The Drifters -- Hige Dance （ヒゲダンス）

Now, this entry here isn't so much about a true song actually but about a bass line taken from an American soul tune and imported into Japanese pop culture to become one of the most famous riffs in the country's TV history.

If you were of a certain age and had access to Japanese variety show videos, you may have come across the long-running TBS show "Hachi-ji da yo! Zen'in Shuugo"（８時だよ！全員集合...It's 8 O'clock! Everyone Assemble） starring the comedy group The Drifters which lasted from 1969 to 1985. I used to watch it with my family at the old Toronto Buddhist Church on Bathurst St. on the gigantic VHS player in the basement, sometimes after a couple of episodes of the jidai-geki drama "Mito Komon". Of course, for us kiddies at the time, it was always fun to watch the hijinks by The Drifters, especially the two most unhinged members of the group, Ken Shimura and Cha Kato（志村けん・加藤茶）. Often the pair would get away with stuff that probably shouldn't be shown to the children, but there was one safe segment which was arguably their most famous one.

Called The Hige Dance (The Moustache Dance), Shimura and Kato danced out like disco penguins in tuxes and bushy moustaches while pulling off some vaudevillian tricks for the audience. But it was the theme for the Dance which acted like the 3rd member of the act.

That bass riff just kept propelling the boys forward, and I cannot think of any other song, instrumental or otherwise that could accompany The Hige Dance. And the entire segment is one of the lasting images I have of "Hachi-ji da yo!" So it was a surprise to find out from the J-Wiki article on that dance that it actually only lasted for perhaps a year and change from 1979 to September 1980. In a way, it could be analogous to those folks who had thought that the original "Star Trek" TV series lasted far longer than its three years on America's NBC because of all of the reruns. I certainly thought the segment with Shimura and Kato went on for far longer.

The other surprise I got was finding about the bass riff's source. It came from "Do Me" by the late US R&B singer Teddy Pendergrass, created by Leon Huff and Kenny Gamble. For The Hige Dance itself, the bassist taking care of the riff was Akihiko Takashima （たかしまあきひこ）.

Despite the surprisingly short lifetime of The Hige Dance on the show, the phenomenon became popular with the kids at the time, and even more importantly, it has remained unforgotten over the decades. Singers like Hiromi Go, Rumiko Koyanagi and Kenji Sawada have participated in the hijinks, and even recently, Shimura has been strutting once more as above (I'm sure that it has also popped up in other variety shows all over the networks). In this video, it's with tarento Yuka and the terrifyingly excitable character representative for Chiba Prefecture's Funabashi City (next to Ichikawa), Funasshi（ふなっしー）.

And speaking of characters, 141 of them tried to get into the record books dancing to the song.

Also, The Hige Dance has also been used in the dance studios.

And also as part of the entertainment at wedding receptions. I'm sure the beer helped. Over 30 years later, the bushy moustaches are still apparently sold in stores just for that sort of occasion. Thank you, Teddy, Kenny, Leon, Ken and Cha.

tofubeats feat. Chisato Moritaka -- Don't Stop The Music

“Don’t Stop The Music” is a new song from an old favorite singer of mine: the great Chisato Moritaka (森高千里). In fact, she is the featured vocalist as “Don’t Stop the Music” was used as the lead song for the first major-label single release of tofubeats, a promising 23 years old electronic producer from Kobe (he has already released a full-lenght album in April 2013 called "lost decade").

It’s interesting to notice that “Don’t Stop The Music”, which was released in November 2013, is the first new song Moritaka recorded since her comeback in 2012, the year she completed 25 years in the entertainment business. After the release of a singles compilation, a live album, a string of successful concerts and the amazing “Moritaka Land Tour” DVD/Blu-Ray (which somehow wasn’t released in 1990, and just saw the light after 23 years, in September 2013), it was time to release a true new song. And that’s the importance of “Don’t Stop The Music” in this moment of her career.

