Rapper FIRST time REACTION to Alphaville - Big In Japan ! What is this lol…

[@heidiv5488]

Lead singer Marian Gold is straight, so the "waiting for my man" line would refer to a dealer rather than a lover.

[@MathildaFlow]

100 %

[@karessalongmire1783]

I though he said waiting for my band?

[@FinallyTuned]

“Forever Young” by Alphaville is so cool.

[@nammis77]

For sure. React to this one Pegasus.

[@Demossaulo]

I came here to say that.

[@evanm1815]

Forever young is epic

[@jp3813]

This is a thread full of people who skipped the entire intro where the reactor talked about that song already.

[@banamarco]

​@@Demossaulo He reacted to it 7 months ago

[@melvin7094]

According to Wikipedia the theme was based on two friends who were involved in the sordid drug scene of West Berlin's Zoo station. The refrain "big in Japan" symbolises the idea of being successful in another world, a fantasy about being drug-free. Gold said: "That line has a certain meaning. It means that if you're a complete loser, you're telling other people, 'I'm not a loser because in Japan I'm really big.' It's the lie of the loser and it fitted perfectly into the story of these junkies, which the song is about, in a very tragic way."[5] Gold later explained: "We originally weren’t sure whether we should put it on the album, because it’s a bit autobiographical in that it reflects my time in West Berlin in the late 70s, with the drug scene around the train station and the zoo, and all the underground things. It has nothing to do with Japan."

[@Dutchlad112]

That explains alot, this song was always a mystery to me xD

[@therosabella67]

Yes. There is also a movie called Berlin’s zoo about young kids doing heavy drugs. I was never able to watch it because also back home in Sardinia Italy a lot of young kids were doing heroin and were dropping like flies. Very sad, a lot of them also got HIV. Very hard to watch. My brother also ended up dying of HIV.

[@Agg1E91]

Wow. I never knew about any of this. Adds a different layer to listening to this, going forward!

[@spruce381]

They were below average - Japan the band - David Slyvian. Production - ABC, from Sheffield - all of my heart, one track from an awesome album. I’m not even English, but these drug addled posh boys aren’t your bag. Even Smiley Culture - police officer, Rap/toasting is another level. ❤

[@spruce381]

@@therosabella67 Christine F time. I saw smack wipe out a generation in Dublin, no art, including trainspotting could make that drug desirable.

[@katjawege6886]

This is so 80ies. ❤We all were crazy about this song 🎉

[@therosabella67]

I love Alphaville!! Takes me back to my 20’s

[@GuillermoQuezada]

"New Wave" is quirky, strange and weird, but damn do I love it. Give me more!

[@sasapejcin3568]

Also those sick 80s synths! 🥰🥰

[@julianatomasek9793]

100%

[@tnnt5636]

German band. Covered by the Guano Apes, also german, you should listen to that. Absolutely different style.

[@CavHDeu]

⬆️ this

[@joakimlofberg8345]

The theme was based on two friends who were involved in the sordid drug scene of West Berlin's Zoo station. The refrain "big in Japan" symbolises the idea of being successful in another world, a fantasy about being drug-free. Gold said: "That line has a certain meaning.

[@andy60234]

Lol, not Britney boy girl?

[@silvertongue3003]

Don’t think Japanese people are to worried as Americans when people celebrate their culture, I mean we were all ninjas once

[@allenwhitmer8192]

A lot of Americans aren't too worried about it either, in fact, I'd say most. Just the usual suspects...

[@MathildaFlow]

Absolutely. They do seem to think that everyone lives in their melting pot of hate. We don’t. Also, this was 40 years ago.

[@MrsHyde92]

I really recommend 'Sounds like a melody'! Unique song!! ❤🎶🎵🎶

[@deborahpaley21]

I absolutely freaking love this song, love Alphaville. Do Forever Young too. Marian Gold is the lead singer. They still perform and make music. An album I like is from '94, called Prostitute.

[@user-qr8ki8ue4i]

Love them. (80's kid, here). "Forever Young" means different things to me as I get old.

[@pasi4118]

Big in Japan means that you can be big in Japan, i.e. somewhere other than your own country. Tells about drug users ("waiting for my man" i.e. waiting for a dealer). When you're big in Japan tonight... In other words, somewhere "elsewhere" you can feel big for a while, even though it's zero.

[@tlucas9798]

Their song “A victory of love” was revolutionary in this genre

[@e.s.7272]

‘Big in Japan’ is a way of saying that if you are unsuccessful in your own neighbourhood, you would certainly have been successful elsewhere (Japan). In this song, it refers to a couple who are addicted to heroin and want to get off the drug. The couple imagine what life would be like without drugs, but they don't succeed. ‘Big in Japan’ is set in Berlin's drug milieu at Zoologischer Garten station.

