Japanese Garage Bands of the 1960s

I picked up a very interesting compilation the other day called GS I Love You: Japanese Garage Bands of the ’60s. It consists of Japanese garage bands in the 1960s, where the scene was just starting to erupt. These bands had essential Western influences, but few were brave enough to incorporate Asian elements. You’ll find that most of the bands sing in heavily accented English, due to their Western music obsessions but some of them were smart enough to recognize that a difference in language would not matter significantly if the music and songwriting were great. Obviously, none of these songs match the quality of their British counterparts but they are really all quite fun from the funky Cougars’ ‘Suki Nanda’ to The Out Cast’s ‘You Gat a Call Me’. Also, what’s a 60s compilation without a Beatles cover? Burns’ cover of ‘I Saw Her Standing There’ is pretty cool and really emphasizes The Beatles’ worldwide influence even at that time.

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Cougars – Suki Nanda

[audio:https://obscuresound.com/mp3/jpc/cou-suk.mp3]

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The Out Cast – You Gat a Call Me

[audio:https://obscuresound.com/mp3/jpc/out-you.mp3]

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Burns – I Saw Her Standing There

[audio:https://obscuresound.com/mp3/jpc/bur-isa.mp3]

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Blue Jeans – One More Please

[audio:https://obscuresound.com/mp3/jpc/blu-one.mp3]

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Voltage – Hold On! I’m Comin’

[audio:https://obscuresound.com/mp3/jpc/vol-hol.mp3]

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The Van-Dogs – Hey Girl

[audio:https://obscuresound.com/mp3/jpc/van-hey.mp3]

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Miki Obata – Jane Jane

[audio:https://obscuresound.com/mp3/jpc/mik-jan.mp3]

Mike Mineo

I'm the founder/editor of Obscure Sound, which was formed in 2006. Previously, I wrote for PopMatters and Stylus Magazine.

Send your music to [email protected].

5 Comments

  1. […] EXTRA : 3 New links added, 1st is Chantilly Bass, which mostly features quality electronic/house/techno stuff, check his latest posts on Ten City, Inner City, Susumu Yokota, The MFA etc. Second one is Dalston Oxfam Shop which features obscure vintage cassette mixes and tracks, some golden oldies to check for. And last Obscure Sound has lots of good stuff I haven’t heard about. Check out Matthew Friedberger of Fiery Furnaces, and also a hypnotizing song by the FF called I’m in no Mood, and also this 60s Japanese Garage Rock compilation, and also The Russian Futurists, Ratatat and God knows what more this beast hides inside.. 🙂 […]

  2. I just got this one. It’s a great album and I think they DO match their British and American counterparts. Anyway, good music.

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