The Sixty Years of Rock and Japan (4) The turbulent period for rock and the world at the end of 60's
The year of 1967 was a year when everything gad been new in culture from the beginning. In January, Joan Baez, who showed her beautiful voice in 'Dana Dana' in the previous year, had a concert in Japan, and arouse so big movement that her concert was broadcast on TV. Then she talked about the Vietnam War and Hiroshima Atomic Bomb in MC, but the interpreter, Takasaki Ichiro, a familiar DJ of western music hit parade programs, varnished the part, so it became a problem. One theory says then Takasaki was threatened not to interpret the part by CIA.
And in February, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones were arrested for drug possession in London. Then they were called 'bad guys' just for their long hair, so it's easy to imagine how big the impact of 'be arrested for drug' was for Japanese music fans then.
In the May number in 67 of Music Life, the feature story of ' What is psychedelic rock?' was put together relating with the arrest of Mick and Keith. In the feature story, Yukawa Reiko explained LSD and gave detailed information for that stage like it was encouraged by intellects like Allen Ginsberg, a Beat poet or Timothy Leary, a university professor, and the first pop song on the theme of LSD was 'Eight Mile High' by The Byrds. Asatsuma Ichiro wrote an article about 'Flower movement' and said Hippies got high on LSD or marijuana or the skin of Bananas burned and dried, and held events like 'Love in' or 'Be in'. And in the report of ' Inside London', it was written like 'recently psychedelic bands use eerie avant - garde movies on their stage' or ' A band of Pink Floyd use colorful lights and play music that made earnest people go crazy'. It's remarkable that so much information entered into Japan then before June in that year when rock changed very much.
'Summer of Love' shock
In summer of 67, which would be called 'Summer of Love' later, that tendency raged.
First The Beatles released an album of a strange name of ' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band’. They of super idols took military look in bright colors and grew mustaches. From the previous year, The Beatles had had their guitar sounds distorted,and taken in strange sounds by tape operation and Indian music, and the album seemed to take a step forward. Starting with this album, rock became the expression by 'one album of 10 or more songs' from by 'one song of 2 or 3 minutes'.
At this stage, artists who held psychedelic concerts using lights hadn't come to Japan, but a story that had a much greater impact than those rumors came in Japan. It was 'Monterey Pop Festival' , the first important rock festival in rock history. Everyday many kinds of legends and new stars were born in the festival held in the suburb of San Francisco, the sacred place for psychedelic rock, held for 3 days from June 18th to 20th. Two black people of Jimi Hendrix, a genius guitarist, who showed exceptional guitar technique with the newest technology and played explosions, burned his guitar finally, and Otis Redding, a soul singer, who showed proudhearted shouts that demanded white audience to pay respect to black people. And two front women of rock bands from the hometown, San Francisco, drew enormous attention. One of them was Grace Slick of Jefferson Airplane and another one was Janis Joplin of Big Brother & The Holding Company, who had enormous influence on the later singers by her dynamic shouts and fine and lonely life style that was opposite to them. They were charisma suitable for San Francisco where young people lived without any distinction of sex.
'After psychedelic rock' in Japan
After Monterey Pop Festival, that influence spread to Japanese western music. Certainly albums of the above-mentioned artists were released then, and Japanese version albums of Grateful Dead, the top of psychedelic rock in San Francisco, and The Mothers of Invention led by Frank Zappa, a genius from Los Angels that was a rival to San Francisco, and Pink Floyd in London were released one after another within 67. It deserves attention that this three bands which sounds experimental enough for our ears now were introduced to Japan without any time difference then. However Dead's debut album was given a Japanese title of 'Psychedelic,this is Cisco sound', and the single of Mothers, 'Hard World (the original title is 'Trouble Everyday'), the single of Floyd, 'Emily is a playgirl (the original title is 'See Emily Play') , so the sense of these titles reminds us of those days. And the debut album of The Velvet Underground called ' The originator of punk' now, 'The Velvet Underground & Nico' released that year in the world wasn't released then in Japan, and you had to wait for the album released in Japan in 1973. It was probably because Japanese were highly aware of 'Psychedelic rock is from the west coast'.
