Godiego Great Best Japanese Rar
Nelson Suggs
I talked with Takashi Matsumoto for The Japan Times. He\u2019s one of the most important figures in Japanese music history \u2014 the drummer for Happy End, he also played a big part in shaping their lyrical approach, which showed the Japanese language could be used to deliver rock music (controversial at the time!). That alone would be enough for the disc guides, but then Matsumoto went and became one of the most prolific lyricists in the country, writing the words to\u2026I mean, when you have to organize the \u201Cworks\u201D section on Wikipedia like this, you know you are dealing with something intimidating.
One of the most intimidating parts of doing an interview like this is maximizing the hour you are given to talk with the artist (and this one was a tight hour, with another engagement set for like literally ten minutes after we talked), despite wanting to ask about so much. Matsumoto\u2019s career is so windy and full of interesting detours that, in an ideal world, I could talk to him for several hours about every BIBI song he contributed to. For now, can\u2019t do it though! But there\u2019s so much you could dig into.
Matsumoto mentioned this song\u2026as a kind of \u201Coh, right\u201D remembrance after talking about his work with the band Tulip and the singer Agnes Chan\u2026as being the earliest example of him writing lyrics for another artist, at least after Happy End. While very early in his lyricist career and nowhere near the commercial peaks he\u2019d reach in just a few years, \u201CEndan\u201D by folk-rock band Itsutsu No Akai Fuusen offers a great summary of his approach to words. He creates miniature stories playing out in daily scenes, using observations of everyday Japanese life to offer depth and provide emotional complexity.
\u201CEndan\u201D at first feels like a stream-of-conscious report on walking down a typical shopping arcade, observing an older woman selling sweets. As the song carries on, turns out our protagonist is getting married, and this is really the last few hours of their old life, coupled with a subtle but melancholy acceptance of aging (dude really focuses on the 80-year-old lady selling dango). Matsumoto relies on small details to drive the odd feeling this fleeting moment carries, and it pairs perfectly with the band\u2019s reception-worthy guitar melody.
Itsutsu No Akai Fuusen\u2026also really worth your time! A good example of the folk-rock sound proliferating at the time Happy End emerged, with some wonkier slow-burns along the way. Also, pretty solid fashion.
\u201CIn the 1960s, I was still a student. During that time, I encountered the Beatles \u2026 I learned artistic expression through them,\u201D Matsumoto told me, and here he makes his love for the Fab Four clear by zooming in on how those raised on their music sold out on their utopian \u201860s visions in the \u201870s. Translated as \u201CYellow Submarine Embroidery,\u201D this song from duo Peek-A-Boo contemplates the failure of youthful revolution, as captured by our protagonist spotting a once radical fellow with a yellow submarine stitched on their pants\u2026lying on the phone? I think that\u2019s just a general metaphor for the Flower Generation wilting, but this song both strays away from Matsumoto\u2019s usual slice-of-life style in favor of something personal\u2026and also weaves in cynicism for generational failure, a painful pang at realizing those dreams of a better world were just illusions. But hey, nothing millennials like me can get out of this song in 2022!
Harry\u2019s House drove home the point that Haruomi Hosono has become the revered figure of 20th century Japanese music outside of the country. That has been in motion for quite some time \u2014 being part of Yellow Magic Orchestra will do that \u2014 and it was further underlined domestically as publications shared \u201Cbest of the 2010s\u201D lists that revolved around artists drawing directly from and albums taking cues from styles that he facilitated. Harry Styles namedropping him everywhere during promotion for his latest album marked the moment love for Hosono abroad crystallized \u2014 never mind that the former One Direction member\u2019s latest, named after Hosono\u2019s debut album Hosono House, sounds nothing like Hosono House (a release way closer to Happy End, funny enough), the moment this factoid flowed into the world, everyone started talking about Hosono and \u201Ccity pop\u201D and YouTube recommendations in relation to Harry\u2019s House. That\u2019s what a force Hosono has become \u2014 simply mentioning his name adds weight to a totally unrelated project.
