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The story behind the record cover: Tin Drum (1981) - JAPAN

"What am I looking at now? Is there something wrong here? An album by the band Japan with a photograph of Mao-Zedong, the founder and leader of communist China until the 1970s. But Japan and China were arch enemies, weren't they? And a man eating rice. That's singer David Sylvian. His hair dyed platinum blonde, don't Chinese have dark hair? The book on the table suggests to be Mao's red book, describing how to live as a good communist. But if you look closely, it could also be a blank diary, in which you can write your own story on how to live your life.
I am talking about the cover of the album "Tin Drum" by British pop group Japan with singer and frontman David Sylvian. The name Japan was chosen by chance: the band found a holiday brochure about Japan in a double-decker bus and thought Japan sounded good. The band was an outsider in British pop music in the late 1970s. The first two albums were complete failures in their homeland England, perhaps because the music could not be pigeonholed easily: neither punk, nor glam rock.
Both musicality and presentation of these musicians left something to desire. "First learn to play a regular bass guitar" bassist Mick Karn heard numerous times, extracting the strangest sounds from his fretless bass guitar. "Maybe you should buy a synthesizer, perhaps it may sound a bit less out of tune" keyboardist Richard Barbieri was often advised. He regularly hit the wrong notes on his electric piano. "And remove that blonde hair from your face" David Sylvian was told. "And makeup doesn't combine well with the raw sound you produce". In the early years, Japan did not get much further than support act for big names in punk. Beer bottles were flying around, audiences were not very pleased by Sylvian's effeminate appearance.
Manager Simon Napier-Bell kept his faith in the band and the music, but realized he had to come up with a trick to attract audiences. Together with Sylvian, he came up with a plan to release their debut album in Japan, but only after two months with pre-announcements on large posters, starring Sylvian's stylishly handsome face. Creating a hype, it's called. It did the trick. The girls in Japan were in love with Sylvian long before hearing a single note of music. When the record was actually released, it took them off guard, but the hype remained. Japan suddenly found themselves playing in large venues in Japan in front of 10,000 screaming fans. Such a story is entirely in keeping with David Sylvian's life. When he's close to the abyss, he comes up with a brilliant plan. If he thinks he is sure of something, doubt immediately creeps in. Beautifully sung in the song "Ghosts" on this album.
He admired French artist Jean Cocteau. Cocteau made surrealist films in the 1920's and wrote books and poems with a surrealist theme. His work could be compared with the paintings of Salvador Dali, the most famous surrealist artist. A surrealist feels that real life is determined by the subconscious; ordinary life is actually not realistic. In the words of Cocteau: if you look closely, there is a monkey on the left and a parrot on the right shoulder. With that we are back to the image of the Tin Drum cover. At first it looks like an ordinary photograph, but if you look closely, it is a surreal image. Apparently reality is incorrect.
David Sylvian also became interested in Asian history because of his success in Asia. He sings about it in various lyrics on this album. "Visons of China" is about just that, for example. Written from the perspective of a young soldier in the Chinese Red Army, the song is about his naivety and innocence. With this album Japan made their breakthrough in England and continental Europe. The album was considered one of the best albums of 1981. It was also Japan's last. David Sylvain stole bassist Mick Karn's Japanese girlfriend, Yuka Fujii. That was the end of Japan's story. David Sylvian moved on to a successful solo career. His album sleeves were designed by, yes indeed, Yuka Fujii; hopefully they will return in one of my blogs. Sylvian feels somewhat like a brother to me. We were born around the same day. Who knows, maybe there's a connection, somewhere deep in the subconscious. Or is there a monkey on my shoulder now?"
By Gerrit-Jan Vrielink
Translation: Alex Driessen

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