Another very important factor is that “Don’t Stop The Music” can be seen as a tribute to the old Chisato Moritaka from the late 80s and early 90s, a time she was releasing some fun and edgy electronic/eurobeat/disco songs. If I had to guess, I would bet her comeback would sound more like her mid-90s acoustic stuff, and thank god it didn’t happen this way. Her collaboration with tofubeats was a really nice way to pay homage to a time when Moritaka’s music was mainly electronic.

About “Don’t Stop The Music” itself, it’s a very pleasant light electro house song that also happen to offer some interesting synth melodies and tame club beats. Moritaka sounds very warm in the song and the bridge surprises the listener with a nice acid-house twist that takes the song out of its comfort zone for some seconds. Overall, great job from both tofubeats and Chisato Moritaka. While the first proved that he can produce some creative electronic pop songs, the second just made the fans remember how great she is after so much time. All in all, it would be nice to see them collaborating again in the near future.

Personally, the only flaw I see is the absence of Chisato Moritaka in the video. It would be very nice to see her beauty in a new music video. Talking about videos, here’s the tofubeats remix of an old Moritaka classic from 1988, “The Mi-Ha” (ザ・ミーハー) (tofubeats video is an edit version of the original video. It’s a lovely music video that also features Moritaka wearing a pair of trousers with a long tail…, well, it were the 80s). Although I didn’t like the result very much (very annoying skippy effects, but tofubeats seems to like this stuff), it was nice to see a promising new producer giving some light to one of my favorite Moritaka songs. In fact, tofubeats himself is a proclaimed Moritaka fan, which is why he decided to invite her for this collaboration. Well, this tofubeats remix of "The Mi-Ha" just made me realize that I miss watching some of my compilations of Chisato Moritaka’s old music videos, and that's what I'm gonna do right now...

"Don't Stop The Music" reached #26 on the Oricon charts. Lyrics, music and arrangement were all done by tofubeats.

Rie Ohashi -- Shiny Lucky Lady

When I listen to “Shiny Lucky Lady” it makes me think of an explosion of joy. Sang by aidoru Rie Ohashi (大橋利恵), it just screams 90s with its mixture of aidoru happiness and eurobeat generic synths.

Rie Ohashi was never a very famous aidoru, especially at a time when aidoru singers were kind of struggling to succeed. Released in November 1996, “Shiny Lucky Lady” was Rie’s sixth single and had to face competition from the female singers that were part of the “TK Family” at the time, and also from MAX, Namie Amuro’s (安室奈美恵) abandoned backing dancers who turned into a face of the eurobeat trend of the mid-to-late 90s. Well, to be honest, Rie Ohashi was no competition at all. She’s just one of those forgotten aidoru singers that pop up from times to times. But I like the girl, and “Realize”, her first full album (which also included “Shiny Lucky Lady”) is a nice listen with all the pop/eurobeat/techno/pop-rock sound (it sounds like a mess, but it works).

Talking about “Shiny Lucky Lady” itself, what I like the most is the sparkling eurobeat synths that are the main characteristic of the arrangement. Also, the chorus is ridiculously catchy with the “shiny lucky lady” line. Finally, I like Rie’s vocals as they’re girly in a good way, and not very sugary. Well, the song itself is already very sugary…, but who cares? It’s nice.

Ah, the video presented above is from the great “Idol on Stage” (アイドル　オン　ステージ). I really like this show because it gave some light to minor aidoru singers during the early-to-mid 90s. Even Ayumi Hamasaki (浜崎 あゆみ) made an appearance at that show before debuting as a J-Pop singer later in the decade.

“Shiny Lucky Lady” was written and composed by Mitsuru Igarashi (五十嵐 充), the former keyboarder and songwriter of Every Little Thing (ELT).

Hiroshi & Kibo -- San Nen-me no Uwaki （３年目の浮気）

I first heard this song purely by accident due to a mistake by the co-hosts on "Sounds of Japan". They were supposed to have played Mariya Takeuchi's "Fushigi na Peach Pie", but instead they put on this 45".

