There were many things about the 1980s that weren’t cool, but the music certainly was. Ask for an opinion about the period, and the tunes that powered it will most likely come up as one of the most-loved of any decade. The start of the 80s heralded the arrival of electronic music, and by the decade’s end, was hugely popular dominating the charts, before becoming uncool, when Britpop invaded the music scene in the 1990s.
There’s no doubt about it; Eighties music is fondly remembered, and every ‘cool’ band and solo artist is referencing it in 2008, following on from a trend started in 2007. British three-piece Keane are the latest to go 80s, with their latest album Perfect Symmetry, which, I believe, yields mixed results. It turns out that there are right and wrongs things from Eighties music to reference.
I discovered this genuine 80s track this week, hidden away on a greatest hits DVD. Sandra Cretu is best-known for providing vocals on the early Enigma albums from the early 1990s (her husband, Michael, is the brains behind the atmospheric productions), but she has had a solo career of her own for over 20 years. She’s Germany’s answer to Kylie.
Putting out singles since she was 13, and then breaking away from girl group threesome Arabesque in the late 1970s, she was little known outside her native country. Her breakthrough hit, Maria Magdalena, gave her worldwide exposure in 1985, and a string of 33 hits followed in the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s. Her latest long player, The Art of Love, was released last year, following 11 other solo productions.
But this, her first solo offering, Japan ist Weit, must go down as one of her best moments. No, it’s not strong vocally, but with a squelchy synth bass line and backing track pulsating like a musical heart, typically 1980s drums, and lots of clichéd Japanese-sounding keyboards, it’s a legendary piece of little-heard 80’s pop. The fact that Japan is pronounced ‘Yapan’ in German is the icing on the Black Forest Gateau.
If you recognise the song, there is a reason why. A cover of Alphaville’s Big in Japan from 1984, Sandra’s version disappointingly didn’t chart (her compatriots’ release got to number 1 in 4 territories). If you yourself would like a copy of this slice of particularly string 1980s cheese, hunt around a bit on the web, as it is there waiting to be put on the cheeseboard of long-forgotten 1980s pop.
So, although she was incredibly popular on the continent in the 1980s, was Sandra herself big in Japan?
I think I prefer the vibe to Alphaville’s. But ‘Japan is far’? Sehr unterhalten!
I know, it doesn’t translate well does it? And strangely, I’m more used to the German language version than the English version which Alphaville sing…