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.
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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.
Well, spring officially arrived at 10:46 am this morning. The problem here in Toronto is that everyone got the memo except for spring itself. It's been a cold and dreary day with freezing rain intermittently falling as I type this.
Ahh...that is just meteorological life in the largest city in Canada. Anyways, let's go to something more hopeful and cheerful. The uploader for the above video stated that he first heard singer-songwriter Issei Endo's（円道一成）"Kono Mama Truly" (Just Like This, Truly) on some late-night TV commercial as a jingle for something alcoholic. Not a bad thing to hear in the overnight hours. I could actually happily fall back into La-La Land listening to this or stay up savoring the music in my head.
Yup, I do like "Kono Mama Truly" which was released as a single in January 1986 (kinda like the "Miami Vice" threads there, Issei), according to Discogs. The singer was behind words and music with Koji Makaino（馬飼野康二）providing the arrangement which hints at some old-time wonderful Motown soul. Maybe it is truly meant to be enjoyed along with some libations.
I can't quite remember how records and tapes by the big artists were being distributed back in my teenage years, and the reason I'm starting out this way is that the first time that I'd heard Blondie's "Rapture" was actually through one of those K-Tel compilation records in which there was one quick cut of the music video where Debbie Harry was holding her head while she purred the title. Now, I would think by that point, the song had long been released as a single and as part of an album, and so I was wondering why I hadn't heard of this one before. Blondie was already big in the world so I should have heard this one already on the radio or television.
Well, in any case, I eventually did hear the totality of the song and caught the video after it had been released in January 1981. "Rapture" was basically the first time that I ever heard rap in any form. Harry was talking in some rhythmic pattern about eating Cadillacs and entire bars which struck me as being some sort of weird New Wave-y thing. I think the only time that I heard anything similar to that was when I was watching a segment on "Sesame Street" featuring a cartoon bear pattering the first five numbers to a beatnik jazz beat.
In any case, Harry apparently had two parts to the song: the first part had her singing in those fluffy light vocals which reminded me of "Heart of Glass" and then the rap part in the latter half had her utilizing those richer and lower tones from "The Tide is High". Looking back at the song after so many years, "Rapture" certainly doesn't strike me as the usual rap tune with the tubular bells and the disco rhythms in there. Plus, I'm sure when the video was first shown, maybe there had been a disclaimer stating that one shouldn't be under the influence while watching it. Aside from Harry, the one other character that I still remember is the so-called "Man from Mars" in his white suit and top hat.
"Rapture" hit No. 1 in the United States while it reached No. 3 in Canada. I also recently found out through the YouTube comments for the song that it had become part of the lore in "The Boys" with Soldier Boy doing a cover on "Solid Gold". Personally, I wouldn't mind seeing Captain America trying it out himself.
Anyways, right on the day that "Rapture" was released, these three songs were at the top of the Oricon chart.
Well, it's a heck of a thing to come up with a summer song when spring here in Toronto doesn't arrive for another several hours. However, I know that Torontonians are absolutely biting their lips at even the slightest opportunity to enjoy the hot season once more after one of the more enervating winters in recent memory.
Unfortunately, I can't bring the heat and the rest of the summer weather but at least we can live a bit vicariously through music. Specifically, I can show another song from the vast discography of Nash Music Library. "Summer Things" comes from their March 2018 collection "Happy Hours" and it's a very skippy and heat-inducing song that even includes a bit of soft rap/vocalese near the end of this short and sweet tune.
We've been getting reminders of it this week but as of tomorrow and for the whole weekend, Toronto Comicon will be making its presence known at the Metro Convention Centre by the lake. I've been to the summer Fan Expo but not to the spring Comicon (and indeed, spring does arrive tomorrow), although from what I've seen of the video above of last year's version, there doesn't seem to be anything really different. Anime and cosplay will show up as usual. I'd been thinking of putting up a list of the most popular anime cosplayers but the list doesn't include any show I know very well. I've heard of "Jujutsu Kaisen" and "Chainsaw Man" but never got into those.
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Just to warn viewers, this is going to be a very shoehorned segue but perhaps for anyone interested in the old DC comics, there is the superhero and stage magician Zatanna. Maybe someone at a Comicon anywhere around the world could dress up like her.
AND SPEAKING OF MAGICIANS (ahem), we have Takako Ohta's（太田貴子）10th album"Magician" from October 1989. One track from this one is "Merry-Go-Round" which is this synthpop concoction written by Hideyuki Yamamoto（山本秀行）and composed by Masaya Ozeki（尾関昌也）. At first, I'd wondered whether this would fall into the Eurobeat category, but then I opted to keep it within pop. But you folks can listen to it and decide.
