As I've said before in a number of "Kayo Kyoku Plus" articles, I've never really paid so much attention to the lyrics of a song on either side of the Pacific even for the hits. But thanks to the blog over the past 8, nearly 9 years, at the very least, I'm now much more aware of who the big-name lyricists are in the Japanese pop realm. And in point of fact, the 5 names that will be listed below are now very familiar ones to me.
I figured that since I have put up the list for most successful composers recently, the specialists who have put pen to paper to create those messages in song should also be noted. Now, the list for lyricists (as of December 2015) is even older than the one for the composers which was of January 2018. I tried looking for something more recent but I guess Oricon gives out their lists like the government sends out its census requests...once every five years, perhaps. However, considering who these people are and from what I know of their past and current works, I gather that there hasn't been too much that has changed in the rankings in the last half-decade (although of course, especially in Akimoto's case, the number of units sold has ballooned since 2015). The J-Wiki article for 3rd-ranked Takashi Matsumoto provided the information which originally came from "Oricon Music".
1. Yasushi Akimoto（秋元康）100.2 million units
2. Yu Aku（阿久悠） 68.3 million
3. Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）49.8 million
4. Tetsuya Komuro（小室哲哉） 42.3 million
5. Tsunku（つんく♂） 37.8 million
You may notice that Komuro is also listed in the composers' category. Aku was someone who had once been at the top as a creator of all of those chestnut kayo but even without looking up the figures, I kinda figured that it was only going to be a matter of time before the prolific Akimoto with his alphabet aidoru groups such as AKB48 was going to the new leading lyricist. Matsumoto has been around forever, and Komuro and Tsunku had their heydays with the Komuro Boom in the 1990s and all of those Hello Project groups going into the 2000s respectively.
In the composers' article, I caught a break when the Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）article in J-Wiki readily provided each composer's most successful single, too. I wasn't so lucky this time with the lyricists so I had to go further afield.
Yasushi Akimoto -- (1992) Garagara Hebi ga Yatte Kuru （ガラガラヘビがやってくる）
Yu Aku -- (1977) UFO
This was through Aku's own J-Wiki article.
Takashi Matsumoto -- (1997) Garasu no Shonen （硝子の少年）
This was also through J-Wiki.
Tetsuya Komuro -- (1997) Can You Celebrate?
Tsunku -- (1999) Love Machine
Found the information at the same site as the one for Akimoto's most successful single, "Music Amigo".
Perhaps they're the most successful lyricists, but that doesn't necessarily make them the best lyricists. Same goes for Oricon's most successful composers list.
ReplyDeleteI'm not trying to take anything away from them for their accomplishments, but commercial success is a poor measure for quality. If such were the case then we'd have to consider Madonna, U2, Rihanna, and Taylor Swift among the very best artists on account of their massive sales. Nothing could be further from the truth. None of them can hold a candle to the level of Brian Wilson/The Beach Boys, Genesis, YMO, Burt Bacharach, and many others.
Sorry for coming off sounding contentious but whenever I see best of lists predicated on sales figures I usually cringe.
No, I hear you Michael. Especially when it comes to how Akimoto reached the top with that debatable marketing strategy of having fans buy multiple copies of the same song just to get a ticket or something for a concert. I've seen the photos of abandoned discs in the garbage and I just cringe because of the needless pollution.
DeleteBut I thought the list was something interesting to put up for trivia's sake.
However, if I may suggest, perhaps as you have for your list of Happy Songs, maybe you can put up your list of favourite lyricists. Again, I'm not too much of a lyrics guy so I don't think I could really put up one of my own.
To slightly revise myself, maybe he would have reached the top without the strategy but he's certainly padded his lead. Also, to add onto that second paragraph in my initial response, perhaps I can open up the suggestion to any other commenter.
DeleteAt the same time to further add to the discussion, although there has been that debate about commercial success versus artistic merit in other topics such as literature (Dan Brown vs. Ayn Rand/Shakespeare) as well as in music, I just don't want to beat any of these guys (even Akimoto) up simply because their products brought in the tons of yen, just to echo your statement about not wanting to take anything away from their accomplishments. Personally, I think although Matsumoto and Aku have probably dropped their share of bombs just from the huge size of their output over the years (you're gonna have a few bad apples in any barrel), generally my gut feeling is that their lyrics probably hit a lot of people in the right way, thereby gaining all those sales. I think there can be commercially successful lyricists in the Top 5 who can also be the best lyricists, despite the fact they've probably been badgered by music studio presidents, marketing departments and other folks outside their area of expertise to add that extra "Love me do" or "Hold me tight". But definitely, I do agree with your opinion that most successful doesn't necessarily mean best.
Good discussion that you've brought up, Michael! Thanks!
Thank you for updating oldies Japanese song. I love your blog very well, it's amazing��.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Winnie! Hope you keep on reading.
DeleteYeah J, you raise some valid points. I can't really make an informed opinion on the quality of the lyricists from the aforementioned list because I'm unfamiliar with their work, but generally from my experience some of the best artists tend to be relegated to the margins.
ReplyDeletePopularity is a matter of appealing to the majority with hype and promotion to attract huge sales. Many artists are undeservedly touted as though living legends as part of the marketing campaign and people get caught up in all the hoopla. Not sure to what degree Japanese labels engage in such malarkey but I find it off-putting and absurd.
Lyrics are an important ingredient, of course, but I don't view music as a competition. I appreciate artistry on its own merits and not within the prism of 'this artist is better than that artist' or anything like that.
On the other hand, compiling playlists is fun. I'd be glad to come up with a new one and share it with you.
One thing I appreciate is that you're very knowledgeable in a wide range of subject matter and come off as very personable. A connoisseur with a deep appreciation and love for music in general. I've been digging into music the world over for decades and am both perplexed and astounded by how many hidden gems flew under the radar until you unearthed them here. In the past few weeks I've been introduced to great songs by PSY・S, H2O, Watanabe Naoki, Tatsuhiko Yamamoto, and other artists, songs which up to this point I had no idea existed.
Your blog is a treasure trove.
Hello, Michael. I think in all aspects of pop culture, there has always been the frustrating battle between who and what deserve to be popular and who and what actually become popular. Often that dividing line is the sales aspect. I'm sure that there have been many talented singers, actors, painters, etc. who've wrung their hands and cracked their heads on the walls wondering why they're still eating Chef Boy-ar-dee while the overrated ones are getting the money and glory.
DeleteI don't know very much about the North American music industry anymore but with the Japanese equivalent, I think it's been the case that there has been a split between the Oricon-friendly acts such as the Akimoto-produced aidoru groups & the Johnny's Entertainment boy bands, and the ones who really couldn't care less about the charts in any form and are just happy with their small dedicated fanbase and ability to get together to make fun music. I think that it's gotten to the point where certain bands have considered it a badge of honour that they don't get to go onto or have even declined the invitation to NHK's Kohaku Utagassen.
I've often mentioned for the genre of City Pop that it's been an iceberg of the 10% exposed TV and Oricon inhabitants while the hidden 90% under the water has been the stuff to discover and delight in. Perhaps that iceberg is a reflection of current Japanese music right now.
I agree that music shouldn't be a competition consisting of chart rankings and numbers of CDs sold. That's just the business end talking but that's the reality for you. It has to make money regardless of talent and deservedness and image. Personally, I feel that some of my favourite singers should have deserved far better such as Ruiko Kurahashi and Yasuhiro Abe but they seem to be OK with their careers and if they're OK, I'm OK with that.
I'm happy to hear that you've been able to find some new singers to try out through the blog. That's part of the reason that I started it in the first place and hopefully we can continue the discussion in other areas as well.:)