Song 30 // Haruomi Hosono - "Sports Men (スポーツマン)"
I'll be a good sport
Be a good sport
I'll be a sportsman
I fell into the dreamy neon drenched music of Japanese City Pop in 2019 when the record label Light in the Attic released a compilation album featuring a selection of City Pop songs from 1976-1986. That record became a gateway for me into an era I never knew. The following year, with everyone deep into various levels of lockdown, City Pop emerged to greater heights when YouTube algorithms pushed users deep into these fun, innocent songs with looping videos of retro landscapes, convertibles, and ‘80s color palettes.
I'm worrying everyday
I could be anorexic
I'll have to get into shape
Can't seem to find the right charge
Your mother, she might be a swimmer
Your father must have been a vaulter
The emergence of City Pop can be traced back to Japan’s economic boom in the 1960s following WWII. The country was exporting its vast technological advancements to the world including cassette players, cars, and videogames. With all this financial success, the people of Japan found themselves with yen to spend. City Pop songs captured the zeitgeist of glitz and new found financial freedom. And with new car stereos, it offered a chance for young adults to drive around the city with the windows down as the neon lights basked their easygoing and romantic drives.
Listening to City Pop now, with no knowledge of it beforehand, is like peering into a glamorous retro past. A sort of nostalgia for a time I have no memories from, before I was born. But yet, the pull of City Pop is so strong that those looping videos on YouTube make me feel like I was there, or want to be there now.
Don't put me in skates
Ping pong, I'm no great shakes
People say I'm weak
Can't even hold her tight
You are the star of the poolside
Your streamline curves I can't abide
Haruomi Hosono, a pioneer in City Pop, is one of Japan’s most influential pop artists. His song, “Sports Men (スポーツマン),” appeared on that aforementioned record from Light in the Attic and has been a great introduction into this collective of songs.
Twitching, throbbing, twitching, throbbing
Twitching, throbbing, twitching, throbbing
Hosono’s singing of “twitching, throbbing” is also an apt description of the electronic beat that starts off the song and plays throughout it. The song is off of his 1982 solo album, Philharmony (Hosono was/is involved in several different musical groups) and it was recorded mainly by him.
I'll be a good sport
Be a good sport
I'll be a sportsman
With an amusing lyrical story of being your strong, athletic “sportsman,” the song is a pop genre standout amongst an album where Hosono played around with songwriting and experimentation with an array of new synthesizers and musical instruments.
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View past songs here. Share this song with the person sitting next to you in your ‘80s convertible as you both drive around and admire the late night Tokyo skyline.