Years and years ago when I was back in high school, I used to listen to a radio program called "The Dr. Demento Show" which featured a whole bunch of bizarre oddities such as William Shatner's deathless cover of "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds". The good doctor also ran a classic radio feature called "The Bickersons" starring Don Ameche and Frances Langford as a (barely) married couple locked in eternal hilarious argument.

"San Nen-me no Uwaki" (The 3rd Year of the Affair) reminded me of a Japanese version of "The Bickersons" set to song. In the J-Wiki article for the tune, it is listed as a kayo kyoku but I think it does have that enka flavour and since there have been a goodly number of duets in this genre, I have also labeled it as such. Basically the debut single of Hiroshi & Kibo（ヒロシ＆キボー） from August 1982 has the two sparring with each other over some implied extracurricular activity by hubby. Lyrically, Hiroshi has the upper hand at first but then by the end of the song, Kibo has the jerk on his knees.

Written and composed by Ben Sasaki（佐々木勉）, "San Nen-me no Uwaki" gradually became a huge hit as it stayed at No. 1 for about a month between December 1982 and January 1983. It ended 1982 as the 96th-ranked single but a year later it was the 12th-ranked song of the year. In terms of sales, the record sold over 700,000 copies. Methinks the lyrics may have hit a fairly sensitive and knowing chord amongst the population which would explain its popularity, but it was also for that reason that Hiroshi & Kibo didn't get invited onto the Kohaku Utagassen. I guess NHK figured that a song about marital discord wouldn't have set the right tone on the program. NHK's loss. The above video, by the way, has Hiroshi, but his partner is none other than Rumiko Koyanagi（小柳ルミ子）.

As for the two singers themselves, Hiroshi is Hiroshi Kurosawa（黒沢博） who was a guitarist and vocalist for the Group Sounds band Takeshi Terauchi and Bunnies（寺内タケシとバニーズ）. Kibo is Kiyoko Yamada（山田喜代子） who came up from Shizuoka Prefecture up to the nation's capital and spent 6 years there working before her debut, using that time for voice training. The pair ended up releasing 4 singles altogether during their time in 1982 and 1983 with the 2nd single being a sequel of sorts to their hit debut single titled "Go Nen-me no Hakyoku"（５年目の破局...The 5th Year of the Split）.

Toshihiko Tahara -- Dakishimete Tonight （抱きしめてTONIGHT）

I was never a huge Toshi-chan fan but during my Kuri nights, his songs often peppered the lounge. And "Dakishimete Tonight" (Hold Me Tonight) was one of the popular ones. One of my later students who worked at the Japan Bank for International Cooperation right across from the Imperial Palace in Tokyo told me that he and some of his fellows would mow through a whole ton of old Johnny's Entertainment songs which included Tahara's stuff, and I'm sure over there as well, "Dakishimete Tonight" was a must-sing choice.

After all, the intro pretty much kicks the karaoke singer into as high a gear as it gets Tahara and his backups dancing all over the floor. For Toshihiko Tahara（田原俊彦）, "Dakishimete Tonight" was his 32nd single released in April 1988. Even though it had been almost a decade since his debut as that cute curly-haired teen, he was still singing and flying around the stage with all of that adolescent spunk. For me, not only was it a karaoke dynamic delight but the other interesting thing about it was the change in key during the song where it goes from aidoru funk to a short interlude of samba rhythm before coming back.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnV7CTWK8GE

The song was also the theme for the Fuji-TV comedy-drama "Kyoushi Bin Bin Monogatari"（教師びんびん物語...The Tale of the Strong Teacher）, the second of the "Bin Bin" series, starring Tahara himself.

