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.
For this week's Reminiscings of Youth article, my rusty memory goes back to 1984 and I think that the two of the big movies for that year were "Ghostbusters" and "Footloose". Especially with that latter movie, the title song by Kenny Loggins was huge on radio and video. In fact, I swear that the video with a young and kickass Kevin Bacon kicking off his Sunday shoes and dancing amok everywhere was made a permanent addition to any music video show.
Loggins' hit song status was to the extent that I'd had no idea that Deniece Williams' "Let's Hear It for the Boy" was actually a part of the "Footloose" soundtrack for several weeks after the video made its premiere (and nope, I never watched the movie...wasn't my thing). Still, "Let's Hear It for the Boy" was and still is a fun and really uplifting song that had its release on Valentine's Day 1984. Created by Tom Snow and Dean Pitchford, the synthesizers embraced me in its nostalgic swoon and Williams' vocals and the overall melody brought back some nice memories of what pop music was like in the 1980s.
I've also read on the Wikipedia article for "Let's Hear It for the Boy" that Paul Jackson Jr. and Paulinho Da Costa were in the recording booth as guitarist and percussionist respectively. Both musicians are folks that I've seen within a number of liner notes for Japanese singers such as Anri（杏里）. By the way, the above video is the remix version for the song since after all, we all used to be remix hounds back in the day. Both "Footloose" and "Let's Hear it for the Boy" were nominated for Best Original Song at the Oscars that year.
I only discovered the news via Mixi in the morning but sadly, martial arts action star Shinichi "Sonny" Chiba（千葉真一）passed away earlier today at the age of 82 due to COVID-19.
Born Sadaho Maeda（前田禎穂）in 1948 in Fukuoka, when he was around 4 years old, his family moved to the city of Kimitsu, Chiba Prefecture. To be honest, although I never saw any of his action flicks, the name of Sonny Chiba was well known to me just from reputation, and I think that I probably saw more of him on Japanese television as the occasional guest. I did see one performance of his on the big screen and the movie was Quentin Tarentino's"Kill Bill, Vol. 1" in which he played the master swordsmith Hanzo Hattori.
Years ago, Chiba had also starred in the 1968-1973 Japanese detective drama "Key Hunter"（キーハンター）with Tetsuro Tanba（丹波哲郎）and Yoko Nogiwa（野際陽子）. Just by chance, former contributor to "Kayo Kyoku Plus"JTM and I were talking about the show a few days ago. Interestingly enough, considering this cast who played characters with their own special sets of skills, Chiba had the relatively mundane role of being a former newspaper reporter recruited onto the team (although in a future opening credit scene, he was performing some acrobatic hand-to-hand combat). Incidentally, Chiba and Nogiwa had gotten married in 1973, leading to a 21-year marriage with Nogiwa herself passing away a few years ago at the age of 81.
As would be the case for any young kakkoii actor at the time, the recording booth would come beckoning for Chiba, and he indeed put out a little over 15 singles between 1963 and 1985. In 1966, the star released "Taiyo mo Waratteiru"(The Sun Is Also Smiling). Written by Masao Nakayama（中山正男）and composed by Minoru Endo（遠藤実）, Chiba has a light but still smoky voice for this song which kinda straddles the line between regular kayo and the bar territory-friendly Mood Kayo. Looking at the cover for the 45", he looks like he could be ambling among the tiny nomiya offering to sing his songs like a balladeer instead of flipping and smashing bad guys.
Condolences to Chiba's family, friends and fans on this news.
I always appreciate an Etsuko Yakushimaru（やくしまるえつこ）song for its spacey and catchy qualities along with the fact that recently her videos have taken on a 360-degree function. Still cherish her "X-Jigen e Yokoso"（Ｘ次元へようこそ）from the "Space Dandy" series.
Yakushimaru's 10th and most recent single, "Unknown World Map", was released in October 2019. Written and composed by the singer under her songwriting name of Tica Alpha（ティカ・α）, the song is a blippity-bloppity flight into new worlds by a young lady who's probably not finding Earth all that fun anymore. Evidently, according to the video, the lass wants to try out a plethora of isekai environments including maybe the one in "TRON".
The video certainly keeps the viewer busy since it has different things happening at different places in the orb of vision, so one has got to keep the point of view moving. Hopefully, you can move the video while in the blog but if not, head over to YouTube. Incidentally, the video was directed by Takashi Yamaguchi（山口崇司）.
When I was watching the NHK special "Live Yell" last weekend, it wasn't just Misia's "Welcome One" that caught my attention.
