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.
Showing posts with label Hiroko Yakushimaru. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hiroko Yakushimaru. Show all posts
Within our television viewing habits as kids, one of the genres we watched was nature programming. "Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom" was must-see TV and every episode, we got to see Marlin Perkins, Jim Fowler and Stan Brock observe and occasionally wrestle the heck out of the bigger beasts. In fact, it was the running gag on the late-night talk shows that Jim would be getting mauled by a lion while Marlin was narrating the adventure while sipping on a martini.
Somehow, I get the feeling that Japanese TV coverage of animals has been far more docile. In fact, between 1983 and 1992, TBS had run a popular show titled "Waku Waku Doubutsu Land"（わくわく動物ランド...Exciting Animal Land） which combined a couple of TV show genres: the nature show and the quiz show.
As for the ending theme, it's natural that the producers would have wanted an adorable voice singing it, and what more adorable voice was there at the time than the one belonging to actress/singer Hiroko Yakushimaru（薬師丸ひろ子）? So, she was tasked to record the cute march "Sukoshi Dake Yasashiku" (Just A Little Bit Nicer) as the co-A-side to the cool "Tantei Monogatari"(探偵物語）from May 1983. Created by the same triumvirate, lyricist Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）, composer Eiichi Ohtaki（大滝詠一）and arranger Akira Inoue（井上鑑）, this is a song so nice and kid-friendly that the animals themselves were probably prancing happily all over the field while listening to it.
Oh, dopey me. I'm four days late in wishing singer-songwriter Mariya Takeuchi a Happy Birthday! But here's hoping that her family enjoyed themselves on the special day. Last year (when I did remember her birthday), I acknowledged the day with a Yutaka Kimura Speaks translated piece about the singer. When I thought about whether to do a Creator article about her, I quickly realized that I had already done one back in 2019.
However for that first entry, I introduced some songs created by Takeuchi in that article that had never been covered before. Well, then, I decided that for this one, I'll bring the comfort food...songs by her that have their own articles from way back when just to remind viewers about what she has given other singers. And of course, this is by no means a comprehensive list.
There's only one bad thing that you can say about listening to INXS'"What You Need" and watching the video. You can only see and hear it for the first time only once. The band's August 1985 single is that amazing, and I'm giving myself the Gibbs slap up the back of my head that I actually didn't put it up for five years after posting their later hit "Need You Tonight" as a Reminiscings of Youth article (that song is amazing, too!).
"What You Need" is the wake-up song we need. It's also a great power walk song especially when those electric guitars come blasting away like hyperspace engines. And then, there's Kirk Pengilly's soulful saxophone. You can't help but go into slow stride mode on the street in your longcoat when you hear this. There were also some great music videos coming out at the time. The one for Peter Gabriel's"Sledgehammer" was one of them in the following year and then this one of rotoscope amazement for "What You Need" probably wowed folks onto their butts when it first got onto MTV.
"What You Need" hit No. 21 on Canada's RPM while in the United States, it peaked at No. 5. In INXS' native Australia, it reached No. 2. Really liked the extended version as well. Heard that one all the time on Saturday nights on the radio.
So, what was being released in Japan in what was most likely a stifling hot August 1985? Well, we've got two albums and a single.
I mentioned in my previous article that today is a national holiday here in Canada, so of course, that means we have a special Reminiscings of Youth article regarding some of my cherished songs from my own yesteryear. And once again, we have the late and lovely Laura Branigan to bring back some of my 1980s musical memories.
Of course, I'll always remember "Gloria" and her take on the ballad "How Am I Supposed To Live Without You?", but during the early half of the decade, she had some of her other minor hits crossing into the radiosphere. One single of hers from July 1984 was "The Lucky One". Starting off like a David Foster tune (it was actually created by Bruce Roberts), it quickly went into a mid-tempo pop-rock number along the lines of a Heart-ish song.
All of my memories about "The Lucky One" were from the radio since I had never seen the music video until today. Apparently, the producers were interested in having Laura go through a contemporary version of "My Fair Lady"; she's not too bad with the comedic chops, either. "The Lucky One" went to No. 53 on the Canadian charts while in the United States, it did better by peaking at No. 20.
So, what was coming out on top of the Oricon charts in July 1984? We have Nos. 2, 3 and 4.
