I've been a fan of Japanese popular music for 40 years, and have managed to collect a lot of material during that time. So I decided I wanted to talk about Showa Era music with like-minded fans. My particular era is the 70s and 80s (thus the "kayo kyoku"). The plus part includes a number of songs and artists from the last 30 years and also the early kayo. So, let's talk about New Music, aidoru, City Pop and enka.
Credits
I would like to give credit where credit is due. Videos are from YouTube and other sources such as NicoNico while Oricon rankings and other information are translated from the Japanese Wikipedia unless noted.
Hello everyone. Today's articles will be started off by KKP contributor Fireminer with one of his favourite choices.
The popularity of Latino music in American pop ebbs and flows, but it never ceases to exist, only biding its time to wait for another boom. With that said, the Latin explosion of the late 90s was a particularly ebullient occasion. The last years of the first millennium were all about crossovers i.e. Daft Punks, The Wallflowers and Shania Twain. Latin music too found success on the main chart with Ricky Martin’s La Copa De La Vida and Jennifer Lopez’s If You Had My Love being two standouts. Moreover the impact of the Latin explosion continued to be felt long after those songs fell off the chart. They were one of the reasons why so many early 00s hip-hop and dance hits had some kind of world music beat.
Now, I’m not sure if the same thing happened in Japan, but listening to DA PUMP’s “CORAZON” sure gives me the impression. CORAZON was DA PUMP’s 14th single released on April 25th 2001. Front man ISSA (Hentona Issa, 辺土名 一茶) wrote the song based on one of his poems, while his bandmate KEN (Okumoto Ken, 奥本 健) did the rap part. CORAZON was a hit, and DA PUMP even got to perform it at the 52nd Kohaku Utagassen (第52回NHK紅白歌合戦). The song would later be packaged in DA PUMP’s 4th album “the NEXT EXIT” (ザ・ネクスト・イグジット) alongside their other hit “if...”.
This period was when DA PUMP really got into their stride, and CORAZON was no exception. It may not have the electricity of some of the most memorable Latino hits of the time, but it gets the sensuality down. It’s hard to put it into words, but if I have to, it’s something a bit both seedy and pitiable (in an endearing way). “Corazon” means “Heart” in Spanish. It’s an apt name considering how much heartbreak and heartbreak there is in the lyrics.
Being Hump Day today, perhaps something with a little oomph on another day of "Kayo Kyoku Plus" would be in order.
First things first. Although I had been spelling out the network's weekly kayo program in romaji as "Uta Kon" all this time, because NHK has labeled it as such now in the corner of the screen, I will be referring to the Tuesday night show as "Uta Con"（うたコン）from this time forward. Anyways, it was a fairly auspicious night last night as the show was broadcast from the Osaka venue this time around, and it was the first time there since the pandemic began last year that a small audience was allowed to view the acts. I'm hoping that this continues in the right direction.
One of the other things was that song-and-dance group DA PUMP was back on the stage, this time to feature their latest single...their 34th, to be exact. Released a week ago, "Dream on the street" first sounded some bells in my City Pop head because I wondered whether DA PUMP was improbably covering the 1981 song by Noriyo Ikeda（池田典代）. But then, I realized that there was a prepositional misunderstanding since Ikeda's most famous song is actually "Dream In The Street". Still, it would have been fascinating to hear a DA PUMP version of that.
Nope, "Dream on the street" was written by shungo and composed by MUSOU, DEY GON GET IT and PAICH JR. Beginning with an intro including an appropriately street-level busking saxophone that made me go "Hmmm...." at first, the song actually has turned out to be a pretty cool and soulful listening experience. Of course, with the music video, it's also been a visual treat although I'm not sure whether the choreography will be able to be emulated by the masses like their big hit "U.S.A." did a few years ago.
Can't quite believe this statistic either but "Dream on the street" has become DA PUMP's first No. 1 single on Oricon in their history. I would have thought that Issa and the guys had already gotten the top position among their past releases.
There was a re-broadcast of last week's "Uta Kon"（うたコン）where basically it was a clip show emceed by the two hosts from remote locations due to the pandemic.
One of the acts featured was good ol' DA PUMP. Now in the last couple of years, frontman ISSA and his new crew have become famous for "U.S.A.", but I also remember the original singing and dancing 5-man unit. DA PUMP had a couple of clips on the show. One was for their 30th single"Sakura"（桜）from last year, and then there was their 12th single, "if..." from September 2000. By the music video for the song was filmed in Aokigahara Forest, known ominously as the Suicide Forest.
