Pizzicato Five
Pizzicatto Five (often stylized "Pizzicato V", abbreviated P5) was a Japanese pop group active from 1985 to 2001. Although it has several lineups, its most famous incarnation, which was active from around 1991 until the band dissolution, was formed by producer/DJ Yasuharu Konishi (founder and the only member to last all the group lifetime) and singer Maki Nomiya.
Widely credited to be the spearhead of the "Shibuya-kei" movement, their musical (and, to an extent, visual) style took a lot of influences of The Fifties and The Sixties, specifically genres popular back then like Bossa Nova, Easy Listening, Ye-yé, and 60's pop. Their catchphrase "A New Stereophonic Sound Spectacular" portrayed perfectly their eager, ironic attitude.
Partial Discography
- Pizzicatomania! (1987), with main singer Mamiko Sasaki, better known by its One-Hit Wonder "The Audrey Hepburn Complex"
- Couples (1987)
- Bellissima! (1988) with singer Takao Tajima substituting Sasaki.
- By Her Majesty's Request (1989)
- Soft Landing On The Moon ((1990)
- Hi Guys! Let Me Teach You (1991)
- This Year's Girl (1991), first album with Maki Nomiya and their first successful album thanks to Breakthrough Hit "Twiggy Twiggy"
- Sweet Pizzicato Five (1992)
- Bossa Nova 2001 (1993)
- Made in USA (1994), a compilation album that brought Pizzicato Five into international interest.
- Overdose (1994)
- Romantique 96 (1995)
- Happy End of the World (1997), the only album released unchanged in both Japan and the rest of the world - the other albums in this list that got international release suffered changes in either the tracklist or the version of the songs included.
- The International Playboy & Playgirl Record (released internationally as just "Playboy & Playgirl") (1998)
- Pizzicato Five™ (1999)
- Çà et là du Japon (2001), their final studio album
Pizzicato Five provides examples of the following tropes:
- Artifact Title: Yes, they did have five members to begin with, but were a duo at the time of their biggest international success.
- Catch Phrase: A rare example of a band having one. "A New Stereophonic Sound Spectacular!"
- Completely Different Title: The song whose Japanese title should translate as "7 O'Clock in Tokyo", was instead named "The Night Is Still Young".
- Cover Song: they covered some famous songs of the 1960's, most famously "Girl from Ipanema".
- Go-Go Dancing: Their song "Go Go Dancer" is sung from the perspective of a go-go girl from the 1960s or 1970s.
- Gratuitous English, Gratuitous French, and several other Gratuitous Foreign Languages
- I Am the Band: Yasuharu Konishi.
- Rearrange the Song: They tended to rerecord and rearrange their own songs.
- Repurposed Pop Song: many of P5 songs have been reused endlessly, usually in ads and TV indents. Famously, an English version of "Baby Love Child" was used in Futurama's episode "Leela's Homeworld".
- Throw It In: Maki and Yasuharu stumbling over their catchphrase at the start of "Happy Sad": "A new stereosonic found... bam!"
- Tokyo Is the Center of the Universe: Since they happen to be from Tokyo, this trope is justified. Their last Album and EP were Tokyo-themed.