Welcome to the regular Reminiscings of Youth entry for this Thursday, and for that matter, welcome to "Kayo Kyoku Plus", singer and musician George Benson. I know that Benson has come up with great songs such as his rendition of "This Masquerade" and "Give Me The Night" but whenever I hear his name, the first song that usually comes to mind is "Lady Love Me (One More Time)", a July 1983 single.
Even before I finally found out the title and the man behind the golden vocals, I used to enjoy hearing this on heavy rotation on AM radio (always loved the intro). It was just so cheerful and it was using all those instruments that I got to realize were my favourites when it came to the genres of R&B and jazz and AOR. I could easily place "Lady Love Me" with a lot of the songs that acts such as Al Jarreau and The Manhattan Transfer were doing at around the same time.
"Lady Love Me" was created by two associates from the band TOTO, David Paich (who was on keyboards) and James Newton Howard, the latter of whom would also make famous soundtracks including those for "The Dark Knight" trilogy. On the US Billboard Top 100, it would peak at No. 30 while it hit No. 6 on Canada's RPM Adult Contemporary chart. The single was also a track on Benson's 1983 album"In Your Eyes".
Now, what was at the top of the July 1983 chart on Oricon?
Back in the (relatively) innocent 1980s, the afternoon segment of the TV spectrum here in Toronto was often filled with different music video shows. There was one such show on MTV...and no, I'm not referring to the famous music channel in the United States but the multicultural local one here, and for some reason, it semi-specialized in some of the more obscure acts and if the host liked them, they got heavy rotation.
I don't recall seeing the group Freeez on any of the other shows but for the MTV program, it was pretty much a semi-regular and that was through its June 1983 single"I.O.U.". How many times did I see all that New York hip-hop culture being played out by the kids in the schoolyard in the video? Ironically, "I.O.U" was more of an electro-funk song by this duo who actually came from the UK rather than the US but it did make its mark on several world music charts. It did rather modestly in Canada, only hitting No. 38 here while in America, it reached No. 1 on Billboard's Dance/Disco chart. It also hit the top spot in Iceland (I guess when the band is called Freeez...😅). But getting back to the song, listening to it once more after a long while, I did get my memories of breakdancing and 80s funk into my head again.
Now, I've been aware that bands can undergo stylistic changes over the years and I only found out a couple of days ago that Freeez had been more of a jazz funk group originating in 1978. And I have to admit that I was immediately hooked by their January 1981 debut single"Southern Freeez". According to its Wikipedia article, the title was allegedly formed from a dance move called The Freeze used by folks at The Royalty dance club in Southgate, London. As the years went by, "Southern Freeez" got its fair share of remixes and listening to the original song, I can imagine it being a hit in the early 1990s club scene. There is also something slightly Chaz Jankel about it.
In the last several months, I realized that I'm once again a late bloomer. All these years, these YouTube videos of the Australian morning show "Today" have been showing up and it's amazing how loose these fellows are in terms of their humour and laidback manner. It's gotten to the point that I frankly know these broadcasters by their first names now: Lisa, Georgie, Sylvia, Ben, Steve, Brooke, Ally among others, and of course, the heart of the show, Karl. I can honestly say that there is no one like Karl in any of the morning shows that I've seen in Canada or the United States. Just for the record, the first "Today" video I caught was the infamous "Pussy! Get out of my pants." one.
When I was but a wee lad, geography wasn't particularly my forte and I kept wondering about nations such as Australia and Austria and what the big difference was between them. And it was quite interesting when I found out about the switch in seasons and the Coriolis force and that magnificent accent down under. Well, guess what? This week's Reminiscings of Youth article will be on "Down Under" by Australian band Men At Work.
I remembered Men At Work and their hit song "Down Under" as closer to being a mid-1980s tune so it was a surprise to get a memory check and realize that it was actually released in November 1981 as an official single, some time after first getting onto vinyl as a B-side to a 1980 release. Of course, back then my vocabulary for music was embryonic at best so I had just treated it as a catchy quirky pop number with a flute, years before I read on Wikipedia that it's been categorized as New Wave, reggae, pop rock and pub rock. Vocalist Colin Hay and lead guitarist Ron Strykert came up with the melody with Hay also providing the lyrics. I didn't pay too much attention to the lyrics being more of a melody man but there was plenty of Aussie terminology in there. For example, what I'd thought was "...and gave me a a bite of his sandwich" was "...and gave me a Vegemite sandwich". I wouldn't have my first taste of Vegemite for many years afterwards in Japan, and to be honest, I actually prefer Vegemite over natto (sorry, Japan).
