20 posts tagged “j-pop”
Anyone know/remember Saijo Hideki?
Well thirty years later it has apparently frozen up and become ripe for parody. Seems like EVERY time I sing a Seventies Saijo tune and there's a gal from Japan in the room... Well, she's covering her mouth in a failed attempt at suppressing laughter. In fact, it happened again this past Friday when I busted out this classic:
Yeah it looks campy and overwraught and those moves sure aren't hip-hoppy. Know what: the local dudes I was with didn't think it was silly at all, especially the monologue in the middle. They thought it was great theater. Only the 30ish women on the other side of the room were snickering as usual. What the hell were they waiting for, Matsujun or something?
Friends: I kicked ass with this song and resolve to sing it EVERY time I go to karaoke from now on.
以上
________________
UPDATE: I found this interesting medley of Saijo tunes, ranked in reverse order according to Oricon. Was grooving to a few of them and was gratified that many of the top 20 were old faves. However that #4 was pretty gruesome and it suddenly hit me that I already KNEW what the top song was going to be. Aggh!
... And the adventure continues. Seriously, you think any of us is shocked at this kind of stuff? She wants to go into "modeling." Or discovered boys. Whatever.
I'm kinda glad I'm not in the scene much these days but what of rookie fans who have yet to experience the annoyance and distraction of personnel movement? Best of luck to them.
And also Koharu-chan, who I thought had a chance to succeed Ayaya as Japan's Last True Idol. Maybe she'll keep the title after leaving H!P.
I'm glad she did another shashinshuu before leaving.
OK so here's the update page for the Pony Canyon stuffs.
Yep, the CoCo DVD box set is still there. But what the HELL happened to ribbon? Kaput: it's off HMV and now Rakuten. I already began to set some buck$ aside for BOTH sets (assuming a Y30,000 MSRP each) so I wish they'd hurry up and allow me to budget my funds more wisely.
If it's only CoCo in 2009 then I'm spending the rest on Princess Princess...
以上
Toma karaoke, 8 May 2009:
And We Danced - Hooters
Heart of Gold - EXILE
What's So Funny 'Bout Peace, Love & Understanding - Elvis Costello
Bobby Jean - Bruce Springsteen
Come On, Get Happy - The Partridge Family
A Girl Like You - The Smithereens
King of Rock - Run-DMC
Add It Up - Violent Femmes
Daite Senorina - Yamashita Tomohisa
New updated English song database at Toma so I had to take advantage with the locals. Split early 'cause I had a dental appointment on Saturday morning...
Saturday fun with Kayoko, Ai-chan and Eri-chan. You can probably guess who sang what...
___________
Tomorrow - Okamoto Mayo
Valenti - BoA
Sora no Shita de - My Little Lover
True Love - Fujii Fumiya
Kamome ga Tonda Hi - Watanabe Machiko
Cherry - Spitz
Message - Fukuyama Masaharu
Candy Candy - Horie Mitsuko
Akai Sweet Pea - Matsuda Seiko
Winding Road - Ayaka feat. Kobukuro
Endless Story - Ito Yuna
Star - Aiko
Roman Hikou - Komekome Club
Truth - Ito Yuna
Wadachi - Kobukuro
Saboten no Hana - Tulip
Ichiban ni Ikou - Shimatani Hitomi
Oretachi ni Asu wa Aru - SMAP
Ai no Uta - Koda Kumi
Departures - Globe
We Will~Ano Basho de - Exile
Colors - Utada Hikaru
Ashita Ga Suki - Watanabe Machiko
Love So Sweet - Arashi
Aoi Usagi - Sakai Noriko
Love Addict - Nakashima Mika
Blue Tears - Judy And Mary
Seishun Amigo - Shuji to Akira
Sweet 19 Blues - Amuro Namie
Dakishimetai - Mr.Children
Soba ni Iru Ne - Aoyama Thelma
Let Go - m-flo
NAO - Nakasone Izumi
Umiyuki - Jero
Kagami no Dress - Sakai Noriko
Yoroshiku Aishuu - Go Hiromi
Matsuwa - Amin
Thank You - Dreams Come True
Hello Another Way - The Brilliant Green
Sakurazaka - Fukuyama Masaharu
Hurt - Christina Aguilera
A news clip on the all-star gala focused primarily on our gal Chisato: check out them boots!!
IN: Mr.Children (!), Jero (NEVER a doubt), Speed (welcome home), Perfume (sex it up, gals!)
OUT: Morning Musume and ANY H!P presence. There goes the neighborhood!
Tunes "performed" this past Friday at Toma:
Oh My Little Girl -- Ozaki Yutaka
Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Me -- Elton John
Umiyuki -- Jero
Daite Senorita -- Yamashita Tomohisa (thanks, Z!)
A Hard Day's Night -- The Beatles
sha la la -- Skoop On Somebody
My Gift To You -- Chemistry
Surrender -- Cheap Trick
PEPPAAAAAHHH... KEIBU!
Alas, yes. Single #37. Another cover.
Here's the story on Sankei Sports. Dig the ancient B&W photo, like they didn't have color in those days.
And nine members looks almost... manageable on stage.
Yaay! More royalties for the estate of Aku Yu!
I was composing a comment to zdorama's rememberance of an old single by SMAP. A little while later, I had more of a rememberance of my own encounters with SMAP and J-pop in general, a decade-plus ago...
In the mid-90s I was becoming aware of SMAP as part of the whole J-pop pantheon. One of the older managers in the office, a woman from Japan named Setsuko, pushing 60, was a huge fan of Johnny's Jimusho, especially Kimutaku and SMAP. I was still generalizing on the king of all Japanese boy groups and thought her fangirl attitude a silly thing (ignoring of course my own CoCo worship but that's another story).
I'm not sure what triggered the notion in me that SMAP wasn't worthy of ridicule (like say, the Backstreet Boys). Certainly all those "Music Station" retrospectives provided some sort of foundation. And it became clear that I'd have to learn some of those tunes for karaoke cause new material would be necessary for my co-workers from Japan.
One day I crossed Setsuko in the hallway and told her, out of the blue, hey some of those SMAP songs are actually GOOD. In fact, I SANG some of them. She gave me this wide-eyed look, almost full of surprise. "Of coooourse!" she replied, her tone not even trying to hide the obvious nature of my statement. I could have expressed to her my great surprise that the sun rose Koko Head side or that it didn't snow in Hawaii -- her reaction would have been the same.
Not too long after that we were hanging out at a karaoke bar in Waikiki (long since closed) after work and I sang some of those songs, albeit rusty and unsure. However Setsuko was impressed that I gave it the old college try and picked up the tab for the entire evening. Thank you, SMAP!
