Gosanke: Shibuya-kei Gosanke（渋谷系御三家）

 

For the past several weeks, I've been putting up the series of Gosanke（御三家...The Big Three）, the musical trios representing certain genres. At the outset, I mentioned that there were the true trios whose gosanke or other related names were put together by the Japanese media machine, and then I also stated that I would probably come up with some of my own imaginary ones near the end. However, it looks like one may have already been concocted on that master list at "idol.ne.jp". I couldn't find any other mention of a Shibuya-kei Gosanke anywhere else online.

I figured that if there were a Shibuya-kei Gosanke, at least two of the artists would be Flipper's Guitar and Pizzicato Five, and indeed, there they are, but I was a tad surprised to find Original Love in there on the "idol.ne.jp" list. Or maybe I shouldn't be...Original Love's Takao Tajima（田島貴男）had fronted P5 for a few years before the Divine Ms. Maki Nomiya（野宮真貴）arrived, and Original Love has that certain panache and style. 

However, I've noticed that none of my articles on Tajima's group has included that Shibuya-kei tab. Now, it's not because of the fact that Tajima had once screamed into a mike at a 1994 concert "I AM NOT SHIBUYA-KEI!!!" (although in the years since, he has mellowed out on the genre according to J-Wiki), and intimidated by that declaration, I was afraid that if I did put that particular tab onto his articles, I would someday find a furious Tajima on my doorstep ready to use his guitar in an innovative way. Actually, and I made this point clear on one of my earliest articles on the band, I have agreed with Tajima that Original Love really isn't a Shibuya-kei entity. As mentioned, OL does have that certain panache and style, but it's a panache and style all its own. I think Tajima is more into the straight soul and Latin of yesteryear without the need for French fashion and language and 1960s lounge trappings.

According to the Wikipedia article on Shibuya-kei, the genre and fashion ultimately crystallized their definition and look in 1993, although I think by that point, Flipper's Guitar had already decided to break apart. I've decided then to go with 1990 as the tab year for this particular trio because Shibuya-kei has been seen as a 1990s thing although all of the bands involved originated back in the 1980s.

Original Love -- Asahi no Ataru Michi （朝日のあたる道）

Pizzicato Five -- Tokyo wa Yoru no Shichi-ji (東京は夜の七時）

Flipper's Guitar -- Friends Again

Marina Watanabe -- Daisuki na Shatsu (1990 Ryoko Sakusen)（大好きなシャツ (1990旅行作戦)）/Be With You

 

Ryoko Tani（谷亮子）, nee Tamura. Now that is a name that I haven't heard in years since she retired from competitive judo over a decade ago and decided to tackle the politicians in the Diet instead as a member of the House of Councilors. But when she was competing on the mat, she was probably as popular as any Oricon-populating aidoru star due to her cheerful and forthright nature, and of course, her abilities as a judoka. She even got the nickname of Yawara based on the main character in the judo manga by Naoki Urasawa（浦沢直樹）, and that character of Yawara Inokuma（猪熊柔）was inspired from the first woman to win a world judo championship, Kaori Yamaguchi（山口香）, in 1984. Tani would follow in her footsteps.

Having watched a lot of the anime adaptation of "YAWARA!" during my days in Gunma Prefecture, I've been able to remember a number of the theme songs used and profile them on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" over the past decade. However, the last time that I wrote about a "YAWARA!" theme tune was way back in 2017 with Mariko Nagai's（永井真理子）"YOU AND I", and to be frank, I hadn't known that this particular song was used as the ending theme for a one-hour motion picture entry of the franchise, "YAWARA! Sore Yuke Koshinuke Kids!!"（それゆけ腰抜けキッズ...Go For It, You Cowardly Kids!!）that was released in theatres in August 1992.

From what I've read in J-Wiki, "Daisuki na Shatsu 1990 Ryoko Sakusen" (My Favourite Shirt ~ The 1990 Travel Operation) had been even used during the original TV series, and it was released as Marina Watanabe's（渡辺満里奈）13th single on July 1st 1990, almost 32 years ago. When I first heard the song, I thought that it was awfully Shibuya-kei for an anime based on judo but heck, as I remember, there was plenty of whimsy in the show and I think Shibuya-kei is absolutely soaking in whimsy, too.

