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.
Showing posts with label New Adult Music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New Adult Music. Show all posts
The above photo is there courtesy of Rob Sinclair via Wikimedia Commons. It's a shot of Akasaka, Tokyo after midnight. I have to say that I've never been in the neighbourhood past the witching hour although I've spent a few evenings in some of the restaurants and bars in the ritzy area.
There won't be any "Shin BS Nihon no Uta"（新BS日本の歌）this week but I did hear of this one when singer Kawai Fujii（藤井香愛）showed up on a recent episode of the program. "Omotai Ai de Gomen" (Sorry for My Overwhelming Love) is her 7th and latest single from May of this year, and I get those Akasaka vibes when I listen to this one. In the past, I've regarded her music as being Mood Kayo but for "Omotai Ai de Gomen", there is plenty of groove to spread around so that I would place it in the hybrid genre of New Adult Music. This is some nice Japanese sophisticated pop for a Friday night in the megalopolis, delivered in a very silky way by Fujii.
Fujii's single ranked No. 19 on Oricon. Lyrics were provided by Neko Oikawa（及川眠子）while the music and arrangement were handled by Kohei Miyuki（幸耕平）and Masayuki Sakamoto（坂本昌之）respectively.
I've been seeing vivacious enka singer Eiko Segawa（瀬川瑛子）from time to time on the kayo shows such as "Shin BS Nihon no Uta"（新BS日本の歌）. It's been hard to believe that she's actually 79 now and that next year will be her 60th anniversary in show business.
The last time I saw the Tokyo native on stage, it was to sing one of her hits "Waraijiwa" (Laugh Lines) which was originally released as her 61st single in September 1995. It's been classified as a straight enka tune but its arrangement incorporates some of that Latin to such an extent that personally I can also treat it as a New Adult Music number....kinda along the same lines of a Matt Bianco song but without the synthesizers.
The songwriters for "Waraijiwa" were husband-and-wife composer Ryudo Uzaki（宇崎竜童）and lyricist Yoko Aki（阿木燿子）as they came up with a song for Segawa regarding a woman's lifetime filled with its share of roses and thorns. As quite a few KKP viewers would know by now, Uzaki and Aki were the main duo behind many of Momoe Yamaguchi's（山口百恵）hit songs in the late 1970s including "Yokosuka Story"（横須賀ストーリー）. I couldn't find out how "Waraijiwa" did on Oricon but Segawa was invited onto the 1996 edition of the Kohaku Utagassen to sing it.
For all of the scenes I've seen on shows such as "Enka no Hanamichi"（演歌の花道）and all of those karaoke videos, I'm not sure whether there are actually a fair number of people who hit the fancy bars and izakaya to drown their sorrows in drink. It just seems rather depressing to see and it may not be all that good for business according to the bartender/owner.
But the trope happily exists in music...specifically, enka, Mood Kayo and New Adult Music. And we have another example with Kye Eunsook's（ 桂銀淑）5th single"Yoidorete" (Drunkenly). Released in April 1989, the South Korean singer grandly invites alcohol to take her away from all that is currently ailing her, which probably means heartbreak (her lover's wife finally found out).
Written by Osamu Yoshioka（吉岡治）and composed by Keisuke Hama（浜圭介）, I would have labeled this as European enkaback in the very early days of the blog but perhaps I can tag this now as enka and/or New Adult Music because there is something in the arrangement that gives "Yoidorete" that extra urban kick although I wouldn't say it was City Pop. Peaking at No. 28 on Oricon, the song also won the singer a slew of awards including a Gold prize at the Japan Record Awards. She even got that invitation to appear on the 1989 edition of NHK's Kohaku Utagassen.
Well, speaking of "Enka no Hanamichi", here is Kye Eunsook singing "Yoidorete" right on that legendary show.
The above is a Very Berry Shake that I got at a place called Petit Potato. It was indeed very flavorful and thirst-quenching. However, the theme isn't on the contents but the container. Early this year, I came up with an Author's Picks called "Substance Kayo" which focused on those kayo titled with various substances. But then, I realized after writing up one recent article and remembering a couple of oldies that I'd written early in this blog's history that a subset can be made of kayo kyoku containing the word "glass" in their titles. As such, let me start this Tuesday edition of KKP with some glass kayo.
