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.
Yes, along with the fact that May the 4th is Greenery Day in Japan, it's May the 4th as Star Wars Day everywhere on the planet. I figure that if I'm going to commemorate Greenery Day, then why not this pop cultural holiday as well. The opening scene from "A New Hope" will always be one to awe the heck out of me. I'm sure that the first audiences to see the movie back on May 25th 1977 had eyes and mouths fully agape at the sight of the Imperial Star Destroyer chasing and capturing the Rebel Blockade Runner over Tatooine.
But let's focus on this day, May the 4th. I figure that it might be time to look at a few birthdays of Japanese singers. Cue "Entertainment Tonight" theme!👉
I figure that with the Holidays now in full swing in Japan, folks may be having their share of parties including those that occur at the karaoke boxes and bars of the nation. Maybe franchises such as Big Echo are doing volume business this week which may be quite long for people...perhaps as long as a week (yeah, I'm being a little sarcastic there). Of course, depending on the size and the average age of the group along with the type of songs that they tend to sing, there will be the duets to tackle.
Perhaps for the younger generation, that doesn't happen so often, since a lot of those duets occur in the enka and Mood Kayo genres. Plus, there is the matter of harmonizing which isn't all that easy. Not being a particularly great singer in my karaoke days in Japan, I don't think I ever dared ask any lady for a duet. However, listening to those duets on the stereo and now on YouTube is more my speed. Here are some of my favourites.
(1959) Frank Nagai and Kazuko Matsuo -- Tokyo Nightclub （東京ナイトクラブ）
(1982) Hiroshi Itsuki and Nana Kinomi -- Izakaya （居酒屋）
As I was mentioning at the top of today's broadcasting day within the Naoya Matsuoka（松岡直也）article, I had been planning to put in another Holiday issue of Reminiscings of Youth right at the beginning, but "American Highway" was simply too irresistible to leave alone.
Well, here it is: "On My Own" by Patti LaBelle and Michael McDonald which had a February 1986 release. Created by Burt Bacharach and Carole Bayer Sager, the song's lyrics aren't exactly the cheeriest but I can't deny the melody which begins splendidly. I remember "On My Own" getting some major heavy rotation on the radio but I only got to see the music video featuring LaBelle and McDonald occasionally. For a song about breakups, the two of them are great singing together. When I wrote up that "If I Had an All-Night Radio Show..." article last month, I mentioned that I would love to have included other tunes on the list; this song was one of them as a great example of Quiet Storm.
"On My Own" hit No. 1 in Canada, America, Ireland and the Netherlands. I was a little surprised that it hadn't been nominated for any Grammys. Anyways, what was on top of the Oricon charts a day after this song's release?
Can't quite believe that this song is over forty years old now. Recently, commenter Brian Mitchell remarked that he would be taking a look at the DeBarge file here on KKP, and I realized that it's been a good while since I posted a ROY tune regarding this talented musical family from Grand Rapids, Michigan. In fact, I think the last time I did, it was nearly three years ago and it was for the cool-as-ice "You Wear It Well" from October 1985.
DeBarge could do the upbeat as well as the amazing balladry and even earlier that year from February, the group had another catchy happy-go-lucky hit in the form of "Rhythm of the Night". Yes, I remember seeing the music video with El and the rest of the family almost weekly on the video shows, and dang, that was the most choreographically-talented block party I've ever seen. Diane Warren was the songwriter here and "Rhythm of the Night" is just one of those symbolic 80s songs that makes me swoon and sigh for a decade that I had once inhabited. I also notice that there are a few musicians involved in the song that have had associations with Japanese artists and their works such as guitarist Paul Jackson Jr. and percussionist Paulinho da Costa.
"Rhythm of the Night" peaked at No. 3 in both Canada and the United States. I also have to remember that it was also part of the soundtrack of "The Last Dragon".
So, what was coming out as singles in February 1985? We've got three right here.
It didn't happen all that much since I was quite careful about how much I imbibed on a certain play night, but on rare occasions, I did get smacked with a hangover that left me either wincing with a headache or running to the nearest washroom to pray to the porcelain god. Tylenol or something stronger would usually get me out of the jam, though (long after I stopped drinking).
