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Japan
1,035,705 plays (120,374 listeners)
Listening now: aangen
United Kingdom (1974 – 1982, 1991 – 1991)
British art rock band Japan was formed in 1974 with original members David Sylvian (vocals, guitar), Mick Karn (bass guitar, saxophone), Richard Barbieri (keyboards), Rob Dean (guitar), and Steve Jansen (percussion). Dean left the band before the recording of Japan’s final album, Tin Drum.
Japan began playing glam rock, influenced by David Bowie, The New York Dolls and motown. Japan debuted on record with 1978’s Adolescent Sex and subsequently Obscure Alternatives, which both sold well in the nation of Japan, though nowhere else.
Their third album, 1979’s Quiet Life, heralded a change in musical style from the earlier largely guitar based music to a more electronic sound, with more emphasis on Barbieri’s synthesisers, Sylvian’s svelte baritone style of singing, Karn’s distinctive fretless bass sound, and Steve Jansen’s odd-timbred percussion work.
Their following two albums, Gentlemen Take Polaroids (1980) and Tin Drum (1981) continued to expand their audience as the band refined its new sound and unintentionally became part of the early 1980s new romantic movement. But Tin Drum ended up being their final album as personality conflicts tore the band apart. Nevertheless, the album’s unconventional single “
Ghosts” reached #5 on the UK pop charts.
They split after a farewell tour in 1982.
Most of the original members of the band went on to work on other projects.
Japan began playing glam rock, influenced by David Bowie, The New York Dolls and motown. Japan debuted on record with 1978’s Adolescent Sex and subsequently Obscure Alternatives, which both sold well in the nation of Japan, though nowhere else.
Their third album, 1979’s Quiet Life, heralded a change in musical style from the earlier largely guitar based music to a more electronic sound, with more emphasis on Barbieri’s synthesisers, Sylvian’s svelte baritone style of singing, Karn’s distinctive fretless bass sound, and Steve Jansen’s odd-timbred percussion work.
Their following two albums, Gentlemen Take Polaroids (1980) and Tin Drum (1981) continued to expand their audience as the band refined its new sound and unintentionally became part of the early 1980s new romantic movement. But Tin Drum ended up being their final album as personality conflicts tore the band apart. Nevertheless, the album’s unconventional single “
Ghosts” reached #5 on the UK pop charts.They split after a farewell tour in 1982.
Most of the original members of the band went on to work on other projects.
Top Albums
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Tin Drum
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Gentlemen Take Polaroids
Japan Buy- Download Album
- Amazon MP3 $7.99
- 7digital $6.99
- iTunes Search
- Buy Album
- Amazon $9.98
- eBay Search
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Quiet Life
Japan Buy- Download Album
- Amazon MP3 Search
- 7digital Search
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- Buy Album
- Amazon $42.98
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Adolescent Sex
Japan Buy- Download Album
- Amazon MP3 Search
- 7digital $9.99
- iTunes $9.90
- Buy Album
- Amazon $6.95
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New
Top Tracks
| 1 |
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Ghosts
full track
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| 2 |
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Quiet Life
full track
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| 3 |
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Visions Of China
full track
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| 4 |
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Nightporter
full track
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| 5 |
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Gentlemen Take Polaroids
full track
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| 6 |
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The Art Of Parties
full track
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| 7 |
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Adolescent Sex
full track
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| 8 |
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Methods of Dance
full track
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| 9 |
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Talking Drum
full track
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| 10 |
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Cantonese Boy
full track
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| 11 |
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My New Career
full track
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| 12 |
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Still Life In Mobile Homes
full track
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| 13 |
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Life in Tokyo
full track
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| 14 |
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I Second That Emotion
full track
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| 15 |
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Fall In Love With Me
full track
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Shoutbox
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ellisevsf wrote:
Quiet Life is my favourite from them. GTP close second, but I love Adolescent Sex a lot too.
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OlavOrganist wrote:
Weird. I think that Obscure Alternatives by far have their best songs. Quiet Life is in my opinion their worst album, the songs aren't all that great and the sound is awful. I'm not sure which album I prefer, Adolescent Sex or Gentlemen Take Polaroids. When I think of it, Gentlemen should prrobably be higher. Anyways, Adolsecent Sex has their second best song (after Ghosts), Television, and a bunch of other good songs, so that's why I rated it as I did.
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ItsLuizzHolmez wrote:
I never really got into Obscure Alternatives. my rankings would be: 1. Gentlemen Take Polaroids 2. Tin Drum 3. Quiet Life 4. Adolescent Sex 5. Obscure Alternatives
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OlavOrganist wrote:
Their albums ranked: 1. Obscure Alternatives 2. Tin Drum 3. Adolescent Sex 4. Genltemen Take Polaroids 5. Quiet Life anyone agree?
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Warsie wrote:
Don't forget those synths and the fantastic voice of Sylvian... :D The Art Of Parties is one of the best songs of Tin Drum.
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dasNeonlicht wrote:
Well, you simply aren't listening closely enough. Those drums! That bass!
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gregcobra wrote:
The Art of Parties is so boring !
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viciousheaven wrote:
Such a wonderful band!
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Wafflecake wrote:
So "Quiet Life" sounds fucking amazing on DXM.
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Warsie wrote:
New pic!! ;D http://www.lastfm.es/music/Japan/+images/37167723
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The_Wind86 wrote:
million scrobbles, i've played them 25 times so far, haha. Just have the 'tin drum' album. Brillant.
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Warsie wrote:
1.000.000 scrobblings!!!! :D
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ItsLuizzHolmez wrote:
still one of my favorite bands of all time.
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Jason404 wrote:
I find it quite amusing that Japan had their first success in Japan.
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primaldaze wrote:
a foreign place
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lourivara wrote:
life can be cruel
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readthisname wrote:
I don't like this.
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M3nT4T73 wrote:
Fall in love with me :)
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Kobaian001 wrote:
日本人がアメリカ人と、イギリス人の区別がつかないように、彼らも中国人と、日本人の区別がつかないらしい
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centipedejewels wrote:
hell yeah.
Videos
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Listeners
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soarthebridges
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Recent Activity
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chrisod001, ANDREWGP, VILI26 and 7 other people added Japan to their libraries. yesterday evening
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negativpositiv updated the wiki page for Japan. (diff) Monday evening
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Chris_Fool, SmartestMonkey, IrenaeusKraus and 7 other people added Japan to their libraries. Monday evening
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MontanaSacra tagged Japan with electronic, post-punk and new wave. Sunday morning
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MontanaSacra, captcapcom, shoegazer76 and 26 other people added Japan to their libraries. Sunday morning
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negativpositiv updated the wiki page for Japan. (diff) Wednesday afternoon
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negativpositiv updated the wiki page for Japan. (diff) Wednesday afternoon
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popskott, whicker23, javutich and 2 other people added Japan to their libraries. Wednesday afternoon
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aruperu tagged Japan with ‘post-punk’. Wednesday morning
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BrandKnewStyle, PVIC1, Melaszka and 25 other people added Japan to their libraries. Wednesday morning
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