As long as I can remember, I have always been a music fan.
There used to be two record stores in Ashikaga when I was a kid. Hamada and Kogure Records. Hamada was the larger of the two and they had a little bit of everything while Kogure was more of a store for the real music aficionados with selections that were heavy on jazz and rock (they also sold musical instruments) and that made Kogure somewhat intimidating for a kid to walk into.
Living in a Small Town, Nowhere, my exposure to music was very limited, mostly from the music variety shows on TV. What you heard on those shows were Kayoukyoku, Idol-Pop and Enka. It wasn't that I didn't enjoy those types of music, I just wanted to be like those older (mostly college aged) people found in Kogure Records who were listening to Rock/Jazz/New Music* and playing guitars and looking cool.
*New Music was how they used to describe the type of western-influenced pop music performed by Japanese singer songwriters of the 70s and the 80s.
So, after checking out all the current Japanese pop music records in Hamada, I would venture out to Kogure Records. It is really silly looking back but I always felt self-conscious waking in. I wanted to look/act like I belonged in there. So, I would bypass the Japanese pop section (they did have those, too) and head to the Western Music/Jazz Section. Of course I had no idea what I was looking for. Sure, I might have heard of the names of some of the artists (Dylan, Zeppelin, Hendrix...) but I didn't know what they were about. Anyway, I would browse through all the records in that section as if I was looking for something. I would pick a record (usually based on its cover) and buy it. Sometimes, depending on the record I picked, the man behind the counter would give me a look when I brought it over to pay for it. I am sure it wasn't everyday that he saw a pre-teen buying a Janis Joplin or a John Coltrane record. I would be doing my best "Yeah, I listen to Janis/'Trane. So?" lol Anyway, I met a lot of great music that way.
And that is exactly how I discovered Steely Dan.
The record was Katy Lied. On the cover was a close-up picture of a katydid. Of course, I didn't "get" the play of words then. The picture, and the name of the band grabbed me.
The music was like nothing I had ever listened to. I just loved it. Then again, here I am talking about it after so many years... so it is possible it was that the young me was partly in love with the image of myself listening to Steely Dan, a band that none of my friends from school knew about, as well as the music itself. Whatever the reason might have been, I listened to that record a lot. There is a song on that album that I especially liked called Bad Sneakers.
The record came with a lyric sheet. I would try to follow the words as I listened. I think by listening to this song, I fell in love with the sound of the English language.
The chorus goes,
"Bad sneakers and a Pina Colada
My friend
Stompin' on the avenue
By Radio City with a
Transistor and a large
Sum of money to spend"
The words flowed so effortlessly riding the melody perfectly. The syncopated way the words and the lines get carried over to the next. I could think of many ways to describe the beauty of it now but back then, all I knew was it just sounded GOOD.
Although I had no idea what this song was about (come to think of it, I still don't. lol), I was able to sing that part after a while, and what a great feeling it was singing along to that song... The song is twisted yet sentimental, and catchy as hell. The lyric combined with the beautiful melody, it doesn't really tell a story but rather creates a "mood" and conveys a feeling ("Aja" is another perfect example of that). It remains one of my favorite Steely Dan songs to this day.
Soon after that, though, the 80s pop scene exploded. All these colorful, bubbly pop music was coming in from everywhere. From USA, UK, Europe... then, something called MTV happened. It was not a cable station here in Japan but just a show that came on late at night that aired some videos/shows taken from the original MTV. For all of you trivia fans out there, the very first video to air on Japanese MTV was Quiet Riot's "Party All Night". I was there, sitting in front of the TV, witnessing the dawn of the music video era in Japan!!! Like everyone else, I was neck deep in it. I joined the Purple revolution led by Prince, danced and sang and got up and did my thang with Madonna, and even might have Su-su-su-ssudioed with Phil Collins..... It wasn't until I moved to US that I started REALLY listening to Steely Dan with a renewed appreciation.
If there was a "Name That Steely Dan Tune" contest today, I know I'd do VERY well. I know all the songs, every guitar/sax/piano/drum solos/riffs intimately. Hell, you could even throw in Donald Fagen's solo stuff in there, too! I even learned how to play the piano so I could play along to the piano solo in Fagen's version of Ruby Baby....
By the way, the time has changed and now, Kogure Records is no longer in business while Hamada is still surviving by targetting young girls, focusing their stock on J-Pop/Visual-Kei. It has become the kind of store a geezer like me wouldn't feel too comfortable walking in.
I am SO re-organizing my Steely Dan tunes on i-tunes on my computer tonight as I do every few months!
