The First Songs to Start It All For Me

 

Well, that was quite the coincidence. I just posted up "The Firsts (Mariya, Tatsuro, Akina, EW&F, EPO)" earlier this afternoon and it contained a few of my 80s favourites that helped start my path of kayo kyoku glory. Then, I find out that this week's "Uta Con"（うたコン）was having an 80s theme night. It was quite the manna from heaven for me.

I recall that I wrote up years ago a somewhat rambling account of my history of liking kayo kyoku so in a way, this article will emulate the overall theme. However, this time around, I'm just going to be a little more judicious with my thoughts here. But let it be said that these songs made a foundation to start things off for me thanks to an old classmate's "The Top 10" and "The Best 10" videotapes and my graduation trip to Japan in 1981....before I got to listen to "The Sounds of Japan" and watch my first ever Kohaku Utagassen in January 1982.

Hiromi Iwasaki -- Sumire Iro no Namida （すみれ色の涙）

The long black hair, the wide smile and the voice that could part clouds and let sunshine through. It was this ballad that started my own fan feelings for Hiromi Iwasaki（岩崎宏美）and pretty much pegged her in my mind as the Queen of Pop Balladry for a number of years.

Masahiko Kondo -- Blue Jeans Memory （ブルー・ジーンズ・メモリー）

Matchy the tough but tenderhearted teenager will always be represented by "Blue Jeans Memory" whose titular movie posters were all over the place when I was traveling through Tokyo and Osaka in the torrid summer of 1981. 

Jun Horie -- Memory Glass（メモリーグラス）

One reason that I haven't included Yellow Magic Orchestra in the list is that listening to their "Firecracker" on the local Japanese-Canadian community TV show here in Toronto had me intrigued but not quite head-over-heels for Japanese pop music. It took that graduation trip several months later to finally cement things. Anyways, Jun Horie's（堀江淳）"Memory Glass" was more kayo than "Firecracker" but that certain synthesizer in play here further fired up my interest in technopop.

Hitomi Ishikawa -- Machibuse　（まちぶせ）

I got to hear this in Japan, I also did the same on those videotapes and then finally, Hitomi Ishikawa（石川ひとみ）showed up on the 1981 Kohaku Utagassen. It was pretty much wall-to-wall "Machibuse" for several months so there was no way that I would leaving this one off the list.

Imo Kin Trio -- High School Lullaby

This was another wall-to-wall song because of the Japan trip and videotapes although I wouldn't hear about the background behind the making of this song and even how the name of this group came about for several years. On tonight's "Uta Con", I even learned some more information which answered one question that had been rattling about in my head just as long: Why didn't these guys show up on the Kohaku despite the crazy popularity of this song in 1981? Well, Imo Kin Trio（イモ欽トリオ）, the trio of young comics-turned-sudden singers who did show up to perform "High School Lullaby" tonight, explained that they actually had been given that golden offer by NHK. However their mentor, legendary comedian Kin'ichi Hagimoto（萩本欽一）who starred with them on their Fuji-TV variety show shot the question across their bow, "Do you really consider yourself singers?" and explained that if you accept the invitation, you're taking away a spot from a real singer who's dedicated to their craft. So, long story short, the answer was NO. I find this a bit ironic on Hagimoto's part since I believe he was the one who got the trio to get themselves into the music business; I guess he hadn't realized how successful they were going to get. Sorry, I did say I was going to be more judicious but couldn't help myself here.

Toshiyuki Nishida -- Moshimo Piano ga Hiketanara（もしもピアノが弾けたなら）

This was another wall-to-wall song that I heard in Japan and on those videotapes. And not surprisingly, it was the one to start things off on "Uta Con" tonight with Yo Oizumi's（大泉洋）rendition of the song. Still miss Nishida（西田敏行）who passed away almost two years ago.

Blondie -- Rapture

 

I can't quite remember how records and tapes by the big artists were being distributed back in my teenage years, and the reason I'm starting out this way is that the first time that I'd heard Blondie's "Rapture" was actually through one of those K-Tel compilation records in which there was one quick cut of the music video where Debbie Harry was holding her head while she purred the title. Now, I would think by that point, the song had long been released as a single and as part of an album, and so I was wondering why I hadn't heard of this one before. Blondie was already big in the world so I should have heard this one already on the radio or television.

Well, in any case, I eventually did hear the totality of the song and caught the video after it had been released in January 1981. "Rapture" was basically the first time that I ever heard rap in any form. Harry was talking in some rhythmic pattern about eating Cadillacs and entire bars which struck me as being some sort of weird New Wave-y thing. I think the only time that I heard anything similar to that was when I was watching a segment on "Sesame Street" featuring a cartoon bear pattering the first five numbers to a beatnik jazz beat.

In any case, Harry apparently had two parts to the song: the first part had her singing in those fluffy light vocals which reminded me of "Heart of Glass" and then the rap part in the latter half had her utilizing those richer and lower tones from "The Tide is High". Looking back at the song after so many years, "Rapture" certainly doesn't strike me as the usual rap tune with the tubular bells and the disco rhythms in there. Plus, I'm sure when the video was first shown, maybe there had been a disclaimer stating that one shouldn't be under the influence while watching it. Aside from Harry, the one other character that I still remember is the so-called "Man from Mars" in his white suit and top hat.

