Big in Japan

The first time Alphaville burst onto the scene was with Big in Japan, a track born in 1983 that, without explicitly aiming for it, became a passport to stardom. The melody, conceived in their home studio by the band’s three members, Bernhard Lloyd, Frank Mertens and Marian Gold, took shape with the help of a Roland System-100M for the bassline. An interesting detail is that the rhythm sped up halfway through the song, inspired by The Safety Dance, giving it a distinctive drive. The lyrics, largely penned by Marian Gold, drew from the harsh reality of the drug scene in West Berlin in the late 1970s, near Zoo station. The phrase “big in Japan” became a symbol of success in an alternate world, a fantasy of being free from addiction, though Gold clarified it had nothing to do with the Asian country itself, but rather with the idea of being recognized in a distant place. The inspiration for that phrase came from the name of a band, suggesting that Japan had a considerable music market for those seeking fame.

The impact of Big in Japan was immediate and global. It reached number one in the charts of Germany, Sweden and Switzerland, and was their only single to enter the UK Top 75, peaking at number 8. In December 1984, it also topped the Hot Dance Club Play chart in the United States. This success arrived before the album Forever Young, released in 1984, was fully recorded, surprising the band and their record label. The song, along with its B-side Seeds, were two of the three tracks recorded in 1983 for the single. The rest of the album was completed between July and August 1984. Curiously, Big in Japan displaced Relax by Frankie Goes to Hollywood from the top spot in Germany, whose vocalist, Holly Johnson, had been a member of the band Big in Japan—a coincidence Gold found notable. In 1992, the song was re-released with new remixes, coinciding with the release of the compilation album First Harvest 1984–92, and regained success in Finland and Sweden. Later, in 2000, the band Guano Apes recorded their own version, releasing it as the lead single from their album Don't Give Me Names.