J-pop ( ja, ジェイポップ, ''jeipoppu''; often stylized as J-POP; an abbreviated form of "Japanese popular music"), natively also known simply as , is the name for a form of
popular music
Popular music is music with wide appeal that is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. These forms and styles can be enjoyed and performed by people with little or no musical training.Popular Music. (2015). ''Fun ...
that entered the musical mainstream of
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
in the 1990s. Modern J-pop has its roots in traditional
music of Japan
In Japan, music includes a wide array of distinct genres, both traditional and modern. The word for "music" in Japanese language, Japanese is 音楽 (''ongaku''), combining the kanji 音 ''on'' (sound) with the kanji 楽 ''gaku'' (music, comfort). ...
, and significantly in
1960s
File:1960s montage.png, Clockwise from top left: U.S. soldiers during the Vietnam War; the Beatles led the British Invasion of the U.S. music market; a half-a-million people participate in the 1969 Woodstock Festival; Neil Armstrong and Buzz ...
pop and
rock music
Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as " rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles in the mid-1960s and later, particularly in the United States an ...
. J-pop replaced ''
kayōkyoku
is a Japanese pop music genre, which became a base of modern J-pop. ''The Japan Times'' described ''kayōkyoku'' as "standard Japanese pop" or " Shōwa-era pop".
''Kayōkyoku'' represents a blend of Western and Japanese musical scales. Music i ...
'' ("Lyric Singing Music", a term for Japanese popular music from the 1920s to the 1980s) in the Japanese music scene.
J-rock bands such as
Happy End fused
the Beatles
The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...
and
Beach Boys
A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shell ...
-style rock with Japanese music in the 1960s1970s.
J-country had popularity during the international popularity of
Westerns
The Western is a genre set in the American frontier and commonly associated with folk tales of the Western United States, particularly the Southwestern United States, as well as Northern Mexico and Western Canada. It is commonly referred ...
in the 1960s1970s as well, and it still has appeal due to the work of musicians like Charlie Nagatani and venues including Little Texas, Tokyo.
J-rap became mainstream with producer
Nujabes
, better known by his stage name , was a Japanese record producer, audio engineer, DJ, composer and arranger best known for his atmospheric instrumental mixes sampling from hip hop, soul, and jazz, as well as incorporating elements of trip hop, b ...
and his work on ''
Samurai Champloo
is a 2004 Japanese historical adventure anime television series. The debut television production of studio Manglobe, the 26-episode series aired from May 2004 to March 2005. It was first partially broadcast on Fuji TV, then had a complete ai ...
'',
Japanese pop culture is often seen with
anime in hip hop
Anime in hip hop is a recent phenomenon in which anime and hip hop, two distinct subcultures, have collided to form a new sub-genre in today's globalized popular culture. From the globalization of these two cultures they have had an impact on each ...
.
Other trends in Japanese music include
J-Euro
Eurobeat refers to two styles of dance music that originated in Europe: one is a British variant of Italian Eurodisco-influencedAng, Ien & Morley, David (2005). "Cultural Studies: Volume 3, Issue 2". ''Routledge''. pgs. 171, 173, 170. . "Eurorec ...
in the early 1990s, namely
Namie Amuro
Namie Amuro ( ; ja, 安室奈美恵, Amuro Namie, label=none; born September 20, 1977) is a Japanese former recording artist, producer, songwriter, dancer, model, actress and entrepreneur who was active between 1992 and 2018. A leading figure of ...
, even
Latin music
Latin music (Portuguese language, Portuguese and es, música latina) is a term used by the music industry as a catch-all category for various styles of music from Ibero-America (including Music of Spain, Spain and Portuguese music, Portugal) ...
,
CCM, and
gospel music
Gospel music is a traditional genre of Christian music, and a cornerstone of Christian media. The creation, performance, significance, and even the definition of gospel music varies according to culture and social context. Gospel music is com ...
have scenes within J-pop.
J-pop is further defined by
new wave and
crossover
Crossover may refer to:
Entertainment
Albums and songs
* ''Cross Over'' (Dan Peek album)
* ''Crossover'' (Dirty Rotten Imbeciles album), 1987
* ''Crossover'' (Intrigue album)
* ''Crossover'' (Hitomi Shimatani album)
* ''Crossover'' (Yoshino ...
fusion
Fusion, or synthesis, is the process of combining two or more distinct entities into a new whole.
Fusion may also refer to:
Science and technology Physics
*Nuclear fusion, multiple atomic nuclei combining to form one or more different atomic nucl ...
acts of the late 1970s such as
Yellow Magic Orchestra
Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO for short) is a Japanese electronic music band formed in Tokyo in 1978 by Haruomi Hosono (bass, keyboards, vocals), Yukihiro Takahashi (drums, lead vocals) and Ryuichi Sakamoto (keyboards, vocals). The group is conside ...
and
Southern All Stars
, also known by the abbreviations and SAS, are a Japanese rock band that first formed in 1974.
The band is composed of Keisuke Kuwata (lead vocals and guitars), Yuko Hara (vocals and keyboards), Kazuyuki Sekiguchi (bass), Hiroshi Matsuda (dru ...
.
[ ()] Popular styles of Japanese pop music include
technopop
Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a subgenre of new wave music that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s a ...
during the 1970s1980s,
city pop
is a loosely defined form of Japanese pop music that emerged in the late 1970s and peaked in the 1980s. It was originally termed as an offshoot of Japan's Western-influenced "new music", but came to include a wide range of styles – including ...
in the 1980s, and
Shibuya-kei
is a microgenre of pop music or a general aesthetic that flourished in Japan in the mid-to late 1990s. The music genre is distinguished by a "cut-and-paste" approach that was inspired by the kitsch, fusion, and artifice from certain music style ...
in the 1990s.
Form and definition
The origin of modern J-pop is said to be Japanese-language
rock music
Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as " rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles in the mid-1960s and later, particularly in the United States an ...
inspired by the likes of
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...
.
Unlike the Japanese music genre called ''
kayōkyoku
is a Japanese pop music genre, which became a base of modern J-pop. ''The Japan Times'' described ''kayōkyoku'' as "standard Japanese pop" or " Shōwa-era pop".
''Kayōkyoku'' represents a blend of Western and Japanese musical scales. Music i ...
'', J-pop uses a special kind of pronunciation, which is similar to that of
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
.
One notable singer to do so is
Keisuke Kuwata
is a Japanese multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter, and frontman for the Southern All Stars, as well of his own solo band, the Kuwata band. He has also done a significant amount of scoring music for films. He went to Aoyama Gakuin University ...
, who pronounced the Japanese word ''karada'' ("body") as ''kyerada''.
Additionally, unlike Western music, the
major second
In Western music theory, a major second (sometimes also called whole tone or a whole step) is a second spanning two semitones (). A second is a musical interval encompassing two adjacent staff positions (see Interval number for more deta ...
(''sol'' and ''la'') was usually not used in Japanese music, except
art music
Art music (alternatively called classical music, cultivated music, serious music, and canonic music) is music considered to be of high phonoaesthetic value. It typically implies advanced structural and theoretical considerationsJacques Siron, ...
, before rock music became popular in Japan.
When the
Group Sounds
, often abbreviated as GS, is a genre of Japanese rock music which became popular in the mid to late 1960s and initiated the fusion of Japanese ''kayōkyoku'' music and Western rock music. Their music production techniques were regarded as playin ...
genre, which was inspired by Western rock, became popular, Japanese pop music adopted the major second, which was used in the final sounds of The Beatles' song "
I Want to Hold Your Hand
"I Want to Hold Your Hand" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles. Written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, and recorded on 17 October 1963, it was the first Beatles record to be made using four-track equipment.
With advance orders ...
" and
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, rhythmically d ...
' song "
(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
"(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" is a song recorded by the English rock band the Rolling Stones. A product of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards' songwriting partnership, it features a guitar riff by Richards that opens and drives the song. The riff ...
".
Although Japanese pop music changed from music based on Japanese
pentatonic scale
A pentatonic scale is a musical scale with five notes per octave, in contrast to the heptatonic scale, which has seven notes per octave (such as the major scale and minor scale).
Pentatonic scales were developed independently by many ancien ...
and distortional
tetrachord
In music theory, a tetrachord ( el, τετράχορδoν; lat, tetrachordum) is a series of four notes separated by three intervals. In traditional music theory, a tetrachord always spanned the interval of a perfect fourth, a 4:3 frequency propo ...
to the more occidental music over time, music that drew from the traditional Japanese singing style remained popular (such as that of
Ringo Shiina
, known by her stage name , is a Japanese singer, songwriter and musician. She is also the founder and lead vocalist of the band Tokyo Jihen.
She describes herself as "". She was ranked number 36 in a list of Japan's top 100 musicians compiled ...
).
At first, the term ''J-pop'' was used only for Western-style musicians in Japan, such as
Pizzicato Five
Pizzicato Five (formerly typeset as Pizzicato V and sometimes abbreviated to P5)Yang Jeff, Dina Can, Terry Hong, (1997) ''Eastern Standard Time'' pg 277 New York: Mariner Books was a Japanese pop band formed in Tokyo in 1979 by multi-instrume ...
and
Flipper's Guitar
Flipper's Guitar (フリッパーズ・ギター) were a Tokyo-based rock band led by (and later a duo of) Keigo Oyamada and Kenji Ozawa. The band were influenced by the chirpy sound of British 80s pop and post-punk groups like Haircut 100, Exhib ...
, just after Japanese radio station
J-Wave
J-Wave is a commercial radio station based in Tokyo, Japan, broadcasting on 81.3 FM from the Tokyo Skytree to the Tokyo area. J-Wave airs mostly music, covering a wide range of formats. The station is considered the most popular among FM broad ...
was established.
