TM NETWORK -- DIVE INTO YOUR BODY

Last week I went to the post office to get my TM NETWORK’s “CAMP FANKS!! ’89” DVD (the “cheesy” performance above is from that DVD). The band was at their peak and was relying heavily in eurobeat, especially after Tetsuya Komuro (小室哲哉) spent some time in England in 1988. As he went there to “study” the type of pop music which was topping the British charts at the time, he truly experienced the Stock Aitken Waterman (SAW) Empire. The contact he made there was important to the future of TM NETWORK and his own as an artist and producer (Pete Hammond, the resident “mixmaster” and sound engineer of PWL worked with Komuro a lot of times. “GET WILD ’89”, for example, was mixed by him).

I’ve already talked about “GET WILD ‘89”, the eurobeat version of “Get Wild” (1987), in the past, but “DIVE INTO YOUR BODY”, which was released in July 1989, was their true hit of the year. When I think of it, the word “anthem” really comes to my mind because of the extensive use of “lalala” with high eurobeat synths and a groovy bass in the background. It’s just like a big party held by TM NETWORK.

The song is also very catchy, especially during the chorus when Takashi Utsunomiya (宇都宮隆) sings the “dive into your body” line backed by Komuro’s high synth notes. According to J-Wiki, Tetsuya Komuro’s solo debut, “RUNNING TO HORIZON” (released in October 1989), which was done at the same time of “DIVE INTO YOUR BODY”, shares some similarities with TM NETWORK’s hit. Besides the fact that a very similar melody was used during the verses, the “lalala” is also present in both songs. Here’s Komuro’s “RUNNING TO HORIZON”.

“DIVE INTO YOUR BODY” reached #2 on the Oricon charts, selling around 302,000 copies. It ended the year as the #24 best ranked single of 1989. Lyrics were written by Mitsuko Komuro (小室みつ子) while music and arrangement were done by Tetsuya Komuro.

Here's the TM NETWORK’s “CAMP FANKS!! ’89” DVD.