(from about 19:18)
I've been laying down articles about the band Juicy Fruits（ジューシィ・フルーツ）since 2014, but it had always been with other singers and bands, so it's nice that I could finally place them in their own lone bona fide piece today.
Whenever I hear the name Juicy Fruits, I always envision a group singing 50s/60s-flavoured material paired with some New Wave spice. Considering that they were had their first phase of fame in the early 1980s, that isn't too surprising. And sure enough, listening to this track from their 3rd album from June 1981, "Pajama Date"（パジャマ･デート）, is no different.
"Yappari Aloha" (Aloha After All) is a playful and twangy tune with vocalist/lead guitarist Atsuko "Illya" Okuno（奥野敦子）coquettishly laying down the rules during a date in Hawaii. Sharing that cocktail with two straws will be as raunchy as it will ever get. Lyricist Haruo Chikada（近田春夫）and composer Yuuji Okuyama（沖山優司）, who was the bassist and chorus for Juicy Fruits, created this Ventures-esque tune, and considering the times, I couldn't help but feel that there was a bit of Elvis Costello in the arrangement as well.
Just for a bit of trivia, Okuno's nickname of Illya came from the fact that the singer liked the character of Illya Kuryakin, the Russian agent from "The Man From U.N.C.L.E.".
Happy new year, Canuck!
ReplyDeleteI remember listening to their first (and the best, IMHP) album, DRINK! back when I was grade school. The lyrics to some of the tunes were so "grown up" and sexually charged to my 11 year old ears I was embarrassed to listen to them when my family was around so I would take my boombox, hide under my futon and play it very low trying to muffle my giggles.
I think Iliya was the first young female pop/rock singer who so unapologetically sang about doing it in her boyfriend's car and not loving it, referred to other girls as "Onna"(which is basically calling them sluts), as well as getting drunk at a party and (almost) throwing up. In the sea of cute idol singers singing songs about innocent teenage love, here was an equally cute girl with a guitar strapped on her shoulder singing about girls being sexually frustrated! This was a band truly ahead of their time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYHpLmgDXjU
Happy New Year, Kaz!
DeleteYeah, I kinda had the same impression when I first heard an album by The Plastics at around the same time. I think Illya may have beaten folks like Courtney Love by around a decade.:) BTW, how popular were Juicy Fruits at the time, do you think?
They were pretty popular. As you know, their first single was a big hit, so compared to other new wave bands of that time, they were on the TV a lot. Although their subsequent singles weren't as successful as "Jenny", they did get air play.
ReplyDeleteI think their success had a lot to do with the fact they had a solid producer in Haruo Chikada who was quite media savvy and had his own following. Juicy Fruits, after all, was Chikada's band BEEF minus Chikada.
I just loved their dedication to creating solid 3 1/2 minute pop songs with a bit of retro twist. Even without Chikada's input, they were great pop songwriters on their own right. You might remember Yoko Minamino's hit 吐息でネット/Toiki De Net which was penned by Juicy's guitar player Toshihiko Shibaya (Shibaya also was the man behind the hugely popular novelty hit おさかな天国/Osakana Tengoku from the early 90's).
Juicy Fruits definitely had their own unique sound which ranged from technopop to 50s, and at the time, I don't think it was all that common seeing a woman fronting any sort of pop band, so even on that point, I think people were fascinated by Illya and the others.
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