Singer-songwriter Koji Miyamoto（宮本浩次）, the vocalist for the rock band Elephant Kashimashi（エレファントカシマシ）, has always struck me as being somewhat of the eccentric persuasion with the regular jostling of his huge mop of hair and his dramatic slightly Nicholas Cage-esque quips. However, I also believe me that he is a good fellow and perhaps a poet laureate underneath that layer of weirdness.
When I heard Miyamoto sing his creation of "Yoake no Uta" (Dawn Song) on Saturday and then watched the original music video, I was also struck by how smooth and lilting his voice was. "Yoake no Uta" comes from his March 2020 solo album"Miyamoto, Doppo."（宮本、独歩。...Miyamoto, Walking Alone） and I think of it as a celebratory pop waltz wrapped in a rock arrangement. Having no connection with the old kayo of the same name sung by Yoko Kishi（岸洋子）, it almost feels like something to be performed in the local pub as a singalong after everyone has given their toast to getting through some joint adversity which is something that most of us are probably feeling right now. Indeed, Miyamoto's lyrics relate hope and optimism for the future.
The song was also used as the ending theme for the TV Tokyo documentary series "Gaia no Yoake"（ガイアの夜明け...Dawn of Gaia）.
Marcos V. was the first one to introduce 80s aidoruand Onyanko Club（おニャン子クラブ）member No. 40Akiko Ikuina（生稲晃子）onto "Kayo Kyoku Plus" through his two entries in 2014: "Virgin Shounen ni Kuchizuke o"(Virgin少年に接吻を) which was her September 1988 2nd single and then her song as part of the trio Ushirogami Hikaretai（うしろ髪ひかれ隊）, "Anata wo Shiritai"(あなたを知りたい) from August 1987.
Uh...nope, I'd have to agree with my KKP friend from Brazil that Ikuina never had quite the vocal chops that her colleague from Ushirogami Hikaretai, Shizuka Kudo（工藤静香）, had but as had been the case with many an aidoru from that decade, the music and arrangement did come to some of the rescue. And thus, we come to her "Chase Chase Chase" from her November 1988 debut album"Ikuina De-Dance"（「生稲」De-Dance）which hit No. 11 on Oricon.
When I first heard "Chase Chase Chase", I thought that I was hearing a blend of Paul Lekakis'"Boom Boom" and Harold Faltermeyer's"Axel F" from the "Beverly Hills Cop" soundtrack. I can thank bassist and composer Tsugutoshi Goto（後藤次利）for bringing in some of that 80s dance pop and perhaps some of that Eurobeat as well into the arrangement. Ren Takayanagi（高柳恋）was responsible for the lyrics. Listening to "Chase Chase Chase" a few times now, I realize that this won't enter the annals of the 80s Aidoru Hall of Fame but it's indeed the quintessential late 80s aidoru tune that I used to hear all the time on "The Best 10" and during interludes in variety shows.
Y'know...we've gotten used to actress/singer Ryoko Shinohara（篠原涼子）stressing more of that first part of her job description over the past several years to the extent that perhaps it might be surprising to know that Shinohara did start out as an aidoru and sketch comedienne in the early 1990s. And yet, earlier this year, folks in Japan got a reminder of her less heavy material when she began to sing and dance in this series of McDonalds commercials which emphasized the good ol' days of show tunes, especially with Charlie Chaplin's"Smile".
Commenter James Noah sent me a message asking about all those commercial tie-ups which was a good question since in Japan, those popular pop songs and famous brands have frequently synergized as a win-win for all involved. James' favourite ad is the one for Gekkeikan sake with a very clean Hiroyuki Sanada（真田広之）, who has seemed to be appearing in Hollywood movies looking all scruffy for some reason, walking to the strains of Anzen Chitai's（安全地帯）"Ano Koro e"（あの頃へ）. It's all about that beauteous mood and mood has always been a thing in Japanese commercials. In fact, it once took me a whole minute watching an idyllic scene in Switzerland with a happy family to figure out that the commercial was selling life insurance. You just never know...Clara could have fallen out of her wheelchair to her death off that cliff. Was she in good hands with Allstate?
Anyways, that did get me thinking about what some of my favourite Japanese commercial tie-ups have been over the decade.
1. Tatsuro Yamashita -- Christmas Eve (1983) and Japan Railways
Now, the song itself first saw the light of day in 1983 but things really didn't get cooking for Tats in the Xmas department until half a decade later in 1988 when Japan Railways used "Christmas Eve" for their Christmas campaign. After those first commercials involving couples on the platforms and in the stations had aired, any romantic meetups in a train depot will most likely have this song planted in everyone's heads. Ironically for the fellow who's been hailed as the summer song guy and one of the pillars of City Pop, "Christmas Eve" may be Yamashita's（山下達郎）most famous song for the public at large.
