Episode 18: The Tigers Part 1
This is the first of three episodes on the original 1960s idol group The Tigers. In this first episode I talk about the Tigers early life in Kyoto and some of their musical influences, as well as giving some background information on the era and place they were living in at the time.
The songs played are:
1. 「シーサイド・バウンド」 ("Seaside Bound", live recording) by the Tigers, taken from THE TIGERS ON STAGE（Nov. 5, 1967 SLPM-1377)
2. 「月影のナポリ」 (Tintarella di Luna) by 森山加代子 (Moriyama Kayoko) (1960 JP-5036)
3. 「のっぽのサリー」 (Long Tall Sally) by 麻生京子 (Aso Remi) (1962 SA-1003)
4. 「涙のギター」 (Tears of a Guitar) by 寺内タケシとブルー・ジーンズ (Terauchi Takeshi and the Blue Jeans) (1965 BS-323)
5. Live recording of 勝ち抜きエレキ合戦 (Kachi Nuki Ereki Gassen) .
6. "Catch Us If You Can" by the Dave Clark Five
7. 「俺の涙は俺がふく」by 美樹克彦 (Miki Katsuhiko) (1965 CW-260)
8. 「サティスファクション」 ("Satisfaction") by the Tigers, taken from ザ・タイガース・サウンズ・イン・コロシアム（Feb. 2, 1971 MP 9361/9362)
9. "She's a Woman" by the Beatles (recorded live at Budokan June 30, 1966)
10. 「スイムで行こう (Do the Clam)」 by 内田裕也 (Uchida Yuuya) (1965 TP-1086)
11. "Kicks" by Paul Revere and the Raiders
12. 「なんとなくなんとなく」 (Nanto Naku Nanto Naku) by the Spiders, released Dec. 25, 1966
13. 「フリフリ」 (Furi Furi) by the Spiders, released May 10, 1955
14. 「ノー・ノー・ボーイ」 (No No Boy) by the Spiders, released Feb. 1, 1966
15. 「僕のマリー」 (My Mary) by the Tigers, released Feb. 5, 1967 SDP-2001
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Welcome to Filmi Girl’s Idol Cast. Hit it!
Our opening song today was a live version of “Seaside Bound” the Tigers second single, recorded August 22, 1967 at Otemachi Sankei Hall in Tokyo. There’s some really fun choreography that goes with this song. During the instrumental breaks, the front line kind of jumps rights then left then walks back then forward. It is--and I can’t emphasize this enough--super adorable. I picked this song because I love how loud and clear the fan chants come across. The power of idol fans captured on vinyl, spreading their love of the Tigers, still so pure and good after more than 50 years. GO BOUND!
Because, yes, for the first episode of season two we are deep diving into the first and still one of my all-time favorite idol groups: The Tigers! I discussed them a bit briefly in episode two but because there is so much to dig into and so little information available in English I couldn’t resist returning to them. This is going to be a three parter so buckle up for a wild ride.
I think it’s worth looking back at the Tigers because 1) they set the mold for many of the groups to follow, not just musically but also with their fashion and they way their real life friendship was a part of their brand image. Groups produced by the late Johnny Kitagawa could be spotted in Group Sounds-influenced fashions well into the 2000s. And then 2) in their short time together, the Tigers lived out a story we’ll see repeated time and again in idol group history. Young men thrust into the spotlight unprepared for the strain of celebrity. With no control over their lives or their art. The small personality conflicts that grow out of control living in close quarters on top of each other. The artistic tension between the main creative force and the main commercial one that gave them such a spark was also, in the end, what caused the band to flame out.
Before I begin, because I am a librarian, I want to say that my main sources for this episode were a series of interviews published with members of the Tigers in Japanese magazine Rock Jet for their big reunion concert in 2013, as well as a Tigers biography published in Japanese in 2013, a series of reprinted interviews and other articles from Japanese music magazine Screen taken from 1965-1970, as well as various videos available online, such as Sawada Kenji’s interview with Kuroyanagi Tetsuko. There is little to nothing available in English on popular Japanese music of this era (or any era really) which is a damn shame. Well, here is my contribution to closing the gap.
