Go-Bang's -- Kakkoii Darling（かっこイイダーリン）

 

Welcome to October! We're seasonally warmer than usual with plenty of sun and no precipitation. Let's see how we go by Halloween. 

After knowing about the appealingly quirky trio Go-Bang's for thirty years or so, I finally got about to listening to some of their very early material including their debut single, "Zamaa Kankan Girl"（ざまぁカンカン娘）from April 1988. That particular song had that familiar vibe of their big 1989 hit "Ai ni Kite I Need You"（あいにきて I Need You) with the fun country twang.

Their second single, "Kakkoii Darling" (You're Cool, Darling) was released later in 1988 in October and although the song was created as usual by vocalist Kaori Moriwaka（森若香織）, this time it eschewed the country for a bit of old-fashioned rock-n'-roll starting with Mitsuko Saito's（斉藤光子）rockabilly drumming. In fact, I'd say that the catchy "Kakkoii Darling" is a mix between aidoru and some of the music that The Go-Gos made (I'd once theorized that the trio was named by mixing the legendary California girl band's name with that of The Bangles).

A story of still loving a guy who is thickly putting on the looks and airs of a playboy when he really isn't, Moriwaka's kittenish vocals come across as both truly loving and condescending at the same time. The music video above also has the three members including bassist Misa Tanishima（谷島美砂）going into sex kitten mode with a splash of that Go-Gos humour.