How To Succeed In Business 1

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Barely Alive & Nyptane - Electric Lady (Flood Version)

Welcome to The Minute of Spin, a bite-sized music segment in which we explore a single song that came to define an entire band. Unfortunately, we can't afford the rights to the songs we spotlight, so you won't actually hear the song. But you're welcome to listen to it here:  https://youtu.be/IWWwM2wwMww

Certain songs you hear today, they just sound so quaint.  There’s an adventurous spirit to them, a sense of breaking rules, of pushing boundaries.  Then there are songs that purport to do that, but don’t really make a lot of sense.  Then there are songs that don’t make a lot of sense, but are great songs anyway, despite themselves.  In late 1979, an English band called The Vapors released “Turning Japanese,” a song that seems to be about obsessive love, but really, is about something much sweeter.  I think.

“Turning Japanese” is about a guy who may be in jail who stares at a picture of himself and someone he loves.  He kisses the picture when there’s no one around, and he wants an X-ray so he can look at his loved one from the inside.  It’s got all the makings of a classic creepy obsessive love song, except for one thing:  our protagonist is turning Japanese.  What does it mean?  Some have speculated that the song’s about orgasm, but not according to songwriter Dave Fenton, lead guitarist and vocalist for The Vapors
“Turning Japanese,” Fenton said, “is all the clichés about angst and youth and turning into something you didn't expect to.”  Oh, I see, so it’s a coming of age tale.  Okay.  Whatever the song’s about, it’s catchy as hell, and after hitting #3 hit in the UK, the song reached #36 in the States, clearly a first for a song about changing nationalities. 

Sadly, after their 1979 album New Clear Days, the one that featured Turning Japanese, the Vapors only released one more record, which failed to chart, and broke up shortly thereafter.  The song has since become a new wave classic, with covers by artists as diverse as Liz Phair, Incubus, SCTV, Coldplay, and yes, Kirsten Dunst.

To hear all episodes in this series, visit soundcloud.com/eric-9-3/sets/the-minute-of-spin/ or visit the Yarn AudioWorks website at http://21jumpscare.com/

Yarn AudioWorks

The Vapors, "Turning Japanese"

A most deserving winner of our 'Horror That Isn't Technically Horror" poll, and arguably the most critically acclaimed film we've ever reviewed. Parasite is fast-paced, chaotic, anxiety-inducing, infuriating, thought-provoking, and hilarious. But who is the true 'parasite' here?

Ep118 - Parasite

The hot GenZ Agatha Christie murder satire you've been waiting for.

The Vapors, "Turning Japanese"

Yarn AudioWorks

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