"Down Under" was up and over on the charts and in a number of nations including Australia, Canada and America, it hit No. 1. Though the song and the weird music video didn't give me any concrete insight into the country at the time, it did provide a bridge to Paul Hogan and his popular commercials regarding Australia.
Speaking of Aussie slang, I have to admit that I never knew that completely innocuous terms here in Canada such as "Dutch oven" and "muff" could elicit wails of laughter down under.
Anyways, what else was coming out as singles in Japan in November 1981?
Ahhh...yes, the equivalent of "Teen Beat" in Japan, "Myojo"（明星）also has their Xmas issues. Kinda wonder what the magazine looks like now.
As with any town or city in many parts of the world, there is plenty of Christmas illumination and other decorations adorning the streets. One place that I've enjoyed viewing is actually a little north of us here. It's called Unionville and during the Holidays, it gussies itself up into basically the ideal Christmas town as you can see from the video by Intuitive Imprints. Heck, watching this, I wouldn't mind pulling up stakes and moving over to the community myself although I think realistically one would need a car to get around.
Coincidentally, singer-actress Hiroko Yakushimaru（薬師丸ひろ子）was singing about the same thing basically when she recorded "Christmas Avenue". It is a track on her August 1985 2nd album"Yume Juuwa"（夢十話...10 Dreams） and I've already written about the album that I have on audiotape but at the time, "Christmas Avenue" wasn't up on YouTube apparently. Well, it's up here now and this time around, this whimsical J-Xmas number has nothing to do with partying or romantic wonders/breakups, it's just about Hiroko enjoying that pleasant walk down the (Unionville) street around the Holidays. Can't be beat.
Written by Minako Yoshida（吉田美奈子）, composed by Takao Kisugi（来生たかお）and arranged by Kazuo Shiina（椎名和夫）, "Christmas Avenue" is a pop song that has that hint of old-style variety show jazz standard within it. I could imagine if Hiroko had ever performed this on TV or stage, she would have been accompanied by a bunch of dancing folks in candy cane or penguin suits.
Just in the last several days, I've been hearing about this feud between Daryl Hall and John Oates over a massive decoupling of their business partnerships. Every couple or partnership has their ups and downs but the fact that Hall & Oates are now going up against each other in court is rather sad considering all those wonderful songs that they've given us over the past half-century.
I can imagine that the late-night show hosts have already made darkly humorous hay over the battle, but I'm thinking that the two are basically attacking each other in the courtroom with their own hit song titles: "I can't go for that!", "No can do!", "Say it isn't so!", "You're out of touch!", and "Some things are better unsaid!". They're grooving each other into legal submission.
However, let's get back to happier decades with Hall & Oates. This week's Reminiscings of Youth article will be on their 1981 hit "I Can't Go for That (No Can Do)" which was released in November. Created by the duo and Sara Allen, I remember it for that sly smoky groove and the percussion, and then there was the music video which was as atmospheric as all get out with the gauzy lighting and just Daryl, John and saxophonist Charles DeChant grooving away in a darkened room.
Considering the current frayed condition of the relationship between the two Pennsylvanians, the following which I got from "Something Else!" via Wikipedia is poignantly ironic concerning the meaning of the lyrics:
Speaking about the meaning of the lyrics, John Oates has stated that while many listeners may assume the lyrics are about a relationship, in reality, the song, "is about the music business. That song is really about not being pushed around by big labels, managers, and agents and being told what to do, and being true to yourself creatively."
"I Can't Go for That (No Can Do)" managed to reach as high as No. 2 on Canada's RPM ranking list while in the United States, it hit No. 1 on Billboard, going Gold in both countries.
Now, which other three singles in Japan were being released in November 1981?
Yesterday, the news came down that the iconic Tina Turner had passed away in Switzerland at the age of 83. As a result, I wrote up a special ROY article then to describe the song where I first got to know Turner, "Proud Mary" from 1971. Her presence on the stage to perform that hit had basically been the lone image that I would have of the singer when I was a kid.
It was going into the 1980s that I actually started getting interested in music on both sides of the Pacific Ocean, so as I was getting into kayo kyoku in Japan, I also got into and purchased American, Canadian and European pop music. What certainly helped was the blossoming of music videos on MTV and Canada's MuchMusic and all of the local music video shows such as "Toronto Rocks".