I remember as an elementary school kid in downtown Toronto when I was at recess seeing the CN Tower gradually being built up. From our schoolyard, we had a pretty clear view of the tower as it was going up. And then one day in 1976, it finally opened as the world's tallest free-standing structure at 553 metres high, a record which it held for about twenty years. And as of a couple of days ago, it celebrated its 50th anniversary. Maybe I'll go up the tower again this year although it now costs a good chunk of an arm and a leg to enter.
Now, it's safe to say that I won't be able to find any kayo kyoku that pays tribute to Toronto's most famous landmark. However, perhaps I can still acknowledge the fact of the CN Tower's golden anniversary through another tower...let's say Tokyo Tower! And coincidentally enough, tomorrow is the 68th birthday since Tokyo's own famous landmark was erected and opened. So I guess we can celebrate the two towers with one song.
That song is "Glass no Tokyo Tower" (Glass Tokyo Tower) which was Cheuni's（チェウニ）16th single from December 2009. Cheuni seems to have become KKP's poster child for the genre of New Adult Music with its mix of enka/Mood Kayo and urban contemporary influences, and it looks like she has enjoyed singing about aspects of Tokyo through songs like "Tokyo Twilight"（トーキョー・トワイライト）which was her debut single in 1999 (comments below have a correction to what I just wrote down), so I guess "Glass no Tokyo Tower" could be seen as a 10th anniversary song for her. Yuko Natsumi（夏海裕子）was the lyricist here, as she also was for "Tokyo Twilight" and other songs for Cheuni, while Kazuya Amikura（網倉一也）took care of the classy and elegant melody surrounding a woman who is wishing upon Tokyo Tower itself through her apartment window (that's prime real estate there) to somehow bring back the lover that she let go unfortunately. The song reached No. 46 on Oricon.
Enka singer Aya Shimazu（島津亜矢）has been a frequent presence on shows such as "Shin BS Nihon no Uta"（新BS日本の歌）, and for good reason. She's one of the best chanteuses out there who also possesses a hint of soul in her delivery. But I feel a bit regretful that I seem to have usually posted articles which include her doing cover versions of other singers' songs. Maybe the last one I posted which was on a Shimazu original was "Natsu Tsubaki"（夏つばき）back in 2022.
Well, she was on "Shin BS Nihon no Uta" last night and she sang her 25th single from March 1999, "Tokai no Suzume" (Swallow of the City). Written by Osamu Yoshioka（吉岡治）and composed by Masato Sugimoto（杉本眞人）, I'm kinda on the fence on whether the song is a contemporary enka or whether it's a blend of enka and urban contemporary which would then put it into the category of New Adult Music. Whichever genre I ultimately decide upon, it is a song that shows that soulfulness in her vocals
When I first heard the song last night on NHK, my impression of the lyrics was that the swallow, being a migratory bird, was a metaphor for any wayward ex-boyfriend or new boyfriend being invited (back) into the fold as it were by a lonely hope-deficient woman. However, seeing the official music video above, "Tokai no Suzume" may actually be more about a wayward buddy in arms stuck in a criminal crisis.
It's close to the end of May so in Toronto that means that it's time for the annual Doors Open festival. This is where various establishments ranging from companies to private buildings with some style and history open up for a couple of days for the public to explore. The last time I was at Doors Open was a few years ago and since then, various things happened so that I couldn't attend, and so I was rather determined to go to the 2026 edition despite the warning of heavy rain and high winds.
Well, my friend and I made it to one Heritage building which had also been converted into a food hall filled with various restaurants so I was able to take photos and have a nice hamburger lunch. However, after waiting over an hour to get into The Toronto Star newspaper company while the elements whipped the surprisingly long line silly, we gave up (it was still another hour to go before people could take the elevator to go up) and grabbed a coffee before heading back home. Ugh!