Godiego is a rock band that formed in the mid \u201870s, dipping between psych-rock and pure cheese. Matsumoto talked with me a lot about choosing to sing in Japanese even if it meant any slim hopes at international attention would evaporate. Godiego, though, complicate this. If you are a huge fucking nerd\u2026or are Australian\u2026you know them as the band behind the theme song to the 1970s Japanese export Monkey. Yet they\u2019re also responsible for \u201CThe Galaxy Express 999\u201D from the anime of the same name and the soundtrack to 1977\u2019s House, a film that has become a critical darling worldwide in the years since. They also were the first Japanese musical artist to ever play in the People\u2019s Republic Of China which, depending on your vantage point of 21st geopolitics, is arguably the most important accomplishment in their career.
That historic concert included a performance of the song \u201CComing Together In Kathmandu,\u201D also sometimes just known as \u201CKathmandu.\u201D That\u2019s the only Godiego song Matsumoto ever wrote lyrics for, but it\u2019s an important one, both for how it figured into their accomplishments and how it is one of their bigger songs (somewhat inexplicably used as a tie-up song for\u2026cold medicine?
It\u2019s a moment of intersection between Japan\u2019s most prolific lyricist and a band with a sneaky global-minded catalog, but one not at all discussed that much despite a growing interest in older Japanese music. I\u2019m not saying Liam Payne should pivot to Godiego on his next solo effort (he should, actually), but it\u2019s a reminder of how far Japanese acts have actually gone, and who was involved in helping make that happen.
Hosono and Matsumoto crossed paths plenty in the years after Happy End dissolved \u2014 Matsumoto contributed lyrics for YMO, among a bunch of other projects Hosono also found himself involved with. Yet none remind of the \u201Cthat\u2019s business\u201D element of the music industry like the two coming together to pen a song riffing on mythical Chinese zombies for a supernatural drama produced in Taiwan.
\u201CJiangshi!!!\u201D served as a song for the show Lai Lai! Jiangshi, a program that sounds like it has a pretty interesting history \u2014 based on a Taiwanese movie from a few years earlier, Japanese broadcaster TBS invested to have a series produced in the country of origin, and looking at clips I\u2019m not sure how good an investment it was. Nevertheless, they called on actor Emi Akiyama \u2014 at this point best known for appearances on a variety show called Momoco Club and one other single \u2014 to provide a song. Enter half of the most influential Japanese rock band ever to create something sorta similar to \u201CThe Monster Mash\u201D if you really think about it (dance like a zombie, basically).
I include this song because it cuts against a lot of legend, not just with Matsumoto but the idea of \u201Cdiscovered'\u201C Japanese artists in general. It is a total goofball song, for one, though it absolutely has its charm (distorted synths, and a vague feeling of this being \u201CGhostbusters\u201D stuck under a magnifying glass on a summer day). But it also serves as tie-up music for a forgotten TV show, and is a novelty at that. And whereas most of the artists Matsumoto worked with are defining acts of the \u201870s and \u201880s, Akiyama just kind of fizzled out after that. Even legends have weird\u2026albeit endearing\u2026moments in their history.
Akihabara Electric Circus was a supergroup featuring Logic System / the fourth member of Yellow Magic Orchestra Hideki Matsutake, composer Jun Irie and Matsumoto, largely in a production role. They\u2019re best known for their version of the Super Mario Bros. 3 soundtrack, which took the 8-bit original and transformed it into an otaku fever dream of plastic funk. But give me TV, a release existing in the Hard-Off \u201Cnew arrivals\u201D bin of history and easily the funniest album Matsumoto is associated with.
The trio cover television theme songs. That\u2019s it. They do it via the technology of the moment, which is a lot of gloopy synth notes and rhythm machines, but they also bring in guest vocalists to do \u201CBatman\u201D and also\u2026offer little spoken word additions? Most of the numbers here are medleys, with Akihabara Electric Circus creating little dioramas of broadcast history (the police drama set! time for goofy families-that-are-bands sitcoms!) that sound wild when stretched out. I did not know what the hell Combat was, but they take the theme to that and turn it into the silliest basic training party-starter ever, and that\u2019s before a big dumb guitar version of the Star Spangled Banner comes in over the sounds of gunfire and record scratches. If you like Boogie Idol, this is an essential.
Bonus fun element \u2014 so like, all of these shows popular in Japan? Is this also a kind of compact history of Western televisions presence in the country? People were really watching The Virginian out in the Kanagawa suburbs?
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