Taken from a compilation of sixties Japanese guitar groups entitled Japan Wild Favorites! (Wildworld Vol. 2) ‘I’m A Mops’ by The Mops is a fine piece of rock n’ roll. It features a freak-out guitar solo, about three different time changes, and some odd spoken word stuff over the solo that I can’t make out. Still, pretty good value in a song that comes in at just under three minutes.

Aside from the obvious titters at foreigners trying to speak English and singing a song apparently dedicated to mops, I’m guessing that it’s a reference to the Beatles and their “Moptop” haircuts, though maybe the group just really liked mops. Regardless, this is a great snap shot of a time when English music conquered the globe. While British bands were invading overseas territories with a speed that would have made Queen Victoria proud, young Japanese musicians were taking the music scene of the west and filtering it through a unique mix of influences to come up with something of their own. Not a copy, more like Frankenstein’s musical monster.

This track seems to take a bit of Them, The Beatles, and The Doors, then binds it all together with a lyric that has been slightly lost in translation. Give them a break though, imagine The Rolling Stones trying to sing in Japanese.

I hope they had fun, because it sounds like they’re having a ball. Maybe they’re still around (any experts on Japanese Psychedelic/garage rock out there?) but I can find virtually no information on this album and I’ve forgotten which blog I nabbed it from. It just doesn’t seem to be around anymore.

There’s more of the same here and the last track on that blog compilation, ‘Hey Chance’ by Takeshi Terauchi and Bunnys, is also worth a listen. In fact, I’ll give Takeshi Terauchi the post he deserves at some point in the future. I love his surf guitar playing and, at 71, he’s still recording, but that’s another post. For now, let your hair down and be a mop. Subarashi desunne?

 

Sayonara

Head Chef