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Artist: Linda Yamamoto / 山本リンダ
Title: Dounimo Tomaranai /
どうにもとまらない
Released: June 5, 1972
Oricon Peak Rank: 3
B-Side: 青い月夜は
(download)
Linda Yamamoto started her career as a teen model, often referred to in fashion circles as the "Japanese Twiggy" for her thin build. She turned to singing and scored her first hit with "Komacchau na" in 1966. However, her fame as a singer was rather middling soon after that and she continued her modeling career. She didn't see another musical success until 1972 when she released her smash hit "Dounimo Tomaranai", which ranked 32nd overall in the 1972 Oricon charts. This exotica-infused number by Shunichi Tokura and Yuu Aku with its incessant conga drumming reshaped Linda Yamamoto from a teen sensation to an star idol. And it didn't hurt that she combined it with her stage dress, slashed low-rise flares and a blazing red shirt tied up to reveal her midriff (or as the Japanese termed it then the "heso-dashi"), giving her performances a provocative sexual appeal in an otherwise conservative society. Regardless, the song proved popular enough to grant her a spot in the 23rd Red-White Song Competition in New Year's Eve of the same year.
どうにもとまらない (Dounimo Tomaranai)
Music: Shunichi Tokura / 都倉俊一
Lyrics: Yuu Aku / 阿久悠
うわさを信じちゃいけないよ
私の心はうぶなのさ
いつでも楽しい夢を見て
生きているのが好きなのさ
今夜は真赤なバラを抱き
器量のいい子と踊ろうか
それともやさしいあのひとに
熱い心をあげようか
あゝ蝶になる あゝ花になる
恋した夜はあなたしだいなの
あゝ今夜だけ あゝ今夜だけ
もう どうにも とまらない
港で誰かに声かけて
広場で誰かと一踊り
木かげで誰かとキスをして
それも今夜はいいじゃない
はじけた花火にあおられて
恋する気分がもえて来る
真夏の一日カーニバル
しゃれて過ごしていいじゃない
あゝ蝶になる あゝ花になる
恋した夜はあなたしだいなの
あゝ今夜だけ あゝ今夜だけ
もう どうにも とまらない
Artist: Hiromi Iwasaki / 岩崎宏美
Title: Mirai / 未来
Released: May 1, 1976
Oricon Peak Rank: 2
B-Side: 夏からのメッセージ
(download)We start with one of my favorite artists, Hiromi Iwasaki. Presented here is her fifth single "Mirai" (The Future) which is one of her more energetic songs, influenced strongly by the burgeoning disco music that would define much of popular music throughout the world in the 1970s. There really isn't much to explain about this song, other than its uplifting melody, tight arrangement, and it's rather inviting beat. While it was highly successful, chart-wise, it was not one of her most defining songs in her repertoire. We will find out which ones are when we come back to her later.
(Hit Studio Night [夜のヒットスタジオ])未来 (Mirai)
Music: Kyohei Tsutsumi / 筒美京平
Lyrics: Yuu Aku /
阿久悠あゝ 私の未来はあなたと同じ
あゝ あなたの未来は私と同じ
あなたの甘いくちづけが
私の未来を決めるのよ
愛されてしまったの
小さいけれどしあわせを
あげるとあなたは抱きしめる
うなづいてしまったの
まぶしさにおぼれて
悲しみも見えない
二人だけ 白い部屋
あゝ 私の未来はあなたと同じ
あゝ あなたの未来は私と同じ
小指が話す約束が
私を夢中にさせるのよ
酔わされてしまったの
何もかも あずけて
その腕にぶらさがり
二人だけ青い径
あゝ 私の未来はあなたと同じ
あゝ あなたの未来は 私と同じ . . .
