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.
Welcome to another weekly edition of Reminiscings of Youth where I show off another non-Japanese song that I remember and reminisce fondly about from my far younger years. Today, I'm writing about Olivia Newton-John's big hit "Physical" from September 1981. According to the Wikipedia article for the song, "Physical" was seen as the song that marked the new persona of OJN as a sexy beast, although personally, I think she had already gone in that direction a few years earlier with that final scene from "Grease" and then her role in "Xanadu".
I remember one of my friends coming over to my place with his copy of the album "Physical" with the title track and playing the album over and over again to annoying levels. I mean, "Physical" and the other tracks were fine but repeated listenings weren't and aren't really my thing. Having said that, I also remember the music video, probably one of the first ones in history to get heavy rotation air play, and it may have helped in starting up the whole aerobics craze of the 1980s. Getting overweight people to the gym? Not too sure about that one, though. Strangely enough as we all look at it now, the video and the song stirred up quite a bit of controversy with even the line "Let me hear your body talk" getting the latter banned from some radio stations.
"Physical" hit No. 1 in Canada and the United States and a few more countries including Australia. Billboard has even placed it at No. 6 on its All-Time 100 list.
So, what were the Top 3 hits onOricon in September 1981?
"General Hospital" is a daytime soap opera that I've known about since I actually got out of hospital after my birth. Even as a toddler, I'd been aware of characters such as nurse Jessie Brewer, Dr. Steve Hardy and lawyer Lee Baldwin. However going into the 1980s, I and a lot of North America suddenly realized that one of television's longest-running programs spiked in popularity, intrigue and sex appeal because of the Luke & Laura story line. I didn't actually get sucked into that plot but then afterwards, I started watching in 1982 when Luke Spencer had supposedly died and then come back from the dead to get into some more mystery which involved spies like Robert Scorpio of the WSB and the enigma that was Holly Sutton.
Unfortunately, the above video has Luke and Holly meeting up but it doesn't have the scene where the latter first appeared. It was accompanied by a sultry R&B number that I would later find out was titled "Baby, Come to Me" although the Wikipedia article identified the song as a love theme for Luke. It was around the same time that a young Demi Moore would make her presence felt as crusading reporter Jackie Templeton.
At the time, I was still getting my feet wet in terms of my newfound appreciation for pop music and since "Baby, Come to Me" was something that was being played in the background while the actors were saying their lines, I didn't quite fall for it back then. However, as sung by Patti Austin and the late James Ingram who contributed mightily to Quincy Jones' "The Dude" in 1981, I've come to discover that the love ballad is one of the very best of Quiet Storm, a genre that I often associate with one Anita Baker.
"Baby, Come to Me" was released in April 1982 but it had first become known as a track on Austin's September 1981 album "Every Home Should Have One". I hadn't known that and what I also didn't know that the album version had a slightly longer intro. But once it was put out as a single in the spring of 1982, it did OK by peaking at No. 73 on Billboard but with the boost in popularity thanks to its use in "General Hospital", it was given a second release later in October and finally hit No. 1 in early 1983.
May I say that this ballad really brings back the nostalgia and the wonders of late 70s and early 80s R&B. Plus, Michael McDonald is once again providing wonderful backing chorus. Rod Temperton created the song while the aforementioned Jones produced the whole ball of wax. The recording musicians were no slouches either: David Foster, Temperton, Greg Phillinganes and Steve Lukather among others.
To specify, the album "Every Home Should Have One" was released on September 28th 1981. Well, I was able to track down the list of the top songs in Japan on that very day. The top three are as follows:
First off, a Happy New Year to everyone in Japan who are, as I'm typing this, over nine hours into January 1 2021. I wouldn't say that it's the happiest Happy New Year on either side of the Pacific, but let's have some hope that we'll have a reverse of what happened in 2020: COVID now, no COVID by the latter half of the year.
