ohtani's jacket

Eiichi Ohtaki and Haruomi Hosono weren't just pioneering musicians, they were also successful producers. One of the first albums Ohtaki produced was for a group called Sugar Babe. Sugar Babe was a pop act featuring Tatsuro Yamashita and vocalist Taeko Ohnuki. In 1975, they released their albums, Songs, which became hugely influential in the Japanese music scene. They didn't have immediate success, however. The dominant style of music in Japan at the time was hard rock, and Sugar Babe's pop sound was unpopular with critics and festival goers alike. They broke up after three years together, but City Pop eventually grew in popularity and ushered in what became known as Japan's "new music" era. Here's a single from that album: After Sugar Babe broke up, Yamashita and Ohnuki launched solo careers. Yamashita released a string of excellent LPs in the late 70s and early 80s and became known as The King of City Pop. City Pop had a soft, easy listening edge to it, but it also took the upbeat grooves from funk and disco and was able to switch effortlessly between upbeat and mellow styles. It's best appreciated by listening to the LPs, but despite how good his records were, Yamashita didn't become big until this hit from 1980: Here's one of Ohuki's early solo efforts:

After Happy End broke up, they continued to work together and contribute to each other's solo albums and projects. The drummer and lyricist, Takashi Matsumoto, went on to become one of the most successful lyricists in Japanese music history, winning numerous awards and penning more than a hundred top 10 hits. The multi-talented Haruomi Hosono went on to shape the sound of Japanese pop for decades to come, inspiring both City Pop and Shibuya-Kei, while also pioneering electronic genres with his work with Yellow Magic Orchestra. His immediate work following Happy End's break-up was a style called Exotica, which basically drew on the music of the South Seas and turned it into pop tunes. Here's an example: And his electronic work: Eiichi Ohtaki was arguably the most successful of the members. He mostly worked in the City Pop genre, which is a loosely defined genre that basically refers to urban sounding pop music. His 1981 album, A Long Vacation, was a huge commercial and critical success, and is regarded as one of the greatest Japanese records of all-time, Here's some footage of him singing the lead single from that album: Shigeru Suzuki wasn't as successful as Hosono or Ohtaki, and eventually became a prolific session musician, but he did release some cool solo stuff in the 70s:

I started exploring Japanese music a few years ago having wrongfully assumed that it was bad. I started with Happy End, who were pretty much the Japanese equivalent of The Beatles. They were the first act to sing their songs in Japanese. Up until then, Japanese rock was mostly covers of Western songs or sung in English. They were only together for a few years from '69-72, but each of the members went on to become important figures in the Japanese music industry. Their album, Kazemachi Roman, is often regarded as the greatest Japanese rock album of all-time. Some of you may be familiar with this song from Lost in Translation:

I will take control of the thread >;)

No, unfortunately.

This is Les Rallizes Dénudés, a Japanese version of the Velvet Underground, from their 1977 live album:

How there can be a Chono thread with no mention of his breathing sounds?

Enrique Torres is awesome. I am waiting for you all to discover Billy Goelz.

I guess I overdid it with the links. Sorry about that. Man, that Pere Ubu song was great.

Ha! The original Regal is Lord James Blear.

I understand she is grieving, but there's still something that doesn't gel about a pro-wrestler complaining about a work.

If you're talking about the 80s Project thread, I'm afraid I never finished that.

That cover was hilarious. My mum used to put Rumours on any time she drove anywhere. Would have loved to slip that in the car stereo.

I had a dream that the Rockets won the championship. I blame this thread. The catch was Hakeem was still playing for them and I was happy he got his third ring.

Wuthering Heights is one of the best pop songs ever, IMO. I think the book is wrong about Bush not liking the novel. What she didn't like were her vocals on the track. She ended up re-recording them in the 80s, which is sacrilege if you ask me, but it's her song. I know I Feel Love changed music and everything, but am I the only one who likes Love to Love You Baby better? Probably. At least they chose a Neil Young song with a glorious solo. Curt, I think that Yes song is from their Going for the One album. The one that has Awaken on it.

Ugh, Jet Boy was a re-release from 1973. Still a great song, though.

There are four matches in their feud. They also wrestle at Slamboree '94 and Clash of the Champions 27.

My favorite:

My first exposure to that Eno song was from The Son's Room, an Italian film about the grief a family endures when their son suddenly dies. It's impossible for me to separate it from the emotions in that film, but I have a friend who swears it's an uplifting song. Funny how people can hear such different things from the same piece of music. My wife hates the piano line and always told me to turn it off.

I forgot about the best song of 1975. I don't think it was a single, though.

1975 1975 was another weakish year, but if you dig a little deeper there's always some cool shit to be found: One funky ass joint: Latimore, again! I'm pretty sure there's a remix of this I like more, but still a great tune: The book really needs some afrobeat: I promised myself I'd start including more Japanese songs: And why not a song from my home country: I really like this Roxy Music tune: David Allan Coe's loving parody of country music: Early hip hop: Dub classic: These guys are underrated as fuck: I love Jonathan Richman. Here's the 1975 version of this song: Roky's back! This has a relentless groove: Epic: Amazing track from a great artist: Best soul track of 1975: Infectious:

Do you mean Fly to the Rainbow?