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.
In July 2017, I put up Yuko Ohtaki's（大滝裕子）first article featuring a song, "Koi no Warming Up"（恋のウォーミング アップ）, which contributed to one of the world's peppiest jingles for a yogurt drink. Near the end of the article, I mentioned that later in the 1980s, she would join up with Kumi Saito（斉藤久美）and Tomoko Yoshikawa（吉川智子）to create the vocal group AMAZONS which not only put out their own albums and singles, but also helped as a backup singing trio for singers such as Toshinobu Kubota（久保田利伸）and Yumi Matsutoya（松任谷由実）.
It appears that one of Japan's early funksters, Kubota, then returned the favour to AMAZONS by providing a song for them called "Suna to Diamond" (Sand and Diamonds), a track on their 1988 album"Nisemono Tengoku"（贋物天国...Fake Paradise）. Composed by him and Takuo Sugiyama（杉山卓夫）with lyrics by Junko Ohyama（大山潤子）, the song seems to be relating a tale of romantic cat-and-mouse between a man and a woman over a game of cards. Not sure if it's the strip variety of poker.
To be honest, I think that I actually enjoy the melody and arrangement more than the actual vocals by AMAZONS. I mean, the sultriness is there but the harmonies aren't quite perfect. However, the music stands out for its sneaky feline shuffle and the instrumentation used such as that synth-koto which reminded me of the Asian-American band Hiroshima and their "One Wish".
To their fans all over the world, ABBA's first single in around 40 years, "I Still Have Faith In You", which was released last week, was probably one early and wonderful Xmas present. I've enjoyed my ABBA songs over the years and I have their BEST compilation up on the shelves but I think it'll take a bit of time for me to warm up to this new song.
On today's Reminiscings of Youth though, I'm going to go back even further into the mid-1970s. My memory of the famed Swedish super group begins with those ancient K-Tel LP commercials which featured ABBA's "SOS" hit. However, the one song that I'm going to start the ABBA file here is "Dancing Queen", which according to Wikipedia, is the group's most famous hit worldwide. It is certainly a favourite at the Japanese karaoke joints which is why I chose "Dancing Queen".
The single was released in August 1976 which is a bit earlier than I had expected, and though I had heard it before on radio here in Toronto, it was during my time in Japan that I heard the song over and over again since it seemed to be mandatory singing at places like Shidax and Karaoke Kan. No matter which group I was with, there would always be one person who selected "Dancing Queen"; maybe none of us were hitting the dance floor anymore but there would be some vicarious enjoyment of the disco days via this song, and "Dancing Queen" was all about the enjoyment of dancing back then for the young and fancy-free.
From seeing the world record charts, "Dancing Queen" spun a pirouette right up to the top in many nations including Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and of course, ABBA's home of Sweden. Now that ABBA has been resurrected, I wonder if a concert tour (or a concert) may now be in order although I realize that the members are well into their seventies.
Anyways, what was coming out during August 1976 according to Showa Pops?
Ahh, yes. That tender two-person configuration known as the hizamakura(lap pillow) which can denote a parent-child relationship or something more romantic with a young couple. Of course, the intimacy and awkwardness are squeezed for all they are worth in a lot of anime. For that matter, this can lead to another trope: ear-cleaning but since I've yet to find a kayo about that custom, I'll just go with the hizamakura for tonight.
I was able to find one with that exact title. "Hizamakura" was a single by kayo singer Michiko Maki（牧美智子）released in May 1974. The song was written by Kazuya Senke（千家和也）and composed by Daisuke Inoue（井上大輔）when he was still going by his real name, Tadao Inoue（井上忠夫）, a few years after he had left his old Group Sounds band, Jackey Yoshikawa & His Blue Comets（ジャッキー吉川とブルー・コメッツ）.