On the other hand, Mitsuhiro Hidaka of
AAA
AAA, Triple A, or Triple-A is a three-letter initialism or abbreviation which may refer to:
Airports
* Anaa Airport in French Polynesia (IATA airport code AAA)
* Logan County Airport (Illinois) (FAA airport code AAA)
Arts, entertainment, and me ...
from
Avex Trax said that J-pop was originally derived from the
Eurobeat
Eurobeat refers to two styles of dance music that originated in Europe: one is a British variant of Italian Eurodisco-influencedAng, Ien & Morley, David (2005). "Cultural Studies: Volume 3, Issue 2". ''Routledge''. pgs. 171, 173, 170. . "Eurorec ...
genre. However, the term became a
blanket term
In linguistics, semantics, general semantics, and ontologies, hyponymy () is a semantic relation between a hyponym denoting a subtype and a hypernym or hyperonym (sometimes called umbrella term or blanket term) denoting a supertype. In other wor ...
, covering other music genres—such as the majority of Japanese rock music of the 1990s.
In 1990, the Japanese subsidiary of
Tower Records
Tower Records is an international retail franchise and online music store that was formerly based in Sacramento, California, United States. From 1960 until 2006, Tower operated retail stores in the United States, which closed when Tower Records ...
defined J-pop as all Japanese music belonging to the
Recording Industry Association of Japan
The is an industry trade group composed of Japanese corporations involved in the music industry. It was founded in 1942 as the Japan Phonogram Record Cultural Association, and adopted its current name in 1969.
The RIAJ's activities include pr ...
except Japanese
independent music
Independent music (also commonly known as indie music or simply indie) is music that is produced independently from commercial record labels or their subsidiaries, a process that may include an autonomous, do-it-yourself approach to recording a ...
(which they term "J-indie"); their stores began to use additional classifications, such as J-club, J-punk,
J-hip-hop,
J-reggae,
J-anime, and
Visual kei
is a movement among Japanese musicians that is characterized by the use of varying levels of make-up, elaborate hair styles and flamboyant costumes, often, but not always, coupled with androgynous aesthetics, similar to Western glam rock.
Som ...
by 2008, after independent musicians started to release works via major labels.
Ito Music City, a Japanese record store, adopted expanded classifications including Group Sounds,
idol
Idol or Idols may refer to:
Religion and philosophy
* Cult image, a neutral term for a man-made object that is worshipped or venerated for the deity, spirit or demon that it embodies or represents
* Murti, a point of focus for devotion or medit ...
of the 1970s–1980s,
enka
is a Japanese music genre considered to resemble traditional Japanese music stylistically. Modern ''enka'', however, is a relatively recent musical form, which adopts a more traditional musical style in its vocalism than ''ryūkōka'' music, p ...
,
folk
Folk or Folks may refer to:
Sociology
*Nation
*People
* Folklore
** Folk art
** Folk dance
** Folk hero
** Folk music
*** Folk metal
*** Folk punk
*** Folk rock
** Folk religion
* Folk taxonomy
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Folk Plus or Fol ...
and established musicians of the 1970s–1980s, in addition to the main J-pop genres.
Whereas rock musicians in Japan usually hate the term "pop", Taro Kato, a member of
pop punk
Pop punk (or punk pop) is a rock music genre that combines elements of punk rock with power pop or pop. It is defined for its emphasis on classic pop songcraft, as well as adolescent and anti-suburbia themes, and is distinguished from other pu ...
band
Beat Crusaders
were a Japanese rock band active from 1997 to 2010. During all promotional appearances, their faces are masked by drawings resembling themselves as printed by a dot-matrix printer.
History
Beat Crusaders, commonly abbreviated BECR, was founded ...
, pointed out that the encoded
pop music
Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms ''popular music'' and ''pop music'' are often used interchangeably, although the former describe ...
, like
pop art, was catchier than "J-pop" and he also said that J-pop was the music, memorable for its frequency of airplay, in an interview when the band completed their first full-length studio album under a major label, ''
P.O.A.: Pop on Arrival'', in 2005.
Because the band did not want to perform J-pop music, their album featured the
1980s Pop
: ''For music from a year in the 1980s, go to 1980 in music, 80 , 1981 in music, 81 , 1982 in music, 82 , 1983 in music, 83 , 1984 in music, 84 , 1985 in music, 85 , 1986 in music, 86 , 1987 in music, 87 , 1988 in music, 88 , 1989 in musi ...
of
MTV
MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...
.
According to his fellow band member Toru Hidaka, the 1990s music that influenced him (such as
Nirvana
( , , ; sa, निर्वाण} ''nirvāṇa'' ; Pali: ''nibbāna''; Prakrit: ''ṇivvāṇa''; literally, "blown out", as in an oil lampRichard Gombrich, ''Theravada Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benāres to Modern Colombo.' ...
,
Hi-Standard
Hi-Standard (stylized as Hi-STANDARD) is a Japanese punk rock band formed in 1991 by bassist and lead vocalist Akihiro Nanba, guitarist and vocalist Ken Yokoyama, and drummer Akira Tsuneoka. The release ''Making the Road'' sparked sold-out Japan ...
, and
Flipper's Guitar
Flipper's Guitar (フリッパーズ・ギター) were a Tokyo-based rock band led by (and later a duo of) Keigo Oyamada and Kenji Ozawa. The band were influenced by the chirpy sound of British 80s pop and post-punk groups like Haircut 100, Exhib ...
) was not listened to by fans of other music in Japan at that time.
In contrast to this, although many Japanese rock musicians until the late 1980s disrespected the ''
kayōkyoku
is a Japanese pop music genre, which became a base of modern J-pop. ''The Japan Times'' described ''kayōkyoku'' as "standard Japanese pop" or " Shōwa-era pop".
''Kayōkyoku'' represents a blend of Western and Japanese musical scales. Music i ...
'' music, many of Japanese rock bands of the 1990s—such as
Glay
Glay (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese rock band, formed in Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan, in 1988. Glay primarily composes songs in the rock and pop genres, but they have also arranged songs using elements from a wide variety of genres, includi ...
—assimilated ''kayōkyoku'' into their music.
After the late 1980s,
breakbeat
Breakbeat is a broad type of electronic music that tends to use drum breaks sampled from early recordings of funk, jazz, and R&B. Breakbeats have been used in styles such as hip hop, jungle, drum and bass, big beat, breakbeat hardcore, and UK ...
and
samplers also changed the Japanese music scene, where expert
drummer
A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drum
The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one mem ...
s had played good rhythm because
traditional Japanese music
Traditional Japanese music is the folk or traditional music of Japan. Japan's Ministry of Education classifies as a category separate from other traditional forms of music, such as (court music) or (Buddhist chanting), but most ethnomusicolog ...
did not have the rhythm based on rock or blues.
Hide of
Greeeen
Greeeen (stylized as GReeeeN) is a Japanese vocal group from Kōriyama in Fukushima Prefecture, comprising the all-male four members: HIDE, navi, 92 (read as "kuni"), and SOH.
They made their debut with Universal Music in 2007. Their logo image i ...
openly described their music genre as J-pop. He said, "I also love rock, hip hop and breakbeats, but my field is consistently J-pop. For example, hip hop musicians learn 'the culture of hip hop' when they begin their career. We are not like those musicians and we love the music as sounds very much. Those professional people may say 'What are you doing?' but I think that our musical style is cool after all. The good thing is good."
History
1920s–1960s: Ryūkōka
Japanese popular music, called ''
ryūkōka
is a Japanese music genre, musical genre. The term originally denoted any kind of "popular music" in Japanese, and is the East Asian cultural sphere, sinic reading of ''hayariuta'', used for commercial music of Edo period, Edo Period. Therefore, ...
'' before being split into ''
enka
is a Japanese music genre considered to resemble traditional Japanese music stylistically. Modern ''enka'', however, is a relatively recent musical form, which adopts a more traditional musical style in its vocalism than ''ryūkōka'' music, p ...
'' and ''poppusu'',
has origins in the
Meiji period
The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912.
The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization ...
, but most Japanese scholars consider the
Taishō period to be the actual starting point of ''ryūkōka'', as it is the era in which the genre first gained nationwide popularity.
By the Taishō period, Western musical techniques and instruments, which had been
introduced to Japan in the Meiji period, were widely used.
Influenced by Western genres such as
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
and
blues
Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...
, ''ryūkōka'' incorporated Western instruments such as the
violin
The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...
,
harmonica
The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica inclu ...
, and
guitar
The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...
. However, the melodies were often written according to the traditional Japanese
pentatonic scale
A pentatonic scale is a musical scale with five notes per octave, in contrast to the heptatonic scale, which has seven notes per octave (such as the major scale and minor scale).
Pentatonic scales were developed independently by many ancien ...
.
In the 1930s,
Ichiro Fujiyama released popular songs with his
tenor
A tenor is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The lo ...
voice. Fujiyama sang songs with a lower volume than
opera
Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...
through the
microphone
A microphone, colloquially called a mic or mike (), is a transducer that converts sound into an electrical signal. Microphones are used in many applications such as telephones, hearing aids, public address systems for concert halls and public ...
(the technique is sometimes called ''
crooning
Crooner is a term used to describe primarily male singers who performed using a smooth style made possible by better microphones which picked up quieter sounds and a wider range of frequencies, allowing the singer to access a more dynamic range ...
'').
Jazz musician
Ryoichi Hattori attempted to produce Japanese native music which had a "flavor" of
blues
Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...
.
He composed
Noriko Awaya
was a Japanese female soprano chanteuse and popular music (''ryūkōka'') singer. She was dubbed the "Queen of Blues" in Japan.
Life and career
Awaya was born as in Aomori, Aomori Prefecture, Japan. She was the oldest daughter of a wealthy ...
's hit song "Wakare no Blues" (lit. "Farewell Blues").
Awaya became a famous popular singer and was called "Queen of Blues" in Japan. Due to pressure from the
Imperial Army during the war, the performance of jazz music was temporarily halted in Japan. Hattori, who stayed in
Shanghai
Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...
at the end of the war, produced hit songs such as
Shizuko Kasagi
was a popular Japanese jazz singer and actress. At the peak of her fame in the immediate post-war era, she was known as the .
Early life and career
Shizuko Kasagi was born on 25 August 1914 in Ōkawa District, Kagawa, Japan. She originally too ...