Anyways, the inclement weather is continuing tonight so we may be unlucky enough to get hit with a power outage in the middle of me writing so I apologize in advance. We've actually got quite a lot of outages happening throughout Toronto tonight so I shouldn't be surprised if my neighbourhood does get hit with one.
All the more to bring out enka singer Kokoro Umetani's（梅谷心愛）latest single from March 2026, "Hoshizora no Ruby"(Night Sky of Rubies). It has quite the pedigree of songwriters helping out here with lyricist Masao Urino（売野雅勇）, composer Kohei Miyuki（幸耕平）and arranger Mitsuo Hagita（萩田光雄）, and there is something about this song which feels rather nostalgic in a 70s or 80s kayo way. Perhaps there is a mixture of enka and kayo in here so the New Adult Music tag may apply. And in fact, it almost feels like an Aming（あみん）or Takako Okamura（岡村孝子）tune. "Hoshizora no Ruby" reached No. 21 on Oricon.
It's been several years since I posted a Yuuto Tatsumi（辰巳ゆうと）song onto KKP and he's done some evolving over the years at least from what I've included in his file on the blog. I started with his 2nd single from March 2019, "Otoko no Junjou"（おとこの純情）which was a straight-up enka and then followed up with his 3rd single, the more Mood Kayo"Sentimental Heart"（センチメンタル・ハート）, a March 2020 release.
Well, six years have whizzed by and the young lad has become a man with a change in hair colour, to boot. Tatsumi appeared recently on NHK's "Hayauta" with his latest from March 2026, his 10th single"Lonely Generation", and to be honest, I'm having the Dickens of a time trying to categorize this one. Kohei Miyuki（幸耕平）, who usually composes Junretsu's（純烈）songs, took care of this one.
As a brief aside, when I was looking through the KKP Miyuki file, I noticed that I had completely forgotten to add the music genre to Junretsu's "Futari dake no Himitsu"（二人だけの秘密）, probably because I couldn't really nail down an ultimate genre; in the end, I put it down to pop (of the kayo kyoku style).
I was having the same slight dilemma with "Lonely Generation" which was arranged by Mitsuo Hagita（萩田光雄）and written by Masao Urino（売野雅勇）. With those veteran guys behind it, there is something old-fashioned if very jazzy about this one. It's definitely not enka anymore although it may be a mix of some Neo-Mood Kayo and jazz/rock fusion. So, why not give it the New Adult Music tag although I've also thrown in the pop tag here, too, because it can perhaps fulfill the Neo-kayo kyoku feeling.
As the title states, the song is about isolated young folks struggling to make connections while not admitting to the loneliness. I would usually think Shibuya would be the setting for this sort of song, but the music makes me think more Akasaka and Roppongi. Maybe young Yuuto is making like an employee of the month at a host club there.
I've encountered a number of tropes within Japanese pop music over the years of doing "Kayo Kyoku Plus". Another one has to do with aikagi or duplicate key/passkey. I've noticed that there are quite a few songs with the title "Aikagi". One was by Hatsumi Shibata（しばたはつみ）which happened to be her debut single in 1974 and there's another one by Mayumi Itsuwa（五輪真弓）that I have yet to cover.
The whole rigamarole regarding passkeys has to do with the illicit affair which is a common lyrical plot in the various romantic ballads, enka and Mood Kayo numbers. Fans have loved to listen vicariously and dangerously as men and women throw caution to the wind and have those romances in their special hotels or homes...of course, accessible by that guilty duplicate key. 🔑
It was just last weekend on NHK's "Shin BS Nihon no Uta"（新BS日本の歌）when I heard enka singer Misaki Iwasa（岩佐美咲）perform her latest single titled naturally enough "Aikagi". Released in February this year, her 12th single is a bittersweet ballad about the aftermath of an affair in which the heroine has kept the titular key although there is no longer anyone to meet in the secret love nest. Written by AKB 48 mastermind Yasushi Akimoto（秋元康）and composed by Saburo Takada（高田三郎）, I guess it's safe to say that this could be considered a Neo-enka or New Adult Music with some Latin and sophisticated pop mixed in with the traditional stuff. Strangely enough, Akimoto weaves a very similar story to the one concocted by Fumiko Okada（岡田冨美子）for Shibata's "Aikagi", so I guess that anything titled "Aikagi" isn't going to be necessarily very happy.
