, this blog is a goldmine. Gonna start go through it a bit at a time. Thank you for keeping at it all these years. (Also, great song)
ReplyDeleteHello, Post-Frog. Good to hear from you and welcome to KKP! Please take your time. Any particular favourite songs?
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