J-pop
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J-pop is an abbreviation of Japanese pop and refers to Japanese popular music. The word J-pop was coined by an FM radio station, J-WAVE and indicate musics different from folk music. It was once called "New Music". Singers of J-pop include both popular musicians and seiyu.
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Definition of J-pop
J-pop (derived from "Japanese pop") is a generic term that encompasses many different Japanese musical genres including pop, rock, dance, rap, and soul. In Japan, the term J-pop is used to distinguish this modern style of music from classical Japanese music or Enka, a traditional Japanese form of ballad. One may hear terms such as J-rock, Visual Kei and J-rap but these terms all often fall under the modern J-pop umbrella.
In the Nagoya area, the term Z-pop is used for songs popular in that area. Some Enka songs, such as those sung by Miyuki Nakajima and Anzenchitai, variously fall into either Enka or J-pop categories and may or may not be included in both. It is typical to see music stores in Japan divide music into J-pop, Enka, classical, and English/international/world categories.
History
J-pop's earliest roots are from jazz music that became popular in the early Showa period. Jazz re-introduced many musical instruments, previously only used to perform classical music and military marches, to bars and clubs and introduced "fun" to Japan's music scene. "Ongaku Kissa" (音楽喫茶 - lit. music cafe), became a very popular venue for live jazz music. However, during World War II, jazz music temporarily stopped being performed under pressure from the Imperial Army. After the war, beginning with the occupation of Japan, the occupying United States soldiers of the Far East Network (commonly referred to as "FEN"), introduced boogie-woogie, mambo, blues, and country music to Japan, and these styles of music were performed by Japanese musicians to American troops stationed in Japan. Songs like Sizuko Kasaoki's "Tokyo Boogie-Woogie" (1948), Eri Chiemi's "Tennesse Waltz" (1951), Misora Hibari's "Omatsuri Mambo", and Izumi Yukimura's "Omoide no Waltz" became popular. Foreign music performers like JATP and Louis Armstrong visited Japan to perform. The year 1952 was called the "Year of the Jazz Boom". However, jazz was not the easiest genre to learn, so many Japanese amateur musicians learned country music, as it was the simplest to learn and perform. This led to a proliferation of country-based music.
The rock-and-roll craze began in the 1956 with a country music group, Kosaka Kazuya and Wagon Masters releasing the album Heartbreak Hotel, originally performed by Elvis Presley. The rock-and-roll movement would reach its peak popularity in 1959 with a movie focusing on performances of Japanese rock-and-roll bands. The demise of rock-and-roll in the United States was also followed by its downfall in Japan as many groups played music that was nothing more than a copy of American rock-and-roll. Many perfomers turned to merging traditional Japanese pop music with rock-and-roll, with mixed results. One of few successful musicians to leave any legacy to future generations was Kyu Sakamoto with "Ue Wo Muite Arukou" (lit. "Let's Look Up and Walk") or "Sukiyaki". Other performers decided instead of making new music, to use the music of popular American songs and translate the lyrics into Japanese, hence the birth of "cover pop". Also, many of the "jazz kissa" would start to disappear as radio and TV provided every household with performances of real musicians. They would steadily decline until technology and a innovator gave them a new life as karaoke. Cover pop became typical of American music in Japan for a few years, only for Japan to encounter The Beatles.
In the 1970s to mid 1980s, instead of simple songs usually accompanied with only a guitar, emphasis on more complex musical arrangements became more wide spread and these songs were called New Music. Instead of songs with social messages, the songs were about love and personal events. Takuro Yoshida and Yosui Inoue are two notable such artists.
In the 1980s, city pop came to describe music popular in and themed about major cities, especially Tokyo. The lines of what is "city pop" are very blurred, and therefore many songs can be considered "city pop" as well as new music. As soon as this term became popular, Wasei Pop, lit. Japan-made pop, became a common word to describe both city pop and New Music. By the 1990s, J-pop became the common word to describe most popular songs.
The late 1980s saw the emergence of one of Japan's most famous rock groups in history, Chage & Aska. A massively popular male singer/songwriter duo consisting of Chage (Shuji Shibata) and Ryo Aska (Shigeaki Miyazaki), they released a string of consecutive monster hits throughout the 1980s and 1990s, establishing themselves as Asia's most popular rock group. Ryo Aska is widely considered today to be one of Japan's greatest songwriters. However, with the advent of Japanese dance music pioneered by Namie Amuro and Tetsuya Komuro in the mid- to late-1990s, the popularity of rock groups like Chage & Aska has declined.
Impact on popular culture
J-pop music is an integral part of Japanese popular culture. It is used everywhere: anime, commercials, movies, radio shows, TV shows, and video games. Some news shows on TV even run a J-pop song during their end credits. J-pop is often played over loud speakers in shops.
J-pop songs are often played at a very rapid, frantic pace that many people argue reduces their quality greatly. In anime and television shows, especially drama, J-pop songs are changed every season, up to four times a year. As most have both opening and ending songs, when a show runs for a year, it has eight songs that would be credited with being a part of the show. While this does not seem like much, by comparison, the American show Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which run for seven seasons, 1997 to 2003, has only 30 songs on its two albums released in the United States. An anime series that runs for the same length could have 56 full songs that would be paired with it, with at least one song to be released as a single and it would only fill 30 minutes on TV.
This pace makes for quickly revolving faces of J-pop. Many artists will only release an album and several singles before fading back into anonymity. It is very difficult to stay prominent for longer than this, and sustaining popularity for a decade is considered outstanding. Groups like Chage & Aska, B'z, Southern All Stars, and TUBE that have been popular for over 15 years are considered to be phenomenal successes.
The last five years have witnessed a new and strange phenomena eminating from West Japan. Centering on Fukuoka and Oita, a surge in popularity has been noticed amongst bands and groups featuring both foreign and Japanese musicians. This popularity has sparked the attention of several large music corporations, including Sony Japan. Notable band names include Fever (http://www.feverjapan.com), Dr. Funkinstein (http://www.drfunkinstein.net), Cut Flowers (http://www.cutflowers.biz), The Routes (http://www.theroutesjapan.com), F8, and The James Heneghan Roadshow (http://www.jameslive.blogspot.com).
Sub-genres
J-pop includes most of the music sold in Japan and often includes genres considered separate in other countries.
See also
External links
- jpop@jpop.com (http://www.jpop.com/)
- JPOP Central (http://www.jpopmusic.com/)
- J-Fan Jpop (http://www.j-fan.com/jpop/)
- Japan-A-Radio (http://www.japanaradio.com/) - A J-pop and Anime music Internet radio station
- momascene* J-pop in North America (http://www.momascene.com)
- Tokyo-Nights (http://www.tokyo-nights.org/)
- Nippop (http://nippop.com/) - A wide range of Japanese artist profiles in English.
- AMGReviews (http://www.amgreviews.com/) - Has a growing collection of J-Pop reviews.
- Articles on foreign artists in Japan (http://www.jonwilks.com/articles.html)
- yumeki.org (http://www.yumeki.org/) A community for Jpop music enthusiasts. Articles, Reviews and News about japanese artists. (spanish, with English translation)
- akfgfan.com (http://www.akfgfan.com/)
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