"Rapture" hit No. 1 in the United States while it reached No. 3 in Canada. I also recently found out through the YouTube comments for the song that it had become part of the lore in "The Boys" with Soldier Boy doing a cover on "Solid Gold". Personally, I wouldn't mind seeing Captain America trying it out himself.

Anyways, right on the day that "Rapture" was released, these three songs were at the top of the Oricon chart.

1. Masahiko Kondo -- Sneaker Blues (スニーカーぶるーす）

2. Harumi Miyako -- Osaka Shigure （大阪しぐれ）

3. Mayumi Itsuwa -- Koibito yo （恋人よ）

Masahiko Kondo -- Jounetsu Neppu Serenade（情熱☆熱風☽せれなーで）

 

My usual impression of a serenade, and I know that a lot of kayo kyoku have used the word in their titles, is of a tenderhearted love song weaponized by a suitor underneath the window of the target of their affections.

Well, "Jounetsu Neppu Serenade" (Passionate Tropical Wind Serenade) isn't a heavy metal anthem but I don't think it's a soft ballad either. Released by aidoru Masahiko Kondo（近藤真彦）in January 1982 as his 5th single, it's a pretty upbeat tune about falling hard in love from afar for that lovely young lady, presumably in those sylvan glades in the warmer areas of Earth. Written by Ayumi Date（伊達歩）, composed by Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）and arranged by Kazuo Otani（大谷和夫）, there's nothing rock-n'-roll about the song, which is usually my genre impression for Matchy. It's more of an easy-listening tropical-tinged tune.

According to the J-Wiki article for "Jounetsu Neppu Serenade", the characters of the crescent moon and star were meant to be included in the title to reflect the starlight mentioned in Date's lyrics. Apparently, this particular song was enough of a tangent from what Matchy usually tackles so that it actually did become quite the long seller in the stores. It hit No. 1 on Oricon and ended up as the 9th-ranked single for 1982.

The Top Batters for the 1981 (32nd), 1982 (33rd) and 1983 (34th) Editions of the Kohaku Utagassen

 

With the 76th edition of the Kohaku Utagassen on NHK less than 24 hours away as I type this, it appears that unless there is a mind-blowing sudden addition or deletion from the list, the participant list is all set and ready to go. I may just be crazy enough to wake up early and crank up the computer to watch the live version on Jme (although Jme will be broadcasting the special a few times for the next few days).

Anyways, in commemoration of the occasion and just to get those nostalgia juices flowing once more (since this is the blog for that sort of thing), I've decided to show the Top Batters for the first three editions I ever saw which are 1981, 1982 and 1983. For those who are new to the network's annual New Year's Eve event, the top batters are the first singers/bands representing the Red and White teams to perform. They set the tone for the gala atmosphere and back then, they were usually the youngest folks since it used to be the case that the aidoru and pop singers got their chances in the first half of the program before the moodier and more traditional stuff came in the second half of the show.

Let's enjoy the show and at least one of us will be posting an article on how we thought of this edition's Kohaku.

1981

Red: Naoko Kawai -- Smile for Me（スマイル・フォー・ミー）

White: Masahiko Kondo -- Gingiragin ni Sarigenaku （ギンギラギンにさりげなく）

1982

Red: Junko Mihara -- Honki de Love Me Good （ホンキでLove Me Good)

White: Shibugakitai -- 100%...So Kamo ne!（100%…SOかもね!）

1983

Red: Hiromi Iwasaki -- Ieji (家路）

White: Hideki Saijo -- Gyarandu （ギャランドゥ）

Masahiko Kondo -- Highteen Boogie（ハイティーン・ブギ）

 

I've known about 80s aidoru Masahiko Kondo（近藤真彦）ever since I started getting into Japanese pop music as a teen myself, and so I got to know some of his big hits such as "Blue Jeans Memory"（ブルー・ジーンズ・メモリー）and "Gingiragin ni Sarigenaku"（ギンギラギンにさりげなく）through the usual sources of videotaped music shows and karaoke outings. However, this particular song kinda fell through the cracks although I kept seeing it in ranking lists and Matchy's long discography.

So, I'm talking about his 7th single from June 1982, "Highteen Boogie". Strangely enough, I never saw him perform it on videotaped editions of "The Best 10" or hear anyone at Kuri, our old karaoke hangout here in Toronto, perform it. Up until recently, it was simply a title on the Matchy list. Well, I finally listened to it and found it to be the typically Matchy rumbly rock n' roll song although I think perhaps one observation is that the kid sounded perhaps a little more high-tone and slightly softer despite the shark-powered driving arrangement.

And speaking of the creation, Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）was behind the lyrics while Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）took care of music and arrangement. In fact, Matchy also had some additional help from other Tats associates in the form of Mariya Takeuchi（竹内まりや）and EPO as the backing chorus. It hit No. 1 for a few weeks after its release and ended up as the 7th-ranked single of 1982. Apparently, Yamashita has covered the song live in concerts himself although no official recorded version of the song exists.

