The Alfee -- ROCKDOM ~ Kaze ni Fukarete（風に吹かれて）

 

Another one of those songs that finally got shown the light of day again within the darkness of my sieve-like memories. The Alfee's "ROCKDOM ~ Kaze ni Fukarete" (Blowing in the Wind), which was the venerable band's 24th single from September 1986, was a song that I used to hear on one of those Hong Kong-made pirated compilation tapes that I bought at Wah Yueh or other record stores in Chinatown.

Written and composed by Toshihiko Takamizawa（高見沢俊彦）, I once again regained my memories of "ROCKDOM" when I saw the latest episode of "Uta Con"（うたコン）on NHK when The Alfee returned to the stage to perform this one. It's quite the epic and proud rock anthem and according to the J-Wiki article for the song, the lyrics were reminiscent of the Zengakuren movement of 1969 whose student groups staged protests against universities and the Japanese Communist Party. For some reason at the time, the Alfee fans got into their heads that this was a signal that the band was going to disband, although Takamizawa and his bandmates had been too young to get into the movement.

Still, the band decided to catch the ball and run with it, so for quite a while, they left the Japanese pop world hanging about whether "ROCKDOM" was going to be their swan song. Although they never explained themselves on the matter (probably they thought the fans should have known better than to think such things), as time passed by, it became evident that The Alfee was going to continue to rock on for years and years. "ROCKDOM" hit No. 4 on Oricon and became the 96th-ranked single for 1986. The song was also recorded onto the band's 11th album "AGES" from November that year; it peaked at No. 2.