Perhaps 80s aidoru Momoko Kikuchi（菊池桃子）and any of her short-term band RAMU had their hangover problems in the past. However for their "Late Night Headache" on the band's one and only September 1988 album"Thanks Giving", it sure sounds like the fun was still filling the dance floor despite the title. Written by Masao Urino（売野雅勇）, composed by Tsunehiro Izumi（和泉常寛）and arranged by Hiroshi Shinkawa（新川博）, "Late Night Headache" sounds like a Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）project for Omega Tribe with that certain crystalline keyboard and the languid nocturnal rhythms. And maybe it is the influence of the arrangement but when I hear Kikuchi sing, it reminds me of Carlos Toshiki!
The overall feeling is of young beautiful people driving out of Tokyo to a seaside resort at night to party it up during the Bubble Era as the music wavers between City Pop and straight pop. Near the end, there's even some Eurobeat riffing.
Toronto got its first snowfall this morning with a couple of inches expected by the evening. I'm not sure whether this is the beginning of a snow-filled winter but as such, the accumulation may be enough for the local kids to take delight outside. Mayo, Kayo and Nayo Kyoku with Mr. Calico seem to think so. Anyways, I thought that it would be nice on this Hump Day to add at least one more Author's Pick to finish up 2024 since the last one in tribute to Casablanca. The theme here is songs with "snow" in the title.
To wrap up, I've already got Bing Crosby aboard "Kayo Kyoku Plus" so why not have him do his rendition of "Snow" from the 1954 movie "White Christmas"? Well, he's got his buddies helping him out, too.
All these years I've known about Momoko Kikuchi（菊池桃子）and her May 1985 single"BOY no Tehma"(BOYのテーマ) with her distinctive aidoru sound, not knowing at the time that it was composer and arranger Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）adding a hint of his City Pop. In fact, it wasn't until recently that Kikuchi was probably becoming known among new fans in the 1980s that she was embracing some of that urban contemporariness for her early material.
Then, it was only within the last few days that I became aware that the B-side to "BOY no Tehma" had an even more City Pop beat. That would be "ANATAKARA FLY AWAY" (Flying Away From You) by the same songwriters for the A-side: Hayashi and lyricist Yasushi Akimoto（秋元康）. Some of the keyboard work sounds so funky that I am reminded of the band Freez; and of course, what can I say about the boppy bass? It's all so refined right from Note One.
Yes, indeed that is a very young Momoko Kikuchi（菊池桃子）displayed somewhere within an issue of "Myojo"（明星）from the mid-1980s. Recently, she appeared on "Uta Con"（うたコン）a few weeks ago to commemorate her 40th anniversary in show business by a performance of one of the tracks from her EP "Eternal Harmony" which had come out a little over a month ago.
To be honest, the song that she performed on the episode has yet to really mesh with me so for a while, it was lingering in the backlog. However, I encountered the first track on "Eternal Harmony" within the last week or so, "Hoshi no Shinkirou" (Star Mirage), and it's left a much better impression upon me. It hasn't been lost on me that the previous article today features a song that also begins with "Hoshi no..." and was also given exposure on this morning's "Uta Con", but it's purely a coincidence that we have these two songs today...although I'm now considering buying some lottery tickets.😆
I'm not sure whether "Hoshi no Shinkirou" would be considered to be Neo-City Pop despite the fact that Kikuchi has had a history dabbling in the original genre, thanks to composer Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）. Still, it is some rather groovy trance-worthy pop which feels almost Yuming-esque from that similar time period. Words and music were provided by vocalist, musician and songwriter Atsushi Horie（ホリエアツシ）from the rock band Straightener（ストレイテナー）.
Anyways, congratulations to Professor Kikuchi on her career milestone!
Looks like KKP AI representative Kayo is having her fun behind the wheel of a sports car. Pretty impressive if you ask me, especially considering that she was born a couple of weeks ago.
Anyways to make things clear, I wasn't stuttering when I came up with the above title. It's just that I had one of my rare brain waves about putting up a small and incomplete list of City Pop tunes that basically spell out the city. Y'know...it is a city so why not sing about that city?