Well, it was no coincidence. Music and lyrics were provided by the Double KO Corporation which is actually the songwriting name for the duo Flipper's Guitar（フリッパーズ・ギター）, one of the pioneers of Shibuya-kei itself. During those opening credit montages, the main character of Yawara was seen tripping the light fantastic throughout the streets of Tokyo and basically trying on every stylish outfit in sight. I would assume then that "Daisuki na Shatsu" would be the perfect accompaniment to a day on the town. Lyrically, it is all about that wonderful date outside with a guy, his favourite shirt and his favourite girl.

The coupling song to "Daisuki na Shatsu" is "Be With You", a light and mellow pop song that almost takes things into AOR territory. In fact, I'd probably say that it was quite close to a lot of the music that Miki Imai（今井美樹）had been performing at the time. I'm a sucker for the keyboard work and the chorus that sounds as if Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）had some involvement (but probably didn't). Watanabe was in charge of the lyrics while Mayumi Horikawa（堀川まゆみ）and Hiroshi Shinkawa（新川博）took care of the composition and arrangement respectively. The entire single peaked at No. 31 on Oricon. From listening to both songs and Marina's vocals for them, I can say that the aidoru tag wouldn't be needed here.

Flipper's Guitar -- Winnie the Pooh Mugcup Collection

 

I had never thought of the late 80s-early 90s duo, Flipper's Guitar consisting of Keigo Oyamada（小山田圭吾）and Kenji Ozawa（小沢健二）, as anything but Shibuya-kei. Usually I remember their "Koi to Machine Gun"（恋とマシンガン）which sounds like the trademark tune of the genre.

But in J-Wiki, Flipper's Guitar is not only listed as Shibuya-kei, but also as an alternative rock and an indies pop band. Certainly, Shibuya-kei is not what I got when I first heard "Winnie the Pooh Mugcup Collection". The song hails from their 3rd and final studio album "DOCTOR HEAD'S WORLD TOWER" released in July 1991. Apparently, part of the title was derived from 60s rock group The Monkees' movie "HEAD".

According to J-Wiki, Oyamada and Ozawa worked on this album attempting to reflect the sound of the UK rock bands of that time including Stone Roses, Primal Scream and My Bloody Valentine. But before I came across the previous statement, I had thought that "Winnie the Pooh" was very much along the lines of some of those 1960s psychedelic rock groups. Right from that screeching guitar intro, I certainly got the hint that I was no longer in a Parisian street-side café but in some grungy apartment with a raunchy bunch of long-haired teens and their well-worn guitars.

Flipper's Guitar -- JOYRIDE ~ Suteki na Joyride（すてきなジョイライド）

As of today, the unofficial beginning of the end of summer began with the opening of the annual Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) or as we usually call it here, the Ex. So, now, everyone will really try to get their summer in before the inevitable cooler temperatures invade, and sure enough, the nights have started to get a bit chilly.

First off, let me reassure you...the audio for the video does work. The song doesn't actually start up until about 38 seconds in. It's been a while since I've had the boys, Kenji Ozawa（小沢健二）and Keigo Oyamada（小山田圭吾）of Flipper's Guitar（フリッパーズ・ギター）on board here so here is "JOYRIDE ~ Suteki na Joyride" (A Wonderful Joyride), a track from their 1989 album "three cheers for our side ~ Umi e Iku tsumori janakatta"（海へ行くつもりじゃなかった...We Didn't Mean to Head for the Ocean）, the same album with "Goodbye, our Pastels Badges".

"JOYRIDE" is a good ol' happy tune bringing back images and feelings of The Beatles and The Monkees through the jangly guitars. Written and composed by Ozawa, Flipper's Guitar wants us to take that pleasurable trip into space...perhaps helped by some alcoholic libations. Ironically, considering the title, the video all takes place in one small room, and with the tunnel vision involved, I'm wondering whether the price of admission was a glug of absinthe. The joyride may all be in the mind, I gather.

elliptic orbit we pictured last night
and here we go！
we'll make a space trip again tonight

elliptic orbit don't be afraid
and here we go！
leave all your pain here on the earth

joyride to nowhere, a motorbike with no care
i'll meet you soon, we're passing the moon

well, i've caught the tail of universe
but it's hard for me to break it
oh, have you seen the stars above？
joyride into space

Lyrics from mojim

Fancy Face Groovy Name -- Love Is Yé-Yé (Looking For My Idol)

Ah, Vie de France...along with kaiten sushi, tonkatsu and a can of Max Coffee, any time I visit my old stomping grounds of Tokyo, I just gotta have some sort of meal at this patisserie chain. Whether it's that fancy hot dog with the ketchup or the really buttery danish, I know that I will be gaining many calories there.

