This kind of r &；; Japanese pop styles influenced by B and jazz can be traced back to the end of 1970s and 1980s at the earliest. In 20 17, Maria Takeuchi's plastic love explosion triggered the revival of global urban pop music. This issue of music fever knowledge, together with little Nar, set foot on the Showa time machine and go back to the past together to relive the crazy love in the Japanese metropolis in the Showa era.
Urban pop music is a loosely defined genre in Japanese pop music. It is based on Japanese youth's longing for a bright future and their fashionable and dazzling lifestyle in the1980s. Urban popularity is not so much a genre as a mixture of many other styles. It contains sweet synthesizers, mysterious melodies, sharp instruments and charming harmony, which not only excites the audience, but also confuses them. Have we heard these music?
Like urban pop music, the1980s was also the golden age of Japanese animation, and the romantic aesthetics conveyed by urban pop deeply influenced the animation works of the same period. Urban pop music and animation complement each other and constitute the main content of Japanese cultural output for a long time.
Born in the 1980s and 1990s, we grew up watching Japanese cartoons on TV. We are invisibly inspired by urban pop music, and unconsciously are full of yearning for those modern and prosperous Japanese cities in the animation scene. When you first hear city pop music, memories will flood into your mind. Are they your memories? Whose memory are they? Why do you feel that you have heard these songs before?
The answers to these questions are vague, but those who live in the booming era of urban pop music are in no hurry to tell the whole story. Sometimes concerts will be forgotten by time, but when urban pop music is recovered from memory, it will continue to fascinate the world with an unstoppable rhythm.
Maria takeuchi
Speaking of urban pop, what's the first song you think of? Presumably, many people will think of the representative work "Love in Plastic" that we promoted in "Weekend Wednesday", which was sung by Maria Takeuchi of Japanese pop music.
Maria in the bamboo grew up under the influence of music, which had a deep influence on the bamboo. She left Japan as a teenager, went to the United States as an exchange student for a year when she was a senior in high school, and continued to study European and American literature after returning home. With the encouragement of many professional musicians, Maria Takeuchi signed a contract with RCA Records, released many famous albums, and met her future husband, Yamashita Dalang.
Although this record is very popular and Maria Takeuchi is famous, she is not happy. Takeuchi just wants to make music freely, not be made into an idol singer. With the support and encouragement from Yamashita, the two soon fell in love, and Takeuchi also decided to bid farewell to the music scene. A year later, Takeuchi married Yamashita Dalang and became a songwriter.
From 65438 to 0984, Maria Takeuchi chose to come back with her album Variety, which became one of the most representative albums in Takeuchi. Coincidentally, the love of plastic in the album became popular on 20 17 because of a mixed work, which led to the resurgence of urban popularity.
1984-20 12 year performance
If Maria Takeuchi is the person who leads the revival of urban pop, then her husband Yamashita Dalo is the person who promotes urban pop to become the trend of the times.
Yamashita Dalang was a rebellious man in adolescence, with long hair, playing musical instruments, forming a band, being isolated and almost repeating a grade. He prefers to devote his time and energy to music creation rather than studying. After dropping out of college, Yamashita and his friends formed Sugar Babe and released a unique fusion music album "Songs". Because the style of the band was too avant-garde for the Japanese music scene at that time and was not recognized, the band was dissolved in just two years.
After the band broke up, Yamashita went to the United States to study, develop and try a variety of music styles. 1980, Yamashita released the album "Riding on Time", which became an instant hit and officially opened the urban pop era.
Cat's Eye Three Sisters &; Li Xing
Presumably, many people have seen a classic cartoon "Cat's Eye Three Sisters" when they were young. Even if not, you should have seen their expression packs.
1983 adapted Hojo Tsusaka's cartoon of the same name invited Xing Li, Queen of Citypop, to sing the theme song Cat's Eye. Songs and animations complement each other, making people yearn for the mysterious and charming Tokyo at night.
