J-rock from the 70's

[BigBossIchi]

Does anyone know what bands were big during the 70's in the world of rock in Japan. One band that I have been listening to quite alot of late is Flower Travellin' Band and their album Satori. I have also heard many of their other material and have enjoyed it quite alot. So, are there any other bands that were in the 70's that made a mark in some way? Well, any J-rock bands really...

[epigene]

I don't know whether these artists and bands fall in the category of J-rock but they were big for sure:
Oda Kazumasa (and the band he led Off-Course)
Zaitsu Kazuo (and the band he led Tulip)
Happy End (of "Lost in Translation" fame)
Southern All Stars (made their debut in the 70's)
Yazawa Eikichi (he was a J-rocker) & Carol (he belonged to this band before turning solo)
Ohtaki Eiichi
Sadistic Mika Band
There are many more that belong to the "folk song" category who were very popular:
Kaientai
Kaguya-hime
Arai Yumi (now Matsutoya Yumi)
Iruka
Nakajima Miyuki, etc.
As you see, many of them are still active today.

[MHtrStevie]

I concur with all of epigene's recommendations, though again some of the groups listed there might not fall into the "rock" category depending on your tastes... Sadistic Mika Band and Happy End definitely have some harder-edged songs, but I might say Eiichi Ohtaki and Off Course/Kazumasa Oda have softer rock sounds.

You might consider looking at the later work of The Mops... they started in the latter part of the 1960's, and were influenced by San Francisco "psychadelic" groups like Jefferson Airplane and The Doors... and they moved toward '70s rock sounds as well.

Also check out Garo, even tough they might border more on the folk/rock sound... this group features Yukihiro Takasashi, also of Sadistic Mika Band and later Yellow Magic Orchestra.

It's interesting to see how involved some of the members of YMO were in the J-Rock scene before going fully electronic with Ryuichi Sakamoto in YMO:

Haruomi Hosono (Happy End & another group whose name escapes me)
Yukihiro Takahashi (Garo & Sadistic Mika Band)

Anyway, I don't think you can go wrong with any of these groups mentioned so far... happy listening!

[BigBossIchi]

Thanks guys! Are any of you two familar with FLOWER TRAVELIN' BAND at all?

[epigene]

I just knew the name of the band in the 70's. I checked the history of the band and found that Kuni Kawachi was the leader. He is now a composer and has worked with the band Alfee in production and arrangement. He is also known for many famous jingles aired on TV.

Seems that "Satori" was their only successful album in Japan. (Japan in those days was not tolerant toward true "hard" rock. I myself was more into Emerson, Lake & Palmer and Yes.)

PS Oh yes, I remember another group, the Golden Cups, which evolved into Godiego.

[MHtrStevie]

I haven't heard any Flower Travelin' Band at this point, but I think I'll try to check some of their stuff out after this thread... obviously I've been enjoying some of the music of this era and would love to find more.

Originally Posted by epigene

PS Oh yes, I remember another group, the Golden Cups, which evolved into Godiego.

Wow... you know, I never knew there was a connection between these two groups! I love the Golden Cups... they're one of my favorite G.S. combos. I've also been listening to a few Godeigo songs... they did a theme song to one of the Galaxy Express 999 animated films, right?

Could you describe the connection a bit more? Which Cups members are involved with Godeigo?

You learn something new every day... that's why I love this forum! Nice to meet you!

[pipokun]

Yuya Uchida is a kind of Japanese Rock legend, and he is really muti-talented and still aggresive.
http://www.nyrf.net/pc_index.html

The MODS, Zuno Keisatsu, FRICTION, The Star Club, and THE STALIN are also nice bands.

I don't know what you mean by J-rock, if your J-rock means rock bands like X-Japan or so-called Visual Kei. I suppose they were influenced by heavy metal bands like Loudness, Earthshaker, or 44 Magnum in the 80'. If I remember correctly, X or X-Japan was a typical heavy metal band at first. Then they created their original style and became a sort of founder of J-rock.
It was in the Earthshaker's gig that I went to see a gig in my life. They enlighted me a lot when I was a kid.

[epigene]

Hi Stevie,

I'll just give you information I know and checked. (I'm basically an American rock fan and am not an expert on this.)

I know the Golden Cups because I lived in the area where the club Golden Cup was located when I was a kid. The guys or some of the members used to play dance parties.
The member who formed Godiego is Mickey Yoshino, the keyboardist who left the Golden Cups for study at Berklee in Boston. He returned to Japan in the 70's to form Godiego.

Although the Golden Cups are recognized for pioneering Japanese rock in retrospect, Godiego was a bigger commercial success in their days. I think that many Gold Cups-related people and former members participated in production, etc., for Godiego.

The genealogy (in Japanese) is found here:
http://www.altamira.jp/goldencups/index.html
Godiego music is here:
http://columbia.jp/~godiego/sound.html
Their biggest hits were Monkey Magic, Gandara, Beautiful Name and Galaxy Express 999.

I still see Mickey Yoshino and the Godiego vocalist Takekawa Yukihide on TV sometimes. Oh yes, and Godiego had a reunion concert in 2000 and the Golden Cups reunion was held this year (very recently, actually). I think there is a Golden Cups film retrospective currently showing in Japan.

[alfiegal]

bigbossichi, i learned about SATORI album from the miike movie REKKA. seems

yuya uchida put on the "japanese woodstock" in the 70s, featuring some of the bands mentioned here (golden cups, sadistic mika, masaki ueda, ex-spiders guy kamayasu with ther mushroom hair, and yoko ono.) it's called One Step Festival and released on DVD & 4-CD set last month or so. Some nice 70s bands there.

GODIEGO has haunted me ever since i heard their soundtrack for a 70s "angry youth" movie, YOUTH KILLER.

[RevengeBabyYeah]

Theres a book called "Japrocksampler" by Julian Cope. You can find it on Amazon or Play.com.
It's about the history of Japanese rock music and has a useful section where he reviews alot of artists and gives albums by them to try.

[Cremie]

aww..soo classic o^^o, <3!

[kameron]

The older ones I like are
早見　優
Hayami Yuu
and
榊原　生江
Sakakibara Ikue

They may not fit your criteria but they sure are old.

[ASHIKAGA]

A little note about Yuya Uchida. When the band HAPPY END started playing, or should I say singing, rock music in Japanese, he publicly denounced them saying that you could NOT do rock in Japanese. Ironically, he did not enjoy much commercial success until he started singing in Japanese.