Anyways, this might be one of the more unusual ROY articles that I've written since this particular song never hit the Billboard charts as far as I know, although it is probably one of the most recognizable television theme tunes in the United States and Canada. The TV show in question is "Entertainment Tonight" or "E.T." for short that started its run on September 14th 1981 (yes, that's right...it got the initials even before that Reese's Pieces-loving alien).
I used to watch the show in its half-hour 7pm time slot on the NBC affiliate on weeknights, and then there was the weekly review through "Entertainment This Week" on Saturday nights. Basically, I got to know what was up with the movers and shakers in Hollywood including the stars along with the latest on the escapist movies that I craved so much about back then as a high school kid. So, Mary Hart, Leeza Gibbons and John Tesh were regular names to me as hosts of the show, although they hadn't been there for the very first episode shown in the video at the top of the article.
But getting back to the music, I remember and currently cherish the original version of the theme by musician/composer Michael Mark because it is so 80s fusion and I found it so Hollywood back then. Folks who are watching the show even now (2021 will mark the 40th anniversary) may be surprised at how groovy it was back then. I knew that it had gone into a very brassy version from the late 1980s but frankly it just comes across as a sound bite now.
I stopped watching "Entertainment Tonight" once I graduated from university and headed out to Gunma Prefecture in the summer of 1989. But that original "E.T." theme has stuck me with me all these decades...along with the celebration of celebrity birthdays at the end of each show.
So, which songs were 1, 2 and 3 at the top of the Oricon chart for September 1981?
Earlier this month, I wrote a tribute for Daryl Dragon, The Captain from Captain & Tennille because of his passing on January 2nd. Sad to say, I have to say that 80s R&B singer James Ingram has also died today at the age of 66. I found out about the news earlier on Twitter. This hurts even more since the Ohio-born singer recorded a lot of numbers that became part of the music book of my memories and partially led to my love of the Japanese urban contemporary scene.
Ingram has already become part of "Kayo Kyoku Plus" since I wrote about his duet with Linda Ronstadt, "Somewhere Out There" which was later covered by Akiko Kobayashi（小林明子）under the title "Kokoro no Honoo"（こころの炎）. Strangely enough, the impetus for me to write about it was that composer James Horner had passed away.
I have Ingram's BEST compilation and also Quincy Jones' "The Dude", the amazing 1981 album that included the wonderful "Ai no Corrida", the opening track. However, Ingram was also responsible for another track "Just Once", his debut single recorded in August 1981. He had so many amazing songs but for me, "Just Once" is perhaps his theme song and a ballad that will always remind how much I love the 1980s R&B. On the US Billboard 100, it peaked at No. 17 but made it up to No. 7 on the Adult Contemporary charts.
Then in 1983, he and Michael McDonald of The Doobie Brothers did a duet for the single "Yah Mo B There", one of the cooler songs in the genre during those 80s. The intro still can give me a shiver up the spine. Ingram gave some wonderful balladry but I really loved the kakkoii factor for "Yah Mo B There". That went up to No. 19. Still remember the music video which got plenty of exposure on the music video shows.
As I did for "Love Will Keep Us Together" by Captain & Tennille, I will continue the mandate of the blog and provide three songs that actually debuted in August 1981, the same month for Ingram's debut "Just Once".
Having a strong fondness for Japanese techno/synthpop, I thought for a while about making an entry about some of my favorites but also decided to narrow things down a bit. This one specifically deals with aidoru tracks produced by some techno masterminds like YMO, Masami Tsuchiya and Moonriders, also known as aidoru techno-kayo. I don't usually have an urge to listen to idols, but when I do, more often than not it's this stuff right here. I think it's because the arrangements and the concepts keep me interested. I love the quirky techno-ness of it all, and it seems like the creators actually put effort into these songs. Or perhaps I just like the sound of computer music mixed with cute vocals. Not that all the singers below necessarily sound cute, but those that do definitely benefit from all the synths and bleeps in the background.
Without further ado, here's the playlist, organized in chronological order. There isn't a particular theme to these selections since good music comes in different forms and moods. Enjoy!