For those fans of Shibuya-kei chanteuses, Kahimi Karie（カヒミ・カリィ）and Takako Minekawa（嶺川貴子）, this may make your night. It sure surprised me since I hadn't known that the two of them were actually singing together, however brief the time was.

Back in 1990, at the very beginning of their careers, Karie and Minekawa (under her stage name of Mamene Kirerie) were together as a duo known as Fancy Face Groovy Name. They recorded just one song together titled "Love Is Yé-Yé (Looking For My Idol)" which was created by their genre brethren, Flipper's Guitar, and inserted into a compilation album called "Fab Gear".

I'm not too well versed in the French pop genre of yé-yé, but "Love Is Yé-Yé" strikes me as being the story of Karie and Minekawa as happy-go-lucky teens going through some merry anarchic times in Paris or a particularly bohemian corner of Tokyo. Berets and croissants not included.

Charan-Po-Rantan -- Karimono Kyousou（借りもの協奏）

I didn't set out to write about an entire Charan-Po-Rantan（チャラン・ポ・ランタン）album, especially when I have yet to buy anything by sisters Momo and Koharu Matsunaga（松永もも・松永小春）. Through one commenter's tip a few years back, I first listened to them and found their brand of accordion pop and jazz refreshing in an era of aidoru-dominated pop on the Oricon charts.

It's just that I discovered this cover of "Koi to Machine Gun"（恋とマシンガン）originally by Shibuya-kei duo Flipper's Guitar and found it perfect for Charan-Po-Rantan, only to find out that the video is an abbreviated version. Kinda too bad since it looks like the Matsunaga sisters were having some fun going through the trendier areas of Tokyo.

"Koi to Machine Gun" is a track from their special September 2016 album "Karimono Kyousou" (Concerto of Borrowed Things), a release of covers of English and Japanese songs. Since the video for "Koi to Machine Gun" was so short, I felt that I needed to compensate with at least one more of their singles. However, I realized that it was part of this album and then saw that there were other tracks up on YouTube, so I decided that I would feature some of those entries.

For example, "Shangri-La" originally by techno group Denki Groove（電気グルーヴ）. Not a bad cover all things considered but I think "Koi to Machine Gun" is still in the lead. The video for "Shangri-La" is even shorter. However, we get to see the Shibuya for old folks, Sugamo.

(Sorry but the video has been taken down.)

Then, there is the sisters' cover of "Saudade"（サウダージ）by Pornograffiti which is here in its full glory and which I think fits the bill better in terms of transition. It's too bad, though, that none of their covers of English-language tunes are up since personally I would love to hear their version of The Buggles' "Video Killed The Radio Star".

https://itunes.apple.com/mx/album/%E5%80%9F%E3%82%8A%E3%82%82%E3%81%AE%E5%8D%94%E5%A5%8F/1149224307

(excerpts only)

Ah, but I did find the album on the iTunes site!

Flipper's Guitar -- Goodbye, our Pastels Badges

I've always treated the genre Shibuya-kei as a 90s concoction but apparently it's been around since the late 1980s...perhaps the very tail end. I realize that Pizzicato Five launched in the mid-1980s but their sound was quite different back then.

Flipper's Guitar also got their start around 1987. Perhaps their music in the beginning was categorized as more indie rock...or indie pop, in my opinion...but I still can't help but see Keigo Oyamada and Kenji Ozawa（小山田圭吾・小沢健二）as Shibuya-kei guys. And even with "Goodbye, our Pastels Badges", which was a track on their first album "three cheers for our side ~ Umi e Iku tsumori janakatta"（海へ行くつもりじゃなかった...We Didn't Mean to Head for the Ocean）from August 1989, there is that breezy European vacation feeling.

