Wednesday 30 May 2012

JAPAN "DON'T RAIN ON MY PARADE" . . . . THE PRINCES OF POST PUNK POUTING, PISSING PROUDLY UPON THE BABS CLASSIC . . . . PRIOR TO MESSRS SYLVIAN, KARN ET AL PICKING UP POLAROIDS AND AN EXTREME EASTERN FETISH . . . . PREDATING THE L.A HAIR BAND SCHTICK BY SIX YEARS !!!!

This rendition of the Streisand classic was released in 1978, punk was everywhere and the big hair scene was dying in the arse as everybody from the Stones to ELO starting cropping their lockes and trying to adopt the new image . . . . from this period sprang Japan, led by lead vocalist and super androgynous frontman, David Sylvian. In combo with the now sadly deceased Mick Karn, Richard Barbieri and a bloke whose name I can never fucking remember, they put out this sneering, glam punk hybrid pisstake . . . .

By 1981 they had changed their image completely, gone were the male rock slut, dirtbag, heroin chic looks of '78, in there place, immaculate suits and heavy face powder along with synth dominant, eastern influenced music . . . . 'Gentlemen Take Polaroids' was a great album and shaped their future as well as making a guilded cage for both the 'most beautiful man in rock', as Sylvian was often referred to as, along with the rest of the band . . . . but this fucking brilliant take on Miss Streisand's hit from some years previous is still the song that does it for me, glam with a real and tangible 'fuck off' attitude, it caught the feel of the times perfectly, hair today, long gone tomorrow.

2 comments:

  1. OOOOOOOOoooohhhh my God !!!! Can't go up 7 seconds lol !!! :)

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  2. Funny girl Miss Bananas . . . bloody mad, love your work !! Off to Zedsville, nye nye, mon cherie.

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