1. Fever -- Digita Love [フィーバー -- デジタラブ] (1980)
Long before Yasutaka Nakata came along with Perfume, Keiichi Suzuki (鈴木慶一) already digitalized the Candies aesthetic with this edgy new wave tune for Fever. It doesn't actually sound like Perfume but the concept and the image are there. The cover image above of Naomi Watai (渡井なおみ), Izumi Okahiro (岡広いづみ) and Mayumi Kitagawa (北川まゆみ) in triangular formation really do resemble Nocchi, Acchan and Kashiyuka from their Computer City~Game era though in different outfits. The song itself has a nice mix of techno bleeps set to a surf rock rhythm. I found it enjoyable from start to finish. Always appreciate a bit of experimentation with aidoru tracks. P-Vine's compilation of Toshiba EMI's Techno-Kayo works was the one that introduced me to this obscure song. I wouldn't have heard it otherwise. As for Fever themselves, the little information I could dig on them tells me that they started off as a sexier version of Candies, debuting with the single “Akuma ni Kushizuke” (悪魔にくちづけ) in April 1979. They had one album and another four singles after that before they broke up in late 1980. “Digita Love” was their final release and their only techno song as far as I know.
As a one-third of the Hana no Chu-San Trio (花の中三トリオ), Sakurada may have been overshadowed by the legendary Momoe Yamaguchi but she did hold strong on her own with some of her mid-70's hits like “Hajimete no Dekigoto” (はじめての出来事) and “Juushichi no Natsu” (十七の夏). One of her latter highlights was the album “My Dear” from 1981, which had Side 1 of the LP produced by Akiko Yano (矢野顕子), who brought in all that bubbly technopop for Sakurada to try. Lots of great songs there, but the one that captivated me the most is “Kitto Kitto”. Although the music itself has Yano written all over it and in the refrain Sakurada copies her fluttery manner of delivering the lyrics, she interpreted it in her own way with that mature womanly voice of hers. Whereas Yano sounds sweet like the kindest friend, Sakurada goes for the sultry. Makes for an interesting combo with the music. You can call me addicted to the rapid refrain and the strings riff that follows it. It's just cleverly crafted in general with all these delicate details in the arrangement. Better not dissect them.
Chiemi Manabe had a very short idol career in the early 80's first as a member of the group Pansy (パンジー) and then as a soloist before she switched to modeling and acting and then disappeared from media altogether later in the decade. Techno-kayo enthusiasts refer to her as the original techno idol since she was one of the first along with Starbow to specialize in the sound. “Nerawareta Shoujo” was her debut single, which was written by the eminent Aku Yu (阿久悠) and composed/arranged by Haruomi Hosono (細野晴臣). What can I say... That synth line is a killer. And the melody has a unique eeriness to it that's unlike your generic pop song. Manabe's vocals are rather thin, but they don't bother me at all when set against the solid techno backdrop. Unfortunately, she didn't pursue singing for long only leaving us with three singles and one album, but what she had was very nice.
4. Imokin Trio -- High School Lullaby [イモ欽トリオ -- ハイスクール・ララバイ] (1982)
I couldn't help it, it's just too darn infectious. J-Canuck wrote an informative entry on Imokin Trio and the song, so I don't have any factual information to add. It's a pretty silly and classic Takashi Matsumoto (松本隆)/Hosono work for a group of boys who just wanted to make people laugh. The hilarious choreography, which had Kojio Nishiyama/Waruo (西山浩司) playing air drums as if he were Yukihiro Takahashi (高橋幸宏) and Ryoichi Yamaguchi/Yoshio (山口良一) behind the air synths in the position of Ryuichi Sakamoto (坂本龍一), probably played a huge role into making this song a winner, but even on its own, it has some strong synth lines that make it a quality techno tune. What was meant to be a novelty tune happened to turn into a classic. It hasn't worn itself out in my ears yet. When I sang it in karaoke, my friend remarked that it sounded girly with all those “suki suki baby” parts so I showed the performance to surprise her. She's been hooked ever since.
