Hiromi Go -- Hollywood Scandal （ハリウッド・スキャンダル）

I think I may have stated on one of my postings that whenever a Japanese morning/afternoon wide show or a nighttime variety show does a segment on New York City or one of the other American metropolises, there is always some big band jazz playing in the background. I'm kinda wondering if the creators of Hiromi Go's（郷ひろみ） 28th single, "Hollywood Scandal" was channeling that feeling when they came up with this one.

Released in September 1978, composer Shunichi Tokura（都倉俊一） and lyricist Yoko Aki （阿木耀子）were behind "Hollywood Scandal", an interesting combination since Tokura was creating Momoe Yamaguchi's（山口百恵） music in the first half of her career while Aki was creating the words for a lot of her rock-based stuff in the second half. But for this entry in Go's discography, the two created something more soulful and Motown-ish.

I found "Hollywood Scandal" a bit of a transitional song for Go. I think he was still considered to be an aidoru back in the 70s but this song had him playing the role that he would become famous for as everyone entered the 80s: that of the flirtatious Lothario with the jacket slung casually over one shoulder while winking at the all the girls. The song didn't really refer to anything or anyone specifically in Tinseltown but compared this Japanese Casanova as someone who would regularly get himself in trouble with the ladies just like those old Silver Screen stars such as Errol Flynn or Robert Mitchum.

One of Aki's lyrics was pretty surprising, though. The first line of the 2nd verse goes something like "I've taken a lot of drugs but I merely slept...." In a country where the mere mention of even marijuana and a celebrity in the same sentence would hit the media like a....well, like a Hollywood Scandal, there may have been quite a few pairs of eyebrows raised.

The song managed to peak at No. 13 on Oricon.