's "Tokyo Boogie-Woogie" and
Ichiro Fujiyama's "Aoi Sanmyaku" (lit. "Blue Mountain Range").
Hattori later became known as the "Father of Japanese ''poppusu''".
The
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
soldiers—who were
occupying Japan at the time—and the
Far East Network
The Far East Network (FEN) was a network of American military radio and television stations, primarily serving U.S. Forces in Japan, Okinawa, the Philippines, and Guam.
Overview
Now known as the American Forces Network-Japan (AFN-Japan), wit ...
introduced a number of new musical styles to the country.
Boogie-woogie
Boogie-woogie is a genre of blues music that became popular during the late 1920s, developed in African-American communities since 1870s.Paul, Elliot, ''That Crazy American Music'' (1957), Chapter 10, p. 229. It was eventually extended from pian ...
,
Mambo
Mambo most often refers to:
*Mambo (music), a Cuban musical form
*Mambo (dance), a dance corresponding to mambo music
Mambo may also refer to:
Music
*Mambo section, a section in arrangements of some types of Afro-Caribbean music, particular ...
,
Blues
Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...
, and
Country music
Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...
were performed by Japanese musicians for the American troops.
Chiemi Eri
, was a Japanese popular singer and actress.
Eri was born as on January 11, 1937 in Tokyo, Japan. She started her singing career at the age of 14 with her version of "Tennessee Waltz." Her repertoire consisted largely of traditional Japanese son ...
's cover song "
Tennessee Waltz
"Tennessee Waltz" is a popular country music song with lyrics by Redd Stewart and music by Pee Wee King written in 1946 and first released in January 1948. The song became a multimillion seller via a 1950 recording – as "The Tennessee Waltz" ...
" (1952),
Hibari Misora
was a Japanese singer, actress and cultural icon. She received a Medal of Honor for her contributions to music and for improving the welfare of the public, and was the first woman to receive the People's Honour Award, which was conferred posthu ...
's "Omatsuri Mambo" (1952), and
Izumi Yukimura
is a Japanese popular singer and actress.
Yukimura made her debut with the song in 1953. Her style of singing varied from jazz to rock and roll. She became one of the three most popular female singers in the early postwar Japan, along with Chie ...
's cover song "
Till I Waltz Again with You
"Till I Waltz Again with You" is a popular song written by Sid Prosen.
Teresa Brewer rendition
American singer Teresa Brewer recorded "Till I Waltz Again with You" on August 19, 1952. Rather than a waltz as the title suggests, it is a slow AABA s ...
" (1953) also became popular. Foreign musicians and groups, including
JATP
Jazz at the Philharmonic, or JATP (1944–1983), was the title of a series of jazz concerts, tours and recordings produced by Norman Granz.
Over the years, "Jazz at the Philharmonic" featured many of the era's preeminent musicians, including Lou ...
and
Louis Armstrong
Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and several era ...
, visited Japan to perform. In the mid-1950s, became a popular venue for live jazz music.
Jazz had a large impact on Japanese ''poppusu'', though "authentic" jazz did not become the mainstream genre of music in Japan. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Japanese pop was polarized between urban ''
kayō'' and modern ''enka''.
Modern J-pop is also sometimes believed to have had its roots with
Chinese immigrant jazz musicians who had fled
Shanghai
Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...
during the
communist takeover, and were collaborating with the
U.S.-occupied forces to help introduce s variety of new genres to the Japanese public. In 1949, when the
communists
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a so ...
took over and established the
People's Republic of China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
on the
mainland
Mainland is defined as "relating to or forming the main part of a country or continent, not including the islands around it egardless of status under territorial jurisdiction by an entity" The term is often politically, economically and/or dem ...
, one of the first actions taken by the
government
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state.
In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...
was to denounce popular music (specifically both Chinese pop music, known as
Mandopop
Mandopop or Mandapop refers to Standard Chinese, Mandarin popular music. The genre has its origin in the jazz-influenced popular music of 1930s Shanghai known as Shidaiqu; with later influences coming from Japanese enka, Hong Kong's Cantopop, Ta ...
, and Western pop music) as
decadent music, and for decades afterwards the Communist Party would promote
Chinese revolutionary songs while suppressing Chinese folk songs, Chinese pop songs and Western pop songs. Dissatisfied with
Chairman
The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...
Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong pronounced ; also romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the founder of the People's Republic of China (PRC) ...
's new music policies, a number of Shanghainese jazz musicians fled to the
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
colony of
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...
and established
Cantopop
Cantopop (a contraction of "Cantonese pop music") or HK-pop (short for "Hong Kong pop music") is a genre of pop music written in standard Chinese and sung in Cantonese. Cantopop is also used to refer to the cultural context of its production ...
, which is pop music sung in the
Cantonese
Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding are ...
dialect of
Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...
.
However, a few musicians instead settled in Japan, where they became members of the
Far East Network
The Far East Network (FEN) was a network of American military radio and television stations, primarily serving U.S. Forces in Japan, Okinawa, the Philippines, and Guam.
Overview
Now known as the American Forces Network-Japan (AFN-Japan), wit ...
and collaborated with the
American soldiers
''American Soldiers'' is a 2005 war film
War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about navy, naval, air force, air, or army, land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20 ...
to help expose the Japanese public to a wide variety of western genres. This eventually lead to the establishment of modern Japanese pop music, known as ''
kayōkyoku
is a Japanese pop music genre, which became a base of modern J-pop. ''The Japan Times'' described ''kayōkyoku'' as "standard Japanese pop" or " Shōwa-era pop".
''Kayōkyoku'' represents a blend of Western and Japanese musical scales. Music i ...
''.
1960s: Origin of modern style
Rokabirī Boom and Wasei pops
During the 1950s and 60s, many Kayōkyoku groups and singers gained experience performing on US military bases in Japan. Around the same time,
Yakuza
, also known as , are members of transnational organized crime syndicates originating in Japan. The Japanese police and media, by request of the police, call them , while the ''yakuza'' call themselves . The English equivalent for the term ...
manager
reorganized the concert touring industry by treating the performers as professionals. Many of these performers later became key participants in the J-pop genre.
In 1956, Japan's
rock and roll
Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from Africa ...
craze began, due to the country music group known as Kosaka Kazuya and the Wagon Masters; their rendition of
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...
's song "
Heartbreak Hotel
"Heartbreak Hotel" is a song recorded by American singer Elvis Presley. It was released as a single on January 27, 1956, Presley's first on his new record label RCA Victor. It was written by Mae Boren Axton and Tommy Durden, with credit being g ...
" helped to fuel the trend. The music was called "
rockabilly
Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the Southern United States, South. As a genre it blends the sound of Western music (North America), Western music ...
" (or ''rokabirī'') by the Japanese media. Performers learned to play the music and translate the lyrics of popular American songs, resulting in the birth of .
The rockabilly movement would reach its peak when 45,000 people saw the performances by Japanese singers at the first Nichigeki Western Carnival in one week of February 1958.
Kyu Sakamoto
was a Japanese singer and actor.
He was best known outside Japan for his international hit song "Ue o Muite Arukō" (known as "Sukiyaki" in English-speaking markets), which was sung in Japanese and sold over 13 million copies. It reached number ...
, a fan of Elvis, made his stage début as a member of the band
The Drifters
The Drifters are several American doo-wop and R&B/Soul music, soul vocal groups. They were originally formed as a backing group for Clyde McPhatter, formerly the lead tenor of Billy Ward and his Dominoes in 1953. The second group of Drifters, f ...
at the Nichigeki Western Carnival in 1958. His 1961 song "Ue wo Muite Arukō" ("Let's Look Up and Walk"), known in other parts of the world as "
Sukiyaki
is a Japanese dish that is prepared and served in the ''nabemono'' (Japanese hot pot) style.
It consists of meat (usually thinly sliced beef) which is slowly cooked or simmered at the table, alongside vegetables and other ingredients, in ...
", was released to the United States in 1963. It was the first Japanese song to reach the Number One position in the United States, spending four weeks in ''
Cash Box
''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...
'' and three weeks in ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
''. It also received a
gold record
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile meta ...
for selling one million copies.
During this period, female duo
The Peanuts
were a Japanese vocal group consisting of twin sisters Emi (, ''Itō Emi'') and Yumi Itō (, ''Itō Yumi''). They were born in Nagoya, Japan in April, 1 1941. As identical twins they had voices only slightly apart in timbre, which resulted in t ...
also became popular, singing a song in the movie ''
Mothra
is a fictional monster, or ''kaiju'', that first appeared in the 1961 film '' Mothra'', produced and distributed by Toho Studios. Mothra has appeared in several Toho ''tokusatsu'' films, most often as a recurring character in the ''Godzilla'' ...
''. Their songs, such as "Furimukanaide" ("Don't Turn Around") were later covered by
Candies on their album ''Candy Label''. Artists like Kyu Sakamoto and The Peanuts were called .
After frequently changing members,
Chosuke Ikariya
was a Japanese comedian and film actor, and leader of the comedy group The Drifters (Japanese band), The Drifters. His nickname was .
Life and career
1931–1962: Childhood and early career
Chōsuke Ikariya was born with the name on Novembe ...
re-formed The Drifters in 1964 under the same name. At a Beatles concert in 1966, they acted as curtain raisers, but the audience generally objected.
Eventually, The Drifters became popular in Japan, releasing "Zundoko-Bushi" ("Echoic word tune") in 1969.
Along with ''enka'' singer
Keiko Fuji
(5 July 1951 – 22 August 2013), known primarily by the stage name was a Japanese singer and actress. She had success in Japan in the 1960s and 1970s with her ballad-type songs. She was married on-and-off with Utada Teruzane, and was the ...
, they won "the award for mass popularity" at the
12th Japan Record Awards
The 12th Japan Record Awards took place at the Imperial Garden Theater in Chiyoda, Tokyo, on December 31, 1970, starting at 7:00PM JST. The primary ceremonies were televised in Japan on TBS.
