Happy End was a band consisting of bassist/vocalist Harumi Hosono (previously with Apryl Fool, later of
Yellow Magic Orchestra), guitarist/vocalist Eiichi Otaki, guitarist/ vocalist Shigeru Suzuki and drummer Takashi Matsumoto. The band existed between 1969 and 1973, made just three albums, and while not well known internationally, are highly respected in Japan as a pioneering band. Besides their own music, they are also noted for being the backing band for folk singer Nobuyasu Okabayashi when he went electric, which like Dylan going electric, received mixed reactions. Their music is generally speaking somewhat in a Little Feat/The Band vein. When rock music first became popular in Japan, some felt that it must be sung in English to be authentic, and many bands peppered their albums with covers of foreign hits. Happy End veered from this by performing original songs only, and singing entirely in Japanese. As a result some consider Happy End the first Japanese rock band. While this might be praise heaped too high, at least they were one of the first bands to try to make rock with a Japanese sensibility rather than merely copy foreign music. In fact the band had only modest commercial success, and could be called critic’s darlings. Considering the high esteem in which they are held, their song “Sayonara America, Sayonara Nippon”, a collaboration with Lowell George and Van Dyke Parks, for which they reportedly paid the American musicians a handsome fee, is nothing short of...
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Happy End was a band consisting of bassist/vocalist Harumi Hosono (previously with Apryl Fool, later of
Yellow Magic Orchestra), guitarist/vocalist Eiichi Otaki, guitarist/ vocalist Shigeru Suzuki and drummer Takashi Matsumoto. The band existed between 1969 and 1973, made just three albums, and while not well known internationally, are highly respected in Japan as a pioneering band. Besides their own music, they are also noted for being the backing band for folk singer Nobuyasu Okabayashi when he went electric, which like Dylan going electric, received mixed reactions. Their music is generally speaking somewhat in a Little Feat/The Band vein. When rock music first became popular in Japan, some felt that it must be sung in English to be authentic, and many bands peppered their albums with covers of foreign hits. Happy End veered from this by performing original songs only, and singing entirely in Japanese. As a result some consider Happy End the first Japanese rock band. While this might be praise heaped too high, at least they were one of the first bands to try to make rock with a Japanese sensibility rather than merely copy foreign music. In fact the band had only modest commercial success, and could be called critic’s darlings. Considering the high esteem in which they are held, their song “Sayonara America, Sayonara Nippon”, a collaboration with Lowell George and Van Dyke Parks, for which they reportedly paid the American musicians a handsome fee, is nothing short of embarrassing. Their music overall however remains fairly popular and their song “Kaze Wo Atsumete” was used in the soundtrack for
Lost in Translation. After the band broke up the individual members remained active in the music business. Hosono is the best known of the members, as he went to join the highly successful
Yellow Magic Orchestra with Ryuichi Sakamoto, and Yukihiro Takahashi, and also had a successful career as a producer, as a solo artist and as a collaborator in various bands and projects. Eiichi Otaki and Shigeru Suzuki also went on to have fairly successful solo careers. Takashi Matsumoto has done very well for himself as a songwriter, and placed songs with major stars such as
Seiko Matsuda and Agnes Chan. His song “Sexual Violet No. 1” was a number one hit for Masahiro Kuwana. Matsumoto also writes poetry and has directed films.
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