Crazy A@@ Song I Just Heard!!!

On Japan-A-Radio, I heard a song by Hiromi Go, a J-Pop idol from the 70's called "Goldfinger", but, despite the title, it was----and I'm not making this up----"Livin' La Vida Loca", in Japanese!! My jaw dropped when I heard that! Gotta be the craziest thing I've heard on that station in a month of Sundays!

Oh yeah... "Goldfinger '99" was a very popular song in 1999. I have the 1999 NHK Kohaku Utagassen where he performs that live... very freaky...

But there's a lot of this kind of stuff going around... I got a 5-CD comp of stuff from around the year 2000, which featured Japanese language versions of Carlos Santana's "Smooth", popular '80s song "Toy Soldiers" by Martika as well as one of Hiromi Go's contemporaries, Hideki Saijo, singing a Japanese version of "Bailamos"...

I'm surprised you were so shocked, though... doesn't Pink Lady sing "Pink Typhoon", a version of a Village People song?

I remember Hiromi Go from watching tv in Japan in the 70's. His appearances on the television usually coincided with me leaving the room to get a beer or to dispose of the one I just drank.

MHtrStevie said:

I'm surprised you were so shocked, though... doesn't Pink Lady sing "Pink Typhoon", a version of a Village People song?

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Yeah, but jeez! That was 25 years ago! I didn't think J-Pop stars still went into that sort of thing! But then, you're right, I shouldn't be shocked, "Pink Typhoon" is on PL's song list during their current tour!

Given all the young bucks who hang out on the site, I didn't think there'd be any old heads here who remembered Hiromi Go.

Dwelling back on the 70's and the time I spent over in Japan, while the girls pretty much ruled the J-Pop scene, from groups like Pink Lady and Candies to solo acts like Momoe Yamaguchi and Junko Sakurada, the guys were also represented on the charts, thanks to Hiromi Go, Kenji Sawada, Hideki Saijo and Goro Noguchi.

Ahh! The good old days....

i remember that song. i heard it on the tv when i was in japan in 2000. that's a cool song! thanks for reminding me about it, just finished downloading it earlier.

flashjeff said:

Given all the young bucks who hang out on the site, I didn't think there'd be any old heads here who remembered Hiromi Go.

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The funny thing is American fans of all things culinary actually saw Hiromi Go fairly recently... he appears as a celebrity taster/judge on one of the episodes of Japanese cooking competition show "Iron Chef", aired on Food Network. They made a HUGE deal about him being there...

Dwelling back on the 70's and the time I spent over in Japan, while the girls pretty much ruled the J-Pop scene, from groups like Pink Lady and Candies to solo acts like Momoe Yamaguchi and Junko Sakurada, the guys were also represented on the charts, thanks to Hiromi Go, Kenji Sawada, Hideki Saijo and Goro Noguchi.

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Don't forget about the other guys dueling with Pink Lady during their amazing run in 1977-79... what about Chiharu Matsuyama, who scored #1 hits like "Kisetsu no naka de"? Or Takao Horiuchi, formerly of the group Alice, with his #1 song "Kimi no hitomi wa 10,000 Volt"?

Yes, I'm just trying to show off what I know about '70s J-Pop...



But it's good that there are a few of us here who can talk about these artists, like them or hate them, so their names are heard by some of these new fans...

Now let's not forget the current trend by Japan's young idols for remaking classic J-Pop songs as well... that's a trend which never goes out of style!
Within the last few years, I remember one idol remaking Yuzo Kayama's "Kimi to itsumademo"... and Hitomi Shimatani scored a big hit remaking the Village Singers' "Amairo no kami no otome", both songs originally big hits of the 1960's in Japan.

MHtrStevie said:

The funny thing is American fans of all things culinary actually saw Hiromi Go fairly recently... he appears as a celebrity taster/judge on one of the episodes of Japanese cooking competition show "Iron Chef", aired on Food Network. They made a HUGE deal about him being there...

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Damn! I forgot all about that! Hell, I saw that episode of Iron Chef with Hiromi Go as one of the celebrity judges! In fact, Kei-chan from Pink Lady had been on the show once or twice!

Don't forget about the other guys dueling with Pink Lady during their amazing run in 1977-79... what about Chiharu Matsuyama, who scored #1 hits like "Kisetsu no naka de"? Or Takao Horiuchi, formerly of the group Alice, with his #1 song "Kimi no hitomi wa 10,000 Volt"?

Yes, I'm just trying to show off what I know about '70s J-Pop...

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I faintly recall Chiharu and Takao. You could also throw in the likes of Ikue Sakakibara, Aki Yashiro, Masako Mori (who briefly formed a trio with Momoe Yamaguchi and Junko Sakurada) and Hiromi Iwasaki (she's a jazz singer these days I've heard).

Now let's not forget the current trend by Japan's young idols for remaking classic J-Pop songs as well... that's a trend which never goes out of style!

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Speaking of which, a pen pal wrote to me a month ago that W (Double W), a splinter group from Morning Musume remade Pink Lady's "Southpaw" and "Nagisa No Sindbad" on their latest CD. So yeah, that trend is very much alive and well!