[@aidenharmston402]

Alphaville🔥🔥

[@hahatoldyouso]

LOVE this group

[@Sebo1969]

Sounds like a Melodie is the burner from this group.

[@solarluftheizung]

Alphaville is a German pop band founded in 1983 in Münster, Westphalia, by Marian Gold, Bernhard Lloyd and Frank Mertens. They became internationally known through songs such as Big in Japan and Forever Young.

[@anglosaxon5874]

Wow didn't know they were from Münster. I used to live up the road in the Osnabrück area.

[@scpatl4now]

Man, I just discovered this channel and in 2 days of watching I have seen you move from Dolly Parton to Roy Clark to Patsy Kline to Simon and Garfunkel and now Alphaville (that's a big dang jump there). I think it is great you are listening to these wildly different things. I hope you find some inspiration to your own art by doing it since I'm guessing these videos don't get monetized.

[@d.l.607]

If you think he would be cancelled for this song try reacting to David Bowie - China Girl (Official Video) (he would get life in jail without parole for that 😀)

[@Peter_Cetera]

I LOVE the 80th sound!!!

[@StrongAndRaw]

Fan of Alphaville here 🖐!!!

[@victorialira]

Well, at least in David Bowie's song " Little China Girl" there is a chinese girl! 😂 But I love Alphaville ❤

[@criss6945]

This was a big hit in the '80s. "Forever Young" was the most known one on that album. My favorites were "Fallen Angel", "Victory of Love", "Germany with love" and "Summer in Berlin" but all of songs were great.

[@AgenteusaRR]

forget lyrics, bands back then were so creative, so many different sounds, different riffs, you could really tell one band from another. They were german by the way and I had a chance to see them live once (didn't plan was an out band) and he REALLY could sing. And what even funnier he plays the gayest stereotype in most his videos and yet he's straight :P

[@dariussawkulycz4320]

Nice reaction like always! Forever Young it is biggest hit all time but Big in Japan was very big for the first 20 years but now in my opinion is Sounds like a Melody from 1984 pure 80 synthpop and a strange video like usually for Alphaville

[@Mandalore3737]

reminds me of Baltimora tarzan boy

[@seansavage4766]

dude you are right! very similar. Tarzan Boy might be better though...that listerine bottle was killin it

[@BearWitch-i6r]

Baltimora was a little bit later...

[@fatimasoares7261]

"Dance with me" and "Sounds like a melody" are great songs.

[@frankerben7666]

Great memories, my youth! Big in Japan... it sounds like a melody!☺😉 Greetings from Germany! YOu should sometimes listen to "Weck mich bitte auf" (Please, wake me up!) - Samy Deluxe, you will like it a lot (with English subtitles) !!! PS: the "japanese Girl" is the waitress from the favourite sushi- restaurant next door!😂😉

[@gegendenklimagemachtenmenschen]

👍

[@gregorygant4242]

​@@gegendenklimagemachtenmenschenWhere from in Germany ?

[@gegendenklimagemachtenmenschen]

@@gregorygant4242 - Hamburg

[@TopDogStatus25]

Man Germans and their music. Goodness they are great

[@pfalzgraf7527]

You are pulling out all my childhood hits! Love your take on them! great comment, good reaction!

[@pcooper3559]

Big in Japan was also a punk band from Liverpool.

[@fredkelly4365]

Such a great song. 12" version good too.

[@photonspark]

Alphaville's 1984 debut album Forever Young (where this song comes from) was a masterpiece, not a bad track on there. Synth pop , excellent production, killer vocals. Victory of Love, Summer in Berlin, Sounds like a Melody, Forever Young etc etc

[@pssthpok]

This song hit me at the right time, and I danced to it in clubs. Good to seeing it getting some play in the modern world. Glad you appreciate it.

[@tuijakarttunen9164]

Marian Gold told: "I had an appointment with my dentist and I had this rhythm of the bassline in my mind as I was walking along. I created a lot of the verses for Big In Japan on my way to that dentist. I had a couple of friends and we were living under very serious conditions in West Berlin at that time, basically living on the street and some of our friends were drug addicts. They lived in the heroin scene around the Berlin Zoo and I started to write about them. This song is about that drug scene in the late 70s. It’s a fictitious story about a pair of lovers that are trying to get away from the drugs but they never succeed, they imagine themselves in a kind of dreamland where they are drug-free, but they never succeed in getting there and it’s quite a tragic story.”

