My curiosity was initially piqued by the energetic and expressive bass lines (compared to e.g. modern pop). Tetsuo Sakurai (of Casiopea) and Tomohito Aoki (who played on After 5 Clash) are/were phenomenal players and their tracks still inspire me. I also started studying guitar, which lead to me discovering Issei Noro (of Casiopea) and Masayoshi Takanaka. The musicianship on a lot of these albums is fantastic, particularly the bass players. There are so many tracks like Airport Lady that are inspiring, if intimidating.
I have discovered so many good albums here that I can't list them all. For the curious, I have a lot saved to my wantlist on discogs [2], and a youtube playlist of mixes/albums. [3] Note that for the YT playlist, some of the albums are ones I intend to listen to later. I love Takanaka's album covers as he always looks so happy. [6]
Takanaka's Rainbow Goblins [1] may be one of my favorite live albums, ever. His performance directly inspired me to get into guitar as well. Check out the slap bass intro to Asayake from Casiopea's 1985 concert. [5] I liked these so much that I purchased them on laserdisc via Japanese ebay and am working to find a high quality laserdisc player to rip them properly.
It's been months and I keep on discovering new albums, most of which get uploaded by Xerf Xpec [4]. It can definitely be hit or miss, with some albums sounding very cheesy.
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So naturally people have to write "articles" like this that somehow paint a revitalization of a genre/time period by another culture/generation as somehow bad. It's political drivel that benefits no one. I was born in '96. My bad for not being born in Japan in the '70s.
My Korean friends also like city pop (even the ones that really dislike Japan/the Japanese government), so this article's premise doesn't make sense.
The algorithm likely recommends these albums because people, well, like it. Retro stuff is in.
[0]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUQWaQtpaKU
[1]: https://youtu.be/1MXIz_-5ZBU?t=432
[2]: https://www.discogs.com/wantlist?user=andrewzah&page=2
[3]: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLSxs5PgbqSvpORXzEkBn7...
[4]: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkfmbKrdAH3_NHkbAZhWqIw