Allow me to set the stage for you. The five original members of the Tigers were all part of the post-World War II baby boom in Japan. Four of them are from Kyoto, a smallish provincial, historic city located about a few hundred miles south and inland of Tokyo, the cultural and political capital of Japan. The fifth original Tiger grew up in Osaka, the closest big city to Kyoto, which is known for being an outspoken, straight-talking kind of place, famous for their comedy and for a street food called takoyaki--fried octopus balls.
Kyoto was one of the few cities left relatively undamaged by American bombing during World War II and although Japanese people across the nation shared in the traumatic aftermath, the lack of food, the residual fear of planes dropping bombs, kids growing up in Kyoto after the war were spared some of the worst physical reminders. Bombed out buildings, demolished houses, dead neighbors.
Before the bullet train opened in 1964--just in time for the Tokyo Olympics--traveling from regional cities like Osaka and Kyoto up to Tokyo was a big deal. It was expensive, took a long time, and was something regular people didn’t do all that often. The Tigers world growing up was small and felt stifling for this bunch of kids but one thing that pushed at their boundaries was music. Through the cultural influence of the Americans, who still had troops posted to Japan, came covers of Western songs by teen stars like Nakao Mie and Moriyama Kayoko. These songs were known as “Cover Pops” and for the young Tigers listening to “cover pops” must have been like getting a glimpse of the world beyond the banks of the Kamo River. To give you a taste of what these sounded like here’s Moriyama Kayoko with her 1960 cover of the Italian hit Tintarella Di Luna.
Meet young Kishibe Osami, a tall lanky kid with a long face and easy grin, and his middle school classmate and friend Hitomi Minoru, who was much shorter than Kishibe and cute as a button with an angelic face covering up his wickedly sharp mind. The two friends would listen to these “cover pops” after school on the Kishibe family’s coveted portable record player. But after middle school graduation, Kishibe went to an Osaka vocational school and Hitomi began working, attending high school part time in the evening, and the two friends lost touch until one day they happened to run into each other by chance in the trendy nightlife filled Shijou area in downtown Kyoto where they had both begun frequenting the dance clubs that had sprung up in the wake of the 1962 Twist boom, specifically they both frequented the super popular “Denen”. Soon the two old school friends were joined by a third likeminded comrade their same age, a high school boy named Morimoto Taro, a bright, thoughtful kid. Morimoto was tall, gentle, and the kind of handsome that makes you do a double take on the street. He was trying to do his best at school but wasn’t really keen on the way his parents were pushing him towards a career in banking and soon fell in with the rebellious Kishibe and Hitomi.
And then in 1963, the three cool cats were joined by a fourth, two years younger than them, Takahashi Katsumi, who had begun attending the same evening school as Hitomi. The way Hitomi tells it, he saw Takahashi in the cafeteria wearing a beret and carrying a sketchbook and just looking like he had the soul of an artist and knew immediately they were going to be friends. Takahashi and his mom, who was a high school teacher, had just moved to Kyoto from Osaka. Maybe it was the influence of his mother--who was involved in left wing politics--or just being from the bigger city of Osaka but to the provincial kids from Kyoto, Takahashi must have seemed like he knew a lot about the outside world.
Hitomi swept Takahashi right into their little group and the four quickly became fast friends. With Morimoto and Kishibe both very tall for the time, Kishibe cracking 6 feet, and with the handsome Hitomi and artistic Takahashi in tow, the four drew attention on the dance floor doing the monkey, the twist, all the popular dances of the time. How charismatic were these kids? Well, let’s just say a picture of the friends mid-boogie won the top prize in an amateur photography contest hosted by the local newspaper.
The dance music played at Denen hit right at the heart of what was called the Elecki Boom, which crested over into mainstream teen culture in 1965. Cover pops was completely replaced on teen’s stereos with blazing hot electric guitar music from Western bands like the Ventures and the Astronauts, as well as homegrown talent like Terauchi Takeshi and the Blue Jeans.
Eleki boom music featured virtuoso lead guitar over a steady drum beat, anchored by a chika-chika rhythm guitar and bass. Perfect for dancing your cares and ennui away… And the eleki boom was a boom. 1965 saw a short-lived battle of the bands-style tv show called かちぬきエレキがっせん where instrumental bands squared off in front of a live studio audience and a mega hit movie starring teen idol/musician Kayama Yuzo, the theme song to which, sung by Kayama, became the BIGGEST SELLING RECORD IN JAPAN EVER up to that point.
