This is one of those songs where you don't recognize it by the song title alone but as soon as the chorus kicks in, the light bulb goes off and you go "aha!" This is also me with a lot of classic rock songs as I grew up listening to mostly R&B and rap. I've heard a lot of them via tv shows or movies but if you give me the song title, I probably wouldn't guess it at first.
The second and final entry for today is "Ai no Wave" by Yumi Matsutoya. It was number 1 for one week(November 23). This was her third number 1 single at this point.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAawfrK_OJw
Yumi Matsutoya is probably one of the most famous Japanese singers out there. She started her musical career in 1968 and she's still active today. Known fondly as "Yuming" among her fanbase, she's a very prolific singer, songwriter and producer. Her accolades are too many to mention. For this song, she teamed up with Tatsuya "Smoky" Ishii, who was the lead singer for Kome Kome Club(who was in this column not too long ago). The song is a very pleasent duet between the two and they complement each other voices very well. Yumi would have more number 1 songs in the future. On a personal note, I actually went through much of Yumi's catalog in 2021 and her music is very good. It kinda reminds me of Joni Mitchell, in that she tried many different styles of music and she has a very unique voice. If you have the chance to check out her discography, you should.
The next entry will also be two songs that will conclude 1992.
It's interesting to see a tv theme series top the charts in America. While it's pretty rare to see that, even today, in Japan, it happens all the time, especially around this time period. Today, we will have two entries. The first entry is "Kurisumas ukyaroru no koroni ha" by Junichi Inagaki. It was number 1 for four non-consecutive weeks(November 16; November 30-December 14) and sold 1.7 million copies. This is his only number one song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epbt61wDVzc
Inagaki debuted in 1982 and released a bunch of singles that did well in the 1980's, appearing in tv shows and commercials. This song in particular was used in the drama series, "Homework," which helped fuel its growth. Inagaki has said that's it's not specifically a Christmas song, but more of a winter song. However, the song remains a holiday staple to this day. I like the song, it's very upbeat. He's still making music to this day.
"Diesel (Shaquille O’Neal)"
Shaq has to have one of the best post-retirement careers right? He's in a ton of commercials, he's on one of the best NBA shows right now(Inside of the NBA) and now he's just out there DJ'ing for fun.
Looking at the songwriting credits for their hit songs, both artists have two other co-writers(and in Lauren's case, the producer is one of the writers listed) and they're not well-known either, so this could be an organic type thing.
*paging AirOx and others*
So, Utada Hikaru released her new album last week and I really loved it. The title track, "Bad Mode" is a banger, especially with the jazzy breakdown in the middle:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJGCeAWIfEA
Gerry's having a little moment right now because his song, "Right Down The Line" was featured in the HBO series Euphoria and younger audiences have been streaming the song and talking about it on Tik Tok.
And finally, the last entry for today is "Junrenka" by Tsuyoshi Nagabuchi. It was number one for one week(November 9) and it sold 675,00 copies.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9iRkO5akmw
This version is a re-recording. The original version was released in 1978 as his second ever single but that version didn't go anywhere.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HI_WD4PHd9k
I think I like the re-recording more, I like the backing beat and his Dylan-esque voice suits the production more. The original is good too.
Well that concludes today's entries. The next entry will be for only two songs.
The fourth entry is "Hare tara īne" by Dreams Come True. It was number one for one week(November 2) and it sold 685,000 copies.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ckm1g_V3HU
I said they would be back soon! While I like their previous entry more, this one is good too. Both songs were on their 1992 album, The Swinging Star. which is currently their best selling album, with sales of 3,223,000. The other notable thing on the album is the song, "Sweet, Sweet, Sweet," which you might recognize the instrumental because it's based off the ending theme of Sonic 2(which Nakamura composed). Here's a blast from the past:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ie7-MRFv79U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cctp2kVKkOM
They'll be back again.