And sown seeds in Monterey had come into flower steadily in Japan until 1968. Hard guitar sounds that was remarkable for the clipping or distortion of sounds like Jimi Hendrix or The Who, which became a big issue on the stage of Montarey (but they were overpowered by Jimi) were broadcast on Japanese radio stations. Following them, Cream, an exceptional technician trio led by Eric Clapton, who was a comparison with Jimi in UK, and Jeff Beck, who belonged to The Yardbirds,an unfortunate band to which Clapton belonged before, as the incoming guitarist, rose with their technical hard rock guitars. At last Japanese enriched their understanding of rock 'n' roll based on blues and played by The Rolling Stones or The Yardbirds early. The Yardbirds gained a glory to appear as bands that aroused audience at a music hall on 'Blowup', a premier movie directed by Michelangelo Antonioni from Italy, and opened to the public in Japan in June, 67. And a band made by a guy who teamed up with Beck and served a double lead guitarist then would be a hero in the following period.
And The Doors, which didn't appear in Monterey, but was still charisma in LA, and succeeded with No.1 hit in America of 'Light My Fire' , became the face of the period. The frontman, Jim Morrison became the leading charisma in rock overnight with taking black clothes, fanning like a main character in underground dramas, and the magic of his songs. And big hits like 'San Francisco', which was a song of praise in Flower Movement by Scott McKenzie or ' Whiter Shade of Pale' by Procol Harum, which was very impressive for its fantastic organ sounds, were born then.
And about six months after Monterey, Otis Redding died for a plane accident unbelievably, but that tragedy raised his heroism, his last song 'The Dock of the Bay' ranked first in America. and made a big hit too unusually as a black artist in Japan then. On this occasion, the interest in soul music was increasing in Japan at last, and somebody like Aretha Franklin or James Brown were launched out steadily. And Motown, one of the most successful black music labels in America then, brought Stevie Wonder and Martha and the Vandellas to Japan and held a package concert there and got enormous popularity in February, 68. And in May in the same year, the first go - go -club in Japan, 'Akasaka Mugen' was established in Akasaka, Tokyo. It became a model of discos or night clubs in later years where many people of culture or young people gathered with live music by black bands under psychedelic lights.
The reason these music spread to Japan in comparative smoothness was the influence of media to some extent. At late-night radio programs like 'All Night Nippon' in Nippon Broadcasting System,Inc, 'Packed in Music' in TBS, 'Say Young' in Nippon Cultural Broadcasting Inc., these music was understood as 'new sense of value for young people in the world' and introduced aggressively. And one of the reason was that Kamebuchi Akinobu, who would be a DJ of 'All Night Nippon', experienced Monterey luckily when he studied abroad in America. It was the period when the percentage of TV owned was increasing quickly, so it was good for radio stations to pay attention to 'young culture' in order to match TV. And in TV, magazines, advertisements, psychedelic designs using vivid bright colors or distorted characters was spread by Tanaami Keiichi, Yokoo Tadanori, Uno Akira.
These new musical stimuli were taken in by Japanese GS of sharp sensibility. Taught by Hori Takeo, the president of Horipro, who was shocked by the scene when he visited San Francisco, The Mops led the scene as the best Japanese psychedelic rock band, The Golden Cups, a talented that had U.S. soldiers in U.S. military bases in Yokohama be impressed with them, was paid respect as The best GS talented for good players like Kabe Masayoshi or Mickey Yoshino and their sensibility to absorb in soul music without delay, The Dynamites led by Yanagushi Fujio. a genius guitarist, drew attention for their solid guitar style with extraordinary feedback noises for then. Besides them, The Power House led by Yanagi George , a younger brother of The Cups, The Flowers led by Aso Remi, who was called 'Japanese Janis Joplin', The Happenings For, which was called 'Japanese Procol Harum' flourished as talented. And Jacks was evaluated as 'Japanese Doors' or 'Japanese Velvet Underground' for their freaky and tense play, the lyrics on the theme of loneliness and despair , and the magical vocal of Hayakawa Yoshio. As for them, you can tell that they were near to the next step for Japanese rock rather than GS.
The 'Underground Folk' period came in Japan.
The Folk Crusaders - I Only Lives Twice
In 68, influenced by an serious atmosphere that was heard across the sea, creative young people started to make their own music. It was The Folk Crusaders, a student band in Kyoto, that led the scene. The band led by Kitayama Osamu and Kato Kazuhiko was active in the Kansai student folk scene, and they would stop being active when they graduated from universities. However Toshiba paid attention to their self-produced album 'Harenchi (Shame)' released in October, 67 as their graduating memorial, and bought its rights, release one of songs in album 'I only Live Twice'. So it became a big issue in a flash and accomplished to ranked first on Oricon chart.