The song was the theme song for "Highteen Boogie" the movie which was released in early August 1982 with the Tanokin Trio: Matchy, Toshihiko Tahara（田原俊彦）and Yoshio Nomura（野村義男） starring. Matchy plays a high school-age motorcycle-riding street tough who wants to go straight due to the charms of an orphaned teen girl but fate apparently has other purposes for him. Matsumoto's lyrics talk about young Sho's redemption through love and perhaps the aforementioned softer vocal approach reflects that.

Soft Cell -- Tainted Love

 

Welcome to Labour Day and September 2025! Hopefully, things are swell wherever you are. Haven't really complained with the weather here in Toronto; it's been brilliantly sunny and not too warm or cool. To start off this day's round of articles on "Kayo Kyoku Plus", we have the usual holiday edition of Reminiscings of Youth.

I've read that Soft Cell's "Tainted Love" is one of the iconic songs of the 1980s. I would not disagree. That rhythm track and the sultry vocals fairly scream New Wave and synthpop extraordinaire. Used to hear this all the time on radio and occasionally I got to see one of the music videos for it including the one above. "Tainted Love" was released in July 1981 and became a huge hit all around the planet including Canada which had a No. 1 ranking for it as was also the case in Australia, South Africa and Soft Cell's native UK. In the United States, it peaked at No. 8 on Billboard.

Reading up on the story of "Tainted Love", I found out a couple of things which surprised me. One is that this was released in July 1981 (as mentioned above); I'd assumed that this was a 1982 hit but I guess with all of the chaos surrounding my trip to Japan as a high school student in that very month, it was probably easy to suffer mental time shifts. The other thing is that once again as was the case with Kim Carnes' "Bette Davis Eyes" and Joan Jett's "I Love Rock 'n' Roll", Soft Cell's biggest hit wasn't an original by the synthpop duo but a cover version of a song done many years previously. In fact, "Tainted Love" was originally recorded by Gloria Jones in 1965 as a soul B-side for a single that didn't become particularly successful. Remakes were made between then and 1981, but it was Soft Cell's synthy version that put it over the top.

So, what songs were at the top of Oricon in July 1981? 

1. Chiharu Matsuyama -- Nagai Yoru（長い夜）

2. Masahiko Kondo -- Blue Jeans Memory （ブルー・ジーンズ・メモリー）

3. Toshihiko Tahara -- Kimi ni Kettei! （キミに決定!）

Just for Fun...The J-C AI Gallery -- Hiromi, Masahiko & Kanako

 

Hiromi Ohta -- Momen no Handkerchief (木綿のハンカチーフ）

Masahiko Kondo -- Midnight Station（ミッドナイト・ステーション）

Kanako Wada -- Good Luck Factory

"Uh...over here?"

Gino Vannelli -- Living Inside Myself

 

Time for a bit of Canadiana once more on the regular weekly Reminiscings of Youth. I first posted his 1978 "I Just Wanna Stop" a few years ago, and another frequent radio presence by singer-songwriter Gino Vannelli in my youth was his March 1981 song "Living Inside Myself". A single and a track on his seventh album "Nightwalker", it's another lush and epic ballad about the huge regrets being suffered by a man after a breakup. A song about a heart crushed like so many graham crackers shouldn't sound so wonderful, but it does. 

In Canada, "Living Inside Myself" went up to No. 13 on RPM while on America's Billboard, it soared even higher by placing in at No. 6. Another wonderful thing is that a number of those YouTube reactors have been discovering and delighting in this sad song.

So, what else was being released in March 1981?

Masahiko Kondo -- Yokohama Cheek （ヨコハマ・チーク）

Naoko Kawai -- Juu-Nana Sai （17才）

Hiroyuki Okita -- E-Kimochi （E気持ち）

Culture Club -- Do You Really Want to Hurt Me

 

Good golly! That voice...

That was my first reaction to Boy George when I heard Culture Club's "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me". There was so much old-time soul in those vocals and yet they were coming out of someone who looked to have been residing on the dividing line between New Wave and New Romantic. As well, the music was something that I couldn't immediately identify but that was because there was a blend of genres coming together: New Wave, soul and reggae. But again, I go back to that voice with the smokiness and vulnerability. And she was pretty, too.

Ah, and then I'd find out a few months later that Boy George really was a boy, George...George Alan O'Dowd, in fact. Still, dang fine voice.

And Culture Club became a sensation from that point for the next several years as Boy George and his band were frequent visitors on the charts. But "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me" was the first one, Culture Club's fourth single from September 1982 and it was hitting No. 1 all over the Earth including Canada, the UK and France among other nations while it peaked at No. 2 in the United States. 

Well, not surprisingly, such was Culture Club's popularity that corporate Japan came calling.

I also remember that Boy George's appearance was so iconic that there were Boy George lookalike contests all around the world. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any footage on YouTube but I recall the one that had been held in Japan somewhere. I don't think I'd seen so many Japanese New Romanticists in heavy makeup before.

So, what else was being released in Japan in that busy month of September 1982?