Well, a few years into that, I got reacquainted with the Queen of Rock n' Roll after many years through a song titled "What's Love Got to Do with It" which was released on May 1st, 1984. A story of someone going through internal turmoil about falling in love again after getting romantically burned previously, the song by Graham Lyle and Terry Britten struck me as this very calm and grounded tune very much of the 1980s. Naturally, hearing it again brought lots of nostalgia and warm feelings, especially with the sunny video of Turner taking a leisurely walk through New York City. And man, those 80s fashions!😎 To be honest, that image of her in the denim jacket, short black skirt and mounds of hair replaced the one of her singing "Proud Mary".
The Wikipedia piece on "What's Love Got to Do with It" has already stated it, but it became Turner's first and only No. 1 single on Billboard (hit the top in Canada, too) with over 2 million records sold globally. Also included in all of the accolades was that the song won three Grammys: Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.
I will give my condolences to Turner's family, friends and fans but I have a feeling that the legend is probably and very happily performing all of her discography in another realm.
Seeing that last week's ROY was also a record from May 1984 which I then compared with entries from the Oricon Top 20, this time around, I will go with three of the singles that were released in that month.
In a special holiday edition of Reminiscings of Youth...
I've had to remind myself that this is a long weekend, the Victoria Day long weekend to be specific, and in Canada, it's seen as the first summer vacation opportunity although of course, summer is not due here for another month. The main reason for my forgetfulness is that we really no longer do the family vacation. It's more of the staycation now and I'm good with that...no added stress.
Well, after all, folks can just watch "National Lampoon's Vacation" from 1983 to see how un-relaxing a family vacation can be although they can laugh their guts out at the plight of the Griswolds. The success of Chevy Chase's movie begat an entire franchise right into the next generation. Surprisingly, I never saw that first movie in its entirety; I've seen key scenes though.
However, I have shown more loyalty toward the theme song for the movie and the franchise, "Holiday Road" by Lindsey Buckingham from Fleetwood Mac. It has gone down as one of the more enduring and beloved movie theme songs of the 1980s despite its very short play time at a little over two minutes, but that's OK. Like guests staying at friends' places, no one or thing should overstay their welcome. I will always cherish the chorus and the barking dog at the end.
Released in June 1983, it only hit No. 82 on Billboard but again time told the tale of "Holiday Road" as a popular tune. I can only imagine how it's received at any of Buckingham's concerts. But I found its usage again in the opening credits of "Vacation" (2015), the most recent entry in the franchise with the second generation of the Griswolds in the driver's seat, absolutely hilarious.
Let me preface this regular Reminiscings of Youth entry by saying that I was never the sharpest billiard ball in the rack. And as I've mentioned in the past on the blog, I didn't pay much attention to lyrics as I did to the melody when it came to music. In the 1980s, I was enjoying the waves and waves of music that were crashing on my shore from both Japan and the West. Cyndi Lauper, the Unusual Girl, was one of the regulars that came onto land via radio and music video.
A little over a year ago, I did a ROY on her 1983 classic "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" which I had discovered was a cover version of the original by Robert Hazard in 1979. I was a big fan of the song and then the melancholy ballad "Time After Time" came to our eyes and ears. That was OK but then I got really interested in her 3rd single from her debut album"She's So Unusual", "She Bop", which was released in July 1984.
For me, it was the fact that the original single already sounded like one of the coolest dance remixes before even getting the remix treatment, including those amazing rumbling deep synths. I guess "She Bop" can be considered to be one of my early aural earworms following the sight of the Ceti Alpha Eel on "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan". So, it was always me trying to catch "She Bop" on the radio as often as I could and then when the official weird and wonderful music video came out, it was pretty much all hands on di...deck.
But then after reading some newspaper and magazine articles on the hit which peaked (climaxed?) at No. 3 in both Canada and the United States, I rather reacted "Say what now?!". I took another closer look at the music video, and I realized that "She Bop" was all about mastering one's domain (look up "Seinfeld"). Ahh, well. I was still looking long and hard for a remix version of the song and I was lucky to finally hear it on the Saturday all-night remix programs on the radio. Hey, nearly 40 years later, "She Bop" still gleefully explodes.
Anyways, now that we're past the PG-rated double entendres, what was on Oricon's Top 10 list for July 1984? We have Nos. 2, 3 and 4.
Yeah, I know...I was getting cute with the arrangement again. 🙄 Anyways, for the Gosanke（御三家...The Big Three） file, I first want to thank Noelle for her inclusion of the Sengo Sanba Garasu (戦後三羽烏) a few days ago. Of course, last Saturday I did my bit for the Group Sounds equivalent.
