Released
on April 13th, 1979, Japan's Life In Tokyo single turns 45 years old
today. While it marked an abrupt course change for the group, it would
need to be released two more times before it would become a proper chart
hit.
With two albums under
their belt, both released the previous year, Japan were in the midst of
something of an identity crisis. They'd started out as a kind of
patchwork of glam-rock, punk and funk, sporting teased-up, garish died
hair & makeup, and looking like a slightly more put-together version
of New York Dolls. But this approach had left them with little more
than a burgeoning cult following in the country of Japan, based on their
use of its name for their band. The group were quickly maturing and
realizing that they'd miscalculated their stance and were looking to
enact a major glow-up in order to set their house in order.
The
first step along that path was getting connected with acclaimed and
wildly successful electronic disco producer, Giorgio Moroder, who'd made
his name working with the likes of Donna Summer, virtually inventing
techno dance music with the breakout single, I Feel Love, in 1977. The
arpeggio-pulse of his synth bass in that track had become a blueprint
for dance floor domination and Mordor set about applying that trademark
to the music of Japan, a move that would firmly inform the development
of their next album, Quiet Life, recorded later that year.
Its
initial release failed to garner much attention, however, but as
Japan's prominence began to increase with the release of their
subsequent albums: Quiet Life, Gentlemen Take Polaroids, and Tin Drum,
the single was remixed and reissued two more times, once in 1981, and
again in 1982. This last edition, propelled by the success of the Tin
Drum album and Ghosts single, finally clicked on the charts, where it
peaked at #28 in the UK.
Within
the band's canon of work, Life In Tokyo remains as a critical linchpin
between their early glam-punk beginnings and their shift into a sleekly
sophisticated outfit that would become a major influence on the New
Romantics scene beginning to evolve in the wake of punk.