[@susanjohnston8267]

Great Review on a very unusual song. Love Marian Golds voice, super crisp. Considering you are doing obscure 80s music, could you consider - T-Pau - China in your Hand The Housemartins - Caravan of Love Fine Young Cannibals - She Drives Me Crazy

[@anglosaxon5874]

Part of the video [the white painted lady] reminds me of Visage 'Fade to Grey' video.

[@jazzylyn5857]

That is a proper banger. Love Fade to Grey.

[@deborahpaley21]

love your comments today. hey it's the 80s, creativity ruled.

[@cinthialreves]

React to "Sounds like a Melody" and "forever young" from this group.

[@Jaglilpill75]

Sandra : In the heat of the night and Maria Magdalena is so much better 🥰🥰🥰🥰

[@ekruegerster1]

Check out the newly released orchestral version of this song! If someone’s not famous, they can always say “I’m big in Japan.”

[@CavHDeu]

Sounds like a melody

[@Areyousayingidontknowmyname]

I think you should do Duran Duran The Chauffeur 😊

[@hgianos65]

One of my favorite 80’s jams , big hit in Europe not so much here , but clubs played it

[@mickymoist]

I clicked on this fast... thinking it was Tom Waits 'Big in Japan'. Then I had a fleeting curiosity as to whether Tom Waits song was a cover of this song... but again, no. Totally separate songs. P.S. Check out Tom Waits!!!

[@DaveB-hg7el]

When I first saw the title of this video, I was happy to see you reacting to a song by Tom Waits, who has a song with the exact same title. The sound is completely different, and you might like his song too. Lol 🙃, peace 💚

[@MarkoMakela-kk7qf]

Hi Mr Pegasus again! Longf time no hear...LoL... Anyway in 80's there were some singers with very original voices like Kim Carnes and it's kinda refreshing sometimes listen those older songs too. Sometimes the modern producers make songs a bit too similar regardless of the artists...

[@alistairmcdougall9625]

Great song from my teenage years❤

[@Pokafalva]

'Big in Japan' was also the name of a Liverpool band in the 1980s. The song also alludes to that band. 'It's easy when you're Big in Japan' also refers to that band once they had success in the UK. It was then 'easy' for them.

[@epongeverte]

This song and band were big in the 80s.

[@Fluttermoth]

I own this on 7" vinyl Been standing by this song as a classic for 40 years, I was right, goddammit!

[@CharlieNickell]

Forever Young my friend!!!!

[@scpatl4now]

I love this song...but if you want another (better) track from Alphaville you should check out Dance with Me (extended remix)

[@birdy1964-s2n]

A big hit back in the day. "Forever Young" by Alphaville is a top tune. 👌 🎵

[@actuariallurker9650]

Big in Japan means you are a BIG fish in a SMALL pond....you're not a star here but you know, I'm big somewhere else so you should put up with me

[@evanm1815]

Exactly how I have always understood ot, you might not know of me but I'm big in Japan ( which no one could really confirm becase few people had been there) And I actually know about somecartist that did not sell many records in Europe but were very popular in Japan 😅

[@saverioc2929]

“Forever Young” the best

[@JoshuaRomero-o4e]

they put Some UPBEAT MUSIC like the japan did the 80'S CITY POP MUSIC

[@maryt2290]

BP the thing to keep in mind is that half the time we didn’t understand what the hell the lyrics were and didn’t have google to look them up. We just loved the hook and the beat. I love it that you deep dive on the lyrics because I often get surprised on songs I thought I knew for 40+ years 😮

[@silverstitch28]

Still Love it ❤

[@lorrainecole1156]

These guys were from Germany. Euro pop was just coming into their own in the 80s.

[@anglosaxon5874]

The Americans say 'my man' refering to a friend or someone they like, NOT just sexual! lol I hear a lot of black Americans use it.

[@asl7235]

In the 80,s being big in Japan was a statement of making it, in the 80,s Japan (Tokyo) was 100 years in the future for westerners.

[@kathleenorr9237]

Remember this one!! Thank you ❤

[@mickypescatore9656]

Hi, Robert! 1984. So I remember. I was with my first boyfriend ! 🤣I believe it was on number one of the german charts for a while. (This band is german). Typical 80`ies!!!!!! Funny, maybe it was a very cheep production?

[@tmr626]

People will also find that the awesome German rock band Axel Rudi Pell does an excellent cover version of the Alphaville song "Forever Young."

[@pagemeredith4532]

You should check out the The Vapors and their song I think I'm Turning Japanese another 80's hit. Big In Japan, to me, alwayd had a sorrowful emotion tone to the song, even if I didn't understand all the lyrics. I knew that it was about some type of emotional strife or struggle.

[@marty6945]

"Big in Japan" is an established term for music bands mostly from Western countries, which never had a significant success in these countries, but nevertheless were very successful in Japan.