According to the Tigers biography, in 1962 there had been about 50,000 electric guitars in Japan. By 1965, there were more than ten times as many, two of which were owned by Morimoto and Takahashi, who had both independently bought a guitar and started to teach themselves to play.
In January of 1965, the Ventures and Astronauts landed in Japan for a nationwide tour. This was a Big Deal in capital letters and you had better believe that the four swingest teens in Kyoto were right there in line for tickets to the show in nearby Osaka, getting up at the crack of dawn to catch the first train into town. While standing around killing time in line, a stereotypically outspoken Osaka girl named Mori Masumi, who just so happened to be president of the local chapter of the Beatles fan club, started busting their balls. “あんたたち、男の子やろ？VENTURESもええけど、自分らでもやったろぐらいのこと、考えてほしいわ” Y’all are guys ain’t ya? The Ventures are alright but it’d be cool if y’all thought about making a band yourselves ya know.
It had been an idea they’d kicked around before but Mori Masumi’s words gave them the kick in the butt they’d needed and Kyoto’s newest eleki boom band--Sally and the Playboys--was born. Sally being lanky Kishibe’s nickname, after the Little Richard song Long Tall Sally. Morimoto and Takahashi would play guitar, Hitomi the drums, and Kishibe--Sally--was left with the bass.
From what I’ve been able to find out, no recordings exist of Sally and the Playboys but they would have been playing the same type of instrumental songs--and probably at the same level of competence--as the bands that went on かちぬきエレキがっせん. And for a taste of that amateur band sound, here are the “Five Girls”. I’ll link to the clip in the show notes.
And now right here is a good time to pause and take a look at what will be the catalyst for turning amateur eleki boom band Sally and the Playboys to the Tigers, Japan’s Very First Idol Group. I’m talking about what’s known among Japan’s classic rock fans as the レパトリ or “Liverpool Three”: The Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and the Dave Clark Five. Only the Beatles were actually from the Northern city of Liverpool, however, with the other two groups hailing from the London area but thanks to the Beatles, the Liverpool Sound was a brand name in Japan in the early to mid-60s and it meant high energy rock’n’roll, with crisp drumming, sharp bass, heavy emphasis on the rhythm guitar, and harmonic sing-a-long choruses. It was a style meant to be enjoyed live, preferably while dancing, with the rhythm section hitting evenly across all the beats in the measure. A distant ancestor to the modern four on the floor beat. The Dave Clark Five’s “Catch Us If You Can” from 1965 is a good illustration of this. Listen for the snaps on the two and four, intercut with the strummed guitar on the ones at the beginning. When the full rhythm section kicks in, you can still feel where those snaps would be driving the song forward… and then when that chorus hits… BOOM! You’re bopping around your living room singing into a hairbrush at the top of your lungs.
The Beatles-led British Invasion hit later and it hit differently in Japan than it did in the good ol’ US of A, following as it did in the wake of the dance hall elecki boom craze. The way the Tigers explained it in their 2013 reunion interviews, more than anything else the idea of A Band blew their minds. The Liverpool Three weren’t just a lead vocalist and some guys or--like the eleki boom bands--just some guys (or girls) that played in the background while you did the monkey on the dance floor at Denen. The vocals and music were on equal footing, united, and you paid attention when they were on stage.
The young Tigers liked the harmonies and interesting chord progressions of the Beatles but they loved the filthy, blazing hot stage energy of the Rolling Stones. And after a less-than-successful attempt at covering some songs from another British group--the Animals--with vocals, they made a decision: Neither Sally nor any of his playboys could play or sing well enough to sing and play at the same time. Sally and the Playboys needed a dedicated vocalist.
Enter one Sawada Kenji.
While Sally and the Playboys were scraping at the edges of the amateur scene in Kyoto, Sawada Kenji--who in 1965 would have been 17, the same age as Takahashi--was hustling as a gofer for local eleki boom band Thunders. In exchange for running errands like fetching cigs and helping to haul equipment, the Thunders let the young Sawada sing a few covers during the set. When Sally and the Playboys mentioned they were thinking of looking for a vocalist, one of their (many) lady friends suggested they check out Sawada… for reasons that will soon become obvious.