Award winners Japan Record Award
*Yoichi Sugawara fo ...
in 1970. Keiko Fuji's 1970 album ''Shinjuku no Onna/'Enka no Hoshi' Fuji Keiko no Subete'' ("Woman in Shinjuku/'Star of ''Enka'' All of Keiko Fuji") established an all-time record in the history of the Japanese
Oricon
, established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan and Western music. It started as, which was founded by Sōkō Koike in Nov ...
chart by staying in the Number One spot for 20 consecutive weeks.
The Drifters later came to be known as television personalities and invited
idols such as
Momoe Yamaguchi
, known by her maiden name , is a Japanese former singer, actress, and idol whose career lasted from 1972 to 1980. Often simply referred to by her given name "Momoe," Yamaguchi is one of the most successful singers in Japanese music, releasing 32 ...
and Candies to their television program.
Ereki boom and group sounds
The Ventures
The Ventures are an American instrumental rock band formed in Tacoma, Washington, in 1958, by Don Wilson and Bob Bogle. The band, which was a quartet for most of its existence, helped to popularize the electric guitar across the world during the ...
visited Japan in 1962, causing the widespread embrace of the
electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gui ...
called the "''Ereki'' boom".
Yūzō Kayama
is a Japanese popular musician, singer-songwriter and actor.
Life and career
Son of mid-twentieth century film star Ken Uehara,and actress Yoko Kozakura, ( ja) Kayama graduated from Keio University. Yuzo Kayama signed with Toho and made his ...
and
Takeshi Terauchi
, also known as Terry, was a Japanese instrumental rock guitarist. His preferred guitar was a black Mosrite with a white pickguard. His guitar sound was characterized by frenetic picking, heavy use of tremolo picking and frequent use of his gu ...
became famous players of electric guitar.
In 1966,
the Beatles
The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...
came to Japan and sang their songs at the
Nippon Budokan
The , often shortened to simply Budokan, is an indoor arena located in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It was originally built for the inaugural Olympic judo competition in the 1964 Summer Olympics. While its primary purpose is to host martial arts con ...
, becoming the first
rock music
Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as " rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles in the mid-1960s and later, particularly in the United States an ...
band to perform a concert there. The public believed that the Beatles would cause
juvenile delinquency
Juvenile delinquency, also known as juvenile offending, is the act of participating in unlawful behavior as a minor or individual younger than the statutory age of majority. In the United States of America, a juvenile delinquent is a person ...
.
The Japanese government deployed
riot police
Riot police are police who are organized, deployed, trained or equipped to confront crowds, protests or riots.
Riot police may be regular police who act in the role of riot police in particular situations or they may be separate units organize ...
against young rock fans at the Nippon Budokan.
John Lennon
John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...
felt that they were not well regarded in Japan, but
Beatlemania
Beatlemania was the fanaticism surrounding the English rock band the Beatles in the 1960s. The group's popularity grew in the United Kingdom throughout 1963, propelled by the singles "Please Please Me", "From Me to You" and "She Loves You". By ...
has never really died there. The Beatles inspired Japanese bands, creating the
group sounds
, often abbreviated as GS, is a genre of Japanese rock music which became popular in the mid to late 1960s and initiated the fusion of Japanese ''kayōkyoku'' music and Western rock music. Their music production techniques were regarded as playin ...
genre in Japan.
Most Japanese musicians felt that they could not sing rock in
Japanese
Japanese may refer to:
* Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia
* Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan
* Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture
** Japanese diaspor ...
, so the popularity of Japanese rock gradually declined.
As a result, there were debates such as "Should we sing rock music in Japanese?" and "Should we sing in English?" between
Happy End and
Yuya Uchida about Japanese rock music. This confrontation was called . Happy End proved that rock music could be sung in Japanese, and one theory holds that their music became one of the origins of modern J-pop.
The Beatles also inspired
Eikichi Yazawa
is a Japanese singer-songwriter, and a prominent figure in Japanese popular music. Yoko Yazawa of The Generous is his daughter. He has been nicknamed as Ei-chan (永ちゃん), Boss or The King of Rock.
Biography
Sources:
1949-1967: Early Lif ...
, who grew up in an underprivileged family, his father dying when he was a child.
Keisuke Kuwata
is a Japanese multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter, and frontman for the Southern All Stars, as well of his own solo band, the Kuwata band. He has also done a significant amount of scoring music for films. He went to Aoyama Gakuin University ...
, who grew up in a dual-income family, was influenced by the Beatles through his older sister, then an avid fan.
Yōsui Inoue
is a Japanese singer, lyricist, composer, guitarist and record producer, who is an important figure in Japanese music. "Hailed as the Bob Dylan of Japan .. He is renowned for his unique tone, eccentric lyrics, and dark sunglasses which he alway ...
was also a fan of The Beatles, but he said that his music style was not particularly related to them. After Happy End disbanded in 1973,
Haruomi Hosono
, sometimes credited as Harry Hosono, is a Japanese musician, singer, songwriter and record producer. He is considered to be one of the most influential musicians in Japanese pop music history, credited with shaping the sound of Japanese pop for ...
, a former member, began a solo career and later formed
Yellow Magic Orchestra
Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO for short) is a Japanese electronic music band formed in Tokyo in 1978 by Haruomi Hosono (bass, keyboards, vocals), Yukihiro Takahashi (drums, lead vocals) and Ryuichi Sakamoto (keyboards, vocals). The group is conside ...
.
1970s: Development of "new music"
''Fōku'' and new music
In the early 1960s, some Japanese music became influenced by the
American folk music revival
The American folk music revival began during the 1940s and peaked in popularity in the mid-1960s. Its roots went earlier, and performers like Josh White, Burl Ives, Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly, Big Bill Broonzy, Billie Holiday, Richard Dyer-Benn ...
; this was called , although the genre of music was mostly covers of original songs. In the late 1960s,
the Folk Crusaders
, also known as simply , was a Japanese Folk music, folk group, popular in Japan in the later half of the 1960s.
Career
The band was formed in 1965 by the five university students Kazuhiko Katō, Osamu Kitayama, Yoshio Hiranuma, Mikio Imura and ...
became famous and the underground music around that time became called ''fōku''. As with ''enka'', Japanese ''fōku'' singers Wataru Takada performed social satires.
In the early 1970s, the emphasis shifted from ''fōku''s simple songs with a single guitar accompaniment to more complex musical arrangements known as .
Instead of social messages, the songs focused on more personal messages, such as love. In 1972, singer-songwriter
Takuro Yoshida
is a Japanese male singer-songwriter. He was born on April 5, 1946 in Okuchi, Kagoshima and raised in Hiroshima. He made his debut with the single "Imeji no Uta / Mark II" on June 1, 1970. His 1972 recording of "Tabi no Yado" sold over one m ...
produced a hit song "Kekkon Shiyouyo" ("Let's marry") without decent television promotion, though fans of ''fōku'' music became very angry because his music seemed to be a mersh music.
The highest-selling single of the year was the ''enka'' song by
Shiro Miya and the Pinkara Trio, "
Onna no Michi
is the debut single by Shiro Miya & Pinkara Trio released on May 10, 1972, in Japan. The lyrics are simple, but sad. The song is written about a woman who devoted herself to her only man but was deserted by him and was crying. The single became ...
".
The song eventually sold over 3.25 million copies.
On December 1, 1973,
Yōsui Inoue
is a Japanese singer, lyricist, composer, guitarist and record producer, who is an important figure in Japanese music. "Hailed as the Bob Dylan of Japan .. He is renowned for his unique tone, eccentric lyrics, and dark sunglasses which he alway ...
released the album ''
Kōri no Sekai'', which topped the Oricon charts and remained in Top 10 for 113 weeks. It spent 13 consecutive weeks in the number-one spot, and eventually established a still-standing record of a total 35 weeks at the number-one position on the Oricon charts.
Yumi Matsutoya
, nicknamed , is a Japanese singer, composer, lyricist and pianist. Generally the writer of both the lyrics and the music in her songs, she is renowned for her idiosyncratic voice and live performances, and is one of the most prominent figures ...
, formerly known by her maiden name Yumi Arai, also became a notable singer-songwriter during this period In October 1975, she released a single "Ano Hi ni Kaeritai" ("I want to return to that day"), making it her first number-one single on the Oricon charts.
Miyuki Nakajima
(born February 23, 1952, Sapporo, Hokkaidō, Japan) is a Japanese singer-songwriter and radio personality. She has released 43 studio albums, 46 singles, 6 live albums and multiple compilations as of January 2020. Her sales have been estimated ...
,
Amii Ozaki
, real name , is a Japanese singer songwriter born on 19 March 1957 in Kita-ku, Kyoto, Kita-ku, Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. She has written music such as ''Oribia o Kikinagara'' by Anri and ''Tenshi no Uinku'' by Seiko Matsuda, as well as many ...
, and
Junko Yagami
, is a Japanese singer and songwriter from the Aichi Prefecture. She has released 25 albums, including 6 Album#Live, live concert albums, and is a notable figure in Japanese music of the 1970s and 1980s.
Biography
Upbringing
Junko Yagami ...
were also popular singer-songwriters during this period. At first, only Yumi Matsutoya was commonly called a new music artist, but the concept of Japanese ''fōku'' music changed around that time.
In 1979,
Chage and Aska
were a Japanese popular music duo composed of male singer-songwriters from Fukuoka Prefecture: and . To date they have sold over 31 million albums and singles in Japan.
History
They were formed in the late 1970s at the suggestion of the A&R ...
made their debut, and folk band
Off Course
Off Course was a Japanese folk rock band formed by Kazumasa Oda and Yasuhiro Suzuki. They broke up after a farewell performance at the Tokyo Dome on February 26, 1989.
Their most famous songs are "Sayonara" (さよなら), "YES-YES-YES", "Setsu ...
(with singer
Kazumasa Oda
is a Japanese singer-songwriter, and composer. He was the leader of folk rock band Off Course from 1969 to 1989, and has done solo work since 1985.