Unfortunately enough, I couldn't find the lyrics to "Hizamakura" online but from what I could hear from Maki herself, it seems as if her protagonist is perhaps enjoying her beau sleeping softly in her lap and wondering what the future portends for them. The music is suitably innocent but also has that sense of uncertainty. For the singer, this was not only her first single under the CBS/Sony banner but also her first single under the stage name Michiko Maki. In terms of her entire career, "Hizamakura" was her 5th single with the first four singles being released under the name Hiroko or Yoko Aihara（愛原洋子）.
It's a Wednesday night...Hump Day aftermath and all that. Probably feeling as tired as you will get all week with two more days before the weekend. How about some "MEGA OVER DRIVE"?
Yup, nothing like a POLYSICS song to get your motor running. The title track from the techno-rock band's October 2013 mini-album sounds like what would happen if a video game soundtrack were plied with a cocktail consisting of Red Bull and atomic-grade shochu (not that I would ever recommend such a drink to humans). The synths and vocoders are really going overdrive.
Written and composed by POLYSICS members Hiroyuki Hayashi and Fumi, "MEGA OVER DRIVE" just has to get you out of your midweek blues. The guys from Devo and Denki Groove（電気グルーヴ）would look upon the song with great contentment, and my compliments also go to the music video and its denizens. Those three ladies have probably come up with an exercise regimen that could shed twenty pounds off anyone within the nearly four minutes of the song. Nice shoutout to West Shinjuku at night, by the way.
Just had to. As much as I am into Japanese popular music now, a few decades back, I had just as much ardor for "Star Trek". I remember coming back home from Japanese language school to catch the second halves of episodes of everyone's favourite starship on what is now CTV Toronto (the earliest that we could reach home after the bell rang at the Orde Street school was noon which was when the reruns began). Even earlier than that, I barely remember hiding under a cushion or a pillow when NBC did the first run of the episodes; the second-season ending credits always ended with the still of the ghostly image of Balok terrifying the heck out of me. Since then, it was all about collecting the various paraphernalia including starship blueprints, technical manuals and insignia, and then of course, catching the movies and new shows such as "Star Trek: The Next Generation".
Now, why am I waxing nostalgically here? Well, on this day 55 years ago, the very first regular-season episode of "Star Trek" aired on NBC, "The Man Trap". It wasn't one of the more cerebral episodes like the original 1965 pilot "The Cage"; I believe that the suits at the network wanted a typical sci-fi monster episode to start things off, and they got one in the form of the Salt Vampire up against Captain Kirk, Mister Spock and Dr. McCoy.
Of course, almost every episode and movie that featured the USS Enterprise had Alexander Courage's original fanfare. With the original series theme song which I have discovered was actually titled "Where No Man Has Gone Before" according to Wikipedia, there was the famous monologue ("Space, the final frontier...") first intoned by William Shatner that still manages to get contemporary "Star Trek" fans all shivery.
I know that the original Courage theme had undergone its own iterations over the years, and what I say next may be sacrilege to all those fans, but I've always preferred the first-season version of "Where No Man Has Gone Before". It's the one which doesn't have the soprano singing but just the orchestra playing away with the Enterprise whooshing by.
The Courage theme has been performed on TV since the original run of "Star Trek", and I even included Maynard Ferguson's disco version of it earlier this year to commemorate William Shatner's90th birthday. I even heard it once being performed on an episode of "Lawrence Welk" (you just had to be there). Then, of course, there was its inclusion in the ending credits for J.J. Abrams'"Star Trek"(2009) which probably had folks cheering.
My interest in "Star Trek" has waned quite a lot in the last several years due to my lukewarm response to the movie sequels by Abrams and the latest TV series such as "Discovery" and "Picard". However, on hearing that today was the 55th anniversary of "The Man Trap", I still had to devote something to my old sci-fi fascination.
So, what debuted in September 1966? Just have two here for this special ROY article.
