Released
this day, on April 8th, 1978, the debut LP from UK band Japan,
Adolescent Sex, is celebrating 45 years on the shelves. At the time of
its release, the band were still miles away from where they’d end up,
creating a document of awkwardly fused glam and punk rock struggling to
find an identity.
Founded in 1974 by brothers David &
Steven Batt (later sir names changed to Sylvian & Jansen,
respectively), along with schoolmates, Mick Karn, Richard Barbieri and
Rob Dean, the band began from scratch by teaching themselves how to play
their instruments. The name, Japan, was initially intended only as a
temporary moniker, but it ended up being permanent when nothing better
came along that suited their tastes. By 1976, they’d developed enough
as musicians to catch the attention of Simon Napier-Bell, who signed a
management deal with them. SNB also managed bands such as The
Yardbirds, Marc Bolan's T-Rex, London and Wham! After winning a
label-sponsored talent contest, the band signed a recording contract
with the German disco label Hansa-Ariola in 1977, becoming an
alternative glam rock outfit in the mold of Lou Reed, David Bowie,
T.Rex, Roxy Music, and the New York Dolls although their initial
material was principally guitar-based funk.
When you put it all
together: the frizzled hair, gobs of makeup, snotty sneering and gritty
punk-funk grooves - it didn’t make a lot of sense and the few press
comments they got at their debut were generally dismissive and
disparaging. Trouser Press wrote that the album "introduces Japan in
all its guitar-rock misery, playing such Bowie-influenced tripe as 'Wish
You Were Black' with less style than a sense of urgency". They were
promising musicians, but the whole look and sound seemed like it was out
of place in every sense compared to what else was going on in the
industry. There was little indication that they’d be capable of
morphing into the harbingers of “New Romantic” sophistication which
would become their final form only a bit more than a year later with
their third LP, Quiet Life. When the debut album was released
internationally, many countries put it out with an eponymous title,
taking offense to the sexual suggestiveness of the original. In the UK,
the sales for their debut were pretty dismal, yet thanks to their name,
they quickly developed a devoted and significant following in the
country from which they'd borrowed their name, the land of the rising
sun, Japan. The debut album was followed by a UK tour supporting Blue
Öyster Cult. Intended to promote the album Japan faced more negative
criticism and hostile audiences. In August 1978 their second single "The
Unconventional" failed to chart. In November, the band also made a
short US tour, but although they were better accepted by American
audiences it proved to be their last and only foray into US soil.
Retrospectively,
the band has little love for their debut. David Sylvian later
commented that they were far too young and naive to be making an album
at that point in their career and he was surprised they were encouraged
and supported in pursing such a misguided product. Still, fans of their
later work, myself included, found themselves backtracking into these
early albums and, while both amused and bemused by the difference to the
band we later came to adore, still consider these works as charming in
their innocence and determination. And there’s even the odd song or two
that still merits a listen again. AllMusic retrospectively gave the
album a 4.5 out of 5 grade, writing: "A more exciting album than just
about anything else they'd ever record, Japan were young, hungry, and
more than a little rough around the edges." I don’t agree with that
assessment of their later work by any means, but it’s still nice that
their debut has garnered some respect after all these years.