As the vocalist of Off Course, Oda wrote many Japanese standard numbers in the 70s and 80s. Th ...
) released a hit song "Sayonara" ("Good-bye").
Emergence of Japanese rock and electronic music
Rock music
Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as " rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles in the mid-1960s and later, particularly in the United States an ...
remained a relatively
underground music
Underground music is music with practices perceived as outside, or somehow opposed to, mainstream popular music culture. Underground music is intimately tied to popular music culture as a whole, so there are important tensions within underground ...
genre in the early 1970s in Japan,
though
Happy End managed to gain mainstream success fusing rock with traditional
Japanese music
In Japan, music includes a wide array of distinct genres, both traditional and modern. The word for "music" in Japanese is 音楽 (''ongaku''), combining the kanji 音 ''on'' (sound) with the kanji 楽 ''gaku'' (music, comfort). Japan is the world ...
.
Several Japanese musicians began experimenting with
electronic music
Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...
, including
electronic rock
Electronic rock is a music genre that involves a combination of rock music and electronic music, featuring instruments typically found within both genres. It originates from the late 1960s, when rock bands began incorporating electronic instrume ...
. The most notable was the internationally renowned
Isao Tomita
, often known simply as Tomita, was a Japanese composer, regarded as one of the pioneers of electronic music and space music, and as one of the most famous producers of analog synthesizer arrangements. In addition to creating note-by-note rea ...
, whose 1972 album ''Electric Samurai: Switched on Rock'' featured electronic
synthesizer
A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...
renditions of contemporary rock and
pop songs
Pop Airplay (also called Mainstream Top 40, Pop Songs, and Top 40/ CHR) is a 40-song music chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' Magazine that ranks the most popular songs of pop music being played on a panel of Top 40 radio stations in the Un ...
.
Other early examples of electronic rock records include
Inoue Yousui
Inoue (kanji: , historical kana orthography: ''Winouhe'') is the 16th most common Japanese surname. Historically, it was also romanized as Inouye, and many Japanese-descended people outside of Japan still retain this spelling. A less common vari ...
's
folk rock
Folk rock is a hybrid music genre that combines the elements of folk and rock music, which arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music revival. Performers suc ...
and
pop rock
Pop rock (also typeset as pop/rock) is a fusion genre with an emphasis on professional songwriting and recording craft, and less emphasis on attitude than rock music. Originating in the late 1950s as an alternative to normal rock and roll, earl ...
album ''Ice World'' (1973) and Osamu Kitajima's Progressive rock, progressive psychedelic rock album ''Benzaiten'' (1974), both of which involved contributions from Haruomi Hosono, who later started the electronic music group "Yellow Magic Band" (later known as Yellow Magic Orchestra) in 1977.
In 1978,
Eikichi Yazawa
is a Japanese singer-songwriter, and a prominent figure in Japanese popular music. Yoko Yazawa of The Generous is his daughter. He has been nicknamed as Ei-chan (永ちゃん), Boss or The King of Rock.
Biography
Sources:
1949-1967: Early Lif ...
's rock single "Jikan yo Tomare" ("Time, Stop") became a smash hit that sold over 639,000 copies. He is regarded as one of the pioneers of Japanese rock. He sought worldwide success, and in 1980 he signed a contract with the Warner Pioneer record company and moved to the West Coast of the United States. He recorded the albums ''Yazawa'', ''It's Just Rock n' Roll'', and ''Flash in Japan'', all of which were released worldwide, but were not very commercially successful.
Keisuke Kuwata
is a Japanese multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter, and frontman for the Southern All Stars, as well of his own solo band, the Kuwata band. He has also done a significant amount of scoring music for films. He went to Aoyama Gakuin University ...
formed the rock band
Southern All Stars
, also known by the abbreviations and SAS, are a Japanese rock band that first formed in 1974.
The band is composed of Keisuke Kuwata (lead vocals and guitars), Yuko Hara (vocals and keyboards), Kazuyuki Sekiguchi (bass), Hiroshi Matsuda (dru ...
(SAS), which made their debut in 1978. Southern All Stars remains very popular in Japan today.
In the same year,
Yellow Magic Orchestra
Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO for short) is a Japanese electronic music band formed in Tokyo in 1978 by Haruomi Hosono (bass, keyboards, vocals), Yukihiro Takahashi (drums, lead vocals) and Ryuichi Sakamoto (keyboards, vocals). The group is conside ...
(YMO) also made their official debut with their Yellow Magic Orchestra (album), self-titled album. The band, whose members were
Haruomi Hosono
, sometimes credited as Harry Hosono, is a Japanese musician, singer, songwriter and record producer. He is considered to be one of the most influential musicians in Japanese pop music history, credited with shaping the sound of Japanese pop for ...
, Yukihiro Takahashi and Ryuichi Sakamoto, developed electropop, or technopop as it is known in Japan,
in addition to pioneering synthpop and electro music.
Their 1979 album ''Solid State Survivor'' reached number one on the
Oricon
, established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan and Western music. It started as, which was founded by Sōkō Koike in Nov ...
charts in July 1980, and went on to sell two million records worldwide.
At around the same time, the YMO albums ''Solid State Survivor'' and ''X∞Multiplies'' held both the top two spots on the
Oricon
, established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan and Western music. It started as, which was founded by Sōkō Koike in Nov ...
charts for seven consecutive weeks, making YMO the only band in Japanese chart history to achieve this feat. Young fans of their music during this period became known as the . YMO had a significant impact on Japanese pop music, which started becoming increasingly dominated by
electronic music
Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...
due to their influence,
and they had an equally large impact on electronic music across the world.
Southern All Stars and Yellow Magic Orchestra symbolized the end of New Music and paved the way for the emergence of the J-pop genre in the 1980s.
Both bands, SAS and YMO, would later be ranked at the top of HMV Group, HMV Japan's list of top 100 Japanese musicians of all time.
1980s: Fusion with "kayōkyoku"
City pop
In the early 1980s, with the spread of car stereos, the term came to describe a type of popular music that had a big city theme.
Tokyo in particular inspired many songs of this form. During this time, music fans and artists in Japan were influenced by album-oriented rock (especially Adult contemporary music, adult contemporary) and crossover (music), crossover (especially jazz fusion).
City pop was affected by new music, though its origins have been traced back to the mid-1970s, with the work of the Japanese rock band
Happy End and its former member
Haruomi Hosono
, sometimes credited as Harry Hosono, is a Japanese musician, singer, songwriter and record producer. He is considered to be one of the most influential musicians in Japanese pop music history, credited with shaping the sound of Japanese pop for ...
, as well as Tatsuro Yamashita.
The popularity of city pop declined when the Japanese asset price bubble burst in 1990. Its musical characteristics (except its "cultural background") were inherited by 1990s
Shibuya-kei
is a microgenre of pop music or a general aesthetic that flourished in Japan in the mid-to late 1990s. The music genre is distinguished by a "cut-and-paste" approach that was inspired by the kitsch, fusion, and artifice from certain music style ...
musicians such as
Pizzicato Five
Pizzicato Five (formerly typeset as Pizzicato V and sometimes abbreviated to P5)Yang Jeff, Dina Can, Terry Hong, (1997) ''Eastern Standard Time'' pg 277 New York: Mariner Books was a Japanese pop band formed in Tokyo in 1979 by multi-instrume ...
and
Flipper's Guitar
Flipper's Guitar (フリッパーズ・ギター) were a Tokyo-based rock band led by (and later a duo of) Keigo Oyamada and Kenji Ozawa. The band were influenced by the chirpy sound of British 80s pop and post-punk groups like Haircut 100, Exhib ...
.
Growth of the Japanese rock industry
Throughout the 1980s, rock bands such as
Southern All Stars
, also known by the abbreviations and SAS, are a Japanese rock band that first formed in 1974.
The band is composed of Keisuke Kuwata (lead vocals and guitars), Yuko Hara (vocals and keyboards), Kazuyuki Sekiguchi (bass), Hiroshi Matsuda (dru ...
, RC Succession, Anzen Chitai, The Checkers (Japanese band), The Checkers, The Alfee, and The Blue Hearts became popular. Anzen Chitai came from Yosui Inoue's backup band. On December 1, 1983, rock singer Yutaka Ozaki debuted at the age of 18. In 1986, The Alfee became the first artists to play a concert in front of an audience of 100,000 people in Japan. Some Japanese musicians, such as Boøwy, TM Network, and Buck-Tick, were influenced by New Romanticism.
Boøwy became an especially influential rock band, whose members included singer Kyosuke Himuro and guitarist Tomoyasu Hotei. Their three albums reached number one in 1988, making them the first male artists to have three number-ones within a single year. Subsequent Japanese rock bands were modeled on this band. Guitarist Tak Matsumoto, who supported TM Network's concerts, formed rock duo B'z with singer Koshi Inaba in 1988.
In the late 1980s, all-female band, girl band Princess Princess (band), Princess Princess became a successful pop-rock band. Their singles "Diamonds" and "Sekai de Ichiban Atsui Natsu" ("World's Hottest Summer") were ranked at the number-one and number-two spots, respectively, on the 1989 Oricon Yearly Single Charts.
In the late 1980s, a new trend also emerged in Japanese rock music: the ''visual kei'', a movement notable by male bands who wore makeup, extravagant hair styles, and androgynous costumes. The most successful representatives of the movement are X Japan (formerly known as "X") and Buck-Tick. X Japan released their first album ''Vanishing Vision'' on the indie label Extasy Records in 1988; their album ''Blue Blood (X Japan album), Blue Blood'' was released on Sony Music Entertainment Japan, CBS Sony in 1989. ''Blue Blood'' sold 712,000 copies, and their 1991 album ''Jealousy (X Japan album), Jealousy'' sold over 1.11 million copies. Surprisingly, X Japan were a heavy metal music, heavy metal band, but guitarist Hide (musician), hide later came under the influence of alternative rock, releasing his first solo album ''Hide Your Face'' in 1994 and launching his successful solo career.