Masatoshi Nakamura -- Koibito mo Nureru Machikado (恋人も濡れる街角）

Naoko Kawai -- Kenka wo Yamete (けんかをやめて）

Masahiko Kondo -- Horeta ze! Kanpai（ホレたぜ!乾杯）

Animotion -- Obsession

 

The first time that I heard of the word "obsession" was via the 1967 episode of the original "Star Trek" which had that very title. Basically in that adventure, Captain Kirk goes all Captain Ahab about a big white alien cloud which loves to suck blood. It's also notable for the fact that two of the usually doomed red-shirted security guys gets a bit more attention and a name to boot: Ensigns Rizzo and Garrovick. The latter guy even gets to punch out his captain.

But then seventeen years later, the word pops up again far more frequently. In this edition of Reminiscings of Youth, I give you "Obsession", the biggest single by the American synthpop band Animotion. And for a while by my recollection, it was a lot of pop music lovers' obsession after its release in October 1984, especially its video which I saw on heavy rotation on the various music shows on television here in Canada. I always thought it looked like a combination of extras from "Ben Hur" and a party that Crockett and Tubbs from "Miami Vice" would love to infiltrate secretly.

In Canada, it hit No. 7 on the RPM charts while in the United States, "Obsession" scored a No. 6 ranking. That bass rhythm and the crash-and-bang synthesizers made it not only a hit on its own but became a pop culture go-to song for TV shows such as the WWF's "Saturday Night's Main Event" and our own national program "FT ~ Fashion Television".

So the word "obsession" became a part of my own pop culture lexicon through "Star Trek" and Animotion. But then, not too long after the song became a hit, a certain American fashion designer jumped into the mix with his take on the word.

Let's see what was at the top of the Oricon charts in October 1984.

1. Kyoko Koizumi -- Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge （ヤマトナデシコ七変化）

2. Checkers -- Hoshikuzu no Stage （星屑のステージ）

3. Masahiko Kondo -- Eien ni Himitsu sa（永遠に秘密さ）

"Seishun" Songs by J-Canuck

 

First off, I heard about the major quake in southern Japan so I'm hoping that folks there are doing OK.

January 13th 2025 has been set aside as the annual Seijin-no-Hi（成人の日）or Coming-of-Age Day in Japan. It's the time when all young people turning 20 this year get the big ceremonial welcome into adulthood (although there has been some recent movement in taking things a couple of years younger). The guys get all decked out in suits while the ladies are dressed meticulously into their kimono. After the speech at the local town or city hall, the freshly-minted adults can finally take that "first official" sip of booze with family and friends...and perhaps experience the exquisite pain of a hangover.

But give the new generation a decade or fifteen years and they may receive those pangs of nostalgia and longing for their salad days in high school...known as seishun（青春）in Japanese. Nostalgia has been a vital ingredient in kayo kyoku so it's not all that of a shock to know that there are also plenty of songs that have seishun in the titles and/or seishun in the feelings. So allow me to give you a few examples.

(1971) Kei Ogura -- Saraba Seishun （さらば青春）

(1981) Masahiko Kondo -- Seishun Beach（青春ビーチ）

(1976) Koichi Morita and The Top Gallants -- Seishun Jidai （青春時代）

(1974) Tulip -- Seishun no Kage（青春の影）

(1975) Yumi Arai -- Sotsugyou Shashin (卒業写真）

Anyways, my congratulations to all those turning the big 2-0 this year and take things in moderation!

Tina Turner -- Private Dancer (single)

 

It's been over a year since legendary singer Tina Turner left this mortal coil. I paid tribute to her at the time with a ROY article on her 1984 pop hit "What's Love Got to Do with It". It was also a track on Turner's multi-Platinum album "Private Dancer" when it was released in May of that year.

As much as I have liked "What's Love Got to Do with It", however, I have to admit that I've had an even bigger attraction to the title track "Private Dancer". I remember standing ready with the tape recorder on the radio to tape the long version of the song from any of the easy-listening stations because I'd become so enamored with it. The reason is the same reason that I've loved Sade's "Is It a Crime?" and Anita Baker's "Sweet Love", both from 1986..."Private Dancer" straddles that fine line between Quiet Storm and sophisticated pop...two districts within the city of urban contemporary that I've appreciated for decades. In fact, the long version was sought out by me specifically because of that additional bluesy nocturnal saxophone along with the piano.

Thinking all these years that "Private Dancer" had been created by someone in the soul genre, I was gobsmacked on realizing that it was Mark Knopfler from Dire Straits who had come up with the song. Just knowing about Knopfler and Dire Straits, my image of them was always T-shirts, headbands and rock n' roll...not tuxedos, exclusive nightclubs and crisp linen which is what I think whenever I listen to "Private Dancer". According to Wikipedia's article on the song, Knopfler had meant it for the band's 1982 album "Love Over Gold" but ditched it when he found it to be unsuitable to be sung by a male singer. With those lyrics...uh, well, yeah, and thank you, Ms. Turner for picking up the baton on that one.

On Canada's RPM chart, "Private Dancer" managed to rank in at No. 11 while in the United States, it broke the Top 10 by reaching No. 7. The single was released in October 1984 so what were the Top 3 on Oricon in that month?