Sally and the Playboys trooped down to Denen one night when the Thunders were performing and were blown away by Sawada’s look and stage presence. Sally and the Playboys were all devotees of the “Ivy Look”--the ultra trendy, East Coast American-preppie inspired fashion pushed by Japanese fashion label VAN. We’re talking glossy hair, crisp button downs, slim fit, highwater chinos, plaid blazers, little yachting caps. No joke, this was the uniform for a many a stylish mid-60s teenage delinquent. But Sawada? The way Takahashi remembers it, when they first saw him, he had a crew cut and was wearing a too-big business suit, pointy shoes, and a skinny tie and singing a cover of みき かつひこ’s 俺の涙はおれがふく. He was perfect. Sally and the Playboys asked Sawada to meet them at a nearby diner. They had something they wanted to ask him...
And so Sawada Kenji made a fateful decision. He would quit his position with the semi-pro Thunders to join forces with the brash new amateur band. Their first show together was in late December 1965. And as the new year dawned, fateful 1966, Sawada quit high school and Sally and the Playboys were reborn as the Funnys.
There were three key events in 1966 for the teenaged Funnys. One was snagging a regular spot at Osaka jazz kisaten Namba Ichi Ban, giving them both much needed income and a chance to really hone their act. The second was entering and winning the local Kyoto amateur battle of the bands with a blazing hot cover of the Rolling Stones “Satisfaction”, a song suggested by Sally’s younger brother Shiro, a rock enthusiast hoping to make a career as a music critic. He had a good ear...
With the wind in their sails after winning, the Funnys moved into a boarding house in Osaka and continued playing where ever they could, including, apparently, at an infamous gay bar run by a flamboyant transexual named Carousel Maki. On the rare days they didn’t have a gig, they’d pop back home to Kyoto to hang out at Mrs. Takahashi’s house and play mahjong… except for Sawada. Despite his strong stage presence, the youngest Funny was rather reserved off stage. Instead of playing mahjong, Sawada would make the tea and listen to the other four banter. This is the era the Tigers look back on most fondly now, working towards their dreams…
It’s important to note that the Funnys did not write their own music. It’s not really something that occurred to them at first. But playing songs written by other people didn’t have the same negative connotations that would develop in the West. The Funnys may have “only” done cover songs but they took those songs and made them their own through their performances. And certainly their fans didn’t seem to have a problem with it.
Back in Osaka, the guys had reconnected with outspoken fangirl Mori Masumi, regional president of the Beatles fan club, who watched one of their live sets and promptly offered to start and run the Funnys fan club. By June of 1966, she had gathered more than 300 members. And this right here is what set the Funnys apart from the other bands of the era. They weren’t the most musically or technically gifted band but girls really liked them and the Funnys liked their fans and not in a gross way. While there may have been backstage shenanigans--these are teen boys we’re talking about--officially, the group had a “no girlfriends” policy and their boarding house had a “no lady guests” policy.
Mori Masumi later referred to it as “balance” on stage, using the wasei eigo word バランス the same word that’s used to describe the Beatles stage presence. Rather than a star and a backing group, you had a mix of complementary personalities. As a group they just… fit together. They were real life childhood friends and that natural bond shone through. Fans were attracted to that as much as they were to the music and their looks. And the Funnys were young--a good 5 to ten years younger than other bands on the circuit--had no “ugly ones” in the group and (as far as we know) didn’t go creeping on their female fans looking for sexual favors. It’s no wonder the fan girls loved them.
And speaking of the Beatles, the third key event for the Funnys--soon to be Tigers--in 1966 was the Beatles concert at the Budokan. Fan Club President Mori snagged the group five tickets to their first show on June 30, 1966--sadly Morimoto was unable to attend and his place would be taken by Kishibe’s younger brother Shiro. The five boys from Kansai, dressed in their sharp ivy look inspired tan “band uniforms” they’d worn for the Battle of the Bands, sat in their balcony level seats and just...absorbed everything. The sounds, the feel, the aura of the Beatles. They came back to Osaka inspired.