There used to be two record stores in Ashikaga when I was a kid. Hamada and Kogure Records. Hamada was the larger of the two and they had a little bit of everything while Kogure was more of a store for the real music aficionados with selections that were heavy on jazz and rock (they also sold musical instruments) and that made Kogure somewhat intimidating for a kid to walk into.
Living in a Small Town, Nowhere, my exposure to music was very limited, mostly from the music variety shows on TV. What you heard on those shows were Kayoukyoku, Idol-Pop and Enka. It wasn't that I didn't enjoy those types of music, I just wanted to be like those older (mostly college aged) people found in Kogure Records who were listening to Rock/Jazz/New Music* and playing guitars and looking cool.
*New Music was how they used to describe the type of western-influenced pop music performed by Japanese singer songwriters of the 70s and the 80s.
So, after checking out all the current Japanese pop music records in Hamada, I would venture out to Kogure Records. It is really silly looking back but I always felt self-conscious waking in. I wanted to look/act like I belonged in there. So, I would bypass the Japanese pop section (they did have those, too) and head to the Western Music/Jazz Section. Of course I had no idea what I was looking for. Sure, I might have heard of the names of some of the artists (Dylan, Zeppelin, Hendrix...) but I didn't know what they were about. Anyway, I would browse through all the records in that section as if I was looking for something. I would pick a record (usually based on its cover) and buy it. Sometimes, depending on the record I picked, the man behind the counter would give me a look when I brought it over to pay for it. I am sure it wasn't everyday that he saw a pre-teen buying a Janis Joplin or a John Coltrane record. I would be doing my best "Yeah, I listen to Janis/'Trane. So?" lol Anyway, I met a lot of great music that way.
And that is exactly how I discovered Steely Dan.
The record was Katy Lied. On the cover was a close-up picture of a katydid. Of course, I didn't "get" the play of words then. The picture, and the name of the band grabbed me.
The music was like nothing I had ever listened to. I just loved it. Then again, here I am talking about it after so many years... so it is possible it was that the young me was partly in love with the image of myself listening to Steely Dan, a band that none of my friends from school knew about, as well as the music itself. Whatever the reason might have been, I listened to that record a lot. There is a song on that album that I especially liked called Bad Sneakers.
The record came with a lyric sheet. I would try to follow the words as I listened. I think by listening to this song, I fell in love with the sound of the English language.
The chorus goes,
"Bad sneakers and a Pina Colada
My friend
Stompin' on the avenue
By Radio City with a
Transistor and a large
Sum of money to spend"
The words flowed so effortlessly riding the melody perfectly. The syncopated way the words and the lines get carried over to the next. I could think of many ways to describe the beauty of it now but back then, all I knew was it just sounded GOOD.
Although I had no idea what this song was about (come to think of it, I still don't. lol), I was able to sing that part after a while, and what a great feeling it was singing along to that song... The song is twisted yet sentimental, and catchy as hell. The lyric combined with the beautiful melody, it doesn't really tell a story but rather creates a "mood" and conveys a feeling ("Aja" is another perfect example of that). It remains one of my favorite Steely Dan songs to this day.
Soon after that, though, the 80s pop scene exploded. All these colorful, bubbly pop music was coming in from everywhere. From USA, UK, Europe... then, something called MTV happened. It was not a cable station here in Japan but just a show that came on late at night that aired some videos/shows taken from the original MTV. For all of you trivia fans out there, the very first video to air on Japanese MTV was Quiet Riot's "Party All Night". I was there, sitting in front of the TV, witnessing the dawn of the music video era in Japan!!! Like everyone else, I was neck deep in it. I joined the Purple revolution led by Prince, danced and sang and got up and did my thang with Madonna, and even might have Su-su-su-ssudioed with Phil Collins..... It wasn't until I moved to US that I started REALLY listening to Steely Dan with a renewed appreciation.
If there was a "Name That Steely Dan Tune" contest today, I know I'd do VERY well. I know all the songs, every guitar/sax/piano/drum solos/riffs intimately. Hell, you could even throw in Donald Fagen's solo stuff in there, too! I even learned how to play the piano so I could play along to the piano solo in Fagen's version of Ruby Baby....
By the way, the time has changed and now, Kogure Records is no longer in business while Hamada is still surviving by targetting young girls, focusing their stock on J-Pop/Visual-Kei. It has become the kind of store a geezer like me wouldn't feel too comfortable walking in.
I am SO re-organizing my Steely Dan tunes on i-tunes on my computer tonight as I do every few months!