The third entry is from "Zero" by B'z. It was number one for two weeks(October 19-26), sold 1,010,000 copies and was the 11th best selling single of 1992.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUmni8kmlN4
I think this is the first shortened clip that contains a lot of the music in it. But if you want to hear the full version, here's a live clip from a 1996 show:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jOEAFmsmoY
Anyway, I really like this, 1992 was a good year for them, single-wise.
The second entry is "Kessen wa Kinyōbi" by Dreams Come True. It was number one for three weeks(September 28-October 12), sold 1,070,000 copies(making it their first million seller) and it was their second number one single.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdsXKE7jNOs
Happy to see them back in this column! Written by Miwa Yoshida, the backstory behind this song is that Yoshida and Sing Like Talking frontman Chikuzen Satō had a friendly competition to see who could write the best song using the chord progression from Cheryl Lynn's "Got to Be Real" as inspiration. The result was the song above and Sing Like Talking's "Rise." Also, Masato Nakamura pulled inspiration from Earth,Wind & Fire's "Let's Groove" as well for the song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLd2jOCWuw4
Which song did it better? As for Dreams Come True's song...well when you have those songs as your inspiration, it's hard to not make a banger and they did it. Love how much the crowd is into it. They'll be back soon.
While America was trying to figure out a way to get back on the road for 14 weeks, over in Japan, we had five singles go to number one during this period.
The first entry is "Ichiban erai hito he" from Tunnels. It was number one for 2 weeks(September 14-September 21) and it was their second number one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_E03w6QoT4
This was the ending theme song for their variety show. Lyrics were written by Yasushi Akimoto. Since they were a comedy group, I don't know what they're saying but music-wise, it's very jazzy. The group would have one more number one single in 1993.
I dunno if you know this or not, but she recently announced reissues of her albums with Warner Records and so she'll start doing vault releases fairly soon.
I didn't hear "Put Em On The Glass" until sometime in the 2010's but I actually like the song. I get it that's just a "Baby Got Back" retread, but I don't mind it. And the video...MTV wouldn't have played it even if Sir Mix-A-Lot begged lmao.
Makes me wonder how high it could have gotten on the Hot 100 if they made a clean edit for "Sexy M.F." There's a version called "Sexy Mutha" that replaces the curse word with his trademark scream but it's not really a clean version.
The second entry is "Kiss of Tears" by Southern All Stars. This is their third number 1, sold 1,549,142 copies, lasted seven weeks at the top spot(July 27-September 7) and was the fifth best-selling single of 1992.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIA3bmsDQ6A
Between the two entries, I like this one the most. It feels very Beach Boys-esque to me. I feel like having a fruity drink in the warm weather. From what I tell, the song was used in a popular tv drama at the time.
The next time I'll be back, we'll have 5 entries again, so prepare yourself, lol.
While America was agreeing with the phrase, "my anaconda don't want none unless you got buns hon'" for many weeks, over in Japan, there were two number 1 singles during this period. The first entry is "If" from Chage and Aska, scoring their fourth number 1 single. The single sold 1,083,000 copies, was number 1 for two weeks(July 13-July 20) and was the eighth best selling single of 1992.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3maSj8YVnEI
At this point, the group are regular customers, so there's not much to write about them. This song is a ballad, so depending on your taste, it may or may not be up you. As for me, it's definately not one of my favorites from them, but I can see myself playing this if I'm in the right mood.
They have four more number 1's that span 93-94, so they'll be back again.
Chris will update the chart positions here but wow, Gunna's album got to number 1 over The Weeknd. Not having physical copies available in the first week hurt him.
Not surprising since when they announced Roadrunner last year, Kevin mentioned that they were going to do one more album afterwards and call it a day. Makes me wonder if we'll get that album now.
Sucks since I've enjoyed their output up to this point. Hopefully they'll come back together in the future.