To lay everything on the table, I myself was a teenaged Beatles fanatic, although I came to the fandom some 30+ years after the original teen fangirls, and their legacy remains as strong as ever. The Beatles set the mold for many of the things we’ve come to associate with idol groups. Take the traditional teen dream magazine Q&A’s about favorite foods and glossy photo shoots but add to that a strong group bond, featuring hilarious in-group banter and opportunities for explosive merchandising (why buy just one member’s commemorative serving tray when you could collect all four!?)
Drawing on my memories of being a Beatles fan, what stands out the most about the Budokan shows was that they were some of the last the Beatles played before they stopped touring completely. Live sound for concerts was still fairly rudimentary in the mid-1960s and the Beatles had grown weary of trying to perform while fighting the noise of tens of thousands of shrieking fangirls. Ringo Starr later said that in those days he had to watch the front line’s bums wiggle and just try to guess what the tempo for the song was or even what song they were meant to be playing. The boys felt like dancing monkeys. But these last shows at the Budokan--the Beatles first in Japan--had been a breath of fresh air. The audience was engaged but polite; something that still holds true for Japanese audiences. For the first time in years the Beatles could hear themselves play. Still, 1966 more or less represents the end of what we could consider the Beatles “idol group” era. And although they weren’t aware of it at the time--or, more likely ever--those Budokan shows represent a passing of the torch. From the group on stage to the one watching in the crowd.
And it was after the Beatles hit Japan in a big way that talent scouts from Tokyo went looking for groups that fit the “Liverpool sound” or looking to assemble their own, Monkees-style. Men from all agencies came sniffing around Namba Ichi Ban with Sawada even offered a chance at a solo contract 2 or 3 times but he always turned them down. The Funnys had an understanding. It would be all of them or nothing.
Enter one Uchida Yuuya. Like the Tigers, Uchida was originally from the greater Osaka area but he was born before the war, almost a decade older than our boys but just as ambitious. In the 50s Uchida had run off to Tokyo to be famous. He worked as a gofer for various acts before snagging a spot with talent agency Watanabe Productions and making his debut at the late, great Grand Western Carnival in 1959. He kicked around with guys like Monsieur Kamayatsu (who we’ll see again later) and Terauchi Takeshi (who we met earlier) but Uchida was no supporting player. He craved the spotlight. After releasing a handful of rockabilly-type singles as a solo act while also doing spots on television and films as a rock personality, by 1966, Uchida sensed the change in the wind with the Beatles arrival. Bands were the new thing. Solo guys were O.U.T. He needed a band. ASAP.
When Uchida wandered into Namba Ichi Ban one night in the late summer of 1966 while the Funnys were playing, he saw what those talent scouts hoping to snag lead singer Sawada Kenji had missed. Uchida saw a Band. He promised them an invite to Tokyo and a chance to audition with Watanabe Productions. And in October, the call came. By November, they would be on their way to Tokyo, professional musicians represented by the Watanabe Productions Talent Agency. November 3rd, 1966 was the final fan meet as the Funnys. They met with the fans for a last bittersweet lunch at the botanical gardens and one fangirl later said her strongest memory of the day was the rare sight of Sally singing happily on the bus ride home. The Funnys left for Tokyo on the 9th, with a big crowd of family, friends, and fans to see them off. And I was able to track down some grainy footage of the picnic and farewell posted on youtube by a dedicated fan which I will link to in the show notes. You can see the (VERY) young Tigers goofing around with their fans and each other. My favorite moment is seeing Hitomi, in a bright red cardigan, posing for the camera as Takahashi comes up behind him to mess up his hair. You can see for yourself why the fan girls loved them so much.
The Funnys moved into a small bunk-bed filled dorm with the strict but caring Manager Nakai, who was himself also a brand new employee of Watanabe, and who would eventually become known as the 6th Tiger. Manager Nakai made sure the boys cleaned up after themselves and practiced diligently. He made the transition to the big city of Tokyo as smooth as he could for the youngsters and despite the very close quarters by all accounts those early days in the dorm were cheerful ones.
