Sayaka Ito -- Broken Generation

 

Early last month, I introduced 1980s rock-n-rollin' singer Sayaka Ito（伊藤さやか）to the blog with her "GO! GO! POP-TOWN" from 1982. Wasn't sure whether the song was just that one foray into the 1950s and 1960s that a lot of those Harajuku dancers were into at around the same time.

Well, it looks like the old-fashioned rock-n-roll music life was just the thing for her. In June 1983, Ito released her 5th single, "Broken Generation", and this time, compared to "GO! GO! POP-TOWN", she's eschewed the New Wave aspect and went for the basic old school. In fact, I'd say that the melody by Ginji Ito（伊藤銀次）and arrangement by Tsugutoshi Goto（後藤次利）was more reminiscent of the stuff that Motoharu Sano（佐野元春）would make up. I get images of a 1950s motorcycle gang living the free and untamed life and roaming the byways and highways of the city and life in general. Heck, even the singer herself in the thumbnail above looks like she could have been the gang leader's girlfriend (get a load of that hair!). Hitoshi Shinohara (篠原仁志...aka Heart Box) was the lyricist here.

Sayaka Ito -- GO! GO! POP-TOWN

Marie-Sophie Mejan via Wikimedia Commons

I think one of the lasting images of pop culture in Japan in the 1980s is the one showing all of those young folks dancing in Harajuku while garbed in that wild clothing. Given the opportunity, I would have loved to have been there on the sidelines looking on, but at the same time, I would also have been terrified if any of those punks were to have accosted me. I bruise easier than a five-day-old banana.

There were those same 1980s Harajuku vibes when I first listened to this song called "GO! GO! POP-TOWN" which leads the December 1982 album "Yoroshiku Saretai!"（ヨロシク♡されたい!...Wanna Be Nice!）by Sayaka Ito（伊藤さやか）. With that name, I'd assumed that she was already up on the blog, but nope, this is her first entry.

"GO! GO! POP-TOWN", which was written by Heart Box  aka Hitoshi Shinohara（篠原仁志）, and composed by Kenji Omura（大村憲司）, has that light and bouncy rock n' roll and New Wave feeling. In fact, I was also reminded of the West Coast girl group The Go-Gos and strangely enough, they and this song title share a couple of words. At the same time, there is that Toni Basil vibe as well.

Ito, who hails from Aichi Prefecture, was born Mitsuko Ito（伊藤美津子）in 1963. She practiced the piano and the cello, but her dream was to become a rock n' roll singer so in her freshman year at high school, she started up a band called 39. During a trip to Okinawa with her friends, Ito was scouted by the president of a talent agency who had been looking for a new model in commercials, and in 1980, she ended up in a Shiseido ad. Acting and music came her way, but Ito gave a hard NO when approached about taking the aidoru route. The music part of her career went as far as 1986 with nine singles and six albums under her belt including "Yoroshiku Saretai!" which was her 2nd effort.