5. Mari Iijima -- Love Sick [飯島真理 -- Love Sick] (1983)
Mari Iijima's debut album “Rosé”, which was produced and arranged by Ryuichi Sakamoto, is notable for being of interest to both techno and City Pop enthusiasts, judging by some responses I came across online. Couldn't miss that pretty pink cover while flipping through the pages of Japanese City Pop either. Just listen to “Love Sick” and you'll know what the deal is. It's a loungy nightime melody with a digital/string arrangement and it's wonderful. Every time I listen to it, I can't help but be charmed by the way the classical strings in the opening give way to the synths that take over from there. Kudos to Sakamoto for that clever arrangement. Iijima's voice is sweet like the purest honey but it also has a mature flair to it, which you can pick out easily in this song. It's not often that you find a singer who had it right from the very start, but I'm happy to say that her debut was great. And she wrote and composed the whole thing herself.
6. Hiromi Go -- Dakara Spectacle [郷ひろみ -- だからスペクタクル] (1983)
Just to prove that YMO practically owned Japanese pop of the early 80's, they had to involve themselves with Hiromi Go or else their control wasn't complete. Ryuichi Sakamoto produced his 1983 album “Hiromi-Kyou no Hanzai” (比呂魅卿の犯罪), inviting the rest of YMO and its family including Kenji Omura and Akiko Yano to play the instruments. The album cover and the booklet images feature the idol in a New Romantic getup complete with blush and lipstick. It was a bit of an oddball entry in Go's discography but it was also the one that convinced me to get over my embarrassment of liking his music and give it an earnest try. Of all the tracks there, however, I decided to go with the one that he wrote and composed himself (and did it well) while Sakamoto let his arranging magic do the rest of the work. “Dakara Spectacle”, as you can tell from the title, is quite theatrical and somewhat cheesy but in a good way. Even though it's just little over 7 minutes long, it never drags. I like everything about this: the chorus, the verses, the instrumental bits. Despite Sakamoto's influence, it's very much a Go piece and he owns it like a dandy heartthrob that he is.
Like Chiemi Manabe, I would have liked for Kilala & Ulala go further but alas they only lasted for two years. Their only album “Double Fantasy” doesn't feature the usual techno composers save for Hosono and Masaya Matsuura (from PSY-S) on a couple of tracks but it's still memorable. My personal favorite number from it is “Yume, Fushigi Ikaga”, which was written/composed by EPO and arranged by Nobuyuki Shimizu (清水信之). Just listening to the futuristic melody and synths and the girls' bold voices makes me want to launch a rocket into the stratosphere. Although it was a CM jingle for some cosmetics company, I think it would make a fine theme for a tokusatsu show. Just an observation. You can read more about the duo in my entry here.
8. Chiemi Hori -- Wa Shoi! [堀ちえみ -- Wa・ショイ!] (1985)
According to J-Wiki, this was considered an unusually experimental for an aidoru tune due to all the sampler effects, but being accustomed to random noises and grunts in Morning Musume's songs, I wasn't that fazed when I first heard it. I just thought it was really catchy. Maybe it's because of Hori's happy-go-lucky vocals and the bouncy melody that it fits with all the sugary idol pop of the time. The arrangement and the effects are still pretty interesting though, so they make this stand out for me. The lyrics were provided by Hirofumi Suzuki (鈴木博文) and the music/arrangement by Ryomei Shirai (白井良明), both from Moonriders. I'm not sure if that was Shirai's intention, but those buzzing synths remind me of cicadas in the summer. Then again, the single was released in the midst of July heat, so it was crafted for the summer anyway. J-Wiki also notes that he created it with matsuri and ondo music images in mind. “Wasshoi” itself is sort of like Japanese equivalent of “heave ho” and is usually chanted at matsuri when carrying floats and portable shrines. I can just picture Hori herself taking part in the festivities while singing this. Oh, and the way she chirps “kira kira” is adorable. You can read more about the singer through generasia. Marcos V also wrote a great article on her last single here.
