Big in Japan

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Big in Japan is also the name of songs by Alphaville, Guano Apes and Tom Waits.
Big in Japan's EP with singer Jayne Casey prominent on the cover
Big in Japan's EP with singer Jayne Casey prominent on the cover

Big in Japan were a punk band that emerged from Liverpool, England in the late 1970s. They are better known for the later successes of their band members than for their own music. According to the Liverpool Echo, Big in Japan were "a supergroup with a difference - its members only became super after they left"[1]

Contents

[edit] History

Coming from the same Merseyside scene as Echo & the Bunnymen, The Teardrop Explodes, OMD and Dalek I Love You, Big in Japan formed in late 1977. They started off playing gigs around Liverpool, most notably at the seminal Eric's Club.[1] Their stage show was unique: lead singer Jayne Casey would perform with a lampshade over her shaved head, guitarist Bill Drummond played in a kilt and bassist Holly Johnson performed in a flamboyant manner which he would later take further in Frankie Goes to Hollywood.

Jayne Casey would later state:

“ We were all a bit too eccentric at a time when punk was quite macho and clear cut...a bit too much for people to handle. We always wanted to be like The Monkees or something. We wanted to be a cartoon, and that's how we tried to sell ourselves to the record companies.[2] ”

Ian Broudie said that "It was more performance art than rock'n'roll. But it gave me a healthy disregard for musicianship. It's ideas that are important, not proficiency."[3]

Hatred of the band reached such a level that a petition calling on them to split up was launched by a jealous young Julian Cope. Displayed in local shop Probe Records the petition gathered 2000[citation needed] signatures including those of the band themselves.[4] Shortly afterwards the band did split up although this was due to personal differences rather than the petition.

The band left the total recorded legacy of seven songs: one on a single, four on their E.P. From Y to Z and Never Again, and two released on a compilation. Their music ranged from punk paeans to the life of prostitution on Suicide a Go-Go, to goofy 50's pastiches complete with high-pitched chipmunk type vocals on Cindy and the Barbi Dolls.

The band broke up in 1978, but recorded From Y To Z and Never Again afterwards to pay off debts. The unintentional consequence of the E.P. was the formation of the seminal Zoo label, which went on to release early material by Echo & the Bunnymen and The Teardrop Explodes, amongst others.

As of 2005, five out of the seven of the band's recorded songs are available on the compilation CD Zoo Label: Uncaged.

[edit] Discography

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  • "Brutality, Religion and a dance beat (e.g., Big in Japan & the Chuddy Nuddies)" - split single on Eric's (run out of the legendary Liverpool nightclub on Matthew Street, with releases by Jayne Casey's Pink Military project) - "Big in Japan" by Big in Japan and "Do the Chud" by the Chuddy Nuddies (fellow Liverpool band Yachts recording under a pseudonym) - Sept. '77, 7", Eric's 0001.
  • From Y To Z and Never Again - EP, (first ever release on the Zoo Label) - "Nothing Special," "Cindy and the Barbi Dolls," "Suicide a GoGo," "Taxi," 1978, 7", Cage 001.

Credits: NOTHING SPECIAL...recorded at the M.V.C.U. 4 track studio (Teac 3340S), Liverpool, July '78. Produced by Noddy Knowler. Musicians: Jayne, vocals; Ian Broudie, guitar; Bill Drummond, guitar; Dave Balfe, bass; Budgie, drums.
CINDY AND THE BARBI DOLLS...recorded at the M.V.C.U. 4 track studio (Teac 3340S), Liverpool, August '78. Produced by Noddy Knowler. Musicians: Ian Broudie, guitar; Bill Drummond, guitar; Dave Balfe, bass.
SUICIDE A GO GO...recorded at T.W. studios, London, November' 77. Produced by Rob Dickens. Musicians: Jayne, vocals; Kev Ward, vocals; Ian Broudie, guitar; Bill Drummond, guitar; Holly, bass; Phil Allen, drums.
TAXI...recorded at Amazon studios, Liverpool, May '78. Produced by the band. Musicians: Jayne, vocals; Ian Broudie, guitar; Bill Drummond, guitar; Holly, bass; Budgie, drums.

Two further tracks by the band have appeared on compilation albums:

  • Match Of The Day - an instrumental track which featured on Street To Street: A Liverpoool Album - 1978, Open Eye Records.
  • S.C.U.M (Society For Cutting Up Men) - features on Zoo Records compilation album To The Shores Of Lake Placid, first released in 1982.

Three unreleased songs were recorded for the band's only John Peel session of 6th March 1979

  • Suicide High Life, Goodbye and Don't Bomb China

A bootleg CD-R is in circulation which contains all of the material listed above as well as demo versions of the following songs:

  • Society for Cutting Up Men, Boys Cry, Big in Japan, Space Walk, Match of the Day and Taxi
  • It also contains the audio from the band's performance of Suicide A Go Go on their Granada TV appearance of 23rd of March 1978 (on Tony Wilson's 'So It Goes).

One additional track is listed in Sounds Magazine:

  • Don't Bomb China - private tape.

[edit] Members[5]

[edit] Notes & references

  1. ^ a b Shennan, P., "Memories of Eric's ; Paddy Shennan recalls the sights and sounds of legendary club Eric's", Liverpool Echo, 20 September 2003, Features p26.
  2. ^ Jayne Casey interviewed by Lin Sangster, 1993 (link)
  3. ^ Pattenden, M., "A Broudie guy", The Times (1FA Edition, London), 30 October 1999, p8.
  4. ^ Reynolds, Simon, Rip It Up And Start Again: Post-punk 1978-1984, ISBN 0-571-21570-X
  5. ^ "Big in Japan - Where are they now?", Q Magazine, January 1992 (link). No mention of David Balfe.
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