1. Kyoko Koizumi -- Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge （ヤマトナデシコ七変化）

2. Checkers -- Hoshikuzu no Stage （星屑のステージ）

3. Masahiko Kondo -- Eien ni Himitsu sa（永遠に秘密さ）

Wang Chung -- Let's Go!

 

It was January 2022 when I posted Wang Chung's "Everybody Have Fun Tonight" as the first (and certainly not last) entry of the band on KKP's Reminiscings of Youth series. From the date and at least one sentence in my comments, I got the impression that we were still cautiously exiting the pandemic tunnel at the time. We did need that great 80s party song to bring back some cheer and action into our lives again.

Well, more than two years later, it was nice to see lead vocalist Jack Hues appear on the local news channel here for an interview the other day because he and his partner Nick Feldman were to do a gig at the legendary El Mocambo in downtown Toronto. Absolutely amiable and classy guy. I'm sure everybody had fun that night.😛

So I figured that it was time for another Wang Chung song on ROY this week, and to keep the good times rolling, I'm going with their January 1987 single "Let's Go". I used to hear this all the time on the radio and I even ended up getting the 12" remix version but never got to see the entire music video. Man, is it the most 1980s video I've seen in recent memory! It's silly as all get out but fun as well. And I get to see Hues and Feldman really pour out the emotion unlike the stone faces they showed in the seizure-inducing video for "Everybody Have Fun Tonight". In fact, I think Hues had a major case of the giggles in the early part of the video here, much like Daryl Hall was having difficulty keeping it together in the video for "Method of Modern Love" (I'll have to cover that one soon enough).

But 80s imagery and goofiness aside, "Let's Go" is another fun-filled song. It may not have the nighttime party vibe of "Everybody Have Fun Tonight" but it's still as catchy with plenty of times to shout out during the song, thanks to that easy-to-yell title and it's a great thing that the expression "Let's Go" is still supremely popular at movies and sports events. The song reached No. 9 in both America and Canada and is also available as a track on Wang Chung's "Mosaic" album from October 1986.

So, what were taking up the three top positions on Oricon's list for January 1987?

1. Marina Watanabe -- White Rabbit kara no Message（ホワイトラビットからのメッセージ）

2. Yoko Minamino -- Rakuen no Door （楽園のDoor）

3. Masahiko Kondo -- Orokamono （愚か者）

Chaka Khan/Prince -- I Feel For You

 

It was a good day today. Met up with a couple of friends, one of whom was Larry, co-administrator here on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" who's back here in Toronto for a vacation. We had lunch at our favourite izakaya, Kingyo and then a lot of chat. Hopefully, we'll have at least one more opportunity for a meal together although there is that threatened transit strike looming at 12:01 am Friday. And indeed, for those commuters who depend on the TTC, I feel for you.

Today is Thursday which means we've got Reminiscings of  Youth where I post a song from the classic MTV era of my teenage and university years. And sure enough, I have "I Feel For You" by Chaka Khan from October 1984. Seeing that famous video and hearing that funkster of a song, I really get those nostalgic feelings; the 80s were a fun time. My brother and I also had a laugh at trying to sing Grandmaster Melle Mel's "Cha-cha-cha-Chaka Khan?" that starts things off. And in yet another case of a pop culture example of a mistake being made into an asset, the inadvertent scatting of the singer's name was just an error by the producer who decided to keep it in there to great effect.

"I Feel For You" is a great tune and just to see all those 80s breakdancers and a very happy Khan in the video again brought some nice memories of back then. Not that I actually got into breakdancing, though. The only thing I would have broken there was physics. But getting back to the song, look at the folks who were involved in it...alongside Khan was songwriter Prince, the aforementioned Melle Mel from Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, and the legendary Stevie Wonder on harmonica.

Of course, we gotta have the 12" remix like I used to hear on the Saturday-night radio remix broadcasts. In Canada, "I Feel For You" hit No. 2 while in America, it hit No. 3 on Billboard. It did reach the top spot in the UK and Ireland. 

Once again, it was to my surprise on finding out that Chaka Khan's splendid song was actually a cover version of the original by Prince who released "I Feel For You" in October 1979 as a part of his self-titled album. I literally listened to it for the first time last night, and I've been struck at not just the funk but also the smooth and mellow grooviness to it. It almost takes things into the AOR genre and it feels like one happy walk in the morning. One reason that I posted the song here tonight was that, as I'd mentioned back in GWINKO's "GET ON" a couple of days ago, Prince's birthday is on June 7th so I would like to wish all the fans a Happy Birthday for him, who would have turned 65.

So, which songs were on the Top 3 of Oricon in October 1984?

1. Kyoko Koizumi -- Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge （ヤマトナデシコ七変化）

2. Checkers -- Hoshikuzu no Stage （星屑のステージ）

3. Masahiko Kondo -- Eien ni Himitsu sa（永遠に秘密さ）

To wrap up, you gotta have all three of them here for this performance!