But our friend Uchida had not forgotten about the Funnys and not soon after they arrived he swooped in and brought them to the It Spot. An Italian restaurant called, simply, Chianti. It’s actually still open to this day, the oldest Italian restaurant in Tokyo. For the young Funnys coming from Osaka, the authentic European food would have been like nothing they’d tasted before. Japan has this faux-Italian pasta dish called Neapolitan that’s basically just plain noodles mixed with ketchup and ham and imagine going from that to eating pasta sauce made with fresh tomatoes and basil? I’m turning into the chef kissing fingers emoji just thinking about it. But even more important than the food was the atmosphere. Chianti was more than just a restaurant, it was the epicenter of avant-garde Japanese culture. It was opened in 1960 by Kawazoe Hiroshi, who had just returned to Japan from Paris with his teen son and gorgeous 30-something fashion designer second wife Kajiko in tow. By all accounts Madame Kajiko was a memorable hostess and was affectionately known around the restaurant as “Tan Tan”.
Chianti was a salon for all of the most interesting, fashionable, and artistic people not just in Tokyo but from around the world. Anyone who was somebody made sure to stop in at Chianti, from globally renowned author Mishima Yukio to French fashion designer Pierre Cardin to Australian filmmaker Jim Sharman, who directed the Rocky Horror Picture Show. And of course, the man who knew everybody who was anybody, darling--our friend Uchida--was a frequent guest.
So, the glamorous Tan Tan also ran a fashion boutique called Baby Doll in the same building as Chianti and she specialized in what was then called the Conchi look--short for “continental” as in European, darling. As this was 1966-1967, we’re talking about the grooviest in bell bottomed trousers, fringed vests over short mini-dresses, beaded necklaces and turtlenecks for the gents, and the swingingest of Carnaby Street-inspired prints, all paired with long flowing locks on both women and men. When Tan Tan saw the Funnys, still dressed in their townie Ivy Look duds, she is said to have called them diamonds in the rough.
Takahashi, the artistic soul of the group, fell in love with the Chianti scene immediately. Uchida had a (possibly apocryphal) story that went something like this. He’d told the Funnys on their first visit that they should come back whenever, it was on him and well, Takahashi apparently took him at his literal word and began frequenting the restaurant for dinner nearly every night until Tan Tan called up Uchida and asked when exactly he would be paying the bill…
Not all of the Funnys were as eager as Takahashi to adapt to this new world but one by one the Funnys let themselves be made over in the fashionable Conchi style and Baby Doll would become their go-to boutique for stage costumes and other clothing.
After passing their audition with record label Polydor, the Funnys made their first television appearance in late November 1966 on a program produced by the Watanabe agency called, The Hit Parade. The only link to the original performance I have been able to locate went to a streaming website that has since been wiped from the face of the internet but the person who uploaded said on their blog that the footage had been recorded by a friend of Kishibe’s father--one of the most enthusiastic Tiger parents--on a Sony open reel video recorder. They performed a cover of the Paul Revere and the Raiders’ hit from earlier that year… “Kicks.”
One of the people the five extremely nervous kids from the sticks met that day was the Hit Parade’s producer-slash-freelance songwriter, a man named Sugimoto Koichi, who we will definitely be hearing from again. The way the story goes, about 30 seconds before the Funnys were supposed to go on, Sugimoto said to them, “What’s your name? The Funnys? That doesn’t have any punch. You all are from Kansai, right? You should be the Tigers.” After the Hanshin Tigers, the baseball team you support if you’re from the Osaka area.
And that was it. The Funnys, the high octane Osaka bar band, were now the Tigers… but who would the Tigers become?
While waiting for their major label debut to be finalized, the newly christened Tigers were gang-pressed into performing as Uchida’s backing band on the jazz kisaten circuit in Tokyo. These club names are legendary: Nishigeki Western Carnival, which started out as a rockabilly club hence the name, ShinjukuACB, which I believe is actually still a working venue, Ikebukuro Drum… These jazz kisaten sat about 200-500 people and the way they worked was that they had two shifts. There would be an afternoon shift and an evening shift. And the band would play about 3-4 sets each shift. When the Funnys started at Namba Ichi Ban, they were on the weekday afternoon shift and had worked their way up to weekend evenings. The Tokyo clubs cost about 300 yen to get in. To put that in perspective, a brand new 45’ vinyl single cost about 370 yen. So, cost of admission would have been well within the reach of the average high school girl’s pocket money.
Now in Tokyo, the young Tigers would have been mingling on the scene with much more experienced musicians like The Spiders, who not only had played with everybody from the Ventures to the Beach Boys on their Japanese tours, but had also toured internationally themselves, and had just released their 8th single in December 1966, the hit song: Nanto Naku.
