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.
It's been a while since I put up anything by Mayumi Kojima（小島麻由美）. The last time was back in 2018 for her song "Poltergeist" which hailed from her 2003 album"Ai no Poltergeist"（愛のポルターガイスト...Poltergeist of Love）. That song and the first one that I covered by her were more in the jazz realm.
But this time, Kojima's 12th single"Rock Steady Girl" from April 2002, is a smart little lounge ska number concocted by the singer with arrangement by ASA-CHANG who had been the founder and leader of Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra until he left in 1993. Along with the ska beat, I also enjoy the snappy percussion and the sax solo which I'm assuming is probably by TSPO's Atsushi Yanaka（谷中敦）. In addition, I like the music video with its resemblance to a 1960s Technicolor flick. The lyrics by Kojima deal with a woman who's possibly been dumped by a guy and unlike the title, she's struggling to keep it together as the resentment begins to bubble out. "Rock Steady Girl" hit No. 40 on Oricon.
I remember watching Steven Spielberg's"Poltergeist" which came out in the same year as his "E.T.", 1982. If I were to use a movie character analogy, the former would be the Wicked Witch of the West as compared to the latter's Glinda. That scene where the guy saw his face falling off in the mirror was worthy of hiding behind a pillow.
Well, this "Poltergeist" is far less terrifying and a whole lot cooler. Some of my favourite jazz songs have been from the Big Band era with the thundering drums and the back & forth of the other instruments: "In The Mood", "Sing, Sing, Sing" and Count Basie's"Stereophonic". "Poltergeist" here by singer-songwriter Mayumi Kojima（小島麻由美）has got all of that.
I'm really starting to feel that her discography is well worth exploring after the whimsical "Hatsukoi"（はつ恋）and this one. "Poltergeist" came out as the first track in her 5th album"Ai no Poltergeist"（愛のポルターガイスト...Poltergeist of Love）from January 2003. And unlike her usual tag of being a Shibuya-kei singer, I think "Poltergeist" is straight down Zoot Suit Alley. My first exposure to this twangy and delicious tune was through the music video with the sight of a number of drummers doing their thing while Kojima nonchalantly sang away.
I had wanted to write something about "Poltergeist" for some time but it wasn't until earlier tonight that I noticed comments under the video stating "Ghost Hound brought me here". Well, it didn't take long to find out that Kojima's cool tune was used as the opening theme for a 2007 anime titled "Ghost Hound" by Masamune Shirow（士郎正宗）, the fellow behind "Ghost In The Shell". Who would have thought that jazz and supernatural goings-on could go so well together?
This week has been pretty good for discovering some kakkoii anison. The catchy rock of "Flashback" and now the jazz of "Poltergeist". Incidentally, Kojima's "Ai no Poltergeist" peaked at No. 17 on Oricon.
When I went to Japan in 1981, video games were already a huge and welcome distraction. Of course, from the ancient Pong and Breakout, my classmates and I headed over that summer and had some fun at the video game cafe near the Tokyo Prince Hotel where we could play Space Invaders and Galaxian on the tabletops while getting some of that essential libation in the form of iced coffee. It was a typically steamy July after all.
And then there was the craze over the mini-games by Nintendo called Game & Watch. I brought back two copies of Fireman for my brother and me. Then in 1982, when he got to go over with this graduating classmates, he one-upped me and brought back the orange clamshell that held Donkey Kong. Hours of pleasure ensued.
Obviously, the games that I've told you about are most likely being admired as museum exhibits now. Nintendo and other companies have gone much further. For example, I did get my Sony PlayStation in 1996, and my brother did get a Game Boy some years earlier. Then, there was this commercial broadcast in 2001 featuring a bunch of school students who were so eager to get their hands on Super Mario Advance 4 that they resorted to parkour en masse to get to the one shop where it would make its debut. Now I know where Tom Cruise got the ideas for his stunts for the last number of "Mission: Impossible" movies. Hopefully, none of those younglings ended up breaking their ankles.
The atypical song that accompanied the kids on their hunt for Super Mario Advance 4 also got some notice. I found out it was titled "Hatsukoi"(First Love) by singer-songwriter Mayumi Kojima（小島麻由美）. And this was her 5th single from June 1997.
I had heard of Kojima for some years while I was living in Japan but always thought that she was just making kids' tunes for NHK's "Minna no Uta"（みんなのうた）. Plus, while I was doing my usual browsing through places such as Tower Records, I would see those cute cartoony caricatures of her on her album covers which enhanced my image of Kojima as simply a kids' singer.
Ah, well...I'm having my slice of humble crow pie tonight. It turns out that she has been a songstress of Shibuya-kei all these years. According to her Wikipedia page, Kojima fell in love with the American standards sung by folks like Rosemary Clooney (I grew up with Rosemary, Bing and The Boston Pops) but couldn't cut through the English lyrics. So, she decided to make similar-sounding music with her own lyrics...kinda like how musicians in the 1970s such as Yumi Arai, Happy End and Sugar Babe approached their creations to form the genre of New Music.
She made her debut in July 1995 with "Kekkon Sodanjo"（結婚相談所...Matrimonial Agency）and has gone on releasing singles and albums up to the recent day. As for "Hatsukoi", I like its cool and jazzy beatnik waltz style and she does have some distinct vocals, alternately purring and crackling. Perhaps in a way, she was the predecessor for acts such as Ringo Shiina（椎名林檎）and Ego-Wrappin'. "Hatsukoi" only got as high as No. 95 on Oricon but the BEST album where it was placed, "me and my monkey on the moon〜single collection and unreleased track (1995〜1999)" peaked at No. 54 after its release in December 2000.
In any case, I would like to hear some more of her work now. In fact, "Poltergeist" sounds pretty darn good.
