NOBODY/Ann Lewis/Nanase Aikawa -- Don't You Go/Roppongi Shinju （六本木心中）

Have a listen to this song by rock duo NOBODY:

Sound similar? Yup, this is "Don't You Go", one of their creations from April 1987 which got onto their live album, "NOBODY LIVE 2". NOBODY, which consisted of Yukio Aizawa（相沢行夫） and Toshio Kihara（木原敏雄）, also composed songs for a lot of folks such as "Dance Beat wa Yoake Made"（ダンス・ビートは夜明けまで） for Yoko Oginome（荻野目洋子）, and "C-Girl" for Yui Asaka（浅香唯）.

However, with Reiko Yukawa（湯川れい子） as the lyricist, NOBODY's "Don't You Go" started life explosively as "Roppongi Shinju"(Roppongi Lovers' Suicide) back in October 1984 for someone who has been called "The Queen of (Japanese) Rock", Ann Lewis. That's quite a shift in genre considering her aidoru tunes back in the 1970s (see "Goodbye, My Love"). But for me, Lewis' incarnation as Rock Goddess is the one that I primarily know, thanks to the popularity of "Roppongi Shinju" in the Kuri karaoke lounge. Our Akina Nakamori specialist was also the go-to singer for Lewis' anthem of a woman who can no longer go on without her dead lover in the cold, alienating world of Tokyo...notably Roppongi (although the neighbourhood is never cited in the lyrics).

Although I've categorized the song as "J-Rock", Lewis, who has been a huge fan of hard rock and bands like Led Zeppelin, decided in 1978 to make a fresh start in her music and decided to aim for something called K-ROCK...namely, Kayo Rock. Her 24th single from October 1984 here held court in the Oricon rankings for the better part of a year, peaking at No. 12 and becoming the 41st-ranked song of 1985.

A number of artists have covered the song, along with the aforementioned NOBODY, over the years. But I think perhaps the one singer who especially received the baton from Lewis was Nanase Aikawa（相川七瀬）. In October 2002, she put out her own down-and-dirty version as her 21st single and as a track on her BEST album, "ID:2", released in March 2003. It did even slightly better than the original, when it peaked at No. 10.

Ann Lewis -- Roppongi Shinju