(New York City) Junko Yagami -- Purpletown (パープルタウン）You Oughta Know By Now (1980)
(New York City [though I like to think Tokyo]) Minako Yoshida -- TOWN (1982)
It's darn rare for me to put up a quartet of articles on a Tuesday and it's pretty darn unusual for me to post an article on a particular episode of any show, let alone NHK's "Uta Con". However, after having last week's broadcast of the kayo kyoku program cancelled on Japan TV because of all of the copyright concerns regarding Western musical tunes being covered in that one, we (and notably I) were given a memorable episode this week since a lot of the songs featured were ones that got me into this crazy musical world (and blog) in the first place. I just had to mention this episode and well, this is a blog after all. I can use it as a diary.
As I mentioned only some minutes ago in the previous article, there was the somber announcement that Yoshinori Monta（もんたよしのり）of Monta and Brothers had passed away on October 18th. However before and after that, I was able to catch a lot of the Japanese songs of my youth that got me interested in kayo kyoku, enka and all that jazz. A lot of it was powered by a tribute to singer-songwriter Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）with the appearance of the man himself along with guests EPO, Momoko Kikuchi（菊池桃子）, Sayuri Ishikawa（石川さゆり）, Masaki Ueda（上田正樹）and Hitomi Ishikawa（石川ひとみ）. In a way, it was like getting a sneak preview of that Hayashi tribute concert that will be happening in Tokyo on November 5th.
Y'know...the last time I wrote up a Gosanke（御三家）-themed article on KKP was back in June when I discovered that there was still an actual trio to note via The Jazz 3As of Being consisting of Sayuri Aso（麻生小百合）, Tomoko Aran（亜蘭知子）and Naomi Akimoto（秋本奈緒美）. And then I felt that the Gosanke file was done. Well, not so fast although I have to admit that this one is something out of my own imagination (thus the title).
For the last little while, I've believed that the Golden Age of Aidoru in the 1980s was split into the early and latter parts of the decade. Whereas the early half had those cute chiffon-dressed teenyboppers-next-door, the latter half presented aidoru who were a little more street-savvy in appearance and attitude with the fashion to match for the most part. They seemed a bit more slinkier and ready to hit the dance clubs in Roppongi. At the same time, their music also struck me as going a bit further into other genres such as Eurobeat, City Pop and even a bit of rock.
Well, the three ladies that have always stuck in my head as the leaders of the late 80s brand of aidoru are Momoko Kikuchi（菊池桃子）, Miho Nakayama（中山美穂）and Shizuka Kudo（工藤静香）.
I knew that I had mentioned the great 80s soul crooner Lionel Richie in a past article on KKP years ago but not given him that Reminiscings of Youth attention for that particular song (at least, not yet anyways), but it was still a surprise to realize that after a few years of regular ROY articles as this is, Richie still hadn't made his debut here. Well, that ends right here and now.
Of course, for all those Richie fans, there is "All Night Long", "Running with the Night" and "Dancing on the Ceiling" as those huge hits for the singer from Alabama. However for me, there was one single that came out in September 1986 that perhaps didn't become a classic like the ones above, but it still hits me as one of my favourites. I first heard "Love Will Conquer All" on the radio ranking shows on the Toronto stations as a university student and it has stuck with me ever since. It's got the Quiet Storm vibe along with the feeling that this is a content soulful stroll as illustrated by Richie and his co-vocalist Marva King.
Created by Greg Phillinganes, Cynthia Weil, and Richie, "Love Will Conquer All" just has those amazing keyboards and whenever I hear those "Ooooohs" in the intro by the singer and King, I know that I'm going to be in a world of aural good. I always waited in anticipation for those "Ooooohs" on the ranking shows and then once I really started to appreciate this song, I always wanted to hear the longer version at 6 to 7 minutes. Several years would pass until I realized that there was a music video for "Love Will Conquer All" in which Richie drove hundreds of miles up California to make amends with his girlfriend. It certainly looked like love conquered all although maybe distance may have also conquered the car tires.
