Remember hearing this and was blown away. When this came out we had in the charts some cheezy pop or very stark electronica, but Japan delivered something both electronic and organic. It was really ahead of it's time. Later you would get awful synth led songs by other artists like "He's My Japanese Boy" , with Eastern sounds shoehorned in, which was cultural appropriation at it's corniest. But Japan took influences from the East and merged them with their own sound.
At the time, at school we were asked to bring in some music we liked and I brought in Tin Drum. I remember someone brought in a boombox so I played this outside one breaktime. This guy who was a d*ck and obviously a racist said "What is this P*ki music?" at me. (I am from Pakistan). I told him it was a British band and they embraced Eastern music, and it was not that sort of Asian music, not that he cared. I got my own back the next day when I walked in to a class with a 2 litre plastic bottle of Coca-Cola which I pretended to drink from, he grabbed it off me and took a huge swig, only to find it was cold tea (with some bicarbonate of soda and some old cigarettes shredded in for good measure). Oh how everyone laughed and he left me alone after that.
Very jammy. My brother is in Notts and has a weekly vinyl night and I think he played the live version of In Vogue or Obscure Alternatives. This guy should do some TOTP reviews of Japan.
Lol, my camera was like, "You want to end the video quickly? Watch this!"
Remember hearing this and was blown away. When this came out we had in the charts some cheezy pop or very stark electronica, but Japan delivered something both electronic and organic.
It was really ahead of it's time.
Later you would get awful synth led songs by other artists like "He's My Japanese Boy" , with Eastern sounds shoehorned in, which was cultural appropriation at it's corniest.
But Japan took influences from the East and merged them with their own sound.
Irony: your reaction after hearing this the 1st time is my reaction after listening to it for 40 years ❤
Matt, after you listen to this album, go back and listen again on headphones.
It's a completely different experience
Oh for sure. Indeed, I've done that for the tracks on the previous two albums, but I'll certainly do that here too.
That Mick Karn bassline, though. Peerless!
At the time, at school we were asked to bring in some music we liked and I brought in Tin Drum. I remember someone brought in a boombox so I played this outside one breaktime. This guy who was a d*ck and obviously a racist said "What is this P*ki music?" at me. (I am from Pakistan). I told him it was a British band and they embraced Eastern music, and it was not that sort of Asian music, not that he cared.
I got my own back the next day when I walked in to a class with a 2 litre plastic bottle of Coca-Cola which I pretended to drink from, he grabbed it off me and took a huge swig, only to find it was cold tea (with some bicarbonate of soda and some old cigarettes shredded in for good measure).
Oh how everyone laughed and he left me alone after that.
Oh my god, legendary. And yeah, what a pr*ck in the first place.
Well done Izzy, for putting that moron in his place!!
Very jammy. My brother is in Notts and has a weekly vinyl night and I think he played the live version of In Vogue or Obscure Alternatives. This guy should do some TOTP reviews of Japan.