Big in Japan
From Free net encyclopedia
- Big in Japan is also a single by German band Alphaville
Big in Japan was a punk band that emerged from Liverpool in the late 1970s. They are better known for the later successes of their band members than for their own music.
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. 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" [1]
Hatred of the band reached such a level that an anti-Big In Japan society emerged, and garnered 2000 signatures to urge the band to break up, which they did.
The band left the total recorded legacy of six songs: one on a single, four on their E.P. From Y To Z and Never Again, and one 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 album 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 six of the band's recorded songs are available on the compilation CD Zoo Label: Uncaged.
Albums
- From Y To Z and Never Again - 1978 EP, first ever release on the Zoo Label.
Members
- Budgie - later of The Slits and then Siouxsie & the Banshees
- Ian Broudie - later of Original Mirrors, Care, The Lightning Seeds and then a respected producer
- Bill Drummond - later of The KLF, Lori & the Chameleons and the Zoo record label
- David Balfe - later also of Lori & the Chameleons, and The Teardrop Explodes and the Food record label
- Jayne Casey - later of Pink Military and Pink Industry
- Holly Johnson - later of Frankie Goes to Hollywood
- Ken Ward and Phil Allen - no further musical activity
External links
- Library of Mu - Q Magazine feature, "Big In Japan - Where are they now?"