All joking aside, it still remains one of my favourite R&B tunes from the 1980s. Plus, "Love Will Conquer All" didn't do too shabbily on the rankings either since it hit No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the States while it reached No. 19 here in Canada. The song was also a track on "Dancing on the Ceiling" the album. And so what was also doing well on the Oricon charts when this song was released? I have Nos. 1, 3 and 5.
Well, that was a heck of a day and night on Friday with me going all nuts by putting up 13 articles, but I just had to hit that 101 before finishing September.
I guess that I got some of that gumption from watching this specific scene early in "Top Gun: Maverick". I also wanted to reach Mach 10.
Anyways, no City Pop for this weekend. Ironically, I'm starting off the weekend with an 80s aidoruwho did have the penchant for the urban contemporary genre, but this time around it's different with this particular tune. "Ivory Coast" was the B-side of Momoko Kikuchi's （菊池桃子）10th single"Aidoru wo Sagase"（アイドルを探せ...Find the Idol） released in March 1987. With that supposedly African-esque percussion along with some synthesizers, "Ivory Coast" tends more toward synthpop by my personal estimation.
Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）, the composer who has usually come up with the City Pop goods for Kikuchi, was also the one behind "Ivory Coast" with Masao Urino（売野雅勇）as the lyricist. Joe Hisaishi（久石譲）handled the arrangement. The leisurely paced song was also included in the singer's 4th album"Escape from Dimension" which came out a little later in May.
Yes, Virginia....there was a Bruce Willis who had hair and a lot of jokes cracking out of him.
Indeed, decades before all of those action films where he's played deadly serious military officers and cops on the big screen, Willis used to play a wisecracking detective from New Jersey transplanted to Los Angeles on television for a few years in the 1980s. "Moonlighting" on ABC was a show that I first heard about from my brother during my university age; at the time, I was watching some episodes of "Remington Steele" on NBC, that other detective show (which I'll have to write about as well some time) with a distinctly different tone, and the star from that series went onto his own fame and fortune as an action star.
Although I did watch an episode of "Miami Vice" where he had played a monstrous gangster before he got his star-making role on "Moonlighting", Willis will always be detective David Addison even over his role of John McClane from the "Die Hard" franchise. I didn't much like the really mean fights between David and his partner-in-crimefighting, former model Maddie Hayes (played by Cybill Shepherd), but the ongoing banter of irritation between the two was fun to watch due to their very different personalities. Of course, I also adored the Blue Moon Detective Agency's receptionist, Agnes DiPesto (Allyce Beasley) and her iambic pentameter patter.
But I have to remember that this is the weekly Reminiscings of Youth article and not Reminiscings of "Moonlighting". That shouldn't be difficult, though, since after all, the theme song was by the one-and-only Al Jarreau. The opening credits with Jarreau's smooth-as-satin vocals and the smooth soulful melody by the singer and Lee Holdridge obviously weren't the only thing that brought me over to the series but they sure made it very inviting with those lovely scenes of LA. "Moonlighting" was both downtown and uptown, and I'm not surprised that YouTube commenters have been waxing and mooning over the 1980s on listening to it again.
Strangely enough, the actual single of "Moonlighting" with Al Jarreau wasn't released until 1987, so we basically had to rely on reruns of episodes to get our fix of the song. I was so happy when this got onto the radio, and I think a lot of listeners were, too, since it managed to reach No. 23 on America's Billboard and No. 38 on Canada's RPM, and No. 1 on the Adult Contemporary charts in both countries. The late Jarreau has had a lot of memorable songs on his plate, and I've already included his "Breakin' Away" as a ROY tune, but "Moonlighting" is probably the next song after that one that I've always cherished.
Although that single came out in 1987, we were hearing the theme since the show began in March 1985 so we'll go for that date in terms of what was hitting the top ranks of Oricon back then. Incidentally, the March debut for the show is an interesting one. Usually new and continuing seasons of programs begin in the fall in the United States, but I gather that "Moonlighting" was initially put in as a mid-season replacement for a show that had gotten cancelled, and I know that the first season was a trial run of only six episodes. But the half-dozen did the trick.
In recent months, I've been aware that Willis has been having some medical issues so that he will have to probably end his long career. I hope that he can overcome them and have a successful recovery.