I've been accustomed to seeing Flipper's Guitar show up in their videos outside of Japan...perhaps, Paris. But for this one, they are singing and traipsing around in a Japanese subway system. Still, the video seems to be bathed in sun and the feeling is one of a nice Sunday walk. I guess if I were to further divide the genre further, there would be the P5 side of Friday night Shibuya-kei and then the Sunday afternoon Shibuya-kei of Flipper's Guitar.

Ozawa handled lyrics while Oyamada took care of the music. "Goodbye, our Pastels Badges" is sung totally in English, and I'll be honest when I say that I didn't realize this at first. Not sure what the lyrics are all about but I can say now that there is a Japanese song that actually shouts out to a character from "Star Trek". But did he really have a fringe cut?

Flipper's Guitar -- Groove Tube

Mike Myers brought back the 1960s again back in the 1990s with his "Austin Powers" franchise, and an entire generation got to know about what Burt Bacharach, groovy and psychedelic were all about. Mind you, I actually lived through all that although I don't remember much since I was less than 5 at the time. However there was one show that I still have memories of...and that was the American variety hour (yes, the USA did have variety shows back then) "Laugh-In", a prime time comedy tour-de-force starring Dan Rowan and Dick Martin as the hosts of barely contained lunacy mixed in with all that was late 1960s pop culture: go-go dancing, body painting...and groovy. Giggly Goldie Hawn in a bikini dancing it up...yup, she is seared in my memory.

But even before Mike Myers gave us a look-see into that crazy decade, the Japanese at least had already been getting some of those images and music from back then for some years via Shibuya-kei. Of course, there was Pizzicato Five who took care of the Swingin' 60s party-all-night aspect of the genre, but at around the same time, there was also the duo of Flipper's Guitar who carried over their mellower take with some influence from French pop.

However, I was surprised to discover that Keigo Oyamada and Kenji Ozawa（小山田圭吾・小沢健二）did indulge some of that P5 nighttime fun for their 5th single, "Groove Tube" from March 1991. The J-Wiki article for the single had a mass of text that I had to wade through but really couldn't find anything too insightful about "Groove Tube" itself aside from the quote from Oyamada that stated that the men had wanted to put out their most powerful single with this one with the booty-shaking rhythm of B'z and a hard-edged guitar sound reminiscent of Tomoyasu Hotei（布袋寅泰）.

I'm not quite sure that "Groove Tube" actually gets to the level of some Hotei shredding but the song definitely has a good amount of drive. Written and composed by Flipper's Guitar under their moniker of Double KO Corporation, I think it actually has some influences from not only P5 but also Pet Shop Boys. with the lyrics talking about what seems to be a night out at a cool-as-sin and sexy 60s party. And the video kinda illustrates that...wouldn't be surprised to see Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe there sipping cocktails with a bored look.

"Groove Tube" got as high as No. 22 on Oricon and is also a track on "Doctor Head's World Tower", the duo's 3rd album released in July 1991.

To finish off, I would like to mix in this article's theme of psychedelia and Canadiana with a skit from my dearly beloved "SCTV" comedy show. Here is Dr. Braino as played by the late John Candy.

Flipper's Guitar -- Koi to Machine Gun （恋とマシンガン）

Back when I first heard about the Shibuya-kei duo of Flipper's Guitar in my Gunma days, they were very much a group that I only saw and heard on the late-night "MTV Japan" show. And along with "Friends Again", their debut single, there was one other video whose title I didn't catch which had Keigo Oyamada and Kenji Ozawa（小山田圭吾・小沢健二）quickly skipping about Paris with the song beginning with an old-fashioned scatting intro that I have heard a number of times on Japanese TV. For some reason, I couldn't find the video with that scatting back then, which was actually sampled from the theme song of the 1965 Italian movie "Seven Golden Men".

However, I got lucky tonight and finally tracked it down on YouTube. It was their 2nd single from May 1990, "Koi to Machine Gun" (Love and Machine Guns) which also has the English title of "Young, Alive, In Love". And the one sentence I can use to describe it and the video is "Those jaunty Japanese dudes dashing about in Gay Paree!" The song makes for a great musical companion for Keigo and Kenji running through the City of Lights. There's something very sparkly and fresh about "Koi to Machine Gun" that had me thinking that this would be the theme for Flipper's Guitar.