I've also come to realize that this is only the second Iwasa article that I've written with her name on the byline after my first posting of her 4th single"Hatsuzake"（初酒）back in 2015. The scary thing is that my articles on "Hatsuzake" and Shibata's "Aikagi" were posted within a day of each other in February of that year. Cue spooky music. Anyways, Iwasa's "Aikagi" broke through the Oricon Top 10 to peak at No. 7.
Frankly speaking, I can count the number of Akira Kurosawa（黒澤明）movies that I've seen on one hand. I've heard about a lot of them but I've only watched "The Seven Samurai" and his final work "Madadayo" in 1993. I've also seen clips from "Ran" and "Ikiru", but that's about it. I have yet to see "Rashomon" but its storytelling device has become so influential that I've seen it being used in TV shows ranging from "Happy Days" to "Star Trek: The Next Generation".
You can imagine my surprise then when on a recent episode of "Shin BS Nihon no Uta"（新BS日本の歌）, enka veteran Fuyumi Sakamoto（坂本冬美）appeared on the stage to sing a song titled "Rashomon". I wondered whether Sakamoto had been intending to pay tribute to the Kurosawa classic.
Written by Souko Niimoto（新本創子）, composed by Keisuke Hama（浜圭介）and arranged by Kei Wakakusa（若草恵）, this was actually released as Sakamoto's 33rd single from June 2006. "Rashomon" launches with an intro that I thought was going to make this a classical/enkafusion thereby having this land into the genre of New Adult Music but then as the song goes on, the compass takes things into full enka. However one listens to it though, it is dramatic right down to Sakamoto's kobushi. As for the music video, I thought that this was more "Kill Bill" than "Rashomon" the movie. The song peaked at No. 29 on Oricon.
As I mentioned in the previous article, "Uta Con"（うたコン）was back after several weeks of hiatus due to the Holidays. One of the guests was enka singer Hiroshi Miyama（三山ひろし）who, back on New Year's Eve, managed to pull off another Guinness world record of sustained kendama catches (there are actually other snakes of people doing this sort of thing?!) on the Kohaku Utagassen.
It seems as if Miyama is taking after another famous enka legend by the name of Hiroshi (Itsuki) and becoming quite the Renaissance man or Swiss Army knife. He not only sings but loves kendama, breeds Rhinoceros beetles and handles the drums with aplomb, and those are the things that I remember; there were a few other hobbies that popped up on the screen but I forgot what they were.
Anyways, Miyama was on the drum set last night as he performed his latest single which was released only a couple of weeks ago and which makes the song the second one to be listed under the 2026 label here on KKP after this particular tune. "Hana to Samurai"(The Flower and the Samurai) is an enka song with a bit of a jazzy/rock n' roll twist so I guess I can also place this under the category of New Adult Music as well. Written by Haku Ide（いではく）and composed by Koji Tokuhisa（徳久広司）, it's all about remembering and engaging in all of those Japanese ideals such as being faithful to duty and family. I gather that it's the added genre panache that kinda softens the doctrinaire in "Hana to Samurai".
One additional thing that I discovered in Miyama's Wikipedia page is that his vocals have been called the Vitamin Voice because fans have claimed that his golden tones have provided a sense of security and vitality. So, he's the tonic that rejuvenates...something that will always be welcome in enka.
Well, it wasn't quite Snowmageddon, thankfully, but there was still enough snow falling yesterday and today to snarl up a lot of traffic. So, a lot earlier than usual in Toronto these days, we got our first major snowfall of the season. Does that mean a White Christmas? Not at all...after all, this is the city whose weather is predictably unpredictable.