Got together for a ramen lunch with an old friend whom I hadn't seen in a few years in person and made a new friend today. It was good to have the Meat Lover's Ramen at Touhenboku; good soup and plenty of protein. Unfortunately, I may have overdone it with the Fuwa Fuwa pancake dessert and then the usual dinner at home a few hours later, but my gastrointestinal tract (or what's left of it) was gradually able to process everything.
Anyways, as I told Gary over pancakes this afternoon, I said that I would be doing DeBarge tonight for the weekly Reminiscings of Youth article. I've already written up on a couple of articles on this family of talented singers and songwriters from the 1980s. "All This Love" and "Love Me In A Special Way" are some of the most wonderful love tunes this side of Quiet Storm that I had ever heard from this Michigan-based group, but this time, I wanted to re-check their more upbeat and party-hearty work as well as get a vicarious workout from today's large ingestion of food.
It's too bad that the original music video for "You Wear It Well" is not up on YouTube but that's OK. The song on its own is just smashing to listen to. It's cool, it's 80s, it's downtown and it's darn funky. Created by El and Chico DeBarge as an October 1985 single, it just pops like a pan of Jiffy-Pop popcorn and it seems to be the perfect song for a slow-motion montage during a scene of paint-the-town-red luxury.
According to the Wikipedia article for "You Wear It Well", El and the stylish song made their appearances on a few shows such as the stylish "Miami Vice", and though I couldn't find a video, I swear that it also got used in a montage scene of "Moonlighting". And yep, it was a pretty luxurious scene, too.
Of course, being the 1980s, "You Wear It Well" did get a few dance remix versions including the M&M Club Mix. The song hit No. 46 on the US Billboard Top 100, but it did hit the top spot on its Hot Club Dance Play chart. It was also included on DeBarge's "Rhythm of the Night" album released in March 1985.
So, how was Oricon doing in the month of October 1985? Here are No. 1, 2 and 4.
I was talking with fellow KKP co-administrator Marcos V. the other day and he informed me about a couple of albums that have come down the pipe recently. One is Perfume's "Plasma" which he will cover in a future article.
The other album is a surprising blast from the past. On July 27th, 1980s aidoru and City Pop chanteuse Momoko Kikuchi（菊池桃子）released a compilation album of a number of her old urban contemporary tunes which have undergone remastering. Called "(The) Shadow (Of Momoko's Smile)", the release also contains a couple of new songs which begin and end the album.
The final song is "Kiseki no Uta"（奇跡のうた...Miracle Song） but the one that is featured here in this article is "Again" which starts off "Shadow". Created by a couple of old masters, lyricist Masao Urino（売野雅勇）and composer/arranger Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）, "Again" has a shadow of that City Pop but I think that it's a bit more on the spacey side with those synthesizers so I tend it to hear it also as a technopop tune, but I'm not complaining. It's also nice to hear Momoko's whispery voice once again in 2022.
A couple of reasons that I'm putting up "Again" tonight along with the fact that it is J-Urban Contemporary Friday on KKP is that I'm hoping that Kikuchi is resting up nicely after her recent accident of cracking a bone in her pelvis. In addition, composer Hayashi will be celebrating his 73rd birthday tomorrow. All my best to the both of them!
I was going to stop at four articles today but I just read through the "Nikkan Sports" newspaper that 80s aidoruand actress Momoko Kikuchi（菊池桃子）injured herself on August 4th. Apparently she slipped and fell somewhere in her house fracturing her sacrum, and currently she's in the hospital getting treated. Here's hoping that she has a speedy and relatively pain-free recovery.
So, why not end this KKP broadcasting day with a track from Kikuchi's June 1986 3rd album"Adventure", "Night Cruising"? Written by Koichi Fujita（藤田浩一）and composed/arranged by Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）, this particular song stands out in that despite Hayashi's involvement, "Night Cruising" doesn't quite come across as an out-and-out City Pop tune this time around, but still it's quite a mature-sounding pop song.
Fujita's lyrics have a man and woman take a small boat out into the bay away from their party simply to enjoy a nighttime cruise and some couple time together. I did say Hayashi was the composer and arranger but the feeling from "Night Cruising" is that it sounds like something that Yumi Matsutoya（松任谷由実）would concoct as a romantic ballad. In any case, I hope everyone and Momoko have a fine weekend.