Not sure how "Koi to Machine Gun" did on the Oricon charts...perhaps it and Flipper's Guitar in general were just a little too hip to get too high there.  However, it did indeed find popularity on the telly as a catchy jazzy tune that would perk up the audience. It was used in a Nissan commercial, a TBS wide show as the theme song, and even for a TBS drama (as shown above) called "Yobiko Boogie"（予備校ブギ...Prep School Boogie）featuring some cool slacker students (I think one of them ended up becoming a cop in an old coat some years later). And I think that's what the charm is about "Koi to Machine Gun"/"Young, Alive, In Love", it is the perfect theme for those young turks just having fun about the town and getting into all sorts of trouble. The song was also a track on Flipper's Guitar's 2nd album, "Camera Talk" from September 1990.

And once again, the cover vocal stylings of Miku Hatsune（初音ミク）.

Life on the Ginza!

P.S. Here is the theme song for "Seven Golden Men".

Flipper's Guitar -- Friends Again

Another sign I got that Japanese popular music was undergoing some big changes during my time in the country at the turn of the decade was from hearing this song and watching its video. Until I saw it again on YouTube yesterday, the scene that I had always remembered from the video was the one where Flipper's Guitar was strumming their guitars in that oh-so-fashionable apartment room with all of the pictures behind them. The entire video played out like a cute 60s Euro-comedy where a badly-executed art heist was taking place by the world's worst but lovable thieves. And the thing that really stuck out was that the song was all in English.

The embryo that would gestate into Flipper's Guitar sprouted from a band called Pee-Wee 60s in 1987 with Keigo Oyamada（小山田圭吾） as the vocal and guitarist while Yukiko Inoue（井上由紀子）was on keyboards. Any other members with them soon dropped out, and the pair changed their name to Lollipop Sonic and did the live house circuit for a while before gaining three more members, the final one being fellow guitarist and vocal Kenji Ozawa（小沢健二）, nephew of world-famous conductor Seiji Ozawa. Just as they were about to hit the majors, the final name for the band was established as Flipper's Guitar in 1988.

Flipper's Guitar created their 1st album, "three cheers for our side～Umi e Iku Tsumori Ja Nakatta"（海へ行くつもりじゃなかった...Didn't Mean To Go To The Sea), an album that had Ozawa in charge of the lyrics which were all in English. With Ozawa's direction seeming to take precedence, most of the group members decided to leave right after the album was done, leaving Flipper's Guitar as a duo consisting of Oyamada and Ozawa.

"Friends Again" was the duo's first single released in January 1990. Written and composed by them under the name of Double Knockout Corporation, I think the best adjective to describe it is "effervescently sunny". Along with the music, the lyrics spoke about a pair whose relationship was so sweet and light that even after a spat, they could reconcile with a cute line.

The sound was indeed different from a lot of what Japanese pop sounded like at the time which put them on a par with groups like Jitterin' Jinn and Pizzicato Five. In the case of Flipper's Guitar's case, their sound was influenced by 80s upbeat British bands such as Haircut 100 ("Boy Meets Girl") and The Style Council ("My Ever Changing Moods"), although "Friends Again"has got more of a Frenchness to it, thanks to that accordion. In that way, I think the duo perhaps had some stylistic connections with the higher-profile Dreams Come True. The single hadn't originally been part of any album, but was included on their BEST compilation and in the 2006 remastered release of "three cheers for our side".　By the way, I think that album title is innately British....I would almost expect a subtitle of "Hip Hip Hoorah!"

Shibuya-kei has been considered to be the successor to Japanese City Pop, something that I hadn't been quite sure about. But I think my opinion has started to mellow a bit if only to say that Shibuya-kei would be another name for International City Pop since the sounds of London, Paris and perhaps even Stockholm filtered into Tokyo's Teen Mecca. Flipper's Guitar has been mentioned as one of the pioneers of this internationally-known Japanese music genre; a bit ironic since the unit would break up by 1991 just when the genre was revving up and perhaps even before its name was fully-formed. Ozawa would go on to solo success into the 90s, and Oyamada went into new musical directions under his new moniker of Cornelius.