Shibuyakei History
The British Invasion
Japan as many other countries were effected by the 1960's sound. The British Invasion, Motown, and Folk Rock were embraced by Japan towards the late 1960's. It all came to a stop when Japans Government put a stop to the whole 1960's craze in Japan's districts. In the 1980s, the underground London Night scene was small in size, however there were a number of artists which spawned around this time due to it. Eventually leading towards the debut of Pizzacato Five or "P5" for short. Meanwhile Yoshida Zin from the group Salon Music who had prior success with the European-American sound had helped Lollipop Sonic with finding a chance to get a record deal. The group got their inspirations from Beck, Beach Boys, and The Beatles. The record company said they would give the group a record deal if they agreed to change their name to Flipper's Guitar.
Flippers Guitar Success
Flipper's Guitar had flopped after getting signed on to their record deal. The team of five dropped to two. The duo started to gain popularity by releasing hit after hit. There success was short lived because the group broke up in 1991 and the duo went their separate ways. Keigo Oyamada became known as Cornelius while Kenji Ozawa started a solo career in the music business. Little did they know, Flipper's Guitar inspired many people to get an interest in more of a European sound.
The Paleo-Shibuyakei Era
In the Early 1990's, lounge music group Pizzacato Five, Tomoyuki Tanaka also known as Fantastic Plastic Machine, and a few other musical acts were a new sound which people labeled as Shibuyakei. None of them asked to be labeled as a movement, but the name stuck when retail stores, journalists, and news casters were trying to define Flipper's Guitar and Pizzacato Five. It marked as a rebellious indie wave towards european and american music interest.
End of the Paleo-Shibuyakei Era
In the Late 1990's, the name Shibuyakei had lost all rebellious connotations due to Japans Popular Culture leaning more towards a European-American sound.
New artists kept on entering the business, but it was seemingly too late. Many old time artist and new artists at the time told the media they were not Shibuyakei. The Shibuyakei craze which hit earlier that year was fading as a mark of something as oldies and not relevent to modern J-Pop. The Shibuyakei scene had ended and was just a section in the history books of fads.
The Neo-Shibuyakei Era
In the Early 2000's, people who had grown up with Shibuyakei started to make a new wave of music. It sounded very different from Paleo-Shibuyakei and was more edgy and modern. Alot of it is thanks to the group Capsule which started their careers in the late 1990's at the end of the Paleo-Shibuyakei era. The music producer Yasutaka Nakata had brought in his own inspirations and feel to the old Shibuyakei model. Yasutaka Nakata had later on made Contemode a record company originally made for his group Capsule, but turned out as a base for many things Neo-Shibuyakei.
History of "The Sixties"
Shibuyakei was partly a 1960's revival of music from Europe and some social trends from America. The 1960's was known in popular culture as The Sixties. It is most noted for the Social Revolution and Countercultures which started to emerge during this time. Some of these cultures included the Hippy, Rock, and British Invasion which many people of the older generation could hardly see as music, but they knew it was a Urban Culture. Themes such as Organic and Futuristic were in.
Historical research was done for various reasons. One of these reasons was to check on authentic ideas with modern twists. A second is to make sure the trends which the 1960's which modern social trends maybe based on do not repeat mistakes of the 1960's generation. Such mistakes include the amount of Sexism, Racism, and Social Taboos during that time.
Trends
The Space Race
Russians verses the United States in the world wide space race.
People were watching cartoons like the Jetsons and reading sci-fi comics looking toward a better future.
Spy Craze
James Bond 007
Fashion
The Mini Skirt
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Jaqueline Kennedy
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Music
Shibuyakei is based on French 1960's ye-ye music with a influence from The British Invasion. American Rock & Roll and Motown take a back seat since they are not the most celebrated 1960's music types in Shibuyakei urban culture.
The 1960's portal doesnt end there. Groups such as Gaijin A Go-Go use horns and back up dancers to get a more American Rock and British Invasion Feel.
While Neo-Shibuyakei opens the doors to the modern J-pop world walking the bridge to the 1960's. It seems that Shibuyakei works on a whole 1960's revival.
French Pop Culture
The sound of Paleo-Shibuyakei originally comes from French ye-ye music which originated in France during 1950,1960's,1970's.
American Rock & Roll
French ye-ye was influenced by American Rock & Roll.
The British Invasion
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Motown
Dance
Food