I gather then that it was kismet that I encountered this song by the luminous Naomi Chiaki（ちあきなおみ）last night on the latest episode of NHK's "Shin BS Nihon no Uta"（新BS日本の歌）. It took a bit of doing but I believe I was able to track down the year of this ballad as 1988. "Fuyudonari" is a fair mouthful which literally translates as "Next to Winter" while Jisho.org gave me the definition of "late autumn that makes it seem like winter is coming". I will be happy to go with "Snowy Late Autumn" for conciseness.
Regardless, "Fuyudonari", which was written by Ou Yoshida（吉田旺）and composed by Masato Sugimoto（杉本眞人）, has some melodic connections with Chiaki's most recognized hit, "Kassai"（喝采）. I would say that it approaches enka through a pop ballad filter, as if David Foster had opted to give his skills a try on a traditional Japanese song. Under the circumstances, I'd be happy to apply New Adult Music here.
Getting drunk under a full moon, eh? Must be a September in Ueno Park then during tsukimi season. It probably does happen a fair bit although I have never participated in a moon-viewing session myself.
The last time I wrote about enka singer Fuyumi Sakamoto（坂本冬美）was a little more than six months ago when I noted her 1990 single"Noto wa Irankai ne"（能登はいらんかいね）that has gained quite a lot of poignancy since the Noto Peninsula earthquake on New Year's Day 2023. But this time around, it may be time for a little more fun in a teasing way.
In February 2024, Sakamoto released her 55th single,"Horoyoi Mangetsu"(Tipsy Under a Full Moon). The cover of the single features a sultry-looking Sakamoto not looking like a prim and proper enka singer at all with those long luxuriant tresses, black dress and shoeless feet which should be enough to convey that things could get a little irresponsible, carefree and chaotic, thanks to some libations. Written by Mami Takubo（田久保真見）and composed by Masato Sugimoto（杉本眞人）, I could say that the arrangement of "Horoyoi Mangetsu" kicks things between the genres of enka and rock n' roll, so maybe we can categorize it as a New Adult Music tune. The song reached No. 39 on Oricon.
Outside of the video and ending theme song that will be heard by you below and the poster above, that's all I could find of the early 1990s TV Tokyo historical drama "Edo Nakamachi Bugyoujo"（江戸中町奉行所...The Nakamachi Magistrate's Office of Edo）. I can only assume that it deals with samurai dealing out their own brand of double-edged justice to evildoers in Edo Era Japan.
Up to now, I've featured singer-actress Ai Kanzaki（神崎愛）singing her early 1980s fare of City Pop (which has currently been excised due to copyright strikes) and Fashion Music. So it was with some surprise that I discovered that Kanzaki had also been one of the cast for "Edo Nakamachi Bugyoujo" (I'm assuming that's her in the video thumbnail...usually I would imagine her holding a flute instead of a katana). Another surprise is that she sings the theme song for the first season of the show titled "Ai no Refrain".
Considering the name of the singer, I can translate the title as "Ai's Refrain" or "Love's Refrain". But let's assume that Ms. Kanzaki was never self-serving and go with the latter translation. Without knowing the release year of 1990 initially, I had thought that the song was heading into Fashion Music territory but the arrangement just had that urbane sophistication (but with no City Pop groove), and then when I did read up on its 1990 release, I concluded that this was more along the lines of New Adult Music of that decade which mixed some of the traditional enka/Mood Kayo with more pop stylings, usually of that sophisticated brand. Lyricist Akira Ohtsu（大津あきら）and composer Keisuke Hama（浜圭介）were responsible for its creation.
In any case, it's quite the song for a samurai drama. I would usually think that something like "Ai no Refrain" would be used as the ending theme for a contemporary mystery/suspense drama or a cop show.
For Japanese music listeners, especially those who like their Mood Kayo, enka and general kayo kyoku, you probably are well aware that airports have been the go-to settings for romantic endings and reminiscings, a place where songwriters have loved to establish their songs. I guess some broken hearts just need to go to their local terminals as much as they need to head out to the countryside resorts to drown their sorrows. Mind you, some of those airports have top-notch restaurants.