Written by m.c.A-T and composed by Akio Togashi（富樫明生）who are actually the same fellow, remembering how he sounded in performance, there's that same combination of rap and heartfelt delivery against the R&B beats. Although I wasn't a huge DA PUMP fan back then, I remember hearing the song now and then through their commercials and TV appearances.
According to J-Wiki, although I think "U.S.A." did much better in the rankings, "if..." supposedly remains as the group's most successful hit after selling approximately 348,500 copies. It almost broke into the Top 10 by placing in at No. 11 but ended up outside of the Top 100 in the yearly rankings by scoring a No. 130 ranking in 2000 and then stubbornly holding at No. 123 a year later. "if..." is also a track on DA PUMP's first BEST compilation, "Da Best of Da Pump" which was released in February 2001. It became a million-seller as it hit No. 1 and became the 14th-ranked album of the year.
Last night entailed the final broadcast of NHK's "Uta Kon"（うたコン）for this year until January 15th, so the theme was the year-end party, although frankly, the show seemed to slightly resemble more like a 45-minute-long commercial for the upcoming Kohaku Utagassen in less than three weeks. Well, Marketing has gotta do what it's gotta do.
In any case, the first guest happened to be one of the confirmed participants in the Red-and-White, DA PUMP. Of course, it'll all be about "U.S.A." when Issa and the gang show up on the Shibuya stage. But for here and now, I'm going back into my nostalgic days...when DA PUMP did these commercials for various products such as the vaunted C.C. Lemon drink.
DA PUMP did a pretty rushed medley of their hits from way back when so the whole thing seemed to sound like one big amorphous dance beat, but my memory engrams did go into gear on seeing the title "Crazy Beat Goes On!". And when I checked the official music video a few minutes ago, my brain went "Natsukashii~!".
Wasn't a huge DA PUMP fan at the time but "Crazy Beat Goes On!" did jog my memory. This was the group's 8th single from June 1999 and was written and composed by rapper/music producer m.c.A・T. Mind you, my memories of the song mostly centered around the commercials and DA PUMP's appearances on shows such as "Music Station", so I was a little surprised while listening to the whole thing that despite it being a dance tune, there was a layer of cool groove beneath all of the crash-and-bang.
"Crazy Beat Goes On!" went Gold, getting as high as No. 5 on Oricon, and ending up as the 127th-ranked single of 1999. It sold about 172,000 copies and was a track on DA PUMP's 2nd album "Higher and Higher!" from July of that year. That album went to No. 2 and became the 54th-ranked album of 1999.
I figure that I can come at this song from a variety of angles, so allow me to start with the personal one first. The above photo is of an ancient reference book from my Urban Geography class back at U of T on the older architecture of Los Angeles. In all honesty, I've forgotten how the architecture of one of America's largest cities came to apply to the work in this course, the content of which I have completely forgotten. Still, I remember the book, that I dug out from deep within one of the many boxes of stuff recently, as having some nice photos of buildings and the narrative wasn't too egg-headed so I may actually peruse it once more before I hit bed tonight.
The second angle for this tune is something that I will begin with a question. What is a recent YouTube video of a Japanese pop song with an older style of rhythm and style that has become hugely viewed? Of course, Mariya Takeuchi's（竹内まりや）"Plastic Love" is one answer but that's already been covered here.
And in fact, this song, DA PUMP's"U.S.A." has actually far outstripped that video of "Plastic Love" (which currently has 7 million views) by going beyond 70 million views in the four months since it was uploaded by Avex.
I first saw "U.S.A." on a recent episode of NHK's "Uta Con"（うたコン）, and I was left initially confused because this was DA PUMP, which had been one of the cooler and popular song-and-dance groups of the late 1990s in Japan, and they were actually doing a Eurobeat song which sounds as if it had come from the dusty song list of the "Dance Dance Revolution" game while doing a somewhat cool/cornball dance routine that, according to Wikipedia, includes the dab, the Milly Rock and the Shoot. Maybe one of them was that M.C. Hammer move I saw.