Bonnie Tyler -- Total Eclipse of the Heart

 

Well, this is for the billions of people outside of North America who may not be aware of it, but tomorrow, there will be a total eclipse sweeping up through the continent with the Toronto area getting their look (not directly hopefully) at around 3:30 pm. Actually, though, I should say that Toronto will be receiving a partial eclipse (if the clouds don't invade and ruin things) and it's actually Niagara Falls across Lake Ontario which will be getting the 100% effect.

As a result, the Honeymoon Capital of the World has been the Total Eclipse Capital of the World for the past several weeks as folks have been inundating pretty much every hotel in the area with reservations. Supposedly, as many as a million people will crowd around the falls tomorrow necessitating a preemptive emergency declaration by the mayor to shore up resources to handle the eclipse-curious masses. 

To be honest, I'm not all that enthused about the event and despite assurances from our provincial government that measures are in place to hold the electrical grid and Internet service together during the big eclipse, I will probably be offline during the relevant time. It ought to be interesting to see things darken dramatically though.

Of course, you ROY watchers have probably guessed correctly that for such an event, I just had to provide "Total Eclipse of the Heart" by Bonnie Tyler as the special article. I was thinking of doing this on Eclipse Day Monday but just to be on the safe side, I'm gonna do it today. 

Tyler's magnum opus was first unleashed on the world in February 1983 in the UK (June 1983 in the US) and I remember "Total Eclipse of the Heart" thanks to that weird video that probably had psychology majors analyzing it for years. It and the song were on radio and TV for weeks and months on end when I was a high school kid. It got to the point where I was getting tired of hearing "Bright Eyes" and seeing the Children of the Corn standing at that academy. Still, hearing it again after so many years brought some good feelings and I think it has gone down as one of the biggest power ballads of the 1980s, especially thanks to Tyler's growly voice.

Considering its overwhelming popularity back then, I'm not surprised that "Total Eclipse of the Heart" managed to hit No. 1 in a number of countries including Canada and the United States. Most likely, there will be folks playing the song on their smartphones and other devices while the eclipse happens. I've already seen multiple comments under the various YouTube videos for the song regarding April 8th 2024.

Now, what was at the top of the Oricon list when "Total Eclipse of the Heart" was getting its time in the sun? The Top 3 are:

1. Masahiko Kondo -- Midnight Station（ミッドナイト・ステーション）

2. Seiko Matsuda -- Himitsu no Hanazono （秘密の花園）

3. Eisaku Ohkawa -- Sazanka no Yado （さざんかの宿）

The Works of Ayumi Date（伊達歩）, aka Shizuka Ijuin（伊集院静）

From Yahoo.jp

Unfortunately, the Japanese music world and the literary world lost a major figure on November 24th. Shizuka Ijuin passed away at the age of 73 from cancer. Born as a 2nd-generation Korean-Japanese in 1950 in Yamaguchi Prefecture, he was known as Cho Chung-rae（조충래）but his Japanese name was Tadaki Nishiyama（西山忠来）. He later became a celebrated fiction author under the pen name of Shizuka Ijuin who won the Naoki Prize and the Yoshikawa Eiji Literary Award.

According to his J-Wiki and Random House files, he wore some other hats such as commercial director, advertising executive and lyricist. For that last occupation, he took on the name Ayumi Date for which he has some representation on the blog. He came up with lyrics for a wide variety of singers in the pop, aidoru, rock and City Pop categories. Here are some of those songs. Of course, I offer my condolences to his family, friends and fans.

(1981) Masahiko Kondo -- Gingiragin ni Sarigenaku （ギンギラギンにさりげなく）

In a casual way, that's my way

Just live your life casually, casually

(I got you baby, I need you baby

I want you baby, Right on!!)

(I got you baby, I need you baby

I want you baby, Right on!!)

(1979) Bread & Butter -- Nagisa ni Ikou （渚に行こう）

I wanna walk together with you

on the beach that hasn't woken up yet

The remaining light of the stars

is on your lips

Kiss me gently

(1979) Yuko Asano -- Summer Champion（サマー・チャンピオン）

Summer Queen, Tempting Summer Queen

Woo Woo Summer Queen Summer Love

When I turn around, she whispers and hugs me

Looking at me with admiration, I will become the one and only champion

(1979) Mari Natsuki -- Wing（ウィング）

Forgotten in the crowd

I feel nostalgia when I go down the stairs

at the small station

I hear "Diana"

When I go up the white hill

The unbearable love

is surrounded by the scent of saffron

Quincy Jones -- The Dude

Amazon.jp

It was all the way back in 2014 when I wrote up a "Kayo Kyoku Plus" article on the very first single record of a Western pop song that I had ever bought and that was "Ai no Corrida" as originally sung by Charles "Dune" May. As I mentioned in that article, I first heard the disco or post-disco classic through a cover version done by a whole bunch of young 80s aidoru in one of the special segments of the 1981 Kohaku Utagassen on NHK. The single version was also a hit in Japan.

"Ai no Corrida" hit me with such good vibes that I soon ran over to the local Sam the Record Man shop to search for this unusually titled tune, and it was a surprise and delight that I could find the 45" single even in that tiny branch. The single version though was only a few seconds north of three minutes. I wouldn't find out for several years that the album version from Quincy Jones' "The Dude" has more than double the goodness. I stated this in the "Ai no Corrida" article as well, but the Jones version was also a cover for the Chaz Jankel original from the previous year.