2. Saburo Tokito -- Yuuki no Shirushi (1989) and Regain Vitamin Drink
I've had my fair share of vitamin drinks when I was living in Japan although I don't personally think that I worked anywhere near as hard as some of those businessmen that I had taught regularly. To me, they all tasted like some tangy-sweet water. I may have even coughed up the yen to guzzle down a Regain. But when the first commercials of the ultra-Japanese businessman played by actor/folk-rock singer Saburo Tokito（時任三郎）hit the air with the proud march "Yuuki no Shirushi"（勇気のしるし）, it had folks laughing and throwing out their chests in pride to see if anyone could work those 24 hours with a ton of Regain in them. I had just arrived in Japan when the Regain boom began and I believe that the commercial was of such fame that it even reached Anderson Cooper at CNN.
Ah, while I'm at it...one of my businessman students taught me one way to get rid of a cold lickety-split because of course, businessmen can't be allowed to take a day off. As soon as you get home, take a hot shower, drink down two bottles of vitamin drink and then wrap yourself up in as many blankets as you can in bed. Basically, you're to sweat your cold to death at the sacrifice of some very smelly blankets the next day.
As I have already mentioned in the original article for B'z's"Bad Communication", this was the song that usually woke up in the mornings when I was living in Gunma Prefecture. I believe that it was the morning business show on TV Tokyo or TV Asahi and the commercial was of Rie Miyazawa（宮沢りえ）touting the charms of Fujitsu's FM TOWNS computer which sounds more like a local radio station. "Bad Communication" was the jingle and it was the most dynamic one that I had ever heard thus far. Alarm clocks should be as effective.
4. Carl Anderson -- Pieces of a Heart (1990) and Parliament Cigarettes
Parliament had a long reputation for putting out some very urban and urbane commercials for their death sticks, and although I've never smoked a cigarette in my life thankfully, watching the Parliament ads even had me thinking "I really need that lifestyle...NOW!". Of course, some of those urban contemporary songs by folks like Bobby Caldwell and Boz Scaggs came in handy to add that touch of class. But the one that really hit the heart was "Pieces of a Heart" by Carl Anderson. I believe that the ad came out during episodes of "Music Fair" on Fuji-TV late on Sunday night, and it was definitely something when I always looked forward to watching that one minute and change of the good life in Manhattan or San Francisco.
Are there any Japanese commercials and their tie-up songs that you've cherished over the ages? Let us know.
Wow! I guess that there must have been a thing among some aidoru back in the 1980s when it comes to that old-fashioned dance, the Charleston.
For those who may not have known about this century-old dance, you can take a look at the recreation of it above. I've seen it a number of times on cartoons, sitcoms and "The Lawrence Welk Hour" as a kid.
Not sure if there have been a lot of aidoru songs back then that gave their tribute to the Charleston, but I know at least two right now. There is Shojotai's（少女隊）"Motto Charleston"（もっとチャールストン）from 1986, and now I have found Toshihiko Tahara's（田原俊彦）"Charleston ni wa Mada Hayai" (Too Early for the Charleston) which was his February 1984 17th single.
As would be expected with any song containing the word "Charleston" within its title, the music by Tomo Miyashita（宮下智）and arrangement by Kazuo Otani（大谷和夫）is jazzy, although I'm not sure whether the Big Band Swing nature had actually come into being when the Charleston was hot. But then again, the Wikipedia article for the dance points out that a slight variation based more on the Lindy Hop evolved to fit swing music.
Miyashita was also responsible for the lyrics where Toshi's protagonist is desperately courting a young lady for a date back in the day and would just love it for days for the opportunity to do the Charleston with her. Sorry to get a little picky with the performance above, but I'm not quite sure if Toshi is even attempting the Charleston and I don't think that the 50s-style teenyboppers behind him would fit the age of that particular dance. But then again, it's entertainment, isn't it?
In any case, "Charleston ni wa Mada Hayai" hit No. 2 on the Oricon singles chart and would later end up as the 31st-ranked single of the year. He even got to go onto the 1984 Kohaku Utagassen with this one for his 5th consecutive appearance. Apparently, the song was also used for a local commercial selling the Capri Sun drink, licensed under Glico.
For those who know their old-time jazz, you'll probably recognize that Miyashita adapted some of the melody from the Yiddish song "Bei Mir Bistu Shein" (1932) that was popularized into the jazz idiom and performed by acts such as The Andrew Sisters. I'd always thought that the title was "Goodbye, Mr. Shane!".
Interestingly enough, the last time I wrote about Toshi was way back in July 2016 and for that particular song, his debut single, it was also based on another song outside of Japan.
