Go Ohgami Go Nuts in NYC, 1984

Here’s an odd one.

I honestly have zero idea who Japanese rock band Go Ohgami are –- or, more likely, were -- but here’s a video they shot in 1984 for a tune called “Kids On the Street.”

While I don’t personally think the actual song is all that much to write home about, the video is notable for a couple of reasons.

For a start, it was written by erstwhile Patti Smith guitarist/fabled Nuggets archivist and all-around nice guy, Lenny Kaye. He’s actually the first guy to appear in the music video. ADDENDUM: Correction! According to Mr. Kaye himself, Okapi Tsuyoshi actually brought this song with him from Japan. 

This was apparently culled from an antiquated cable access music show called Videowave, which prefaced the clip with its host standing in front of the old Life Café on the corner of 10th Street and Avenue B. To say that this corner today is no longer even remotely recognizable from how it appears in this video is a herculean understatement.

From there, Go Ohgami vocalist Okami Tsuyoshi and cohorts (including a few breakdancers in period-specific finery) are seen cavorting all over Manhattan, passing through what looks like Chelsea, Battery Park, the East Vilalge and possibly Riverside Park on the Upper West Side, as well as radom locales like the old mural wall on East Houston, a pizzeria and a fish market … as one does, I guess.

Like I said, the song didn’t really blow a new part in my fashionably feathered hair, but as a period-piece, it’s an interesting glimpse of NYC circa 1984.

See what you think…

Comments

[DrBOP]

Somewhat Off-Topic-Kid with a nice trip around the city:

http://www.messynessychic.com/2017/02/23/bar-murals-of-new-york-city/

The MessyNessy site is an endless hole of interesting posts.....search "music" or "records", but only if you'vegot the time ;^)

[NoOriginalArt]

This is actually decent, given Japanese pop was dominated at the time by corporate-manufactured, consciously marketed "idol" music. (Pink Lady, anyone?) Malcolm McLaren was an honest newbie compared to what Sony and EMI Music Japan were doing in the late 70s-early 80s. Maybe it's because of Lenny Kaye this particular song doesn't sound as if a robot pieced it together in a studio; maybe it's the New York setting and the old school breakdancers in the video (which would have been extremely daring in racially homogenous Japan).

[Though yeah, appropriation of African American pop culture in Japan, including lip synching to recorded music in blackface, has been a thing for long while. I'll stop here, before this turns into a David Foster Wallace meditation with footnotes and brackets.]

[Lenny Kaye]

Thanks for the bit o' time travel... Go Ohgami came to America with his manager, Yoshio Takeuchi, and wanted to make an album. I enlisted my band at the time, the Lenny Kaye Connection, with Paul Dugan on bass, David Donen on drums, and C.P, Roth on keyboards and we made a delightful paean to American pop in the year 1984...dig those analog synth sounds! I have no idea what happened to Go, but he really enjoyed being on the lower east side. The record was only released in Japan. And while a fun song, I can't claim to have written it, since Go brought it with him on his jaunt to New York...

Best: Lenny Kaye

[Alex in NYC]

Wow. Holy crap! Lenny Kaye weighs in!!! It never fails to amaze me when individuals I mention here suddenly comment. Cheers, sir. I shall duly amend. Thank you!!!

[Alex, Videowave Votary]

Interesting post, including the jab at an "an antiquated cable access music show", as the show had new episodes up until 2012! In fact, Lenny Kaye was on a few times. Unfortunately, this video is depressing to watch given the elapsed time.

[Alex in NYC]

Thanks for leaving the comment, Alex -- In all honesty, that was not meant as a "jab".... I honestly didn't know Videowave was still an ongoing thing. I

[Alex, Videowave Votary]

No worries--I'm sure almost no one else does either!