Episode 34: Saijo Hideki and City Pop with Van Paugam
This was a really fun episode to work on! Saijo Hideki was truly a visionary pop star, ahead of his time in many, many ways. You can read Van’s write up on him on his website here. While doing research for this conversation I uncovered enough material that I think it might be worth doing a full episode (or maybe even two) dedicated to Hideki’s career because it does really span decades and whole sea changes in Japanese popular music. He went from working with the giants of kayoukyoku (歌謡曲) and enka (演歌) to the masters of City Pop in the 1980s and then with the heavy metal maestro X-Japan’s Yoshiki in the 1990s as well as being “re-discovered” by a new generation of music enthusiasts alongside other world class artists such as Burt Bacharach, Serge Gainsbourg, David Bowie, Dolly Parton, and Nile Rodgers. Sadly, his life (and career) were cut short by a series of debilitating strokes before he passed away in 2018 but his passion and his soul live on in his music.
I discuss this in the episode but the kayoukyoku era was the era of television live performance and you really need to see Hideki in action to get the full impact of his magnetism. Here’s a link to a compilation of live performances of one of my all-time favorite songs, “Honoo” or “Flame” to get a taste.
You can find my guest on twitter @vanpaugam and on his website vanpaugam.com
The songs played are:
“Bomber” by Saijo Hideki, Big Game ‘80 (Original by Yamashita Tatsuro)
“Hageshii Koi” by Saijo Hideki
“Kejime nasai” by Kondo Masahiko
“White Breath” by TM Revolution
“Rola no kizu darake” by Golden Bomber
“Mayonaka no door (Stay With Me)” by Miki Matsubara
“Real Folk Blues” by Seatbelts feat. Mai Yamane
“Nageki no jinsei” by Sawada Kenji, Julie II (note: recorded at Abby Road Studios in London and sounds incredible)
“Jounetsu no arashi” by Saijo Hideki
“We are the Boys” by Pulp, Velvet Goldmine: Music From the Original Motion Picture
"Jonetsu no arashi” by the High-Lows, Kids Wanna Rock (Saijo Hideki Rock Tribute)
“Moment” by Saijo Hideki (written and produced by Yoshiki)
“Dakishimite jiruba” by Saijo Hideki
“Beat Street” by Saijo Hideki
“Young Man” by Saijo Hideki
“Through the Night” by Saijo Hideki (Dimitri from Paris version)
“Blue Sky Blue” by Saijo Hideki
“Hi no kuni he” by Ishikawa Sayuri
“Katte ni Sinbad” by Southern All Stars
“Moeru ii onna” by Twist
“Mary Anne” by The Alfee
“Julia ni heartbreak” by Checkers
“Itoshi no Ellie” by Saijo Hideki, Big Game ‘79 (Original by Southern All Stars)
“Emotional Prism” by ミカヅキBIGWAVE (Future Funk reworking of Meiko Takahara’s “Fantasy”)
“Beat Street” by Saijo Hideki