It's been a long time since I did a Judy and Mary tune. Plus, for all of the big hits that represented the band in those 1990s such as "Sobakasu"（そばかす）and "Hello! Orange Sunshine", it's always good and interesting to find out who they were when they first showed up all the way back when.
Well, in Judy and Mary's case, it seems as if their style of hale and hearty pop/rock with YUKI's high and crystal-clear vocals was always there from the get-go. Their debut single was "Power of Love" from September 1993. And as much as I'm tempted to be reminded of that 1980s power ballad of the same name, J&M's "Power of Love" is a totally different animal. As I mentioned, it's some happy-go-lucky J-Pop that is so recognizably Judy and Mary.
Wow! That's quite the debut music video for "Power of Love" which got no higher than No. 95 on Oricon (but bigger and better were on the way). YUKI is just strutting around the floor like a petite Mick Jagger with Betty Boop looks. The single was included on Judy and Mary's debut album "J・A・M" from January 1994. It did much better than the single by placing in at No. 23.
I think the initial low rankings of this song may have been because this song was released before its time and before anyone actually knew JUDY AND MARY, but then again, on the other hand, this song still made it on the top 100 songs of the Oricon, and for me, that is still an achievement.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I wasn't surprised by the initial ranking. Judy and Mary must have seemed a bit avant-garde for their time. Again, bigger and better were awaiting them.
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