Strangely enough, in the past several weeks, I've been able to find a couple of songs with similar titles that are forms of airport kayowith the only difference being the airport in question. And the two airports are right in the Tokyo area.
One is "Narita Hatsu"(Departing from Narita) which describes one woman's wistful need to visit the international airport out in Chiba Prefecture (and it used to be the airport of choice whenever I returned to Canada on vacation) to remember the last time she saw her now ex-paramour. Sung by South Korean singer Cheuni（チェウニ）, this was her 13th single from January 2008 and it was written by Ichizo Fukuda（福田一三）and composed by Kazuya Amikura（網倉一也）. It's quite the classy and dignified example of New Adult Music or Mood Kayo; with those strings in there, I was almost convinced to even throw in the Fashion Music label. There was even something quite Teresa Teng（テレサテン）about the song.
Now, the whole reason that I decided to do this double take on airport kayowith two different South Korean singers was that I saw Park Junyoung（パク・ジュニョン）on an episode of "Shin BS Nihon no Uta"（新BS日本の歌）several weeks ago as he sang his 6th single from August 2016, "Haneda Hatsu" (Departing from Haneda). Haneda Airport, right in the middle of Tokyo, has been my airport during my visits to Japan in the 2010s, and yep, they've got some pretty fancy and delicious fare in those restaurants.
But getting back on track, Park's song, which hit No. 21 on Oricon, has the protagonist taking a somewhat more disdainful and embittered view as she is the one who's getting on the plane and taking off forever. Her old boyfriend hasn't even shown up to say goodbye so she's giving him the kiss off in absentia. The music by veteran Keisuke Hama（浜圭介）is pretty folksy and whimsical considering Shinichi Ishihara's（石原信一）lyrics, and listening to that mandolin-esque instrument playing throughout the song, I was rather wondering about it being a modern-day Exotic Kayo.
Commenter Brian Mitchell and I were having a brief discussion on that recent Harumi Miyako（都はるみ）article where singers' works can intertwine two or even more genres. Basically, I guess we are talking about crossover music a la Taylor Swift or Shania Twain. I even indicated that the Queen of Kayo Kyoku, Hibari Misora（美空ひばり）, delved into a number of genres although most of her songs were encapsulated within their own genres with a few exceptions such as "Kawa no nagare no youni" (川の流れのように) which seems to have merged a couple of genres in a New Adult Music style.
I also get that impression from the song "Tengoku kara no Yakusoku" (A Promise From Heaven),the 6th single by singer Miki Sawada（沢田美紀）. Released in April 2008, it was a little difficult for me to definitively put my stamp on a single genre for it. I could hear the enka, but there was also folk and so perhaps I could use the hybrid genre of New Adult Music for it.
Written by Toyohisa Araki（荒木とよひさ）and composed by Masato Sugimoto（杉本眞人）, "Tengoku kara no Yakusoku" is a poignant message by Sawada as the protagonist tells her older brother who has been in heaven for a while that she's managing to do OK in life. The song was actually inspired by an incident involving the sister of the president of Tokuma Japan Communications (Sawada's recording company) who suddenly died during a trip through China.
Sawada's real name is Miyuki Oda（尾田美由紀）who was born and raised in Toyama Prefecture. While working in a company in 1996, she participated as a contestant in NHK's "Nodo Jiman"（のど自慢） amateur singing contest where she eventually became a champion. She moved to Tokyo the following year to become a professional singer and released her first single in 2004.
Last week, I got to see the teaser for the remake of "The Naked Gun", this time starring Liam Neeson as Frank Drebin Jr., the son of the hilariously famous Frank Drebin played by the late Leslie Nielsen. So, of course, all the zany humour in this new version can go back to the original movie from 1988 and that movie can go all the way back to the 1982 short-lived series "Police Squad!".
Nielsen cemented his newfound status as a comic actor late in his long entertainment career in "Police Squad!" but it had been discovered a few years earlier in 1980 on "Airplane!" which had him playing straight-talking Dr. Rumack.