Well, Easter is approaching. As a kid, I used to remember my parents buying these huge chocolate Easter bunnies from the supermarket or Shopper's Drug Mart. My brother and I took quite a while to devour the annual Easter bunny, and frankly I'm surprised that we survived the ritual. I mean, that was one hunk of solid milk chocolate!
It's been a while since we've invited the good ladies from BABYMETAL onto KKP, so welcome them back to the blog. The heavy metal/J-Pop band has been visiting Toronto a few times over the years but it doesn't look like they'll popping by the 6ix this year although they did visit our city last summer.
"Gimme Chocolate!!" is a song that was released in the UK as a single in May 2015 although in Japan, it popped up as just a track on BABYMETAL's self-titled debut album several months earlier in February 2014. Composed by Takeshi Ueda（上田剛士）and written by Mk-metal and Kxbxmetal, it's a headbanging and heart stopping mix of heavy metal and Japanese pop, stuffed with enough energy to feel as if I had munched down half of that aforementioned chocolate rabbit in one go. SU-METAL, MOAMETAL and YUIMETAL are wailing their thoughts on chocolate which is stretching from one end to the other. Do they happily fall to the temptation of the sweet goodness or hold off on it, lest their weight board a rocket ship? I can totally relate!
Wow! All that mayhem and strobing in the music hall above. If I'd had a Snickers while watching all this in person, it would have been "Gimme Ambulance!!".
It was almost five years ago that I posted the article for the opening theme for Toei's take on "Spider-Man" from 1978 because at the time "Spider-Man: No Way Home" was on its way to theatres with a flash-bang trailer leading the way. I'll let you know right now, I only got to see the whole film finally last month, and much to my regret, I wish I had seen the movie at theatres but with COVID restrictions and my parents' health a concern, there was no way I could do so.
Earlier this morning, the trailer for the next chapter in Peter Parker's life was released. I saw the big ad for "Brand New Day", and I'm definitely looking forward to this one. And hopefully this time around, I'll be able to catch this one at the cineplex at the end of July. For Peter's sake, I'm also looking forward to a happier movie overall as the title hints.
Well, then, to follow the pattern of the article for "Kakero! Spider-Man"（駆けろ！スパイダーマン）, I will provide the ending theme for the 1978 Japanese show. The same people involved for that opening theme: singer Yuuki Hide（ヒデ夕樹）, composer Chumei Watanabe（渡辺宙明）and lyricist Saburo Yatsude（八手三郎）, are back for the ender "Chikai no Ballad" (Ballad of Vows). Not surprisingly, this one contrasts with the heroic opener by being more introspective and revealing of the costs of being a superhero: loss of loved ones and a lonely existence. Good heavens! It pretty much wraps up the whole story of "No Way Home" into a tightly-packed ball. Mind you, it's a ballad that almost reaches City Pop groove.
I heard this on a recent episode of "Uta Con" (and nope, it wasn't on this week) and found out that this was a Stardust Revue（スターダストレビュー）song. And it was used for a Calpis commercial back in the day.
"Yume Densetsu"(Dream Legend) was the band's 5th single from May 1984 and it starts off with a synth-powered slow burn before the score emerges into the light to begin a fun and hopeful summer song. Written and composed by vocalist Kaname Nemoto（根本要）with band percussionist Toshikatsu Hayashi（林紀勝）helping out on the words as well, the verses remind me a bit of Olivia Newton-John's"Xanadu" and his lyrics have that star-crossed lovers theme in there. No matter how long or how far, they will find each other over and over again.
According to the liner notes of Stardust Revue's "Hot Menu" BEST compilation via the J-Wiki article for the song, Nemoto had joked back then that if "Yume Densetsu" hadn't become a hit, it would have been the end for the band. Well, it made it up to No. 40, so perhaps it wasn't a runaway hit, but the band's still here in 2026.
A very distinctly Japanese accolade was given to Stardust Revue and "Yume Densetsu" when the song was adopted in October 2013 as the departure melody at Gyoda Station on the Takasaki Line in the city of Gyoda, Saitama Prefecture, Nemoto's hometown. Incidentally, the band also acts as tourism ambassadors for the city. "Yume Densetsu" was first included in an album via their July 1984 BEST compilation "TO YOU ~ Yume Densetsu".
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