Golden age, decline and transfiguration of Idols
In the 1970s, the popularity of female
idol
Idol or Idols may refer to:
Religion and philosophy
* Cult image, a neutral term for a man-made object that is worshipped or venerated for the deity, spirit or demon that it embodies or represents
* Murti, a point of focus for devotion or medit ...
singers such as Mari Amachi, Saori Minami,
Momoe Yamaguchi
, known by her maiden name , is a Japanese former singer, actress, and idol whose career lasted from 1972 to 1980. Often simply referred to by her given name "Momoe," Yamaguchi is one of the most successful singers in Japanese music, releasing 32 ...
, and
Candies increased. Momoe Yamaguchi was one of the first ''
kayōkyoku
is a Japanese pop music genre, which became a base of modern J-pop. ''The Japan Times'' described ''kayōkyoku'' as "standard Japanese pop" or " Shōwa-era pop".
''Kayōkyoku'' represents a blend of Western and Japanese musical scales. Music i ...
'' singers to use the special pronunciation characteristic of J-pop.
In 1972, Hiromi Go made his debut with the song "Otokonoko Onnanoko" ("Boy and Girl").
Hiromi Go originally came from Johnny & Associates.
In 1976, female duo Pink Lady (duo), Pink Lady made their debut with the single "Pepper Keibu". They released a record nine consecutive number-one singles.
In the 1980s, Japanese idols inherited New Music, though the term fell out of usage.
Seiko Matsuda especially adopted song producers of previous generations.
In 1980, her third single "Kaze wa Aki Iro" ("Wind is autumn color") reached the number-one spot on the Oricon charts.
Haruomi Hosono
, sometimes credited as Harry Hosono, is a Japanese musician, singer, songwriter and record producer. He is considered to be one of the most influential musicians in Japanese pop music history, credited with shaping the sound of Japanese pop for ...
also joined the production of her music.
She eventually became the first artist to make 24 consecutive number-one singles, breaking Pink Lady's record.
Other female idol singers achieved significant popularity in the 1980s, such as Akina Nakamori, Yukiko Okada, Kyōko Koizumi, Yoko Minamino, Momoko Kikuchi, Yōko Oginome, Miho Nakayama, Minako Honda, and Chisato Moritaka. Okada received the Best New Artist award from the Japan Record Awards in 1984. Nakamori won the Grand Prix award for two consecutive years (1985 and 1986), also at the Japan Record Awards.
Japanese idol band Onyanko Club made their debut in 1985, and produced popular singer Shizuka Kudō. They changed the image of Japanese idols.
Around 1985, however, people began to be disenchanted with the system for creating idols. In 1986, idol singer Yukiko Okada's song "Kuchibiru Network" ("Lips' Network"), written by Seiko Matsuda and composed by Ryuichi Sakamoto, became a hit song, but she committed suicide immediately after that.
Hikaru Genji (band), Hikaru Genji, one of the Johnny & Associates bands, made their debut in 1987. They became a highly influential rollerskating boy band, with some of their members gaining their own fame as they got older. Their song "Paradise Ginga", written by Aska (singer), Aska, won the Grand Prix award at the 30th Japan Record Awards in 1988. Some of the group's backing dancers later formed SMAP.
The late 1980s also saw the rise of the female duo Wink (Japanese band), Wink. They didn't laugh, unlike Japanese idols of former eras. Wink debuted in 1988, surpassing the popularity of the then-most popular female duo, BaBe. Wink's song "Samishii Nettaigyo" won the grand prix award at the 31st Japan Record Awards in 1989.
Popular singer
Hibari Misora
was a Japanese singer, actress and cultural icon. She received a Medal of Honor for her contributions to music and for improving the welfare of the public, and was the first woman to receive the People's Honour Award, which was conferred posthu ...
died in 1989, and many ''kayōkyoku'' programs, such as ''The Best Ten'', were closed.
CoCo (group), CoCo made their hit debut with the 1989 single "Equal Romance" for the hit anime series ''Ranma ½''. Tetsuya Komuro, a member of TM Network, broke Seiko Matsuda's streak of 25 consecutive number-ones by making his single "Gravity of Love" to debut at number-one in November 1989.
1990s: Coining of the term "J-pop"
1990–1997: Growing market
In the 1990s, the term J-pop came to refer to all Japanese popular songs except ''
enka
is a Japanese music genre considered to resemble traditional Japanese music stylistically. Modern ''enka'', however, is a relatively recent musical form, which adopts a more traditional musical style in its vocalism than ''ryūkōka'' music, p ...
''.
During this period, the Japanese music industry sought marketing effectiveness. Notable examples of commercial music from the era were the tie-in music from the agency Being (company), Being and the follow-on, Tetsuya Komuro's disco music.
The period between around 1990 and 1993 was dominated by artists from being Inc., the Being agency, including B'z, Tube (band), Tube, B.B.Queens, T-Bolan, Zard, Wands (band), Wands, Maki Ohguro, Deen (band), Deen, and Field of View. They were called the .
Many of those artists topped the charts and established new records,
notably B'z, which eventually established a new record for consecutive number-one singles, surpassing Seiko Matsuda's record. B'z is the Japanese biggest selling artist of all time, according to Oricon charts and RIAJ certifications. On the other hand, Wands, regarded as a pioneer of the "J-pop Boom" of the 1990s, had trouble because member Show Wesugi wanted to play alternative rock/grunge.
Many artists surpassed the two-million-copy mark in the 1990s.
Kazumasa Oda
is a Japanese singer-songwriter, and composer. He was the leader of folk rock band Off Course from 1969 to 1989, and has done solo work since 1985.
As the vocalist of Off Course, Oda wrote many Japanese standard numbers in the 70s and 80s. Th ...
's 1991 single "Oh! Yeah!/Love Story wa Totsuzen ni",
Chage and Aska
were a Japanese popular music duo composed of male singer-songwriters from Fukuoka Prefecture: and . To date they have sold over 31 million albums and singles in Japan.
History
They were formed in the late 1970s at the suggestion of the A&R ...
's 1991 single "Say Yes (Chage and Aska song), Say Yes" and 1993 single "Yah Yah Yah", Kome Kome Club's 1992 single "Kimi ga Iru Dake de", Mr. Children's 1994 single "Tomorrow Never Knows (Mr. Children song), Tomorrow Never Knows" and 1996 single "Namonaki Uta", and Globe (band), Globe's 1996 single "Departures" are examples of songs that sold more than 2 million copies.
Dreams Come True (band), Dreams Come True's 1992 album ''The Swinging Star'' became the first album to sell over 3 million copies in Japan. Mr. Children's 1994 album ''Atomic Heart (album), Atomic Heart'' established a new record, selling 3.43 million copies on Oricon charts.
The duo Chage and Aska, who started recording in late 1979, became very popular during this period. They released a string of consecutive hits throughout the early 1990s; in 1996, they took part in ''MTV Unplugged'', making them the first Asian group to do so.
After TM Network disbanded in 1994, Tetsuya Komuro became a serious song producer. The period between 1994 and 1997 was dominated by dance and techno acts from the , such as TRF (band), TRF, Ryoko Shinohara, Yuki Uchida,
Namie Amuro
Namie Amuro ( ; ja, 安室奈美恵, Amuro Namie, label=none; born September 20, 1977) is a Japanese former recording artist, producer, songwriter, dancer, model, actress and entrepreneur who was active between 1992 and 2018. A leading figure of ...
, Hitomi (singer), Hitomi, Globe (band), Globe, Tomomi Kahala, and Ami Suzuki. In that time, Komuro was responsible for 20 hit songs, each selling more than a million copies.
While Globe's 1996 album ''Globe (album), Globe'' sold 4.13 million copies, establishing a record at the time, Namie Amuro's 1997 song "Can You Celebrate?" sold 2.29 million copies, is the best selling single of all time by the female solo artist in the history of Jpop.
His total sales as a song producer reached 170 million copies. By 1998, Komuro's songs had become less popular. By the middle part of the first decade of the 21st century, Komuro's debt lead him to attempt the sale of his song catalog—which he didn't actually own—to an investor. When the investor found out and sued, Komuro tried to sell the catalog to ''another'' investor in order to pay the judgement he owed the first investor.
Namie Amuro
Namie Amuro ( ; ja, 安室奈美恵, Amuro Namie, label=none; born September 20, 1977) is a Japanese former recording artist, producer, songwriter, dancer, model, actress and entrepreneur who was active between 1992 and 2018. A leading figure of ...
, who was arguably the most popular solo singer in the period, came from the "Okinawa Actors School", which also incubated the bands MAX (band), MAX and Speed (Japanese band), Speed. At first, while still a part of the Komuro Family, Amuro remained in the dance music genre, but she slowly changed her music style to contemporary R&B and ended her partnership with Tetsuya Komuro.
Komuro's band Globe became a Trance music, trance band after their 2001 album ''Outernet''.
1997–1999: Commercial peak
The sales in the Japanese music market continued to increase. In October 1997,
Glay
Glay (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese rock band, formed in Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan, in 1988. Glay primarily composes songs in the rock and pop genres, but they have also arranged songs using elements from a wide variety of genres, includi ...
released their album ''Review (Glay album), Review -The Best of Glay'', which sold 4.87 million copies, breaking Globe's earlier record.
However, it was surpassed in the next year by B'z's album ''B'z The Best "Pleasure"'', which sold 5.12 million copies.
The Japanese market for physical music sales peaked in 1998, recording sales of . In March 1999, Hikaru Utada released her first Japanese album, ''First Love (Hikaru Utada album), First Love'', which sold 7.65 million copies, making it the best-selling album in
Oricon
, established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan and Western music. It started as, which was founded by Sōkō Koike in Nov ...
history.
The late 1990s saw the popularity of rock bands, such as
Glay
Glay (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese rock band, formed in Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan, in 1988. Glay primarily composes songs in the rock and pop genres, but they have also arranged songs using elements from a wide variety of genres, includi ...
, Luna Sea, and L'Arc-en-Ciel, most of them related to the ''visual kei'' movement, though they later changed their style. At the time, rock musicians in Japan were absorbing ''kayōkyoku'' music after the genre vanished.