"Dakishimete Tonight" was written by Hiromi Mori（森浩美）, a lyricist who would write a ton of songs for a future Johnny's supergroup, SMAP, and also wrote another high-flying aidoru tune for Yoko Oginome（荻野目洋子）, "Dance Beat wa Yoake Made"（ダンスビートは夜明けまで）. Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平） took care of the melodic excitement. The song went as high as No. 3 on Oricon, and became the 18th-ranked single of the year. He had been selected for a place on the 1988 Kohaku Utagassen, but after being dropped from the 1987 show, Tahara declared that he had "graduated" from the NHK New Year's Eve special and ended up not appearing, and hasn't appeared since. I'm pretty sure "Dakishimete Tonight" would have been the song he sang. Not sure if there were sour grapes behind his decision but he wouldn't have been the first to divorce himself from the Kohaku under bitter circumstances.

Yuko Ando -- Samishigariya no Kotobatachi （さみしがり屋の言葉達）

When it comes to the last number of years of Japanese pop music, I've been drawn to the mellower side of things. Tomita Lab's "Shipbuilding" album comes to mind, along with the ballads of Sing Like Talking. Y'know....music which would be nice to hear in a trendy little café somewhere in the side streets of Harajuku.

Then, I came across this song by Yuko Ando（安藤裕子） via a commercial. "Samishigariya no Kotobatachi"  (Words of the Lonely) fit the bill perfectly. It could go well with that cup of chamomile tea. It was something about those mellow horns, the relaxing melody and Ando's vocals that got me to see if I could track down the single or the album. As it turned out, I went for her 2nd full album, "Merry Andrew" which came out in January 2006. The single itself had been released as Ando's 4th single in October 2005, and was written by the singer and composed by Dan Miyagawa（宮川弾）, who was the keyboardist for the band Love Tambourines.

Ando was born in Kanagawa Prefecture in 1977 and took the equivalent of a bumper car ride to her current role as a singer-songwriter. According to her Wikipedia article, she had always been a creator and started out drawing. As she grew up, she decided that she wanted to get into making films but without any breaks in that area, she became an actress for a short while, mostly getting roles as extras. But then in 2002, Ando handed over a demo tape to a film director that she had gotten acquainted with on a TV drama which got the completed song a place as an ending theme for another movie he was directing. A 2003 mini-album, "Sally" would follow and then a concert. And the rest as they say is history.

"Samishigariya no Kotobatachi" peaked at No. 35 on the Oricon singles chart. And "Merry Andrew" was able to reach No. 10 on the album charts.

Akiko Ikuina -- Virgin Shounen ni Kuchizuke o (Virgin少年に接吻を)

It’s not a mystery that I’m a sucker for eurobeat songs, especially when female aidoru singers are on charge of them. “Virgin Shounen ni Kuchizuke o” is an example of this nice fusion that occurred in Japan during the late 80s.

Akiko Ikuina (生稲晃子) was a member of Onyanko Club (おニャン子クラブ), the original Yasushi Akimoto (秋元康) big girl group that debuted in 1985 and ended their legacy two years after, in 1987. After the end of Onyanko Club, several of the girls started their solo careers as aidoru and tarento. Personally, I think about the end of Onyanko Club as a big explosion that resulted in the dissemination of kawaii, and mostly talentless, aidoru singers into an already aidoru saturated Japanese media. Well, Akiko Ikuina was one of them.

“Virgin Shounen ni Kuchizuke o”, Akiko Ikuina’s second single, which was released in September 1988, features a nice eurobeat arrangement combined with your typical aidoru playfulness. Also, Akiko’s weak vocals resembles a lot another average aidoru that was far more famous, Japan’s honorable little sister Noriko “Nori-P” Sakai (酒井法子).

“Virgin Shounen ni Kuchizuke o” reached #9 on the Oricon charts, selling 41,990 copies. Lyrics were written by Masao Urino (売野雅勇), the same guy who wrote Akina Nakamori's (中森明菜) classic "Shoujo A" (少女A), while music and arrangement were done by Goto Tsugutoshi (後藤次利).