The Spiders are a fascinating group and their career will intersect with the Tigers later so it’s worth taking a detour here to just give a quick introduction. The Spiders were on average a good decade or so older than the Tigers. The leader, drummer Tanabe Shouchi started playing jazz drums in his teens, around the American military camps in Tokyo, where he’s from. He started the Spiders in 1961, adding singer Sakai Masaki in 1962, Chianti regular and all around eccentric “Monsieur” Kamayatsu on rhythm guitar, and the very talented lead guitarist Inoue Takayuki.
Since the Spiders roots were in jazz and instrumental music, they had a mastery of technique that the Tigers would never develop. Here they are with 1965 single “Furi Furi.” Listen to the complex interplay of the rhythm section. The drums and bass weaving back and forth and just the wailing lead guitar. And the breakdown where the drums cut out and it’s just a straight beat for a couple measures... all this on a throwaway go go dance track… Go Go Spiders:
And the Spiders had range. Listen to the unusual vocal harmonies and chord progressions on 1966’s “No No Boy”, music by leader Tanabe and supremely naughty no-means-yes lyrics by Monsieur Kamayatsu.
But here’s the thing. The Spiders were incredibly talented, had amazing songs, and had cute as a button lead singer Sakai, and he was cute, but the rest of the guys were in their late 20s and were… musicians. The kind that write no-means-yes lyrics if you get my drift. Look, I’ll put it this way. In the 2013 interviews I mentioned at the top of the episode Takahashi says that he loathed the super masculine rock scene they were thrust into in late 1966 in Tokyo and I get the sense he wasn’t the only one.
I love listening to the Spiders. I really do. They are fantastic. So are a lot of the other Group Sounds bands--which is what the genre would be called--who would pop up around this time in the same mold. But the Tigers were special. They were more than a band. They were an idol group. They had the key ingredient bands like the Spiders were missing: they were making music for--and forming a deep connection with--their female fans.
Maybe it was the early influence of strong willed Mori Masumi, beloved president of the Osaka chapter of the Beatles fan club, or just the personalities of the boys themselves--Takahashi raised by his independent mother, Morimoto who looked up to his cool Elvis-loving older sister--but the Tigers were not cut from the same cloth as your typical bro-y garage bands they shared bills with. From the beginning they had always shared a special bond with their fans.
But they were still a garage band. And a garage band who rocked hard. So, imagine their shock and disgust when Watanabe productions handed them a novelty song as their debut single. Like… who do you think we are?!
So, to understand why this garage rock band of cute guys was handed a dopey novelty song, you have to understand that if you are in Japanese show business being from the Osaka area has a certain… comedic connotation. And this will (hopefully) be the subject of an episode later this season so stay tuned! But for now just understand that seeing a band from Osaka with a very Osaka name like the Tigers, I can only assume that the record company higher ups were like, “Ok, Osaka-novelty song. Let’s go.” And handed them a comedic song from Nakamura Taiji who is--yes--from the Osaka area. The song was called 夜霧のガイコツ今晩は which translates to something like “Good evening, skeleton in the night fog”. Uh… yeah. It was later recorded and released as the second single by a blink and you’ll miss them band called the Cappays and is now next to impossible to find. Believe me I tried. The cover features the band dressed in ridiculous and brightly colored skeleton suits while holding their instruments so I’m sure it’s been a hot item among the 60s kitsch collectors out there.
Anyways, Manager Nakai took the song back to Watanabe pro and begged them to reconsider. Thankfully, they agreed. The Tigers would not be a novelty act. But what kind of act would they be?
Remember our friend Sugimoto Koichi from the TV station? Well, it turns out that he was also an old jazz hand and a regular at Chianti and as was Mrs. Watanabe Misa, that’s Watanabe as in Watanabe Pro, as in the Tigers talent agency. She was not only President’s Watanabe’s wife but also his business partner and a sharp judge of talent in her own right. Much like her friend Tan Tan, she was fascinated by conchi style and wanted to create a new style of popular song to fit the exotic European imagery. And the man to do it would be Sugimoto Koichi. Lyrics would be handled by Hashimoto Jun, heavily influenced by his father, who was a scholar of fairy tales. The result was “Boku no Mary” and that is where we’ll end for today.