POLYSICS -- Electric Surfin Go Go

 

Every variety show in Japan has its time and then it leaves the stage and camera. My family has been watching "VS. Arashi"（VS嵐）, the game show starring the former Johnny's Entertainment boy group Arashi which officially broke up at the end of last year. Being on TV Japan, "VS. Arashi" is about a year behind its original broadcast in Japan so we're still getting new episodes, but it's especially poignant since we know that the show finished its run once its hosts finished theirs, especially with the fact that during the pandemic era, the audience could no longer appear with Arashi and their weekly celebrity guests in their final months. We got the first episode of the new reality last night, so we know that it won't be too long before the curtains fall on this very long-running program (although I've read that a new similar program has launched with lone Arashi member Masaki Aiba and a few other junior Johnny's members)

Along with the four games that are regularly featured in "VS. Arashi", there is the pre-game chat fest first just among the Arashi members and then the competing team. After that comes the introduction of the two guests to compete alongside the Arashi team in which they (usually manzai comedians) get raised up to the top of some steep stairs before they come stepping down to meet the rest of the bunch. The introduction of the guests is accompanied by some raucous technopop music (unfortunately, I couldn't find any videos with the introduction scene).

Well, just by chance, I discovered that little techno insert music is actually part of a bigger song. Just like how I discovered that deranged comedian Egashira 2:50's（江頭2:50）intro song was actually Tomoyasu Hotei's（布袋寅泰）"Thrill", the insert music is "Electric Surfin' Go Go" by the techno rock band POLYSICS. Whaddaya know?

POLYSICS's 6th single from June 2006, this was written and composed by member Hiroyuki Hayashi, and it's the usual wild n' crazy musical thrill ride by the band. The video, which is a sequel to its equivalent number for "I My Me Mine", is also a thrill to watch with another appearance by dancing wunderkind Strong Machine 2（ストロングマシン2号）and her clones.

"Electric Surfin' Go Go" hit No. 46 on Oricon and is also a track on POLYSICS' February 2007 album "Karate House" which peaked at No. 27.