i'm a bit pressed that structure of romance is in the top 5 and not this but let me be happy that this underrated indie queen even made it to the top 10 at all

 

5. Night Tempo feat. Kyoko Koizumi - Structure of Romance

 

 

8.54

 

Structure of Romance is Night Tempo's 18th digital single. It became a part of his album Neo Standard, where he collabed on new songs with such Showa idols as Yu Hanami, Hitomi Tohyama and Miho Nakayama.

 

Structure of Romance is the highest late-career song in the rate.

 

Admirers: Curaga, romiskes, OrbitNumber1, Kyle-x, AMIT (10)
Antis: Maresia (4)

 

Curaga: Another favorite contender. Love this, even if it's kinda simple.
Kyle-x: The groove whew.
Meloetta Carey: night tempo collecting h*gs like infinity stones
AMIT: Okay, now we're talking. Absolute perfection!
Suilen: It's fine, but people really looked at all the variety Kyoko had to offer and chose this as her best...

The instrumental on Broken Sunset is really something... kind of a triumph. I fear I low-balled 

I would redo my score if I knew a feature would be so high! 

Kyoko Koizumi

 

Average score: 7.66

 

5. Structure of Romance (8.54)
16. 水のルージュ (Berlin Version) (8.06)
19. NUDIST (8.02)
22. FADE OUT (7.93)
24. Innocent Love (7.84)
36. 私の16才 (7.54)
42. ヤマトナデシコ七変化 (7.42)
60. あなたに会えてよかった (5.9)
 

Yeah, I did not expect this to be Kyoko's highest  but it was one of the three 10s I gave ha, so I guess I shouldn't be. I thought for sure it would be FADE OUT!

She looks so beautiful in that picture!

4. Akina Nakamori - 十戒 (1984) (Ten Commandments)

 

 

9.01

 

Jukkai (1984) is Akina Nakamori's 9th single. It was written by Masao Urino and produced by Masayoshi Takanaka, a versatile musician. Yumi Matsutoya was originally supposed to be the lyrics, but her draft was rejected due to a change of direction. Akina personally disagreed with the lyrics that tell the guy to man up, but Urino told her to treat singing the song as acting. The song was referred to as Urino's culmination as a writer. It was a no. 1 hit and became the 6th best-selling single of 1984. The song also won a lot of major awards that year. 

 

Admirers: pearlmercury, Meloetta Carey, AMIT, Suilen, Britneyfan09, D.D.D (10)
Antis: Graves (6)

 

Kyle-x: I love when the song lifts during the chorus!
AMIT: A banger!
Suilen: Yeah, a great song, but those lyrics... Thankfully, Akina doesn't agree with that patriarchal shite.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. Akina Nakamori - DESIRE -情熱-

 

 

9.02

 

DESIRE is Akina Nakamori's 14th single and one of her signature songs. It was written by Youko Aki and produced by Kisaburo Suzuki, also known as Keith Brown. The single's A-side was supposed to be     LA BOHÈME, but Akina insisted on DESIRE to be one. She also really wanted to sing the song in a kimono, which is reflected on the single cover and several iconic performances that all the women that came after her studied intensively. Ultimately, the combination of the song's catchiness and the iconic look made it extremely memorable. While song was a huge hit, reaching no. 1 on the weekly charts and no. 2 on the yearly chart of 1986, it wasn't her best-seller at the time. However, there are reports that it could've crossed 1 million copies sold, making it her biggest hit in Japan. The song received rave reviews upon the release and won all the possible major awards.

 

DESIRE is the highest signature song in the rate.

 

Admirers: OrbitNumber1, Kyle-x, AMIT, Suilen, Britneyfan09 (10); romiskes (9.7)
Antis: Curaga (7)

 

Kyle-x: Truly fills me with DESIRE… to put it on repeat!
AMIT: Iconic bop.
Maresia: reheated take on me's nachos and scraped off the remaining cheese sauce
Suilen: But wow, what a moment. Japan was her ***** then. And it's the same year Fushigi was released, too. Who was doing it like her?

******* finally  don't think i would've even liked this for the brief moment in 2015 when i thought vaporwave was good but then decided to just listen to the real, superior thing.

1 minute ago, Suilen said:

Akina personally disagreed with the lyrics that tell the guy to man up

She was fighting the gender binary  

I MISSED "THE SHOCK" as Akina's highest song is correct! Now it just needs to win 

so the battle for number one will be between i missed the shock and dancing hero  i suppose that's not surprising.

