This thread....
This thread is filling me with so many happy feelings
I'm giving a talk/doing a panel on J-Music history at a convention here in Dallas in August... I feel like older Japanese pop is becoming more and more underappreciated, so this thread makes my heart feel all warm & fuzzy!
I already see a few songs I love here! SO FREAKING COOL, you guys are all awesome.
Here are some more! Yaaay!
OLD SCHOOL (Up to the late 90s)
THE ALFEE -hoshizora no DISTANCE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoeYzq87h1s
Imagine a world without this song. A world without the Sailor Moon theme. Without the melody in the verses of Ayu's "GUILTY." This is not a world I'd want to live in. ...."BABY COME BACK! doo-dooooo do-do-do-do-doooo..."
Anzen Chitai - WINE RED no kokoro
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7Stbxcx_tM
A remnant of that period in the 80s when electric guitar was just starting to replace the saxophone as mid-tempo ballad solo instrument of choice. Freaking awesome song.
ZOO - Choo Choo Train
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aD9hLnLg8W0
This song was covered by EXILE in 2003, and this single was reissued afterwards to remind everyone it's a cover. lol... Two of the dancers in this group are still performing today. One of them is the singer of TRF, Yuki, and the other is Hiro who went on to form... omg! EXILE!
Yamaguchi Momoe - ii hi tabidachi
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCCUWpKuEc8
First off, her voice was freaking gorgeous especially considering her young age. Second, this song is just everything good about J-pop rolled into one package. The sweet melody that goes from dark, mysterious, and minor key to a more uplifting chorus; the nostalgic lyrics that talk about taking your past with you on a journey to find a special person in the future; and it was a Japan Rail commercial tie-in, helping to cement its place as a well-known Japanese pop song for decades afterwards.
NOKKO - CRAZY CLOUDS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXYbeyNxXaE
The first solo single from the lead singer of 80s rock group Rebecca (original performers of "MOON" and "Raspberry Dream" which Ayu covered on Idol On Stage). GREAT song, and WAY ahead of its time - did NOT sound like it came out a year before Zoo's "Choo Choo Train." Fun fact - Guy Sigsworth is playing keyboards in this song, and he'd go on to become a HUGELY famous producer of western-hemisphere music by Seal, Bjork, Alanis Morissette, Madonna, and Imogen Heap/Frou-Frou a few years after this.
Yakushimaru Hiroko - SEERAfuku to kikanjuu
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihxc5zSmpmM
The theme song for the FREAKING AWESOME movie of the same name, starring Hiroko as a schoolgirl who learns she's now the leader of a yakuza clan. (The whole movie is on youtube w/ english & spanish subs if any of you guys wanna check it out.)
EAST END x YURI - MAICCA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtuqQNlHSkk
Hey you know that "GM Kaz" who's credited as producer on Ayu's "NOTHING FROM NOTHING" album & single? Guess what else he produced
Yes, Ayu's rap unit was formed specifically to bank on the success of this group. Ayu was touted as the younger version, basically.
ONLY KINDA OLD SCHOOL (After 3" singles died)
m-flo loves melody. and Yamamoto Ryohei - miss you.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KD59LJX2r38
As long as we're talking about stuff that came out in the early '00s... holy crap this song gets me so nostalgic for my second year of college.
Do As Infinity - Desire
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUoTOzRmKOY
This song is about an affair from the POV of the other woman, so Van Tomiko typically performed it without her DAI bandmates when promoting the song on TV in order to avoid gossip
This was the first DAI song I ever heard, and between this & "fukai mori" from Inuyasha, myself and other J-pop fans int he early 2000s were pretty much hooked. Tomiko's unusually deep voice made them really stand out in a sea of cutesy idols.
OLIVIA - Color of your spoon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mRbOWEztNw
Most of my friends are still waiting for new mother Olivia to release more music, buying things from the Etsy shop she & her sister run in the meantime.
This song is weird in the context of the rest of her discography, but it's enchanting and does NOT feel like six minutes despite the fact that it's not very dynamic. Just let it wrap around you.
LUNA SEA - TONIGHT
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1n3yqkanP44
Ah, Luna Sea just before they split up. They were so freaking great. This song was catchy as all get out, too.
Aikawa Nanase - NO FUTURE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jZ-uo1b8Ew
OH MY GOD YOU GUYS WHO REMEMBERS ZOIDS.
OH MY GOD YOU GUYS WHO REMEMBERS WHEN NANASE WAS STILL AWESOME.
DJ Krush feat. Esthero - Final Home
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b88FnQt-J0U
I was listening to a ton of trip-hop before getting into j-pop, and this was like... SQUISH here's both together! DJ Krush's jazzy EDM was pretty groundbreaking back in the day. You guys have probably heard of the late Nujabes - well he wouldn't have had the sound he did without this guy, lemme tell ya. Even Tsutchie (who was another one of the musicians behind the Samurai Champloo soundtrack, along with Nujabes) took the party-rap stuff of Scha Dara Parr & East End and fused it with DJ Krush's more chill, atmospheric style to create the sound of his group Shakkazombie.
AND NOW TIME FOR AYU'S BACKING MUSICIANS BECAUSE WHY NOT
BARBEE BOYS - banarero yo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCELKMnXhYw
Hey, that funny-lookin' dude playing bass at 2:11 looks familiar...
THE GOOD-BYE - kimagure One Way Boy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-63jyBQwhHc
This Johnny's Entertainment group was put together as a tribute to Group Sounds bands & 80's rock & roll, and the lead singer & guitarist... well, you'll recognize him.