"Heart wo Wash!" (Wash Your Heart!) was Mariko Nagai's（永井真理子） return to her hyper-enthusiastic mode after what was arguably her biggest hit, the ballad "ZUTTO" in 1990. I first heard it as the new theme song for Fuji-TV's Wednesday-night variety series, "Yamadakatsutenai Terebi" （やまだかつてないテレビ）after KAN's "Ai wa Katsu" （愛は勝つ）. As Nagai's 13th single played over the opening credits, Super Mario Kart-like graphics with the cast's faces superimposed over the tiny drivers' bodies zipped along. As "Heart wo Wash!" was released in April 1991, I guess in a way, the song was a happy reset into the new fiscal year to get everyone all hyped up for Spring, and I gather for the program's new season. As much as I've noted that the late 80s/early 90s were a time when a number of female singer-songwriters were coming out with some mellow ballads, Nagai was also going into Misato Watanabe（渡辺美里） territory with her pop/rock hits.
I've been a fan of Japanese popular music for 40 years, and have managed to collect a lot of material during that time. So I decided I wanted to talk about Showa Era music with like-minded fans. My particular era is the 70s and 80s (thus the "kayo kyoku"). The plus part includes a number of songs and artists from the last 30 years and also the early kayo. So, let's talk about New Music, aidoru, City Pop and enka.
Monday, May 6, 2013
Mariko Nagai -- Heart wo Wash! （ハートをWASH!)
"Heart wo Wash!" (Wash Your Heart!) was Mariko Nagai's（永井真理子） return to her hyper-enthusiastic mode after what was arguably her biggest hit, the ballad "ZUTTO" in 1990. I first heard it as the new theme song for Fuji-TV's Wednesday-night variety series, "Yamadakatsutenai Terebi" （やまだかつてないテレビ）after KAN's "Ai wa Katsu" （愛は勝つ）. As Nagai's 13th single played over the opening credits, Super Mario Kart-like graphics with the cast's faces superimposed over the tiny drivers' bodies zipped along. As "Heart wo Wash!" was released in April 1991, I guess in a way, the song was a happy reset into the new fiscal year to get everyone all hyped up for Spring, and I gather for the program's new season. As much as I've noted that the late 80s/early 90s were a time when a number of female singer-songwriters were coming out with some mellow ballads, Nagai was also going into Misato Watanabe（渡辺美里） territory with her pop/rock hits.
Thanks J-Canuck for this great post on 永井真理子's 「ハートをWASH!」. Fun song with a pretty amusing PV. I used to watch 『JOCX-TV PRESENTS 邦ちゃんのやまだかつてないテレビ』 in the early 90s and liked it a lot. I'm a fan of 山田邦子 so it was fun seeing her in the various skits and musical numbers on the show. 邦ちゃん was a surprisingly good singer as her solo work and with 横山知枝 as やまだかつてないWink showed. However it was hard to really take her seriously as I couldn't tell if she was really trying to sing or was just joking around. It was nice to see her again in ゴールデンボンバー' s hilarious 「Dance My Generation」 PV.
ReplyDeleteHi, JTM.
DeleteWednesday nights during my 2 years in Gunma were must-see TV (not that a lot of stuff was going on in my town at night), and watching the old Kuniko Yamada show was, in a way, kinda like watching the old Carol Burnett show as a little kid. The Xmas episodes were especially fun.
Digging some of your older posts and just had to post in this one that I really love her earlier albums, especially the debut (oh, moonlight is probably my favourite Nagai song) plus her boyish looks that set her apart from many idols of the time (was she even considered as idol or rather pop artist/songwriter?), The late 80s production is stellar and the album is quite solid songwise (especially for being her first one!) considering that this kind of music was always very single-oriented. Very strong voice and good technique too, above the average aidoru/talento girls who instead might've relied more on "the girl next door" charm and youthful innocence that's not without its merits either (it is one of the things I fell in love with in 80s - early 90s idol music after all). Very professional stuff.
ReplyDeleteBTW sorry for not commenting for a long time anything here. I seem to have less attention and/or will for that kind of thing these days but I do check out this blog every once in a while and even when I'm not it comes up often when I google for showa period pop and whatnot artists/groups. I really like your observations and taste in japanese popular music. Cheers!
Hi, Nekromantis. Good to hear from you again. And no problems about any absences. When it comes right down to it, the blog is just a happy diversion away from our more important obligations. I have to remind myself of that sometimes. :)
DeleteI don't think I ever heard of "Moonlight" by Nagai. I will have to check it out since she was definitely one of my representative singers from that era of my life. As for your query, I definitely found her to be more of the pop artist than an aidoru. Her energy seemed to be much more focused on her own style.
Thanks kindly for the compliments and your comments. Hope to hear from you again, and apologies if some of the videos are gone. With all of the songs that are now up, it's kinda hard to replace them quickly. :)