Advice for the beginning J-Pop FanJun 09 '00 Write an essay on this topic.Among people who like J-Pop and anime, I am frequently asked to recommend some good songs to listen to. There doesn't seem to be anywhere else on Epinions to give a take on J-Pop, so this looks like as good a place as any. In some ways worse than the US Music Industry, the Japanese music industry is guilty of manufacturing acts and churning out material that isn't necessarily good, but will sell. There's even a familiar term in Japanese pop culture for their version of Britney Spears and Mandy Moore - the Idol. J-Pop idols typically are attractive young people who will be able to lend any production sex appeal (like Hitomi standing in underwear on her album's cover). Many of them are former actors/actresses or models for picture books (shashinshu). Good examples of these good looking singers of little talent are Kahala Tomomi, Nakama Yukie, and Fukada Kyoko - none of them should be singing professionally based on how their albums sound. Do their albums sell? You bet. The other big craze going on in the J-Pop industry today is the rise of the remix albums. The worst offender of this sort is Hamasaki Ayumi, who released a series of Ayu-Mix albums (yes, plural) after one normal album. Even respectable acts like Every Little Thing fell victim to this drive toward rehashing old material for a buck. I suppose this is J-Pop's version of the sampling that goes on in the US music industry. Various trends in pop music in the US have mirrors in Japan. Most obvious are the BSB/NSync type boy bands like Kinki Kids and V6, the Spice Girl groups like Speed and Morning Musume, and all the Mariah Carey wannabes like Utada Hikaru and Amuro Namie. Does this mean I have unqualified dislike for such acts? Not really. Even the Spice Girls had some good songs, and so do these acts. Okay, all i've done so far is bash the industry - it isn't all that bad, really. The lesson is to be choosy and don't just get what's on the top of the charts. Even terrible songs like Amuro's Can You Celebrate dominated the #1 spot for a long time. Just like N'Sync destroying the sales record in the US, what's popular is not necessarily what's good. What in the world do I listen to? I don't know if I can make a top 10 list of albums since I mostly get 3" singles, but the following is a list of things beginning J-Pop fans may want to give a try (in no particular order): Wands, Singles Collection + 6 (1996) JBCJ-1006 This early 90s group is probably the only one I liked that I would categorize as rock. This collection combines songs from all the albums when the group was still Shibasaki, Uesugi, and Kimura. After Uesugi was no longer doing the vocals, it really wasn't Wands anymore (like the opening theme from Dragonball GT). Every Little Thing, Time to Destination (1998) AVTCD-95169 I'm not sure what happened to Igarashi, but I suspect he's run out of material... which is why most of the new ELT songs are starting to sound alike. Time goes by and Deatta koro no you ni off this album are both outstanding. The group's first album everlasting AVCD-11544 is also very good. Sakai Noriko, In Snowflakes (1996) VICL-847 Most Sakai Noriko albums are either new songs or collections of old songs with one or two new songs. All of her recent albums seem to be totally new songs, but I remember my Noriko worshipping friend commenting that he had certain songs on like 5 different CDs. This album has both of the Hoshi no Kinka themes, Aoi Usagi and Kagami no Doresu - the two best Noriko songs in my opinion. The stuff on here is sort of the midway point between Noriko's Nori-P teenybopper days and her current adult contemporary work. Zard, Today is Another Day (1996) JBCJ-1009 If you've heard one Zard album, you've heard them all - that is what I call Zard Syndrome. The problem with Zard is that the sound is good but repetitive and most of the songs start sounding alike after a while. So, get one or two albums and don't spoil it for yourself. This is the only album I bought, even though i've heard a bunch of them. Sayonara wa Ima mo kono Mune ni Imasu, My Friend, and the title track are the best on the album. Manish, Best Escalation (1998) ZACL-1049 A collection that was made after the duo stopped releasing new material, it contains all the best stuff. They have the classic early-mid 90s J-Pop chick sound. MAX, Maximum Groove (1998) AVCD-11686 One of my guilty pleasures, I am indeed a Max fan, which is almost like being a Spice Girls fan but not quite as bad. The second album was not bad, but this was the first album where Max was finally starting to shed their Eurodance beginnings. Dance music is dance music and it has to be repetitive, but at least the Max songs aren't too bad about it. My favorites off the album aren't the hits, but the relatively unknown tracks Private Crime and Reborn. Some individual songs to try hunting down (yes, I even like some from acts I bash!): Le Couple, Hidamari no Uta trf, Boy Meets Girl trf, Frame V6, Over Speed, Wake Me Up! Speed, Kisetsu ga Iku Toki Tamura Naomi, Yuzurenai Negai Globe, Can't Stop Fallin' In Love Zard, Zyyg, Rev, and Wands, Ame ni Nurete Amuro Namie, Don't Wanna Cry Mawari, Ichi Gomiruku Trinity, Brand New Love MAX, I Will Deen, Hitori ja nai I've also stumbled onto some really good Korean chick groups - even better than Max (which is saying something considering how much I like Max). Fine Killing Liberty (Fin.K.L.) is hands down the best all-girl group i've ever heard - Japanese, English, Korean, whatever. Their second album White is awesome. The other really great Korean chick group S.E.S. has started releasing Japanese albums but their older sound from like their second and third Korean albums was their best work. Now, they have too much lame sounding rap in the songs. Too bad I don't understand Korean. =) Thank goodness for translation sites... heh. Hope some of this helps any new J-Pop listeners who read it.  |
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