Today, I've opted to take things a little further in time to the 1980s since I did find another trio of young ladies who were given their own trio name. For those who knew their Japanese starlets from that decade, they were Hiroko Yakushimaru（薬師丸ひろ子）, Noriko Watanabe（渡辺典子）and Tomoyo Harada（原田知世）. All three of them have been on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" because of their singing but the trio wasn't put together by the media for their time in the recording booth. Known collectively as the Kadokawa Sannin Musume (The Three Women of Kadokawa), they were most likely formed as such by what was once known as Kadokawa Pictures (now called Kadokawa Daiei Studio, according to Wikipedia) because of their association with the studio as up-and-coming actresses. However, as I said above, since they have also released their own singles and albums, I think that we can put them here, too. Watanabe was the latest to debut with her music in 1984.
When I heard that Michael Bolton had international success with "How Am I Supposed to Live Without You?" in 1989, I was slightly miffed although at the time I hadn't known that he was also the original songwriter along with Doug James. After all, the ballad was a song that I'd long associated with one of my favourite 80s chanteuses.
Yup, Laura Branigan has always been and will always remain the one singer for "How Am I Supposed To Live Without You?" for me anyways. Bolton's version is perfectly fine but Branigan's take seems much more intimate and nostalgically 80s; plus, Laura's voice just hits me right and then there's the electric guitar solo near the end. The lyrics can also punch holes in hearts about a romantic opportunity lost forever.
It was six months ago that I brought Branigan into the blog for her most famous tune "Gloria" and it was the song that I used to hear on the radio for one of the residents in the townhouse complex where I was painting fences for much of that summer of 1983. But afterwards, "How Am I Supposed To Live Without You?" also got a lot of radio airplay not just among the fences of the complex but also on our own home radio.
"How Am I Supposed To Live Without You?" was Branigan's 6th single released in July 1983 which hit the top of the Adult Contemporary charts for both Canada and the United States. The ballad was also included in the singer's second album"Branigan 2" from March of that same year. Incidentally, the thumbnail photos at the top and bottom of the article come from my own copy of "The Best of Laura Branigan" that I bought in Japan years ago, so it comes with its own Japanese liner notes and "How Am I Supposed To Live Without You?" is translated into the Japanese title "Ai wo Shitte"（愛を知って...Know Love）.
So, what was on the top of the Oriconchart for July 1983?
With all of the craziness out there these days, including last night's Super Bowl, people may be forgiven if they forgot today is Valentine's Day. Hopefully though, folks are celebrating with romantic dinners, movies and chocolates.
Ah, speaking of the Super Bowl, there will always be the trailers for upcoming blockbuster movies during the broadcast, and along with the ad for the upcoming "Moon Knight", "Dr. Strange and the Multiverse of Madness" was unveiled for everyone's perusal and it basically exploded one Marvel-loving corner of the Internet due to it being more chock-filled with stuff and goodness than a really loaded bowl of minestrone. Well, I guess that May 6th can't come soon enough.
There was also sad news from entertainment. Ivan Reitman, the director of movies including "Ghostbusters", "Dave" and "Stripes" passed away over the weekend at the age of 75. Growing up in Toronto, he'd produced and directed so many flicks, but "Ghostbusters" will always be the movie that I identify him with. It wasn't a perfect movie by any means but it still had plenty of heart among the characters and the situation, and there's a part of me who would love to get a Ghostbuster uniform with a proton pack.
In any case, getting back to the matter at hand, I wanted to start this week off with a special Valentine's Day issue of Reminiscings of Youth since although I have paid tribute to the observed holiday in years past with kayo, I don't quite remember whether I actually recognized February 14th with a ROY article.
Now, in all honesty, I never bought the album "Born to Love", a July 1983 release with Roberta Flack and Peabo Bryson recording duets, but I know two of the tracks there because they were on heavy rotation on the radio back when I was in high school. One is "Tonight I Celebrate My Love" which was released as a single in that same year. Though I am about as romantic as a piece of gneiss during a blizzard, I retain a sweet spot for the romantic ballads of the 1980s filtered through soul and Quiet Storm, and that includes "Tonight I Celebrate My Love" which was created by Gerry Goffin and Michael Masser. Will always love a good Fender Rhodes in this way. It did pretty well on the charts as well, placing in at No. 4 on Canada's RPM and the same rank on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart.
