Fantastic Plastic Machine -- Theme of Luxury

I think there must be something about a number of these Shibuya-kei tunes that makes them popular as musical interludes/backgrounds for the vast majority of Japanese variety shows. And that something is the fact that a number of them sound like those old loungy jingles that were used in American variety/game shows and ads back in the 1950s and 1960s. That was true for one Kahimi Karie song, "Zoom Up", and for a Fantastic Plastic Machine tune, "Electric Ladyland". And the same goes for this short-but-sweet number, also by FPM, called "Theme of Luxury".

"Theme of Luxury" was basically used as just the musical doorman for FPM's 2nd album, "Luxury" which was released in September 1998. However, it's gone on as the one of the go-to tunes on those Japanese shows to introduce a segment somewhere in Tokyo or a particularly effervescent personality. And the barely one-minute sequence has that feeling of a young devil-may-care socialite racing around the most expensive boutiques of New York at warp speed, happily in thrall to her fashion and her wallet. Perhaps this would be the ideal theme for Carrie Bradshaw.

I have to say that the homemade videos for the song got the right tone, especially the one immediately above with all those old consumer products. I could almost imagine a studio announcer yelling, "And we'll be right back to 'The Price Is Right'!"