Enjoy your processed meat this morning? I did. It was the typical bacon-and-egg Sunday breakfast along with the pancakes underneath butter and maple syrup. Although I don't get to partake in it much these days, I also love the occasional round of sausages. Of course, I gotta have my orange juice and coffee, too.
Well, this is just the milieu for me to introduce "Nichiyoubi no Recipe" (Sunday Recipe) by 80s aidoru Momoko Kikuchi（菊池桃子）which was the B-side to her July 1987 11th single"Nile in Blue". As with that A-side, City Pop maestro Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）was behind the composition for "Nichiyoubi no Recipe", but unlike the downtown nighttime atmosphere that "Nile in Blue" evokes, Hayashi, who also arranged the song, brought some major-chord sunniness here which is fitting for something with this title. With Masako Arikawa（有川正沙子）providing the lyrics, it's more on the typically aidoru side of things with a bit of West Coast synthesizer thrown in.
There are a number of movies that I regret not seeing at the theatre including a couple of recent superhero movies. One of the earliest that I never got to catch on the big screen was "Superman" with Christopher Reeve (though I ended up seeing "Superman II" five times!), and then there was "Back to the Future" which will soon celebrate its 37th anniversary this year. I actually caught that one a few years later for the first time on VHS at a showing by my university's Japanese-Canadian Students' Association event.
I can only imagine what it must have been like in the theatre especially in the above scene where Marty was racing the DeLorean to get back to 1985, and it seemed like fate was trying to put up as many roadblocks as possible to prevent that from happening. The moviegoers were most likely screaming like crazy and then cheering when Doc managed to get that bolt of lightning to provide the 1.21 gigawatts of power to the car/time machine. With Alan Silvestri's heroic theme for the entire franchise blasting away, the scene has gone down as one of the most satisfying and exciting in history.
Of course, along with Silvestri's score for "Back to the Future", there is "The Power of Love" by Huey Lewis and The News, and this song along with the movie are so inextricably linked that whenever I hear this Huey hit or see Marty on his skateboard, the other invariably comes to mind immediately. For that matter, "The Power of Love" is one of the big songs that has me waxing nostalgically about the 1980s in general. I think it's become Michael J Fox's theme song as well; I recall seeing a Japanese car commercial starring the guy while the song was playing.
I'd already known about Huey Lewis and The News by the time that "The Power of Love" hit the airwaves. I don't think that this particular song was the breakthrough hit for the San Francisco band; they'd already had a number of hits and other recognizable tunes but "The Power of Love" which was released in June 1985, not too long before the movie started showing up, ended up being their very first No. 1 hit on Billboard's Hot 100 (and a chart-topper in Canada, too).
Of course, being released in the 1980s, there had to be a dance remix version released as well. Hey, it's all good. As I mentioned above, there are plenty of other Huey Lewis and The News hits out there so I'll have to cover some of those as ROY articles.
So, what was occupying top three spaces on the Oricon chart for June 1985?
It looks like composer Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）is going to get his second shoutout today after Akira Terao's（寺尾聰）"The Stolen Memories", and both that song and this one came about in the same year of 1987.
Hayashi was responsible for coming up with the funky Omega Tribe-friendly "Nile in Blue" for aidoru and City Pop enthusiast Momoko Kikuchi（菊池桃子）as her July 1987 11th single. With Shiro Sagisu（鷺巣詩郎）as arranger and Masao Urino（売野政男）behind the lyrics, it's also got some spacey elements in the music and something mystical within the words about someone willing to miraculously fly the thousands of kilometres to show their love with a desert being the figurative milieu.
The keyboards are the big focus with one set showing off the sparkly night while another providing some really boppy rhythms. And as I intimated above, I think that "Nile in Blue" could have been easily covered by Carlos Toshiki and Omega Tribe. The song reached No. 2 on Oricon and became the 79th-ranked single of the year. Interestingly enough, "Nile in Blue" also served as a theme song for the annual NTV 24-hour telethon that year.
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