before i just start screaming at people about 80s jpop (which i am always doing inside my head), i think i should write a small primer about an Important Concept
namely: What Does It Sound Like?
as city pop has gotten more popular, whenever i mention liking 80s jpop, people are often like "oh! you mean stuff like plastic love! that's so cool!"
and i have to be like "ehehe... no... it's not like that......"
as awesome as city pop is, there was only so much of it in the charts at a time. it was definitely around and pop idols dabbled in it sometimes, but it was not really Pop Music i believe.
there was also a lot of stuff like this, which is the kind of music i inevitably scare all interested parties away with.
however, there is also stuff like this, which sounds basically indistinguishable from western 80s pop of the time.
so what's going on here?
well, at some point eurobeat happened to japan. (if you want me to talk more about eurobeat, don't worry. i will do so in a later post. you have no choice)
in the early 80s, jpop was dominated by the distinctive kayokyoku sound, which had already been well-established in previous decades. the wikipedia page says it's "a blend of western and japanese musical scales" and i do not know enough about music theory to argue. it's mostly sunny uptempo retro-sounding pop tunes with the occasional ballad. think bells, horn sections, and sweeping violins. sometimes something will rock a little bit more, but on the whole there is a major lack of edge. there's also little bloopy synthesizers sometimes because it is the 1980s and we live in the future now.
1985-1986 is the transition period when things really start to get 80s, largely because western eurobeat music hit japan's pop charts hard. synthesizer-heavy, Stock-Aitken-Waterman-influenced eurobeat dance songs begin to appear from idols for the first time. i find this transition period really interesting. any pop artists who survived the transition had to change their music to remain popular. for instance, here's what the idol who did the bloopy synthesizer song i linked was up to just a few years later in 1987. eventually, the synthesizers triumphed over all, and this is when music begins sounding nearly indistinguishable from the 80s music i'm sure you already know about.
i want to make it clear that i love All of this music. like i am not playing favorites. every single song i have linked is something i listen to regularly. speaking of which, i've linked a fuck of a lot of music here if you want something to listen to.
so yes! that's my intro to what i am sure will be many, many more 80s jpop related posts. thank you for reading :)