Another track that I remember is "You're Lookin' Like Love To Me" which, as I mentioned above, is a song by Flack and Bryson that I heard frequently on the FM band at stations like CHFI here in Toronto. Bob Gaudio, Bob Crewe and Jerry Corbetta were responsible for this song which is also filled with lots of juicy love but has a bit more pop in its step. With both songs, the vocals are just top-notch and listening to them again has brought back a lot of nostalgia and memories of cramming away for examinations and the like.
Going to the Oricon chart for July 1983, what were the Top 3 singles back then?
Halloween is indeed just a few nights away and it looks like that trick or treat can go ahead in my neck of the woods, albeit carefully. Just wondering what Shibuya Scramble is going to look like this weekend with Tokyo treating things as if they're out of the woods but that's why I will be looking at the live camera overlooking the massive intersection over the next few days.
Of course, Thursdays also mean Reminiscings of Youth and that means that I'm putting up my first Halloween-themed ROY article today. I've decided to go with Ray Parker Jr.'s"Ghostbusters". Who ya gonna call, and all that!
I remember all of the hoopla surrounding "Ghostbusters" when I was just a high school kid in 1984. It was seen as an exciting high-concept vehicle for the guys at "Saturday Night Live" and "SCTV" to come together with some of those amazing Industrial Light and Magic special effects. Ever the late bloomer, I didn't finally get to see the movie until the end of summer about three months after "Ghostbusters" had launched at theatres. Catching the Tuesday afternoon matinee, there was barely anyone inside aside from a few other folks including a young couple about two rows in front of me half-watching the movie and half-canoodling by themselves. I honestly focused on the cinematic experience in front of me.😶
"Ghostbusters" was a fun movie to be sure but I didn't particularly laugh out loud at most of the cracks since Bill Murray was the main jokester (merely smirked and lightly chuckled), and his humour has always been more of the dry and droll type, although I did burst out at the famous line above. That didn't mean that I didn't like the movie. As I said, it was fun and I enjoyed it because it had a heart. I actually cared for Peter, Ray, Egon, and Winston and their proton packs as they were ready to believe paying customers with ghost problems. Mind you, I was no fan of the sequel overall.
Of course, the biggest calling card for the movie"Ghostbusters" was the single"Ghostbusters" by Ray Parker Jr. as one popular and muscular commercial jingle. Yup, I did hear about the legal wrangles over plagiarism between Parker and Huey Lewis but a financial settlement put that to rest and a "Premiere" article in the early 2000s (via Wikipedia) finally explained what the heck was going on with that. Apparently, Parker didn't want a new drug but an old song...or the basic rhythm, at least.
But hey, I like both "Ghostbusters" and Huey Lewis and the News'"I Want a New Drug", although when I eventually put up a ROY for the latter group, I'll probably go with another one of their hits first. Anyways, there have been variations on "Ghostbusters" within the later movies but it's always been the original for me because of Greg Phillinganes' funky work on the keyboards and the fact that it does sound like the most infectious jingle with the call-and-response of "Who ya gonna call?" and "GHOSTBUSTERS!". Plus, there's the music video with Parker, the fetching young lady plus all of those celebrity cameos.
After its release in June 1984, it hit No. 1 in both Canada and the United States and it even ended up in the Top 10 in both nations' year-end charts. Even in Japan, Oricon's international chart had it at No. 1 for six weeks in a row. It was even nominated for Best Original Song at the Oscars that year and I distinctly remember it being performed by Ray Parker Jr. at the ceremonies; it didn't go well. I've always wondered whether "Ghostbusters" was arranged so tightly and distinctly that only Parker and those Phillinganes keyboards could ever give it justice.
Although I'm keeping my expectations low, I hope that "Ghostbusters: Afterlife" does well. Strangely enough, this isn't Ray Parker Jr.'s first rodeo on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" since he did compose a tune in the late 1970s that has been covered by singer-songwriter EPO. Now, what were some singles that came out in June 1984...or thereabouts according to Showa Pops?
Well, I did that special Reminiscings of Youth article yesterday on behalf of Japan's Disco Day via the Bee Gees'"Stayin' Alive". Today is the regular weekly version for ROY.
And no, no disco tonight. Instead, I'm going with Canadiana once more after doing Spoons'"Romantic Traffic" nearly a month ago. I'm not sure whether The Parachute Club ever successfully broke out into the United States but here in the Great White North, this Toronto band formed in 1982 made an instant impression with their July 1983 debut single, "Rise Up".