A lot of this blog has been me getting all rather nostalgic about the music of my childhood, youth and young adulthood, and I have to admit that I was getting some sepia into my vision as I found myself bopping my head about...and no, I didn't do that dance. I do remember the M.C. Hammer days, the DA PUMP days, and the days when my old friend used to practice like the Dickens on his "Dance Dance Revolution" mat.
Yup, "U.S.A." has become an unlikely hit of the summer, breaking into the Top 10 at No. 9 after its release as the group's 29th and most recent single in May this year, and it'll probably get DA PUMP back into the Kohaku Utagassen in a few months.
The thing is that "U.S.A." is a cover version of an original 1992 Eurobeat tune with Italian singer Joe Yellow. Cirelli Donatella and Lombardoni Severino wrote the original lyrics with Accatino Claudio, Cirelli Donatella and Gioco Anna Maria whipping up the melody. Lyricist and producer shungo took care of the Japanese lyrics.
I think that I was talking about angles all the way back at the top, eh? Well, Angle No. 3 is the dance which apparently has taken Japanese pop culture by storm. It's even earned the name "Ii ne Dance"(いいねダンス...Good, Ain't It Dance). Once in a while, certain dances have become the trendy thing for a good chunk of the year in Japan. There was the Lambada while I was on the JET Programme, and then a couple of years ago, a lot of folks were agog about the Koi dance which accompanied Gen Hoshino's（星野源）hit "Koi"（恋）.
Still at the end of it all, though I've started to succumb to the charms of "U.S.A.", I have to say that I cannot abandon my Mariya! Now, if "Plastic Love" can earn some cool choreography.
Perhaps spring is finally around the corner. Still cool but getting a bit warmer and the sun is peeking out more and more.
So it's time for the appropriately titled "Feelin' Good 〜It's PARADISE〜". It also makes for a nice slice of Ichikawa nostalgia since I was ensconced in my tiny apartment in my old Chiba city when I first saw the good fellows from DA PUMP hoof it up a notch with their debut. Let's kick it with some singing, dancing and rapping.
It came out in June 1997 under the Avex Tune label with musician-producer m.c.A・T as the lyricist and Akio Togashi（富樫明生）as the composer. Both lyricist and composer are one and the same person. I'm sure that DA PUMP was feelin' plenty good as "Feelin' Good" hit the peak of No. 15. The yearly rankings saw the song hit a much more modest No. 144, but it did go Gold, selling close to 200,000 copies. The song was also on the group's debut album"EXPRESSION" from July 1998 which peaked at No. 3 and became the 37th-ranked album for the year.
Just found out that the DA PUMP debut was actually a cover of the original single, his 13th to be exact, by m.c.A・T himself from September 1996. The subtitle was slightly different: "Koi no Paradise"（恋はパラダイス...Love is a Paradise）. It peaked at No. 85.
Up until the late 90s, "Rhapsody In Blue" meant to me the classic jazz composition by George Gershwin with that clarinet solo that seemed to rise up from bed as if to start a new day in Manhattan. I guess because of the movie "Manhattan", I've always treated the epic piece as the theme song for Woody Allen himself.
But then in my early years in Ichikawa, some group decided to come out with a vastly different animal under that very title. Good golly...in all these years of the blog, how could I forget DA PUMP? This was a song-and-dance boy band that came out from the Okinawa Actors School which seemed to pump out a ton of new hit acts back in the day such as SPEED and Namie Amuro. DA PUMP was the one male group I remember from that academy with Issa Hentona and his three mates bringing their brand of dance and hip-pop to the masses.
The one song I remember by DA PUMP is the aforementioned "Rhapsody In Blue" which was about as far away from a jazz hymn as one could get. Written and composed by musician/producer m.c.A・T as the group's 5th single in June 1998, it was a fairly catchy tune with Issa and the boys kicking and stepping all over the place. This was seen as their breakthrough song, and afterwards I recollect that the guys started making many more appearances on the music shows.
"Rhapsody In Blue" got as high as No. 9 on Oricon, and ended the year as the 151st-ranked song. It didn't break the Top 100 but DA PUMP's breakthrough still went Gold and the guys even got invited to the Kohaku Utagassen. The single was also a track on the group's debut album, "Expression" which came out in July 1998 and peaked at No. 3 on the charts. It eventually became the 37th-ranked album of the year.
Apparently, DA PUMP is still in business although Issa is the only original member with 6 current members.