Yup, "The Dude"...released in March 1981. It's an album that I wouldn't buy for several years since I was frankly intimidated by that cover. In fact, I finally bought it in Japan in the late 1990s, nearly 20 years after it had been first put onto record shelves. And since then, I've been happily catching up on what I'd missed by playing it in heavy rotation.

But let me get the accolades for "The Dude" out of the way. To lift a quote from the Wikipedia article for the album: "The Dude was nominated for twelve Grammy Awards (including Album of the Year) and won three at the 24th Grammy Awards: for Best Instrumental Arrangement; Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal; and Best Instrumental Arrangement (Accompanying Vocalists). It also earned Ingram three Grammy nominations for Best New Artist, Best Male Pop Vocal Performance (for "Just Once") and Best Male R&B Vocal Performance (for "One Hundred Ways"), which he won."

I also read somewhere that "The Dude" was the Michael Jackson album that Michael Jackson had never recorded. It's just that cool and special. So, without further ado, let me go through this classic album version of Reminiscings of Youth this week.

Second up on "The Dude" is the title track itself. And Jones himself is The Dude here with his kakkoii rap. Created by Jones, Rod Temperton and Patti Austin, one couldn't have a cooler power song for a patriarch of the neighbourhood. The backing vocals by Austin and others (including a certain one-gloved wonder...I believe I did cite him earlier), Ernie Watt's sax, James Ingram's heraldic vocals and those Jerry Hey horns come together magnificently to craft a potential theme tune that would come as a reassuring message to some and a warning to others. 

One of the reasons that I've been happy with "The Dude" is that there is a good amount of variety in the types of music. Case in point, Track 3 is the late James Ingram's "Just Once", a pleasant soul-pop ballad that I had only known for years as a song that would frequently get played on AM radio before buying the source album. Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil were responsible for this second single (September 1981) to come out of "The Dude". I also remember it for its performance by Ingram on an episode of "SCTV" in which the singer was also more than happy to goof it up with the rest of the comedians. David Foster was on the keyboards here.

Smooth and velvety is how I would describe "Betcha Wouldn't Hurt Me" as performed by Patti Austin and created by the Stevie Wonder. This is the type of song that I wouldn't mind hearing in a car while heading down to paint the town red.

Austin was in front of the mike here, too, for "Somethin' Special", a truly special and slightly smoky urban cool tune which hits me like aural bacon. Rod Temperton took care of words and music here and I think that is Watts once more on the saxophone.

"Razzamatazz" is once more fronted by Austin and this is the track to hear when we are in the midst of painting the town red. Rod Temperton was also responsible for this disco flashback and another highlight is also hearing all of those background vocals percolating through the tune from all directions.

"One Hundred Ways" was the third and final single from "The Dude" which came out in December 1981. Sung by Ingram, the song was created by Kathy Wakefield, Ben Wright and Tony Coleman, and it's really a whimsical and heartfelt recipe on how to keep the heart lights glowing fiercely. Not surprisingly, this was also getting a lot of play on the radio, perhaps especially on Valentine's Day.

The penultimate track "Velas" by Ivan Lins and Vitor Martins is the lone jazz instrumental track on the album. It was the first time that I realized how soulful a harmonica can be since up until that point, I'd assumed that the instrument was used just in cowboy movies. I have to therefore give my compliments to the legendary Toots Thielemans for opening my eyes (he also provided the whistles). His work along with the creamy keyboard work by Greg Phillinganes and Johnny Mandel's silky strings add to a very romantic nightscape.

And we finally come to "Turn on the Action", another look back at disco and good ol' R&B by Rod Temperton and Patti Austin. As soon as I saw that title, I figured that I was going to get something from the old 1970s dancehalls. 

I couldn't come anywhere near mentioning all of the players involved in "The Dude" here, so have a look at the personnel on Wikipedia. On America's Billboard 200, the album reached No. 9 while hitting No. 1 on the R&B and jazz charts. For the year, "The Dude" reached No. 25 on the 200 overall. Also, take a look at the article on the "EBONY" website.

With "The Dude" having its release in March 1981, what else was being put out there in Japan in that month? 

Naoko Kawai -- Juu-Nana Sai （１７才）

Masahiko Kondo -- Yokohama Cheek （ヨコハマ・チーク）

Eiichi Ohtaki -- A Long Vacation

Gosanke Imagined: "The Best 10" Gosanke（ザ・ベストテン御三家）

 

If you can take a gander at the Labels on the right side of the page (take your time, I'll wait), you can see the years with the largest number of articles on KKP: 1981 1982 and 1983. Well in recent days, there has been a pitched battle for dominance, a battle that had been led by 1982 by a good degree for many years. But the gap closed up and until a couple of days ago, there was a 3-way tie at 449 articles each. As of a couple of days ago, though, 1982 has inched forward once more with its 450th article.

