Olivia Newton-John -- Physical

 

Welcome to another weekly edition of Reminiscings of Youth where I show off another non-Japanese song that I remember and reminisce fondly about from my far younger years. Today, I'm writing about Olivia Newton-John's big hit "Physical" from September 1981. According to the Wikipedia article for the song, "Physical" was seen as the song that marked the new persona of OJN as a sexy beast, although personally, I think she had already gone in that direction a few years earlier with that final scene from "Grease" and then her role in "Xanadu".

I remember one of my friends coming over to my place with his copy of the album "Physical" with the title track and playing the album over and over again to annoying levels. I mean, "Physical" and the other tracks were fine but repeated listenings weren't and aren't really my thing. Having said that, I also remember the music video, probably one of the first ones in history to get heavy rotation air play, and it may have helped in starting up the whole aerobics craze of the 1980s. Getting overweight people to the gym? Not too sure about that one, though. Strangely enough as we all look at it now, the video and the song stirred up quite a bit of controversy with even the line "Let me hear your body talk" getting the latter banned from some radio stations.

"Physical" hit No. 1 in Canada and the United States and a few more countries including Australia. Billboard has even placed it at No. 6 on its All-Time 100 list. 

So, what were the Top 3 hits on Oricon in September 1981?

1. Imo Kin Trio -- High School Lullaby

2. Toshihiko Tahara -- Kanashimi 2 (TOO) Young （悲しみ２「ＴＯＯ」ヤング）

3. Yumi Matsutoya -- Mamotte Agetai（守ってあげたい)