I did catch 2023's first real episode of "Uta Con"（うたコン）last night and although enka fans were probably not too happy since there was only one enka performance, I was fairly satisfied because Yoshitaka Minami（南佳孝）performed on the show for the first time with his classic "Slow na Boogie ni Shite Kure"（スローなブギにしてくれ）. And then, we even got a couple of covers of some City Pop tunes: "Kanashimi ga Tomaranai" (悲しみがとまらない）by Yu Sakai（さかいゆう）and a revamped Little Glee Monster, and "Sparkle" by Sakai.. The hosts didn't even have to explain what City Pop was all about; they just said it and it was assumed that everyone now knows what's up with that.
But I gotta say "Wow!". Morning Musume '22（モーニング娘。'22）appeared on the show, too, and I heard that it's been 25 years since the aidoru group first got formed from a motley group of runners-up on a Sunday night TV Tokyo talent show. For the current fans of Morning Musume, forgive me for putting up that thumbnail shot of the group's first BEST compilation but my link with them has really just revolved around those first few generations in the late 1990s and early 2000s. In fact, from what I saw of the current group last night on "Uta Con" and what I've read on J-Wiki, it looks like there have been some major lineup changes.
However, that's neither here nor there. Early last month in December, I wrote about the disco "Dai Jinsei Never Been Better!"（大・人生 Never Been Better!）by Morning Musume '22 which was released in June 2022. One commenter also gave the recommendation of "Swing Swing Paradise" which came out just before Xmas last year.
Coincidentally enough, that was the song that the group performed on "Uta Con" which reminded me of the comment. Of course, Hello Project maestro Tsunku（つんく）took care of words and music for this single which begins life as something quite ambient before things go haywire. I did think back to Morning Musume's 13th single (yup, way back considering that "Swing Swing Paradise" is the 72nd single) "Mr. Moonlight-Ai no Big Band"（愛のビッグ・バンド）with the jazz and all that. But "Swing Swing Paradise" also contains its share of rockabilly and synthpop; quite the potpourri. It hit No. 1 on Oricon and went Gold. One other accolade that has been given in accordance with this song is that Morning Musume is now the first girls' group in Oricon history to have a No. 1 single in each of four decades: the 1990s, the 2000s, the 2010s and the 2020s.
I have a lot memories of the early morning musume. I remember Fujimoto Miki and Ishiguro Aya in particular. I wasn't aware that morning musume was still around but in a brand new iteration.I glad to hear they still are making hits. I think Akb48 and the other new girl groups kind of took the spot light away from Morning Musume. Long live Morning Musume!
ReplyDeleteHello, Brian. My interest in MM started waning away just before Fujimoto took over as leader; not that I had anything against her but the songs didn't particularly pop with me anymore at that time. At that point, maybe Iida was still in charge.
DeleteAKB48 and the other alphabet aidoru groups did take the spotlight away, but Morning Musume managed to survive all these years. Good on them.
OT: I was a Musume/H!P fan from early 1999 to around 2008-2009. Now there are gals who have been graduated for several years whose work I have never heard. I proposed a new rule to a few message boards that any current Musume group is *not* allowed to perform/cover/remake any songs ten (10) years or older.
ReplyDeleteIt did not... take well.
Hi, Saburo. I guess my window was even shorter. Maybe 1999-2002. I'm not sure how many dozen members have been in Morning Musume up to now, but I think that I knew the first 18 or so.
DeleteYou do bring up an interesting point about the current lineup and the old songs. A quarter of a century has passed so it might be possible that songs such as "Morning Coffee" and "Summer Night Town" may not quite fit anymore. I saw '22 perform "Love Machine" on "Uta Con" on Tuesday, and it wasn't too bad. I think the Dance-Man productions have been OK over the years.