Agreed. I wasn't expecting Jayson to go so hard into Section 80, lol. Good review overall though. I don't get some fans who want Kendrick to return to the sound of Section 80. He's moved on and he's gotten better with each new album.
RE: Epik High
Tom, they're a Korean hip-hop group and they have been around since 2001, so they're a veteran act at this point. They're pretty popular in their home country but they do have a large following internationally. This is the second time they're performing at Coachella(they performed in 2016 and were the first Korean act to perform at the festival). I don't think they have ever collaborated with any notable western artist.
As for BIGBANG, one of their members recently became a father, so I'm guessing that's probably why they're not showing up(they haven't released anything new in years but even in 2020, they didn't have anything new either). They're still popular to this day.
See what happens when you don't listen to my entries, LOL. No, I understand not everyone will listen to it, but even if I get some response here and there, I'm totally fine with it. And yes, there's a lot of good music out there from other countries, which is why I try to listen to as much as I can.
As a kid, I remember this song very well, although I was too young when it was originally released. However, I do have memories of singing their follow-up single "I Missed the Bus" with my friend at the time. We loved to emphasis the "Yeah!" part after "I missed the bus."
Yeah, same here. It's interesting to see some Stereogum favorites falling out of favor over the past couple years(St. Vincent, Sleater-Kinney, Lorde, etc.), so I was wondering if Mitski was going to get past it. Judging from the response so far, probably not.
"This might not be terribly predictive, but on Apple Music, my streaming service of choice, DS4EVER is absolutely annihilating Dawn FM, the Weeknd album that came out on the same day."
According to the predictions, The Weeknd is projected to be number 1 but Gunna is not too far behind. Which probably explains why Abel just dropped an "Alternate World" version of Dawn FM today when he probably would have saved it for next week.
Yeah, I'm someone who tries to keep up with new music as it comes out but it's ok to not get to it right away. If it takes a couple weeks, months or hell, a year later, that's fine. Like you said, music doesn't have an expiration date.
And finally, the fifth and last entry is "Blowin" by B'z. It was number 1 for two consecutive weeks(June 8-15), sold 1,763,000 copies and was the third best selling single of 1992.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RelpKixgdw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OMUsxfCny8
Not much to say about this song except it's really good. I think it's my favorite of their singles so far.
And that ends the entries for today, phew! The next entry will only be two songs this time. I'll take it, lmao. Luckily, I enjoyed most of the songs, so this didn't feel like a slog.
The fourth entry is "Kimi ga Iru Dake de" from Kome Kome Club. This was number 1 for 6 non-consecutive weeks(May 18th-June 1st; June 22nd-July 6th), sold 2,762,000 copies and was the number 1 selling single of 1992. This is also their second and final number 1 single.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtK45oLsOUk
Kome Kome Club has been around since 1982 but they achieved their greatest success in the early 90s, especially with this song. So, I actually discovered this song last year because I watched the show, "素顔のままで Sugao no Mama de," which used this song as the theme. The reason I checked out the show is because Akina Nakamori was one of the lead roles(which you can see clips from the show in the above video). Overall, the show is pretty good, so if you ever get the chance to check it out, you should. Also, since the show was very popular, it helped fuel sales to the single.
As for the song, it's a banger, plain and simple. The band would break up in 1997 but they would reunite again in 2006 and continue playing to this day.
The third entry is "Itsumademo kawaranu ai wo" by Tetsurō Oda. It was number 1 for one week(May 11th) and it was also his only number one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c71qUxDc3sk
Oda himself has had a very prolific career as a producer and songwriter. In terms of the history of the singles chart, he's the third best-selling composer behind Kyohei Tsutsumi and Tetsuya Komuro. He has written for artists like Zard, Wands, Deen and Field of View. For Field of View, he composed "Dan Dan Kokoro Hikareteku" which, for any fan of Dragon Ball knows, was the theme song for Dragon Ball GT. It is also an Eternal Banger:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMbHYWwy0ZY
As for the original song, it's ok.
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