1980 Chewing Gum Company -- Michi e no Roman（未知へのロマン）

 

Getting wistful in my old age, but when I was a kid rushing headlong into the 1980s, there was a part of me which wondered how futuristic the coming decade would be. I mean, I was born in the mid-1960s and of course I was there entering the 1970s but I was too young to realize the change in decades back then. But the 80s were something else and as it turned out, a lot of things would transform in society, culture and myself, and for some bizarre reason, my thoughts would turn to that commercial for the 1980 Ford Granada. Unfortunately, I couldn't find that ad on YouTube so I'm settling for the one for the 1979 version.

That's what came to mind when I saw the title "Michi e no Roman" (Adventure into the Future) which was the second opening theme song for the Saturday evening kids' educational show on TBS' "Manga Hajimete Monogatari"（Comic First-Time Story） which ran between 1978 and 1984. As you can see above, the song performed by a quintet of half-Japanese kids called 1980 Chewing Gum Company（1980チューインガム・カンパニー）was happily grabbing for what was left of disco through the costuming of the band Spectrum（スペクトラム）.

Listening to the full version, that intro for "Michi e no Roman" sounds like it was partly inspired by Rod Stewart's "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?" which came out in 1978. The song was 1980 Chewing Gum Company's third and final single released in December 1979, and with the lyrics by Yukinojo Mori（森雪之丞）, the disco melody was provided by Shunichi Tokura（都倉俊一）who provided similar melodies to an even bigger client, Pink Lady. However, I think the atypically growly vocals by the kids sound more like Akiko Wada（和田アキ子）.

I'm gathering that for this episode, the time-traveling creature Mogutan（モグタン）and his human companion Mayumi Oka (岡まゆみ...reminds me of a certain British show) were researching the origin of the sandwich.