"Cat's Eye Three Sisters" became popular in Japan as soon as it was broadcast. The sales of EP with the same name reached a record 6.5438+0.3 million, surpassing Oricon and becoming the highest-selling animation theme song in history. As a result, urban pop music gradually merged into Japanese animation.
Night of the Galaxy Railway &; Haruomi Hosono
Not only TV animation, but also urban pop music appeared in animated films. 1985 The classic animated film Night on the Galaxy Railway invited the founder of City Pop, who once formed a band with Ryuichi Sakamoto to produce the soundtrack.
Haruomi Hosono's works combine musicality and artistry perfectly, which sets off the sad theme of the film. Until now, many people think that Without Haruomi Hosono's music, Night on the Galaxy Railway would lose its soul. For a time, urban pop almost became the standard music of animation in that era.
City hunter &; Tetsuya Komuro
1987, another representative work of Tsusaka Hojo, City Hunter, was released and spread all over Asia, becoming a phenomenal animation, thoroughly spreading the trend of urban popularity and becoming a symbol of popular culture in the whole city in the 1980s.
Famous urban pop musicians such as O 'Heeroo, Okamura Yasuyuki, PSY-S and Mariko Takahashi all participated in the production of the animation soundtrack. Even Tetsuya Koike, who will be called the godfather of J-pop in the future, participated in the production and contributed several classic songs to City Hunter, thus establishing an unshakable position in urban popularity.
At that time, Japan was the second largest economy in the world, and the development of manufacturing and enterprises might even surpass that of the West. 1980 Japanese people are addicted to gorgeous clothes, imported wine and international travel, enjoying unprecedented freedom. Influenced by western culture, urban pop music draws a lot of inspiration from American music, such as funk, leisure music and boogie.
Most lyrics of City Pop's works will contain petty bourgeoisie sentiment such as vacation, nightlife and love between men and women. It's like blowing on the beach in summer or driving a convertible under neon lights at night. This kind of drunken night life is not only in music, but also a portrayal of the real world at that time. Sadly, however, Japan suffered from the Great Depression in 1990, and the upsurge of Citypop also withdrew from the historical stage with the economic downturn.
Illustrator Master-Nagai Hiroshi
Besides music and animation, visual art is also an indispensable part of urban popular culture. When it comes to illustrators who are inseparable from urban pop, the first thing that young Nall thinks of is to establish the artistic world of Guinabo, urban pop.
Yong Jingbo's paintings are deeply influenced by surrealist painters such as Margaret and Dali, and inspired by the urban trip on the west coast of the United States. He combined surrealism with American leisure life as the core of his painting. Yong Jingbo widely uses beaches, swimming pools and palm trees to construct beautiful urban landscapes, and adds a lot of blue to highlight the leisure of the city.
198 1 year, Ohtaki Eiichi released Long Holidays, one of the most influential works in the history of Japanese pop music, and the cover of this record came from Guinabo.
Yong Jingbo's paintings are in harmony with Ohtaki Eiichi's songs. At that time, cover pictures were more eye-catching than music, and a large number of passers-by were attracted by the fresh patterns and bright colors on the cover.
The album cover created by Yong Jingbo not only became a symbol of the times, but also made painting a core element of urban popular culture. Since then, the illustrator headed by Nagai Hiroshi has greatly promoted the development of urban pop music, designed a series of album covers and constructed a real and ethereal dream world.
The retro wave not only makes urban pop music popular again, but also gives birth to many genres in the music field, such as Chillwave, Vaporwave, Synthesizer Wave X, LOFI and so on. These schools have a common feature, that is, they like to sample pop music from the 1980s and 1990s, and urban pop was the king of that era. This is undoubtedly a "tribute" to that era.
After reading so much information about Citypop, can't wait to listen to City Pop! Dear as a little Nar, I have prepared these for you. into the pit must listen to the city pop songs!
You can jump to the song list of Netease Cloud Player: Showa Pillow Book.
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