2. Yoko Oginome - ダンシング・ヒーロー (Eat You Up)

 

 

9.1

 

Dancing Hero (Eat You Up) is Yoko Oginome's 7th single and her signature song. It's a Japanese cover of the song by Angie Gold. The Japanese lyrics were written by Hitoshi Shinohara, and the production was done by Angie and Tony Baker. The song's original title was supposed to Cinderella Boy, but it was later changed to Dancing Hero. While it only hit no. 5 on the charts upon the release, it managed to sell around 700k copies. The 2017 re-release saw the song chart at no. 2 on Japan Hot 100. The cover's success also allowed the original song to peak at no. 1 on the international chart. The bon odori associated with the song has ensured its longevity.

 

Admirers: romiskes, Kyle-x, pearlmercury, AMIT, Maresia, Britneyfan09 (10)
Antis: D.D.D. (7), OrbitNumber1 (7.1)

 

Curaga: I thought I recognized this!

Kyle-x: Oh let's get on the dancefloor girls!
AMIT: This is giving Jessie Ware's WYP? dark disco vibes. GAGGED. 
Maresia: this is what you call a CLASSIC
Suilen: Definitely, I thought it was fun.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. Akina Nakamori - I MISSED "THE SHOCK"

 

 

9.23

 

I MISSED "THE SHOCK" is Akina Nakamori's 22nd single. It was written and produced by QUMICO FUCCI, an ex-member of SHERBETS. The song is often associated with the outfit in which Akina performed the song. The single only hit no. 3 on the charts, potentially due to being overshadowed by TATTOO, and its yearly performance was split. The song was acclaimed upon the release. 

 

Favorite of: Britneyfan09

 

Admirers: Curaga, romiskes, OrbitNumber1, Kyle-x, AMIT, Maresia, Britneyfan09 (10)
Antis: pearlmercury (7.5); Meloetta Carey (7.7)

 

Curaga: Love this unique instrumental. Amazing song overall! A favorite contender.
Kyle-x: This is too damn good. When that chorus kicks in WHEW.
AMIT: Mega bop.
Suilen: Again, I'm glad I asked about what song to include because Yoko would be taking this otherwise.

Akina Nakamori

 

Average score: 8.33

 

1. I MISSED "THE SHOCK" (9.23)
3. DESIRE -情熱- (9.02)
4. 十戒 (1984) (9.01)
8. スローモーション (8.46)
11. マリオネット (8.36)
14. 飾りじゃないのよ涙は (8.23)
27. Dear Friend (7.78)
55. FIXER -WHILE THE WOMEN ARE SLEEPING- (6.54)

Yoko being relegated to the misc section but absolutely tearing it up out of nowhere with her one song

 Rate un-canceled!!! Love this result!

 

Not a 10 for me but pretty close. Glad that it won

a predictable winner, but what can i say, it is a banger 

Akina owning 3/4 of the top 4 whew... 

 

 

We just need MAX to cover I MISSED "THE SHOCK" for the trinity to be completed

Thank you, @Suilen, for hosting and educating us on this great selection of songs!  I loved reading all the lore I would never have known without all your write-ups. Great job! 

 

Thank you Suikina Nakamori, your expertise and knowledge did not go unnoticed and we appreciate you for bringing a bit of culture to us  

thank you for hosting  even if the results were a bit tragic, this was my favorite rate that i've participated in so far under the maresia pseudonym

 

looking forward to the city pop rate or whatever it will be called 

Thanks to everyone who has sent their scores and participated in the reveals. I'm glad we had a chance to celebrate these women.

 

The second Showa rate, tentatively titled 'The Showa era singer-songwriters' is coming next year, January or February. Some many find the term 'a city pop rate' more accurate, and while all of them definitely dabbled in city pop, not all their songs are going to be that, and we're going to have some synthpop, funk and even folk. The Japanese term 'new music' covers all of them, and it's basically synonymous with city pop there, but it's unknown in the West, so using that will only confuse people. So it's singer-songwriters for now, and it's true: all of them wrote for themselves and for other people, as we saw with Shizuka and Miyuki here. Some took time to get there, like ANRI and even Mariya, but they got a hang of it.

 

The line-up will probably look like this:

 

Yumi Matsutoya
Mariya Takeuchi
Tomoko Aran
Meiko Nakahara
Junko Yagami
Taeko Ohnuki
ANRI
Miyuki Nakajima (not on Spotify for now, but we'll find a way)

 

Misc

 

Saki Kubota
Kaoru Akimoto
Miki Matsubara
Mari Ijima

 

I hope to see all of you there. I'll try pitching it as a general rate because it has a lot of potential to resonate with non-jpop audience, but if I get ignored, then it's going to happen here as usual.

 

Yeah, the era clearly wasn't totally my thing but enjoyed enough of the music to get some new faves. Learned a little too! Thanks