Barbee Boys -- Kurayami de DANCE（暗闇でDANCE）

Up to this point, there has only been one article here on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" regarding a Barbee Boys' song, and that was by nikala back in 2013. It's been my intention to put up a Barbee Boys' tune as well since I used to see these guys a fair bit on broadcasts of "MTV Japan" in my Gunma days.

nikala has given a background on the band in her article "Mou Yada!"（もォ やだ!）but I have my own impressions as well. The pair who led Barbee Boys in song, Konta and Kyoko（杏子）, definitely had style in their performances. Konta possessed that nervous and twitchy energy (plus the ability to bring in a soprano saxophone into rock) while Kyoko was sexy and slinky. And from listening to some of their songs throughout the 1980s on YouTube, their MO seemed to have been to partake in some give-and-take love-and-hate banter.

That was the case with "Mou Yada!" and that was also the case with their debut single "Kurayami de DANCE" (Dance in the Dark) from September 1984. Words and music originated from band guitarist Tomotaka Imamichi（いまみちともたか）, and while Konta and Kyoko get into their war of words, the original music video shows a woman finally taking revenge on the sleazy boss and their mutual environment or the woman is wishing of it.

I may have categorized "Kurayami de DANCE" as a rock number but I think there is also a fair bit of New Wave as well. The song was first seen on an album via Barbee Boys' debut release "1st OPTION" from February 1985. That one peaked at No. 87 on Oricon.