Glay became especially successful, with massive exposure in the media, comparable to that of the most popular pop singers produced by Tetsuya Komuro.
In July 1999, Glay played a concert to a record audience of 200,000 people at the Makuhari Messe, certified by Guinness World Records as the biggest solo concert in Japan. In July 1999, L'Arc-en-Ciel released two albums, ''Ark (L'Arc-en-Ciel album), Arc'' and ''Ray (L'Arc-en-Ciel album), Ray'', at the same time; they sold over 3.02 million combined copies in the first week of release.
X Japan announced their disbandment in September 1997 and their guitarist Hide (musician), hide died in May 1998. His funeral had a record attendance of 50,000 people, breaking the record of
Hibari Misora
was a Japanese singer, actress and cultural icon. She received a Medal of Honor for her contributions to music and for improving the welfare of the public, and was the first woman to receive the People's Honour Award, which was conferred posthu ...
, whose funeral was attended by 42,000 people. After his death, his single "Pink Spider" and album ''Ja, Zoo'' were certified million-sellers by the
Recording Industry Association of Japan
The is an industry trade group composed of Japanese corporations involved in the music industry. It was founded in 1942 as the Japan Phonogram Record Cultural Association, and adopted its current name in 1969.
The RIAJ's activities include pr ...
.
Johnny & Associates produced many all-male groups: SMAP, Tokio (band), Tokio, V6 (band), V6, KinKi Kids and Arashi. SMAP hit the J-pop scene in a major way in the 1990s through a combination of TV "Tarento" shows and singles, with one of its singers, Takuya Kimura, becoming a popular actor commonly known as "Kimutaku" in later years.
By the late 1990s, the girl group Speed (Japanese band), Speed was very popular; they announced their disbandment in 1999. The group returned to the music scene in 2008. Another all-female band, Morning Musume, produced by Tsunku, former leader of band Sharam Q became very popular, with a string of releases that were sales hits before even being released. The group's popularity gave origin to the Hello! Project. Following the pattern set a decade before by the 1980s all-female Onyanko Club, Morning Musume spawned several splinter bands.
In the late 1990s and early 21st century, female singers such as Hikaru Utada, Ayumi Hamasaki, Misia (singer), Misia, Mai Kuraki, and
Ringo Shiina
, known by her stage name , is a Japanese singer, songwriter and musician. She is also the founder and lead vocalist of the band Tokyo Jihen.
She describes herself as "". She was ranked number 36 in a list of Japan's top 100 musicians compiled ...
became chart-toppers who write their own songs or their own lyrics. Hikaru Utada is the daughter of
Keiko Fuji
(5 July 1951 – 22 August 2013), known primarily by the stage name was a Japanese singer and actress. She had success in Japan in the 1960s and 1970s with her ballad-type songs. She was married on-and-off with Utada Teruzane, and was the ...
, a popular singer of the 1970s. Ayumi Hamasaki was made Utada's contemporary rival, though both women claimed the "competition" was merely a creation of their record companies and the media.
Zeebra introduced hip hop music to Japanese mainstream music. In 1999, was featured by Dragon Ash in their song titled "Grateful Days", which topped the Oricon charts.
2000s: Diversification
Avex group
Ayumi Hamasaki won Grand Prix awards for three consecutive years—the first time in Japan Record Award history—between 2001 and 2003. Although Hamasaki became very famous, Tom Yoda, then-chairman of her record company Avex Group, argued that her tactics were risky, because Avex disregarded the modern portfolio theory.
This concern disappeared when the company's other singers (such as Ai Otsuka, Kumi Koda, and Exile (Japanese band), Exile) also reached a certain level of popularity in the mid-2000s under Yoda's management policy.
BoA, a Korean singer also a part of Avex group, also achieved high levels of success although being Korean in Japan. She opened the Hallyu door to other Korean artists so that they may achieve varying levels of success in Japan as well.
''Chaku-uta''
In December 2002, the digital-download market for was created by mobile-phone company au (mobile phone company), au. The market for digital downloads grew rapidly, and Hikaru Utada's 2007 song "Flavor of Life" sold over 7 million downloaded copies. In October 2007, EMI Music Japan announced that Utada was the world's first artist to have 10 million digital sales in one year. According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry's 2009 digital music report, Thelma Aoyama's digital single "Soba ni Iru ne" and
Greeeen
Greeeen (stylized as GReeeeN) is a Japanese vocal group from Kōriyama in Fukushima Prefecture, comprising the all-male four members: HIDE, navi, 92 (read as "kuni"), and SOH.
They made their debut with Universal Music in 2007. Their logo image i ...
's digital single "Kiseki (Greeeen song), Kiseki" sold 8.2 million copies and 6.2 million copies, respectively, in the 2008 download rankings.
Japanese hip hop and urban pop
In the first decade of the 21st century, hip hop music and contemporary R&B influences in Japanese music started to gain attention in popular mainstream music. In November 2001, R&B duo Chemistry (band), Chemistry's debut album ''The Way We Are (Chemistry album), The Way We Are'' sold over 1.14 million copies in the first week, and debuted at the number-one position on the Oricon weekly album charts. Hip hop bands such as Rip Slyme and Ketsumeishi were also at the top of the
Oricon
, established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan and Western music. It started as, which was founded by Sōkō Koike in Nov ...
charts.
Rock band Orange Range featured several elements of hip hop in their music. Orange Range's album ''musiQ'' sold over 2.6 million copies, making it the number one album of 2005 on the Oricon charts.
Pop/R&B singer Ken Hirai topped the Oricon yearly album chart in 2006 with the release of his greatest hits album ''10th Anniversary Complete Single Collection '95-'05 Utabaka'', selling over 2 million copies.
The pop/hip-hop duo, Halcali, have the honor of being the first Japanese female hip-hop artists to break the
Oricon
, established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan and Western music. It started as, which was founded by Sōkō Koike in Nov ...
top 10 charts. They have also performed overseas two times in 2008, once at the Anime Central festival in Chicago, and once more at Central Park, NYC on Japan Day.
Exile (Japanese band), Exile, the dance-vocal group under Avex's sublabel Rhythm Zone, had several million-seller albums. Their album ''Exile Love'' topped the Oricon yearly album chart in 2008.
Veteran rapper Dohzi-T collaborated with popular singers such as Shota Shimizu, Hiromi Go, Miliyah Kato, and Thelma Aoyama in his successful 2008 album ''12 Love Stories''.
Although there were only 132 new artists in Japan in 2001, according to the
Recording Industry Association of Japan
The is an industry trade group composed of Japanese corporations involved in the music industry. It was founded in 1942 as the Japan Phonogram Record Cultural Association, and adopted its current name in 1969.
The RIAJ's activities include pr ...
, the number increased to 512 in 2008. In 2008, 14 new artists, such as Thelma Aoyama, attended the NHK Kōhaku Uta Gassen for the first time.
Popularity of live performances and veteran musicians
Rock musicians such as Mr. Children, B'z,
Southern All Stars
, also known by the abbreviations and SAS, are a Japanese rock band that first formed in 1974.
The band is composed of Keisuke Kuwata (lead vocals and guitars), Yuko Hara (vocals and keyboards), Kazuyuki Sekiguchi (bass), Hiroshi Matsuda (dru ...
, and
Glay
Glay (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese rock band, formed in Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan, in 1988. Glay primarily composes songs in the rock and pop genres, but they have also arranged songs using elements from a wide variety of genres, includi ...
still topped the charts in the first decade of the 21st century. Mr. Children's song "Sign (Mr. Children song), Sign" won the Grand Prix award at the 46th Japan Record Awards in 2004. When the group released their album ''Home (Mr. Children album), Home'' in 2007, they passed 50 million albums and singles sold, making them the second-highest selling artist of all time in Japan since the origin of Oricon—just behind B'z, who held the number-one position with more than 75 million records sold until then.
''Home'' topped the 2007 Oricon yearly album charts.
The sales of physical CDs declined, but audiences to see live performances increased.
Eikichi Yazawa
is a Japanese singer-songwriter, and a prominent figure in Japanese popular music. Yoko Yazawa of The Generous is his daughter. He has been nicknamed as Ei-chan (永ちゃん), Boss or The King of Rock.
Biography
Sources:
1949-1967: Early Lif ...
took part in rock festivals, and, in 2007, he became the first artist to have performed 100 concerts at the
Nippon Budokan
The , often shortened to simply Budokan, is an indoor arena located in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It was originally built for the inaugural Olympic judo competition in the 1964 Summer Olympics. While its primary purpose is to host martial arts con ...
.
Other artists, such as
Namie Amuro
Namie Amuro ( ; ja, 安室奈美恵, Amuro Namie, label=none; born September 20, 1977) is a Japanese former recording artist, producer, songwriter, dancer, model, actress and entrepreneur who was active between 1992 and 2018. A leading figure of ...
, also continued their long-running careers with successful releases in this period. Her live tour, Namie Amuro Best Fiction tour 2008-2009, not only became the biggest live tour by a Japanese solo female artist—attended by 450,000 fans in Japan—but was also attended by 50,000 fans in Taiwan and
Shanghai
Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...
. While
Kazumasa Oda
is a Japanese singer-songwriter, and composer. He was the leader of folk rock band Off Course from 1969 to 1989, and has done solo work since 1985.
As the vocalist of Off Course, Oda wrote many Japanese standard numbers in the 70s and 80s. Th ...
's 2005 album ''Sōkana'' topped the Oricon weekly album charts, his 2007 single "Kokoro" reached the weekly single charts, breaking Yujiro Ishihara's record and making him the then-oldest singer to top the single charts. Mariya Takeuchi's greatest hits album ''Expressions'' topped the Oricon album chart in 2008, making her the oldest female singer with the longest active career to reach the number-one position.