Okabayashi Nobuyasu - Sanya Blues
Starting with it, Kansai folk scene became more active. Kansai folk camp started in 67 by Takaishi Tomoya and Nakagawa Goro who translated Bob Dylan's songs to Japanese and sang them in Kyoto, and where The Folk Crusaders appeared, became a big issue. Besides talented in Kyoto and Osaka, folk singers who became folk history in later years like Takada Wataru or Endo Kenji far from Tokyo, gathered there one after another. Among them, Okabayashi Nobuyasu, who dropped out of Doshisha university and debuted with 'Sanya Blues' from Victor in September,68, sang many songs on the theme of the anger against hypocrisy of society or the pain of heart of persecuted people, the pursuit of real mental freedom. And he was called 'Japanese Bob Dylan' overnight and became charisma.
This year from 68 to 69 was the year when the doubt against the former generation from young people who were born after the war was increasing. The anti-establishment movement centering on students like 'Prague Spring' in Czechoslovakia and ' Events of May 1968' in France were broadcast. And in America The Vietnam War, which had been thought ' It will end soon', became to stuck in the mud, and the news that U.S. army slaughtered nonresistant Vietnamese farmers was broadcast, and the anti - war movement by hippies and students raged. The U.S.‐Japan Security Treaty in 60 strengthened the alliance between Japan and U.S.A., and people saw U.S. army who got injuries in Vietnam conveyed to U.S. military bases, so there was the anxiety like ' We will involve in the war' was increasing among Japanese young people. In January, 69 Yasuda auditorium of Tokyo university falled, and the student movement raged.
On the other hand, in folk, a single of 'Imjingang River' by The Folk Crusaders was prohibited to be released by Toshiba, and it led the movement like 'We will manage a record company by ourselves' , in February, 69 Underground Record Club (URC) was established based on Takaishi Tomoya's office. First they released albums or singles to only members, but changed to release them to the public with Okabayashi Nobuyasu' album 'Please convict me' in August. By today's standard, Okabayashi took a rare way to release singles from a major label and albums from a indie label, but it was possible on his contract then. Besides him, Takada Wataru, Five Red Balloons led by Nishioka Takashi, Rokumonsen led by Komuro Hitoshi, Hayakawa Yoshio,a former memeber of Jacks released their works from URC. And Elec, another folk indies label, was established that year, and artists in Hiroshima folk scene started to release their works from the label, and there was a name of Yoshida Takuro among them.
Shinjuku Folk Guerrila
Folk songs became anthems necessary for Japanese angry young people. In June,69, Folk Guerrilla was held in the western exit square in Shinjuku station where young people sang Okabayashi,Takaishi,Nakagawa's songs and opposed to the Vietnam War, finally the riot police excluded them from there forcibly. However those who made songs sung there almost didn't appear there. The situation as Takada Wataru sang 'Those who boast of being arrested sing old Kansai folk songs white they say 'Takaishi or Okabayashi's songs are the past relics' ' aroused then.
Folk and the audience had changed completely for three years since college folk movement arouse in 66, but it's fact that there was already a situation like the student movement where they contended on ideologies and destroyed themselves in infighting in later years.
Carmen Maki - Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child
And Carmen Maki , a 17-year-old member of the avant-garde theatrical company 'The Upper Gallery' led by Terayama Shuji, a genious, debuted as a folk singer and made a big hit with 'Sometimes I Feel like A Motherless Child' written by Terayama. This song by a typical beautiful hippie girl that was full of the underground mood Japanese music had never had was one of the symbols for Japanese young people then. Maki became a big issue when she wore jeans and appeared on Kohaku Uta Gassen in 69
The turbulent period achieved the peak in Woodstock.
On the other hand, rock that was conveyed to Japan across the sea raged day by day, and evolved. Bands like Vanilla Fudge, Iron Butterfly, Steppenwolf played hard sounds with solid and distorted guitars and organs, and The Moody Blues or Deep Purple collaborated with orchestras.
And the fusion with jazz became active.Blood, Sweat & Tears, which put the brass section in their main, album production using live sessions by Al Cooper or Mike Bloomfield who served the back band of Bob Dylan, Blind Faith, a so-called 'super band' where several skillful musicians gathered like Eric Clapton who was a former member of Cream, and Steve Winwood who was a good singer of Traffic, a new star of psychedelic band along with Pink Floyd. All of them appeared then.