However, 1981 isn't letting that go thanks to this article which is a sequel to last week's Gosanke（御三家）entry. That was my first imagined trio consisting of the first three female singers in Japan that I had seen for thanks to my trip there in that fateful year and repeated viewings of "The Best 10". Then I figured that if I could come up with a Sannin Musume（三人娘）according to that legendary music ranking show, then I can do the same with the male singers since I saw them as well for the first time. The genre base is a little wider for these guys, though.

Masahiko Kondo -- Blue Jeans Memory （ブルー・ジーンズ・メモリー）

Akira Terao -- Ruby no Yubiwa (ルビーの指輪)

Jun Horie -- Memory Glass（メモリーグラス）

Gosanke: Tanokin Trio -- Kimi ni Okuru Kotoba ~ After School（君に贈る言葉 (アフター･スクール)）

tanokin.main.jp

The above poster was something that I saw splattered all over the place in Tokyo and Osaka when I was on that graduation trip in the summer of 1981, the summer when I got into Japanese popular music in earnest. It was for the movie "Blue Jeans Memory"（ブルージンズメモリー）starring the male teen aidoru in the form of Masahiko "Matchy" Kondo（近藤真彦）, Toshihiko Tahara（田原俊彦）and Yoshio Nomura（野村義男）. At the time, it was going up against "Superman II" in the theatres, but I have a feeling that Matchy, Toshi-chan and Yotchan actually won over the Man of Steel (don't cry, Clark...I saw the movie five times!). In any case, I kinda thought those three looked a little young to be cops.

Of course, the theme song for "Blue Jeans Memory" as performed by Kondo was a huge hit and in terms of the our humble blog, it was the first song connected to the Tanokin Trio（たのきんトリオ）that I wrote about and back in March 2012, I did give a description of what was up with that group name which I'll repeat here:

This was the Tanokin Trio（たのきんトリオ）, the name being derived from the first characters of the boys' last names: Toshihiko Tahara（田原俊彦）, Yoshio Nomura（野村義男） and Masahiko Kondo（近藤雅彦）...the first character in Kondo's name can also be read as "Kin". All three of them came from the huge talent agency Johnny & Associates（ジャニーズ事務所）, who represent the current (not-so-)boy bands SMAP and Arashi. The Trio was never the official name since they didn't so much perform together musically but first appeared together in the high school drama "San-nen B-Gumi Kinpachi Sensei" (３年B組金八先生....Mr. Kinpachi of 3B）and then just stuck together in a few more projects before "Blue Jeans" came along. According to J-Wiki, the boys' image was meant to evoke memories of the previous generation of Johnny's boy idols: Hiromi Go（郷ひろみ）, Hideki Saijo（西城秀樹） and Goro Noguchi（野口五郎）who were known collectively as the Shin Gosanke (新御三家...The New Big Three).

From a September 2019 feature on the Japanese news site "News Post Seven"（NEWSポストセブン）via the J-Wiki article on the Tanokin Trio, I've also found out that it was indeed the founder of Johnny's himself, Johnny Kitagawa, who had come up with the name for the boys back in 1980 (apparently it was based on the abbreviated form of the name of the kayo group Tonosama Kings or Tonokin), although at the time, the teen girl fashion magazine, "Seventeen", noted that there already had been a fair number of nicknames for them such as Warugaki Trio（悪ガキトリオ...The Bad Boy Trio）, Shin Shin Gosanke（新々御三家...The New New Big Three） and Kinpachi Trio（金八トリオ）. Apparently, the name Tanokin Trio didn't initially go all that well with the fans since many of them called it lame, and even the reporters were exclaiming "This gotta be a joke, right? Who thought up this one?". Even the mighty Johnny wouldn't fess up as the originator by simply saying "Yeah, I wonder who came up with the name...". He probably whistled suspiciously, too.

But obviously the name eventually stuck although Matchy, Toshi-chan and Yotchan for the most part didn't perform together and had their own music careers (with Yotchan helping form up the 80s band THE GOOD-BYE and coming up with his first solo single, "TOKYO", in 1993). However, there were their roles together in the aforementioned "San-nen B-Gumi Kinpachi Sensei", and then "Blue Jeans Memory" along with at least one big concert together as you can see above. There were also a handful of songs that the three recorded together.

Instead of putting up the usual videos of the three individual efforts that I've done for the previous Gosanke representatives, I will include one of those joint efforts by the Tanokin Trio. In fact, this is supposedly their first one together in the recording booth, the B-side to Tahara's 1980 debut single "Aishuu Date"（哀愁でいと）, "Kimi ni Okuru Kotoba ~ After School" (Words I Give to You). 

Written by Kazuko Kobayashi（小林和子）and composed by Tomo Miyashita（宮下智）, it's the aidoru rock n' roll that I've often associated Matchy and Toshi-chan with since their early years, and it shares space with intervals of all of the guys spouting their cool phrases to wow the girls. To be honest, listening to it now, it sounds somewhat cringeworthy and I've got a feeling that if this were to be played at an retrospective interview with the now middle-aged Trio, they may beg it to be stopped. I also think that the title itself was a riff off of Kaientai's（海援隊）"Okuru Kotoba"（贈る言葉）, the theme song for "San-nen B-Gumi Kinpachi Sensei".