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 the Good Friday edition of "Kayo Kyoku Plus". Yup, it is a national holiday today in Canada and the United States, so I'm sure that at least some folks are roasting turkey, lamb or ham for that big family get-together. Wherever you are, I hope that you are relaxing and enjoying yourselves.
Here I was getting ready to provide a big writeup on this mysterious band called MYX, under the assumption that I had yet to post anything on this funkalicious group. And then I found out...or more accurately...got reminded that I had actually written something on MYX back in late 2021 for their "Dance (Everybody Get Up)". Well, at least I don't have to repeat myself.
The funk still keeps on pouring forth from their 1981 album"Myx" with "Take It From Me" which is a slightly more of a slow burner when compared to "Dance", but no less a funk fest. The vocals emanating from MYX remind me of a funkier version of PAO which had their time at around the same time.
As those lights on the side of this Shinjuku branch of Karaoke Kan will tell you, "Neon ga yonderu"（ネオンが呼んでる）. "The neon is calling" or perhaps the closest English-language equivalents are "Let's paint the town red" and "The night is still young!". Back in those nights in Japan, karaoke was more of the after-dinner activity for us rather than the discos since I guess that we were more willing to sacrifice our vocal cords than our legs. Whatever the case, fun was had by all.
I had never heard of this band called Myx until recently. However, there is one familiar name in there, and that is guitarist Junshi Yamagishi（山岸潤史）. As far as the blog goes, he's been known as a member of the fusion band Chickenshackbut I gather that he also wanted to really get down and funk so he helped create this 7-piece group called Myx that had its time in the early 1980s at least.
And so in 1981, Myx came up with an 8-track album titled "Myx" oddly enough, and on it is "Dance (Everybody Get Up)" which is fortified with more than your daily dose of funk. Perhaps this got played at the discos in Tokyo at one point, and the song, I believe, could have gotten even the most reticent folks there to get onto the dance floor. It's definitely funky but there are a couple of points where some of the native City Pop peeks through.
To take a look at the tracks and a larger photo of the cover from "Myx", you can check out Hip Tank Records. Meanwhile, you can also check out the blog of one Disco DJ Aki to see a 1982 single that Myx put out called "Fightin' Megaforce" which has "Dance" as the B-side. From the cover there, I gather that maybe it had something to do with that notorious flick "Megaforce" starring Barry Bostwick. But the blog entry also has the list of the members of Myx. Along with Yamagishi, there was vocalist Joseph "Thunder" Wells, jazz drummer Masao Suzuki（鈴木正夫）, saxophonist/bassist Eiji "Eddie" Nakahira（エディ中平）, keyboardist Charles Shimizu（チャールズ清水）, and vocalists Chiaki Iwamoto（岩本千秋）and Fumiko Honma（本間ふみこ）. They were also joined by the Myx Horns.
