10 Best Yellow Magic Orchestra Songs

Harry Hosono recruited keyboardist Ryuichi Sakamoto and drummer Yukihiro Takahashi to record a quickie cover of the 1950s exotica tune ‘Firecracker’. The trio quickly became superstars in Japan, and influential elsewhere. The austere electronica of Kraftwerk was a major influence, but the three members of Yellow Magic Orchestra brought a wide range of ideas into their music. Classical music, traditional Asian sounds, The Beatles, and arcade game tunes were all part of Yellow Magic Orchestra’s DNA, while their goofy personalities were far removed from Kraftwerk’s robotic image.

All three members of YMO were already prominent musicians in Japan when they joined forces, making Yellow Magic Orchestra effectively a supergroup. The trio continued successful solo careers before, during, and after the band – Sakamoto has become an acclaimed film composer, while it’s worth tracking down records like Takahashi’s Neuromantic and Hosono’s Paraiso. YMO are not included in the canon-defining book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, nor do they feature on Rolling Stone’s best album of all time lists – I only caught up with them relatively recently, but they’re clearly a key band in the evolution of popular music, and they released a string of impressive albums.

The band have reconvened sporadically, including a 1993 comeback album but all these tunes come from their 1978-1984 original tenure. With Sakamoto diagnosed with stage four cancer, and recently performing his “possibly last” concert, here’s a look back at the trio’s most beloved work.

10 Best Yellow Magic Orchestra Songs

#10 Tong Poo

written by Ryuichi Sakamoto, from Yellow Magic Orchestra (1978)
Yellow Magic Orchestra’s debut album features their most Asian textures and sounds. It’s Sakamoto’s only tune on the debut – it was inspired by Chinese classical music and the Chinese cultural revolution. Sakamoto wanted to write something that he could envision the Beijing Symphony Orchestra playing.

#9 Nice Age

written by Chris Mosdell, Yukihiro Takahashi, and Ryuichi Sakamoto, from X∞Multiplies (1980)
1980’s X∞Multiplies is a confusing release – its twelve tracks are divided between songs (including a cover of ‘Tighten Up’) and skits that poke fun at Japanese stereotypes. ‘Nice Age’ is a band original that’s close to the sound of American new wave bands like The Cars, with a heavier guitar presence than most Yellow Magic Orchestra songs.

#8 Kageki na Shukujo

written by Takashi Matsumoto and Yellow Magic Orchestra, non-album single (1983)
‘Kageki Na Shukujo’ belongs to the band’s Naughty Boys era, with the mainstream synth-pop sound of their other 1983 and 1984 recordings. Its title means ‘Radical Lady’ – the lyrics were written by Takashi Matsumoto, who played with Hosono in his earlier band Happy End.

#7 Lotus Love

written by Harry Hosono, from Naughty Boys (1983)
Yellow Magic Orchestra took 1982 off to work on solo projects – notably, Sakamoto scored and starred in Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence, alongside David Bowie. When YMO reconvened, they were less experimental and more catchy. Hosono’s ‘Lotus Love’ combines the synth-pop sound of Naughty Boys with his exotica leanings. It works, it’s both textural and tuneful.

#6 Taiso

written by Yellow Magic Orchestra, from Technodelic (1981)
Yellow Magic Orchestra released two strong albums in 1981. The second of these, Technodelic, features some of the band’s most pioneering work, with its heavy use of samples and loops. ‘Taiso’ was the album’s single, its most accessible track with a riff inspired by John Cage’s prepared piano pieces. There are rumours circulating that the music video was directed by Talking Heads, but it seems like hearsay, perhaps based on its resemblance to the iconic video for ‘Once in a Lifetime’.

#5 Rydeen

written by Yukihiro Takahashi, from Solid State Survivor (1978)
Most of my favourite Yellow Magic Orchestra songs, on the top half of this list, are instrumental, or semi-instrumental. Despite the lack of vocals, ‘Rydeen’ is infectiously hummable, structured like a verse/chorus song. Often the band’s synth textures are stronger than their vocals.

#4 Firecracker

written by Martin Denny and YMO, from Yellow Magic Orchestra (1978)
After a bad drug experience, Hosono underwent a severe panic attack. As part of his rehabilitation, he listened to calming music, including the exotica of Martin Denny. He dabbled with exotica on his subsequent solo records but had the idea of reworking Denny’s song ‘Firecracker’ with a disco beat, conjecturing that it would sell four million copies. He recruited Takahashi and Sakamoto, forming Yellow Magic Orchestra – originally a quick side-project, the collective became wildly popular in Japan and internationally influential. It also started a feud between two American pop stars…..

Yellow Magic Orchestra’s version of the song is infamous for being the catalyst of a feud between American pop singers Mariah Carey and Jennifer Lopez in 2000. Carey had planned to sample the recording for her song ‘Loverboy’, off her album Glitter. A month after she obtained the rights to the sample, Lopez used the same sample for her song ‘I’m Real’ off the album ‘J.Lo’, effectively stealing her idea. Since Carey’s album was to be released a month after Lopez’s, she reluctantly decided to change the sample to one from ‘Candy’ by American funk band Cameo.

https://yellow-magic-orchestra.fandom.com/wiki/Firecracker

#3 Behind the Mask

written by Chris Mosdell and Ryuichi Sakamoto, from Solid State Survivor (1980)
‘Behind the Mask’ is arguably Yellow Magic Orchestra’s best-known track, but it could have been much, much bigger. Michael Jackson wished to record a cover (with additional lyrics) for his mega-selling album Thriller, but despite the agreement of the song’s writers, legal issues with YMO’s management prevented its inclusion. It was also covered by keyboardist Greg Phillinganes (who played on Thriller), Eric Clapton, and The Human League. YMO’s record featured gated reverb on the snare drum, two years before Peter Gabriel’s ‘Intruder’ – a sound that would later define 1980s pop music.

#2 You’ve Got To Help Yourself

written by YMO and Peter Barakan, from Service (1984)
Curiously, ‘You’ve Got To Help Yourself’ first appeared as a brief instrumental snippet on 1983’s Naughty Boys. The full version was later released as a single before it was included on 1984’s Service. The band were asked to write a theme for the United Nations’ World Communication Year – Hosono’s lyrics poked fun at charity songs.

#1 1000 Knives

written by Ryuichi Sakamoto, from BGM (1981)
Due to tensions with Hosono, Sakamoto was often absent from the recording sessions for 1981’s BGM. One of his contributions to the record was ‘1000 Knives’, originally the title track to a 1978 solo record. YMO’s reworking is more electronic than Sakamoto’s jazzy original, but it still feels like a jazz piece- a repeated main theme punctuated by solos. It’s named after Henri Michaux’s description of the feeling of using mescaline in Miserable Miracle.

Did I miss your favourite Yellow Magic Orchestra song?

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