I've mentioned in the first post that this blog will primarily deal with Japanese music from the 1960s through the 1980s (and some ventures into the first few years of the 1990s), so we will be seeing music as diverse as Kyu Sakamoto's 1961 hit "Ue wo Muite Arukou", which later charted at number one two years later in the USA as "Sukiyaki" to the middle stages of singers and groups like Dreams Come True and X-Japan, which border at the point where people into J-Pop will start to hear familiar sounds.
J-Pop for the most part, is not much different from popular music elsewhere, and is also full of the subgenres typical to current popular music, such as folk, rock, bubblegum, dance music and so forth. There is a Wikipedia article on J-Pop that is decently informative, but I think is poorly organized and is not broad enough in scope.
As is said in the article, various influences shaped the sound of Japanese popular music, drawing both from traditional sources from the country to foreign sounds like jazz or rock and roll. After WWII, the general term for most popular songs in Japan was Kayoukyoku (歌謡曲), which to this day still has a concrete definition. It ranges from "music with lyrics" to excluding other song forms like Enka. From the 1960s, much of the music dominant at the time were similar in sound to what may be considered "pop standards" today, akin to the likes of Frank Sinatra and Doris Day. There was also the emergence of Enka (演歌)
, a particular brand of traditional pop music driven by melancholy and complex romances. By the late 1960s, stronger influences from folk and Western rock music gave rise to the Group Sounds genre, patterned after the British invasion, as well as seeing the first of Japanese Rock such as The Mops and Happy End.
The pop sound of the turn of the 1970s were heavily influenced by European pop music and sounded much like mid 60s American music at the time (for the most part, Japan usually had a 5 to 10 year lag behind the Anglo-American musical front, but that difference diminished significantly in the 1980s). That period also saw the beginnings of the fickle and intense Idol culture that would dominate Japanese music for the next two decades. Artists from the time such as Agnes Chan and Momoe Yamaguchi would later become commonplace in the Asian music world. The rise of New Music and the singer-songwriters like Yosui Inoue and Yumi Matsutoya (neé Arai) and the appropriation of Disco in the middle of the decade showed how quickly the J-Pop sound evolved and adapted to changing tastes.
By the 1980s, the Idol genre was at its peak churning out dozens of potentials but only producing a handful of superstars such as Seiko Matsuda and Akina Nakamori. The tunes became even poppier and the average pitch of female singers began to rise (a trend that doesn't appear to be stopping soon). Mid-decade, the increasing portability of music and increasing connectivity of media worldwide made sure Japanese popular music tastes would not be far behind from the West. During that time, dance-pop from both America and Europe would heavily influence artists that would craft their music in that style, as seen by the likes of Yoko Oginome and Miho Nakayama. As we get to the turn of the 1990s, the J-Pop sound has entered into somewhat familiar territory, and that is where the scope of this blog ends, as there are plenty of resources for music from that point forward.
As for how the content of this blog will be done, a majority of the entries will showcase a single song with statistics as well as lyrics and a video clip if applicable. There may also be entries focusing on a single genre or an artist, when the time seems right for that. Otherwise, the format will be generally free-form, as I doubt there are many English language sites that cover what I'm covering to that extent.
Now we begin the fun part: exploring the genre!
Hello and welcome to the Classic J-Pop blog, where you will find information and others resources concerning Japanese popular music (pop, folk, rock, and enka) from the 1960s to the late 1980s.
This period of Japanese popular music is for the most part and unknown territory, even to those who enjoy J-Pop and J-Rock today thanks to its inclusion with video games and Japanese animation as well as the growing fanculture surrounding them. For the most part, the music of that period never left Japan or even Asia for that matter, and a few handful across the Pacific have real access to it.
Regardless, where I come in is to help create an easy-access and understandable portal where those interested and curious about classic J-Pop can learn more about the genre and hear new things.
I hope you will enjoy the music that makes up this vast and fascinating period of Japanese popular music, as it is the foundation which led to what most would understand as contemporary J-Pop.
Artist: Linda Yamamoto / 山本リンダ