[@titusgeorge9280]

Appreciate the earlier explanation of the song…but when we hear “Big In Japan” we think of bands like Mr. Big and Dream Theater that are HUGE in Japan but don’t do much in the US.

[@justincase490]

you should check out the cover of this song by guano apes. That band was big in europe in the 90's but never realy got big in Japan or USA.

[@JohnHazelwood58]

"Related" topic ... do "Murray Head - One Night In Bangkok" next! :)

[@GediKnight22]

:-D love that song

[@Wayne1017FP]

Now you gotta what the cover from Guano Apes ❤

[@anderslekander5508]

They have two legendary songs,this and young forever, you also should react to offspring with pretty fly for a white guy or Frank zappa with Bobby Brown 😊

[@Gen75x]

This would have got Aneka cancelled now but the lyrics are very sweet. This is another 80's song. Japanese Boy - Aneka kzbin.info/www/bejne/j6q3o6iIfb-mfLMsi=ABCVYUaKt4xSnOge

[@Alithia451]

There is a cool 2022 Symphonic Version, same singer Marian Gold.

[@saverioc2929]

When this song came out everything was being made in Japan not china. It's a fantasy about being drug-free. Big monsters - Godzilla is a fictional monster, or kaiju. Kaiju is a Japanese word meaning "strange creature". In English, it has come to mean "monster" or "giant monster", referring to creatures of a large size seen in movies from Asia.

[@wolf762x51]

Yeah, he's straight. My Man refers to man servant, a term that the Brits used for hundreds of years , and it can refer to any man in theior employ that works for them, but usually reserved only for drivers, chefs, envoys, and the gentlemen that set up their bookkeeping, handled their money, and did all of the dealings with hotels, restaurants, entertainment etc,.

[@wolf762x51]

That's in a general sense, I see it has a different , specific meaning when referring to the Zoo and the drug culture in West Germany.

[@deborahpaley21]

yeah, i'm waiting for my man tonight, needs no explanation

[@jermynryan2286]

Like will ferrell said: nobody knows what it means.....but its provocative!

[@julianatomasek9793]

You need to react to some Pet Shop Boys, OMD, Erasure, The Smiths, Love and Rockets :) Thank you

[@JoseDaniel-o8z]

Isso são lendas mesmo❤❤ ficaram na história ❤❤😮😮 oiço sempre eles🎉.

[@TheSwedeMcCoy]

For Eighties Zynth music you should try Visage - Fade to Grey

[@hoechel]

As this song is actually not about Japan, I do not think, that is inappopriate that a western is dressing as a geisha. Anyway, that cancelling culture is an american thing, which I do understand becaus of their white washing history. Europe mostly do not care about this a lot because our concept of race is not the same as in the US. However it is swapping over to Europe more and more.

[@todd8688]

Marion gold said its about losers who haven't made it but they can say they are big in Japan. The Man is his dealer

[@thomaspugh6052]

Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs " Li'l Red Riding Hood" 1966 Rapp music! Black and white video live version please!!!

[@PANIC_aka_PinD]

Why not ACTUALLY do something that is big in Japan :p . Try reacting to some BAND MAID ... maybe SHAMBLES. Hard rock Japan style :) .

[@seantreme8772]

Gotta do a Forever Young

[@scifimonkey3]

Want to know who is really big in Japan then check out the Ladies of LOVEBITES, BAND MAID and BABYMETAL.

[@Delthfaithe]

The video is SO 80´s but song is so good

[@stevehamilton8824]

Classic new wave band. Short lived but had a couple of big hits, like this one. Love this song and band. The song is about bands that have outlived their popularity in American or Europe still being big in Japan. There are a lot of bands/artists that are bigger in Japan than those countries that they come from or the west.

[@rightlefter1285]

He does say “waiting for my man tonight” and is acting camp, however, from what I read, he’s straight and apparently has 10 kids with 4 different women. 😂

[@inspiredfunkmark]

This song confused the hell out of me when I first heard it. Became "Big in your pants" when people were drunk... think it got big because the synth sounds were so new..

[@silvertongue3003]

Wow I never been so close to first

[@williamjoback1436]

Weird Al Yankovic "Genius in France"

[@admintorrebrasilia584]

Greetings from Portugal! Man, you must check the cover of this song made by Guano Apes, a german band. Is much better. 😉🤘

[@MarkoMakela-kk7qf]

Also the race discussion and rights of the 'original' people to own some things and cultural elements in way thet if others use them they are violating some rights... We do have to have respect for other cultures, but if we actually are putting people to diffrent 'boxes' and have allkinda artificial borders, what that is then???

[@ninawildr4207]

My man refers to his dealer😂

[@angiew4544]

Forever Young is great