Here's a Sakamoto creation that has popped at me in various incarnations over the years, but it's Yukada's glorious opening track to her final album “Venus Tanjo” (ヴィーナス誕生) from March 1986 that I'm partial to. The other two are Sakamoto's self-cover with different lyrics titled “Ballet Mecanique” which came out a month later and Miki Nakatani's “Chronic Love” from 1999, an opening to the quirky mystery drama Keizoku that she has starred in. Those unique melody chords cannot be mistaken for anything else. It's one of Sakamoto's quintessential compositions, in my opinion. Combine that with Okada's cute and quivering vocals and you have an idol masterpiece. I've never seen her perform this which I doubt even happened considering the brief time between “Venus Tanjo” and her death, but I think it'd be a lovely sight. She had a lot of nice songs in her brief but legendary career, including the acclaimed “Kuchibiru Network” (also created by Sakamoto), and she also passed the test of keeping up the good work beyond the singles. That's why I decided to highlight “Wonder Trip Lover” aside from the fact that it happens to be a fine techno-kayo song. The other two names involved with it were EPO behind the lyrics and the late Tetsuro Kashibuchi (かしぶち哲郎) from Moonriders behind the arrangement. That galloping drumming in the refrain and the sax are unique to Okada's version and make it the special one for me.
I just like the spunky Kyon Kyon in general, so it really made my day when I found out that she teamed up with folks like Hosono and Masami Tsuchiya (土屋昌巳) who composed and arranged this tune. It was a leading track on her eleventh studio album "Phantasien" from July 1987. Being released later in the decade, it doesn't really resemble that early techno-kayo style, but it still has enough happy synthesisizer in it be their relative. Being a sucker for anything fantastical, I obviously enjoyed “Tsuretette Phantasien” for the whole “girl lost in a fantasyland” theme. And that German bit in the bridge specifically transplanted me to the fairytales of Brothers Grimm. I particularly enjoyed the toy military drum rhythm combined with that adventurous melody in the refrain. And the way it wraps up at the end is magical. The promotional video (which got taken down by powers that be) of Kyon Kyon wandering in the forest and encountering various creatures is very fitting.
That's it, folks. If you're interested in sampling more techno-kayo, you can check out P-Vine's impressive compilations where they selected a bunch of songs on various labels from Polydor and Teichiku to Victor and Kind Records. More about those here. Unfortunately, For Life Records and Sony didn't participate in the project, so names like Chiemi Manabe aren't represented there. Those are still extensive compilations though that include both aidoru tunes and more experimental fare. My playlist here has many of the artists featured there, though I didn't necessarily go for just the signature tunes. Hopefully you found something of interest.
Another one of those early discoveries I made in my long history of kayo kyoku, Imo Kin Trio's（イモ欽トリオ）"High School Lullaby" was a frequent pop-up on all those "Best 10" and "Top 10" shows on my classmate's VHS tapes. And no wonder....it had a 7-week run at the top of the charts from August 24~October 5 after its initial release in early August. It was a fairly insane song created by former Happy Enders Takashi Matsumoto and Haruomi Hosono（松本隆・細野晴臣). Hosono's YMO influence is also obviously in there.
The Imo Kin Trio was three tarento: Ryoichi Yamaguchi, Koji Nishiyama, and Kenji Nagae（山口良一・西山浩司・長江健次）as overaged high school boys appearing on the Fuji-TV variety show "Kin-Don! Yoi-ko, Warui-ko, Futsuu no ko" （欽ドン！良い子、悪い子、普通の子...Kin-Don! Good Kid, Bad Kid and Normal Kid). which ran from 1981 to 1983. These "kids" were probably almost or just as popular as the Tanokin Trio, whose name they were parodying, of Masahiko Kondo, Toshihiko Tahara and Yoshio Nomura. The song ended up being the 4th-ranked tune of 1981. Would love to find an original appearance by them on one of the ranking shows just to show the nutso choreography.
