Turning Japanese

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"Turning Japanese"
TurningJapanese.jpg
Standard European picture sleeve
Single by The Vapors
from the album New Clear Days
B-side "Talk Talk" (USA/Canada)
"Here Comes the Judge" (live) (international)
ReleasedJanuary 1980
Genre
Length
  • 3:40 (album version)
  • 3:19 (7" edit)
Label United Artists Records
Songwriter David Fenton
Producer Vic Coppersmith-Heaven
The Vapors singles chronology
"Prisoners"
(1979)		"Turning Japanese"
(1980)		"News at Ten"
(1980)
Audio sample

"Turning Japanese" is a song by English band the Vapors, from their 1980 album New Clear Days . It was an international hit, becoming the band's most well-known song. The song prominently features the Oriental riff played on guitar.

Contents

Composition and recording

The songwriter, David Fenton, intended the song to be a love song, with the character of the song "pining over a photograph of his ex-girlfriend" in his bedroom, drawing from Fenton's own experience of being rejected. Fenton wrote the song in his flat, but had problems writing the chorus. He said that the chorus then came to him suddenly when he woke up at 4 a.m. with the lyric "Turning Japanese, I think I'm turning Japanese" in his head, and he used it due to the fact that it described changes he was undergoing at the time. [3]

The song was produced by Vic Coppersmith-Heaven, who had previously rejected a request to produce for the band after listening to demos sent to him by the band's managers, John Weller (father of Paul Weller) and Bruce Foxton. The band's unsuccessful first single, "Prisoners", was therefore produced by someone else. Coppersmith-Heaven later had another listen to the demos and agreed to produce "Turning Japanese" for them. He proposed several changes to the arrangement of the song, which were made. He recorded the Vapors live to capture the energy of the band, before stripping it down to just the drums, and then overdubbed the song. According to Fenton, the drummer did not like the song and "just went 'Boom! Splat!'" in the recording, but the band thought it sounded good and kept it. [3]

The band suspected they would score a hit with "Turning Japanese", even delaying its release to make it their second single, hoping to avoid becoming "one-hit wonders". Nonetheless, they never matched the singles' success. [4] In Australia, it spent two weeks at No. 1 during June 1980. [5] The music video was directed by Russell Mulcahy. [6]

Reception

The music video was among the first 200 played on MTV. It received heavy rotation, giving the song more exposure than mere radio airplay. [7] Kirsten Dunst recorded a cover, with an accompanying video filmed and directed by McG and produced by Takashi Murakami in Tokyo in August 2009. [8] On the Canadian sketch comedy series Second City Television , Rick Moranis performed a lounge-style version of the song as the character Tom Monroe. [9]

Charts

Certifications and sales

RegionCertification Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA) [22] Platinum100,000^
United Kingdom (BPI) [23] Silver250,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Mason, Stewart. "Turning Japanese – Song Review". AllMusic . Retrieved 28 June 2013.
  2. ↑ Wide, Steve (22 September 2020). "Honourable Mentions: New Wave 'One-Hit Wonders'". A Field Guide to Post-Punk and New Wave. Smith Street Books. p. 72. ISBN   978-1-925811-76-6.
  3. 1 2 Simpson, Dave (13 February 2023). "'I'd rather be a one-hit wonder than a no-hit wonder' – the Vapors on Turning Japanese". The Guardian.
  4. ↑ Davis, Andy. "On the Vapor-trail". Parengstrom.com. Retrieved 23 June 2008.
  5. 1 2 Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 320. ISBN   0-646-11917-6.
  6. ↑ Dendle, Peter (2012). The Zombie Movie Encyclopedia, Volume 2: 2000-2010. McFarland & Company. p.  168. ISBN   9780786492886.
  7. ↑ "MTV's first 10 music videos". Boston.com. Boston Globe. Archived from the original on 21 August 2011. Retrieved 2 February 2025.
  8. ↑ Schuker, Lauren A. E. (2 October 2009). "The Artist and the Director". The Wall Street Journal . Archived from the original on 19 December 2014.
  9. ↑ "Rick Moranis' Classic Cover of 'Turning Japanese' on SCTV (VIDEO)". HuffPost . 17 July 2011. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
  10. ↑ "Top RPM Singles: Issue 0274". RPM . Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 30 May 2013.
  11. ↑ "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Vapors". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved 28 July 2013.
  12. ↑ "The Vapors – Turning Japanese". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved 28 July 2013.
  13. ↑ "Official Singles Chart on 29/3/1980 – Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 28 July 2013.
  14. 1 2 "The Vapors – Awards". AllMusic . Archived from the original on 15 January 2013.
  15. ↑ "CASH BOX Top 100 Singles – Week ending NOVEMBER 29, 1980". Cash Box . Archived from the original on 15 September 2012.
  16. ↑ "Songs from the Year 1980". TsorT. Retrieved 27 April 2014.
  17. ↑ "National Top 100 Singles for 1980". Kent Music Report. 5 January 1981. Retrieved 17 January 2022– via Imgur.
  18. ↑ "Forum – ARIA Charts: Special Occasion Charts – Top 100 End of Year AMR Charts – 1980s". Australian-charts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved 17 October 2016.
  19. ↑ "Top 100 Singles". RPM . Vol. 34, no. 6. 20 December 1980. Retrieved 17 October 2016.
  20. ↑ "UK Singles of the Year" (PDF). Record Mirror . London. 27 December 1980. p. 30. Retrieved 17 October 2016.
  21. ↑ "Top 100 Singles of 1981". RPM . Vol. 35, no. 22. Retrieved 25 March 2018.
  22. ↑ "International Certifications" (PDF). Cash Box . Vol. XLII, no. 24. 25 October 1980. p. 43. Retrieved 3 December 2021– via World Radio History.
  23. ↑ "British single certifications – Vapors – Turning Japanese". British Phonographic Industry . Retrieved 17 April 2024.
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