Johnny & Associates
Johnny & Associates's all-male groups remained well-known. In 2001, SMAP released their greatest-hits album ''SMAP Vest'', which sold over a million copies in the first week. In November 2001, Johnny & Associates established the label J Storm for their band Arashi. SMAP's 2003 single "Sekai ni hitotsu dake no hana" sold more than two million copies, being the number-one single in the Oricon yearly single charts for that year. In 2007, Guinness World Records honored KinKi Kids for holding a world record for the number of singles debuting at the number-one position since their debut: 25. SMAP was said to fight a lonely battle at the Kōhaku Uta Gassen, as seen from the viewpoint of its audience share. In 2008, male musicians established a record of four consecutive wins at the Kōhaku Uta Gassen. Arashi's greatest hits album ''All the Best! 1999–2009'' topped the 2009 Oricon yearly album charts.
Johnny & Associates also produced new groups such as Hey! Say! JUMP, Tackey & Tsubasa, News (band), NEWS, Kanjani Eight, and KAT-TUN. In 2006, KAT-TUN's debut single "Real Face", written by Shikao Suga and composed by Tak Matsumoto, sold over one million copies and topped the Oricon Yearly Charts.
In 2007, temporary Johnny's Jr. group Hey! Say! JUMP, Hey! Say! 7 broke a record as the youngest male group to ever top Oricon charts, with an average age of 14.8 years. Later that year, Hey! Say! JUMP broke a record as the largest group to debut in Johnny's Entertainment, Johnny's history, with ten members. They also became the youngest group ever to perform in Tokyo Dome with the average age of 15.7 years old. On the 2008 yearly singles charts, only one single ranked in the top 30 was sung by a female (Namie Amuro's single "60s 70s 80s") except gender-mixed groups, partly because the boy bands enjoyed an advantage in physical single sales. In 2009, Johnny's Jr. artist Yuma Nakayama w/B.I.Shadow became the youngest artist to have their first single to debut at the number-one spot, as the band had an average age of 14.6 years, breaking the former record set by female group Minimoni, 14.8 years.
Cover versions and classical pop
In February 2001, Ulfuls released their cover version of
Kyu Sakamoto
was a Japanese singer and actor.
He was best known outside Japan for his international hit song "Ue o Muite Arukō" (known as "Sukiyaki" in English-speaking markets), which was sung in Japanese and sold over 13 million copies. It reached number ...
's 1963 song "Ashita Ga Arusa". Their cover version debuted at the number-five position, behind Utada, Kinki Kids, Hamasaki and Hirai. In March, Yoshimoto Kogyo's special band "Re: Japan" also released their cover version of "Ashita Ga Arusa". When Ulfuls's cover version of this song remained at number eight, Re: Japan's version topped the Oricon weekly single charts.
In 2003, Man Arai released the single "Sen no Kaze ni Natte" ("As A Thousand Winds") based on the Western poem "Do not stand at my grave and weep". In Japan, the poem was known for Rokusuke Ei's reading at the funeral of Kyu Sakamoto in 1985. Japanese tenor singer Masafumi Akikawa covered the song in 2006. Akikawa's cover version of the song became the first classical music single to top the Oricon charts, and sold over one million copies.
On the 2007 Oricon Yearly Charts, the single became the best-selling physical single, scoring a victory over Utada's "Flavor of Life".
Oricon claimed that the song was not J-pop. On the other hand, sheet music from the Zen-On Music Company Ltd classified the song as J-pop.
Hideaki Tokunaga covered many female songs on his cover album series, ''Vocalist''. He released ''Vocalist'', ''Vocalist 2'', ''Vocalist 3'', ''Vocalist 4'' and ''Vocalist Vintage (Vocalist 5)'' in 2005, 2006, 2007, 2010, and 2012 respectively. In August 2007, ''Vocalist 3'' became Oricon weekly number-one cover album with 2 weeks (tied the record in Japan), and in May 2010, ''Vocalist 4'' became the Japan first Oricon monthly number-one cover album.
In 2010, other singers also released cover albums of Japanese songs such as Juju (singer), Juju's ''Request (Juju album), Request'' and Kumi Koda's ''Eternity: Love & Songs''. Superfly (band), Superfly released a single that came with a cover album of Western rock songs, titled ''Wildflower & Cover Songs: Complete Best 'Track 3''', ultimately becoming the band's third consecutive album to debut at number one on the Oricon weekly album charts.
Influence from neofolk and neo Shibuya-kei
Folk duos, such as 19 (band), 19, Yuzu (band), Yuzu and Kobukuro, became popular during the period. Their music was called "neofolk". In October 2007, Kobukuro's double-album ''All Singles Best'' became the first male album to ship three million copies in the 21st century in Japan. In January 2008, their album ''5296'' beat out Ayumi Hamasaki's album ''Guilty (Ayumi Hamasaki album), Guilty'' on the Oricon charts, though she previously had eight consecutive number-one studio albums.
Electronic music bands such as Plus-Tech Squeeze Box and Capsule (band), Capsule were called "neo Shibuya-kei". Yasutaka Nakata, a member of Capsule, became the song producer for girl group Perfume (Japanese band), Perfume. In April 2008, for the first time as a technopop band in 25 years since Yellow Magic Orchestra's 1983 album ''Naughty Boys (album), Naughty Boys'', Perfume achieved a number-one album ''Game (Perfume album), Game'' on the Oricon charts. In July 2008, their single "Love the World" debuted at number one, making it the first technopop song to reach number one in Oricon history.
Other Japanese female technopop artists soon followed, including Mitsuki Aira, Aira Mitsuki, immi, Masami Mitsuoka, Mizca, SAWA, Saori at destiny, Saoriiiii, and Sweet Vacation.
Anime music, image song and Vocaloid
During the late 2000s and the early 2010s, the music in Japanese animation, anime music industry, such as voice actors and image songs, added weight to Japanese music. Though anime music was formerly influenced by J-pop and ''visual kei'' music, Japanese indie music apparently influenced the genre at the 2006 FanimeCon. In 2007, after sampling (music), sampling voice actress Saki Fujita's voice to develop it, Vocaloid Hatsune Miku was released, and many songs featuring Hatsune Miku were shown on the Nico Nico Douga. Some of the musicians featuring Hatsune Miku, such as Livetune and Supercell (band), Supercell, joined large record companies in Japan. Livetune released ''Re: Package'' on Victor Entertainment on August 27, 2008,
and Supercell released ''Supercell (album), Supercell'' on Sony Music Entertainment Japan, Sony Music on March 4, 2009.
The albums ''Re: Package'' and ''Supercell'' were not brought under the control of the copyright system of the Japanese Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers (JASRAC), breaking the tradition that the musicians under the major labels affiliated with the system.
In June 2009, voice actress Nana Mizuki's album ''Ultimate Diamond'' became the first voice actor album to reach number one on the Oricon weekly charts. The fictional all female band Hōka-go Tea Time, from the anime series ''K-On!'', released the mini-album ''Hōka-go Tea Time'' on July 22, 2009. The mini-album debuted at number one on the Oricon weekly album charts, becoming the first album by anime characters to reach number one. In May 2010, ''Exit Tunes Presents Vocalogenesis feat. Hatsune Miku'' became the first album featuring Vocaloids to reach number one on the Oricon weekly charts, replacing Hideaki Tokunaga's ''Vocalist 4'', which had topped the charts for four consecutive weeks.
2010s: Popularity of idol groups
Since the end of the 2000s, more and more Japanese idol, idol groups have emerged. The high number of idol groups in the Japanese entertainment industry is sometimes called the "Warring Idols Period" (アイドル戦国時代, a''idoru sengoku jidai''), an allusion to the Sengoku-jidai. Some of the most successful groups during the 2010s include Hey! Say! JUMP, AKB48, Arashi, Kanjani Eight, Morning Musume, and Momoiro Clover Z.
Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, a Harajuku, Harajuku-based fashion model, made her musical debut in 2011 and gained international popularity with her debut single "Pon Pon Pon", recognized by some Western celebrities such as Katy Perry and Ariana Grande. She is produced by Yasutaka Nakata, who also produces the group Perfume. She subsequently gained success through her songs "Ninja Re Bang Bang" and "Fashion Monster". During 2014, about 486,000 people attended Momoiro Clover Z's live concerts, which was the highest recorded concert attendance for any female musician in Japan.
In 2019, AKB48 announced the postponement of its general election, and Arashi announced the group's hiatus.
Artists
Some Japanese pop artists are extremely popular in Japan, and some also have fanbases in other countries—especially in Asia, but also in Western countries. They influence not only music, but also fashion. As of 2016, the top five best-selling artists in the Japanese
Oricon
, established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan and Western music. It started as, which was founded by Sōkō Koike in Nov ...
charts history are B'z, Mr. Children, Ayumi Hamasaki,
Southern All Stars
, also known by the abbreviations and SAS, are a Japanese rock band that first formed in 1974.
The band is composed of Keisuke Kuwata (lead vocals and guitars), Yuko Hara (vocals and keyboards), Kazuyuki Sekiguchi (bass), Hiroshi Matsuda (dru ...
, and Dreams Come True (band), DREAMS COME TRUE.
Among the five, Hamasaki holds the record for being the only solo artist.
See also
*Cool Japan
*Culture of Japan
*Japanese hardcore
*Japanese ska
*List of J-pop concerts held outside Asia
*City pop
*
Shibuya-kei
is a microgenre of pop music or a general aesthetic that flourished in Japan in the mid-to late 1990s. The music genre is distinguished by a "cut-and-paste" approach that was inspired by the kitsch, fusion, and artifice from certain music style ...
*Music industry of East Asia
*Voice acting in Japan
*K-pop (South Korea)
*C-pop (China)
*Hokkien pop, T-POP (Taiwan)
*Indian pop, Indi-Pop (India)
*Pinoy pop, P-pop (Philippines)
References
Bibliography
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External links
Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ)J-Pop at SKY.FM- A free J-Pop radio channel
A concise history of Japan's City-PopWarner Music Japan , Mariya Takeuchi
{{DEFAULTSORT:J-Pop
J-pop,
1960s in music
1970s in music
1980s in music
1990s in music
2000s in music
2010s in music
Popular music by country