Dominant position of Idol songs

Linda Yamamoto

Pink Lady

Naomi Chiaki

From folk song to New-music

Another important genre was folk song. Starting from college folks in the 1960s, around 1970 politically motivated underground folks became enthusiastically supported by students. After the end of political fever, folk songs turned to be more lyrical and such harmless songs became commercialized.

We can find in such a song as "Kasa ga nai" (I cannot find my umbrella) from 1972 by Yosui Inoue the reflection of the sense of frustration among the young people at the time. The song was a commercial success, and uncovered the tendency of the time to leave political issues and indulge in private life. Yosui continues to write lyrics reflecting the minds of people in the real society. Though their lyrics are often very critical, their melodies are so romantic and deceive the contents wrapped by them. Yosui Inoue writes also many songs for other singers and keeps his popularity till now.

A folk song group Kaguya-hime led by Kousetsu Minami describes in his "Kanda-gawa" made in 1973

Masashi Sada

intimate episodes of a young couple in typically Japanese living conditions, such as going to public bath and sharing a small four-and- a-half-tatami-mat room. Another folk song singer-songwriter Masashi Sada wrote his first hit song "Shoro Nagashi" in 1974.

Songs describing private environment in lyrical and realistic manner became the mainstream in the mid-1970s. But more and more people became dissatisfied with such poor and pitiable contents. At the time, a new city quarter with numerous skyscrapers emerged in Shinjuku and more than 80% of the Japanese people thought that they belonged to the middle class. Against such a background people wanted a new style. "New-music" was developed from lyrical folk song and mirrored sophisticated and rich urban atmosphere. It discarded a simple folk song style to sing with an acoustic guitar in hands and started to use more gorgeous sounds using rock band musicians for accompaniment.

In the New-music female singer-songwriters were very active. Yumi Arai, after marriage Yumi Matsutoya, was a best seller musician for many years. She also wrote many songs for other singers. "Chuo Freeway" is from 1975 and one of her earlier works. It describes a new lifestyle, a drive on a newly made expressway.

Yumi Matsutoya

Miyuki Nakajima is another charisma musician. She made her debut in 1975 and since then continues to write hit songs for her and other singers until present time. "Jidai" (Time) was her first great hit from her debut year. She started as a love story teller, in particular unfulfilled love or deserted woman. I think that this sentiment is similar to that of enka. However, she makes her songs in much more elegant way and with real sense of modern and independent woman. Later, as her age advances, she tends to sing more general human stories. She wrote "Chijou no hoshi" (Stars on the ground) in 2002 as a theme song for the NHK documentary series "Project X" to encourage people working hard to overcome difficult situations and acclaimed nationwide fame. I wrote about Miyuki Nakajima also in my previous essay.

Around 1980 a group of female folk singers sang negative aspects of life such as their sorrowful experiences and unfulfilled desire. Miyuki Nakajima was the only one among them who could become commercially successful in the pop-music scene. But I cannot forget other singers such as Hako Yamasaki and Doji Morita who gave expression to our feelings which could not be taken care of by ordinary commercial songs. I dedicate a special page on this site to Doji Morita.

From New music to J-pop

Exchanges between different music styles developed in the meantime.

Ryudo Uzaki

For example, Japanese rock bands such as Down Town Boogy Oogy Band led by Ryudo Uzaki(*) and Southern All Stars led by Keisuke Kuwata made their way to the kayou-kyoku world, namely the popular commercial music world, at the end of the 1970s.

Southern All Stars is still very active and issues new hits continuously. The majority of their music is rhythmic and with some comical flavor, but I would like to introduce here as an example "Itoshi no Ellie" (Ellie my love) from 1978, as this is a favorite ballad of my buddy Tora in Karaoke and Ray Charles once sang it in English.

Rock musicians occasionally wrote music and lyrics for enka singers and new-music singer-songwriters wrote music for kayou-kyoku singers. New-music singers employed with preference rock bands for their accompaniment. With the rock bands, their eight-beat rhythm came to be absorbed more and more into new music. New-music was gradually gaining its popularity and influencing the kayou-kyoku music. Within new-music rock elements expanded their influence and traditionally Japanese elements gradually went lost. This was the situation of Japanese popular music on the eve of the birth of "J-pop”.