This new rock was called 'art rock' or 'new rock' first, and called 'progressive rock' or ' jazz rock' according to their musical tendency later. And whenever these new and promising bands appeared, and launched out with some sales copies like King Crimson, ' They exclude The Beatles from the chart'. Then Led Zeppelin, which Jimmy Page dissolved The Yardbirds for the formation of a better organization and made under the slogan of ' the top of art rock', run up to the top overnight.
On the other hand, artists like Bob Dylan played music heavily influenced by blues, country, gospel etc, which was older than music they played then,and rose. The Band, which had been Dylan's party,and bands made by the former members of The Byrds were like that, and British bands that had directed to dig down blues strongly traveled around American south and followed them. The Rolling Stones and The Kinks made their masterpieces under its tendency. As a band of this type, Creedence Clearwater Revival from San Francisco made a string of single hits and became a star.
Not only as for music, but also as for movies, works called 'American New Cinema', which described people who dropped out of ordinary lives, got enormous popularity. Simon & Garfunkel, who took charge of music of 'The Graduate', became a minion in folk. And as for musical, 'Hair' ,which described hippie culture, made a big hit, and Japanese cast version was produced in December, 69. 'Midnight Cowboy' 'Easy Rider''The Strawberry Statement' followed them as counter culture movies that were linked with rock or folk music, and became a issue.
The bottom line of these streams was Woodstock Music and Art Festival held in New York from August 15 to 17 in 1969. This festival that drew total four hundred thousand audience without any big accidents was informed the victory of hippie culture as 'The three days of love and peace', and new stars like Santana,Sly & The Family Stone, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young were born there. This festival was opened to the public in the world as a movie in the following year and informed of young people around the world including Japan. However the world noticed that it was just an illusion as the ending of ' 'Easy Rider' or 'The Strawberry Statement' showed and collapsed in facing the reality finally soon after then.
On the other hand, rock that was conveyed to Japan across the sea raged day by day, and evolved. Bands like Vanilla Fudge, Iron Butterfly, Steppenwolf played hard sounds with solid and distorted guitars and organs, and The Moody Blues or Deep Purple collaborated with orchestras.
And the fusion with jazz became active.Blood, Sweat & Tears, which put the brass section in their main, album production using live sessions by Al Cooper or Mike Bloomfield who served the back band of Bob Dylan, Blind Faith, a so-called 'super band' where several skillful musicians gathered like Eric Clapton who was a former member of Cream, and Steve Winwood who was a good singer of Traffic, a new star of psychedelic band along with Pink Floyd. All of them appeared then.
This new rock was called 'art rock' or 'new rock' first, and called 'progressive rock' or ' jazz rock' according to their musical tendency later. And whenever these new and promising bands appeared, and launched out with some sales copies like King Crimson, ' They exclude The Beatles from the chart'. Then Led Zeppelin, which Jimmy Page dissolved The Yardbirds for the formation of a better organization and made under the slogan of ' the top of art rock', run up to the top overnight.
On the other hand, artists like Bob Dylan played music heavily influenced by blues, country, gospel etc, which was older than music they played then,and rose. The Band, which had been Dylan's party,and bands made by the former members of The Byrds were like that, and British bands that had directed to dig down blues strongly traveled around American south and followed them. The Rolling Stones and The Kinks made their masterpieces under its tendency. As a band of this type, Creedence Clearwater Revival from San Francisco made a string of single hits and became a star.
Not only as for music, but also as for movies, works called 'American New Cinema', which described people who dropped out of ordinary lives, got enormous popularity. Simon & Garfunkel, who took charge of music of 'The Graduate', became a minion in folk. And as for musical, 'Hair' ,which described hippie culture, made a big hit, and Japanese cast version was produced in December, 69. 'Midnight Cowboy' 'Easy Rider''The Strawberry Statement' followed them as counter culture movies that were linked with rock or folk music, and became a issue.
The bottom line of these streams was Woodstock Music and Art Festival held in New York from August 15 to 17 in 1969. This festival that drew total four hundred thousand audience without any big accidents was informed the victory of hippie culture as 'The three days of love and peace', and new stars like Santana,Sly & The Family Stone, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young were born there. This festival was opened to the public in the world as a movie in the following year and informed of young people around the world including Japan. However the world noticed that it was just an illusion as the ending of ' 'Easy Rider' or 'The Strawberry Statement' showed and collapsed in facing the reality finally soon after then.