In recent months, a lot of the younger generation and their YouTube reaction channels have also been discovering the humour onslaught loaded like bullets in a machine gun in "Airplane!". One of my cinematic regrets is that I never got to see any of the 1970s Mel Brooks movies such as "Blazing Saddles" at the theatre (probably wouldn't have been allowed to get into the cinema anyways at my age), but all that was countered when my brother and I got to see "Airplane!" in its first run when it was released at the end of June 1980. I don't think I've ever had that much fun at a movie...before and since. Laughter was ranging from loud to absolutely screaming.
David Zucker, Jerry Zucker and Jim Abrahams were the geniuses at overdoing Brooks' humour in terms of quantity and speed, and as I mentioned in the "Police Squad!"ROY article last year, one of the big factors in the success of "Airplane!" was casting familiar straight dramatic actors from television and movies as some of the characters such as Peter Graves from "Mission: Impossible", Robert Stack from "The Untouchables" and Nielsen himself who had been in all sorts of serious roles ranging from starship captain to corrupt corporate executive.
The actors themselves were initially skeptical about whether they could actually pull this off and say these lines like "Have you ever been in a Turkish prison?", so they needed some reassuring from the Zucker Brothers and Abrahams. However, one person involved in the production got it right away apparently, and that was movie composer Elmer Bernstein. This is the same man behind the epic soundtracks for "The Ten Commandments" and "The Magnificent Seven", and he was asked by the guys to not come up with anything epic, but something befitting a B-movie suspense movie...something corny and overdone.
And yet, when Bernstein completed his work, the "Airplane!" soundtrack not only fulfilled the producers' requests but it was still epic. I can hear any part of this soundtrack in a "Name That Tune" situation and I'd still recognize it more than forty years later. Of course, it all starts with the main title with a goodly nod to John Williams and a certain shark, before everything kicks in. At 4:38,"Lisa/Farewell/Take Off/Another Meeting" expresses the situation about the sick girl needing that heart operation but it also goes into one of my favourite scenes when a young couple sadly separates as if the lad were getting on a train rather than a plane.
I also wanted to show the scene as well as the music accompanying it if I can. At 8:48 on the soundtrack above is the Bee Gees' classic "Stayin' Alive" which of course provided the music for the flashback disco scene right here. The video doesn't show it but there was also the aftermath with Ted and Elaine sharing that cheek-to-cheek dance as they danced to the nighty-night jazz of "Love Theme from Airplane!" (13:31), a theme that gets picked up all throughout the movie in various versions.
"Thar She Blows" is a very appropriately titled track considering the scene that it accompanies. I wasn't sure whether Bernstein and the orchestra were trying to stifle laughter while recording that one. All I can say is that I had never heard of an automatic pilot joining the Mile High Club until this movie.
27:27 is "Punch-Up/Kramer" which contains another one of my favourite scenes where Robert Stack's no-nonsense Rex Kramer shows in no uncertain terms how he feels about religious groups asking for donations at airports. At the time I saw "Airplane!", I recognized Stack's face, probably from guest roles on dramas but I hadn't known that he was the first TV Eliot Ness from "The Untouchables".
Finally at 39:47 is the song that had Ted regain his mojo and save everybody by the end. I hadn't known it at the time but that was the "Notre Dame Victory March". It also showed up at the end credits (always loved Stephen Stucker as Air Traffic Controller Johnny...he pretty much stole the show).
Considering that "Airplane!" was released in the Toronto/Buffalo area on June 27th 1980, let's see what was on top of Oricon. I've got the first three here from June 30th.
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.
Not sure how this idea came about but last night, it got into my mind (through inception?) about how Japanese popular music shared one trope with Western pop material in that there have been plenty of songs with female names in the titles. Of course, we have Paul Anka's"Diana", Kool & The Gang's"Joanna" and TOTO's "Rosanna". Well, over the years of KKP, I've noticed that kayo kyoku and J-Pop has had its share already listed, so just to keep myself busy on this very snowy Sunday, here is a short list of such songs. I'll probably get a short list of male names up next week.
,_unknown_maker,_1700s,_steel_-_Kensington_Palace_-_London,_England_-_DSC04031.jpg)