Yep, finally finished off "Zombieland Saga Revenge"（ゾンビランドサガ リベンジ）last week. It was very satisfying and of course, aliens just had to spoil the party at the end. Another obvious thing is that the second season has left us with a whole bunch of songs to peruse and enjoy at our leisure until Season 3 comes about. Hopefully, it won't take nearly as long to produce and get onto the air.
Some songs stood out more than others, and for me, there was that showstopper at the end of Episode 5 involving the littlest Franchouchou member, No. 6 or Lily Hoshikawa（星川リリィ）as played by seiyuu Minami Tanaka（田中美海）, on a talent show. A living legend wunderkind with a horrible attitude by the name of Light Ozora（大空ライト）ends up using the same song that Lily was to have performed right after him, leaving No. 6 in a huge panic-inducing lurch. What is she to do?
Well, improvisation has been Franchouchou's middle name ever since Season 1, and though Lily has often been shown as an overly cute kid with a slightly smart mouth, in that Episode 5, she displayed that she is a dead legend wunderkind after all with a specific skill set. In this case, Lily had the ability to rearrange the same song, the hymn-like "Inochi"（命...Life）, beautifully sung by Light, and give it new life as it were. It became "Little Parappo" (Little Bodda Bope), a supremely catchy country music-like rap-and-dance that had the audience clapping and the kids discovering a new move to perform at the playground. Almost immediately, there were comments likening "Little Parappo" to "Scatman (Ski Ba Bop Ba Dop Bop)" by the late Scatman John. Ultimately, Lily didn't win the contest but she did win a lot of hearts.
ARISA and Jun Suyama（陶山隼）worked on the original "Inochi" as lyricist and composer/arranger respectively, but "Little Parappo" had Tomoya Kinoshita（木下智哉）contributing his snappy arrangement skills.
Commenter James Noah and I had a small conversation on sumo rikishi who haven't only tussled in the dohyo but also sung behind the mike. One famous example is Daishiro Masuiyama（増位山太志郎）but as KKP co-administrator Noelle Tham has written, several wrestlers have also banded together to provide traditionally-arranged songs.
Remembering back to my childhood, the very first sumo wrestler that I had ever seen was actually not even Japanese. He's currently known as Daigoro Takamiyama（高見山大五郎）but was born Jesse James Wailani Kuhaulua in Hawaii. Launching his sumo career in March 1964, his Wikipedia article relates that he achieved a number of firsts in his 20 years as a rikishi such as the first foreign-born wrestler to win a tournament (1972) and the first foreign-born wrestler to get his own stable in 1986...a stable that includes fellow Hawaiian Akebono（曙）who reached the exalted top rank of yokozuna. Takamiyama himself got as high as sekiwake, the third-highest rank in sumo.
However, I was too young and didn't have ready access to Japanese television to have ever seen Takamiyama actually perform in his chosen profession back in those days. In fact, I only got to know him in his second career as adorable commercial pitchman, something that he was doing even while he was still doing his yorikiri and oshidashi to defeat competitors. The things that stood out to me were his enormity and those sideburns which were big enough to deserve their own postal codes.
I had kinda figured that it was so but I didn't confirm it until yesterday that Takamiyama put out some singles. At the time, anyone who was that popular in Japanese pop culture was bound to be gently persuaded to cut a few records. Sure enough, the big lug did put out a couple of singles and a couple of albums.
Judging from the abrupt cuts of different songs, I gather that the person involved wanted to bring an aural summary of "Super Jesse" the album from 1977 under the Toshiba label. I think that it's the single "Super Jesse", also from that year, that launches the album with Masami Sugiyama（杉山政美）and Toshiyuki Kimori（木森敏之）as lyricist and composer respectively. Instead of either an enka/Mood Kayo or an ondo style, Takamiyama and his group decided to go for some disco and funk with the big man himself not taking himself too seriously as he approached singing in the same way that he approached his opponents...just get the words out as fast and hard as possible in that familiar rasp.
If I recall, Akebono himself has starred in his fair share of commercials.