Just to quote the Wikipedia description of The Parachute Club: "The band was well known for being one of the first mainstream pop acts in Canada to integrate world music influences, particularly Caribbean styles such as reggae and soca, into their sound." I also have to point out that as a teen, The Parachute Club was the first band that I've seen and heard that had both a nearly equal ratio of men and women working together.
With "Rise Up", there was this feeling of all-encompassing love, optimism and amity which was emphasized in the original music video for Canada at the start when the mime invites all sorts of people from all walks of life to join in the parade of joy in downtown Toronto. The video also includes scenes of Roy Thomson Hall where we got to see Professor X and Magneto having their first tete-a-tete in the very first "X-Men" movie. And of course, there is the soulful boomer of a voice within vocalist Lorraine Segato.
"Rise Up" was the band's most famous hit and it broke the Top 10 by peaking at No. 9 on the Canadian RPM chart. I got to see the video a lot and hear the song a lot on radio and it began a pretty good run for The Parachute Club in the 1980s. And as the Wikipedia article for the song states, "Rise Up" has been a good choice as an anthem for various causes although Segato has said that it was always meant to be "... a universal anthem of freedom and equality".
So, what were the Top 3 singles on Oricon for July 1983?
Yes, that is one of the entrances to Bay Station of the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC), the main bus, subway and streetcar network for our city. Before the onslaught of COVID over the last 15 months, I used to take the TTC fairly often to meet up with friends but the last time I did so, it was back in early September and perhaps with our province of Ontario opening up to Stage 2 next week, it may not be too long before I actually hop on a bus and a subway once more.
At my age, nostalgia looms rather large...hence the presence of this blog. It also extends to the subway since as a kid, I remember taking the really old red trains (the last one apparently was retired in 1990) when I went to Japanese Language School or field trips to the museum and such. The interiors were quite elegant for their time with the leather handstraps, old-fashioned lamps and firm cushioned seats, and it was often the case that during the often rocky run on the rails, those lamps would conk out suddenly for a few seconds.
All this talk of Toronto and subways and nostalgia is due to the fact that for this week's Reminiscings of Youth article, I'm going with the single "Romantic Traffic" by the Canadian synthpop/New Wave band Spoons. Spoons already has its ROY article thanks to my article on their "Nova Heart" back in February.
Released in 1984, the same year that I entered University of Toronto, "Romantic Traffic" is quite different from the 1982 "Nova Heart" in that there is no synthpop and I'm not even sure if I can really even consider it a New Wave tune. It strikes me as being more of a straight-on and fun pop tune with that "doot-doot" chorus, and the horns that come in during that point take me back to some of the swinging Bacharach 60s music. So even back when the song was new, "Romantic Traffic" was giving off that nostalgia.
Speaking of all that nostalgia, well, the music video for "Romantic Traffic" was shot at Yonge Station and Sheppard Station so I get to remind myself what the old stations and subways (nope, the video wasn't shot on the red trains) looked like before they got their facelifts some years later. Of course, I get to see all that 80s hair and winter fashion as well.
I found this short interview with Spoons vocalist and bassist Sandy Horne giving her thoughts and insights on "Romantic Traffic" including how the song got its "doot-doot" which has become a popular thing at their concerts. Also, the Wikipedia article on the song goes into that as well.
Now, I couldn't find out exactly in which month "Romantic Traffic" was released in that year of 1984, so I'll just go with June since we are in June 2021 as I type this. So, what were the Top 3 hits on Oricon for that month?
This is slightly unusual for an Author's Picks article but I did want to acknowledge that on March 6th 2021, Lou Ottens who was the inventor of the cassette tape passed away at the age of 94. Before I got into all of the compact disc technology in the late 1980s, I had been relying heavily on vinyl records and cassette tapes in the early years of my love for kayo kyoku.
As you can see above, these are just some of the tapes that I've had. I purchased these at the various record stores in Chinatown in downtown Toronto when I was a university student. It was quite the expensive hobby but the distance between U of T and those places made things simply too irresistible. And thanks to Ottens, my all-nighters were kept quite bearable since I was able to throw in those tapes into the gray tape recorder for repeat play; really needed that music to keep me up although the multiple cups of green tea also helped.
Without further ado then, I have some sample songs from some of the above tapes in my pink (or lavender) case.
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