Toshio Nakanishi: From New Wave Punk Plastics to Hip Hop and Melon
Toshio Nakanishi, later known as Tycoon Tosh, or just Toshi, was a prolific Japanese musician who played in New Wave bands, helped bring hip hop to Japan, and spent time England working with Mo’ Wax and Pussy Foot Records in groups such as UNKLE and Skylab. When Toshi died in 2016 he left behind a large catalogue of music recorded across several continents.
While he continued releasing music until his final years, Toshi’s early work with his first group Plastics has remained a highlight for many who were fascinated by the colourful costumes and New Wave sound of their three albums. This is the story of that important early period between 1976–1988 when Toshio recorded with his two early groups Plastics and Melon.
Toshio Nakanishi was born January 13, 1956 in Japan and when he attended his first rock concert, Grand Funk Railroad, at 15, he was immediately blown away. “It was the first time I had ever heard such a loud volume…Grand Funk Railroad was great enough, but then Led Zeppelin came a year later and made Grand Funk look like The Monkees of hard rock,” he later said.
Two years later he saw David Bowie on his Ziggy Stardust Tour, in a show that ended in a semi-riot when over enthusiastic fans caused Bowie and his entourage to take shelter in their dressing room.
Toshi bought a guitar and begun teaching himself to play, as he immersed himself in more of the music arriving from overseas, such as The Velvet Underground. He sought out their debut album after reading it recommended, but when he finally found a copy, he was puzzled.
“At first, I didn’t think it was good, and Heroin sounded like there were cats jumping around on it. I didn’t get it. I wanted them to have better sound quality,” he said.
But the album, and those imperfections, made Toshio realise he could be a musician too.
After high school, Toshi worked as an illustrator for a magazine, and became friends with some likeminded creatives. Although he had already been in some short-lived bands, it wasn’t until 1976 when things became serious. That year, Toshi met with friends Chica Sato, a stylist, and Hajime Tachibana, a graphic designer, at Harajuku’s Café Leon where they decided to form a band, with Chica dubbing the group Plastics (sometimes written The Plastics).
This original lineup had Toshi and Hajime both playing guitar, Toshi and Chica on vocals, with Yasuhiko Fukuda on keyboard, Yoshiharu Fujioka on bass, and Asai Nobuo on drums, as well as some contributions from their friends and partners. The Plastics had their first performance at a fashion show in the Shibuya Seibu department store where Chica was a stylist, and played songs by Bryan Ferry, David Bowie, Connie Francis, and The Velvet Underground.
Initially the band played covers of rock and soul songs from the 60s, but in 1977 they heard The Sex Pistols’ debut Never Mind The Bollocks which Toshi credited as giving him further encouragement to make his own music.
They also received support from David Bowie when he toured Japan again in 1977, as Toshio told DE RIGUEUR in 2012:
“…he asked us, “so what are you guys doing these days with Plastics?” Hajime said “oh we are playing your songs, Be my wife, Always crashing in the same car…” and Bowie replied “no, no, no, don’t do that, you should write your own thing, they’re not good songs.” Bowie really pushed us to write our own songs. Don’t copy me. It’s not about always crashing in the same car!”
While Bowie, The Sex Pistols, and punk music were a major influence at the time, Toshi and his bandmembers were also listening to Kraftwerk, as he said in 2014:
“Hajime and I thought we should steer the band in the direction of something between the Sex Pistols and Kraftwerk. Probably something like Can. I found out later that Johnny Rotten was also a Can fan, but there was nobody else doing it at the time, so it felt fresh to us.”
Plastics recorded a demo tape in 1977 of original songs, but they were still developing their sound, and in 1978 the group all went overseas allowing them to experience several different music scenes. Hajime visited LA and saw Devo, Toshi and Chica went to London and saw the English punk scene in-person, and Nobuo Asai also went to London where he saw The Ramones and was shocked when the crowd began throwing chairs around the room.
“These things brought about a big turning point in The Plastics,” Toshi said. “We thought we could do it, so we started writing originals more seriously, and the first song that was completed was Hajime’s riff for ‘I am Plastic’.”
The Plastics’ demo tape was being shared around at the time and was played on the Snakeman Show, a Japanese comedy radio program produced by Moichi Kuwahara. Unfortunately, the Plastics original lineup didn’t last. After a performance where Asai was too drunk to see his cymbals or keep time, The Plastics fell apart.
Not to be discouraged, Toshi wanted to keep The Plastics going with Chica, Hajime, and himself, as they considered a new direction for The Plastics.
Masahide Sakuma joined in 1978 on bass. He had already seen The Plastics play at a party and wanted to produce them, but then all of the band members had quit. Masahide auditioned as their new bass player with Hiroshi Oguchi on drums, and this new lineup lasted about three months and never performed on stage. When Hiroshi left, Masahide suggested they buy Roland CR-78 rhythm machines to use instead of a drummer, and he moved to synthesisers to better suit the sound The Plastics were moving towards. Shima Takemi then joined in October 1978 to program the CR-78’s after Hajime saw him playing video games in an arcade and he was hired based on his dexterity.
The Plastics sang in a mixture of English and Japanese, wanting to emulate their heroes while retaining a connection to their home in Japan. Their sound continued to develop, incorporating punk and New Wave, and there are various live shows from between 1976–1979 which were recorded and show their development from a covers band to including more originals, and finding a new sound.
By 1979 they had recorded two originals Copy and Too Much Information and were looking for a record label to sell them to. Victor Entertainment in Japan were the first label to show interest, but at the same time a friend of the band had taken a tape to England with them where Jeff Travis, president of Rough Trade, heard it. Through this connection, Copy / Too Much Information was released as a single by Rough Trade in the UK as the bands debut.
Their debut album, Welcome Plastics, followed in 1980, and was released in Japan by Invitation, a sublabel of Victor. The album was recorded in two weeks in a studio in Ikejiri, using a similar set up to their live shows. Several songs on the album were covers, including Welcome Plastics, a cover of Welcome Beatles, a song which was played ahead of The Beatles Japanese Tour, but to anyone outside of Japan it was unlikely they would have realised, given how original the Plastics sounded.
The album sold well in Japan, and the band went on tour, as Toshi later recalled.
“When the first album came out, the tour started as usual. I don’t remember it that well…it’s the same everywhere…Still there are some memorable gigs that have left an impression on me, like the school festival…When we arrived, it rained torrential rains, and the stage was either submerged in a sea of mud or washed away, so everything was cancelled in the end.”
Following their local tour, The Plastics were invited overseas and performed a short tour in the USA, with shows in New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. After returning to Japan, Toshi began demoing their second album, and before long they were in the US again on their second tour there.
Back in 1979, Hajime had designed the tour booklet and poster for Talking Heads Japan tour, and David Byrne was given a demo tape The Plastics had recorded. That tape was shared with the B-52s who asked The Plastics to support their Japan tour, and they were signed to the B-52’s management. Then when The Plastics returned to the US in 1980, they supported the B-52s and Talking Heads.
In America the press likened them to “Americans imitating Japanese imitating Americans,” and during a later tour of Europe, NME praised their sound, writing, “They acknowledge the influence of foreign music, but they absorb it flexibly. Sometimes it sounds fresher and more unique than British record”
Thanks to their connections with Talking Heads and B52s, The Plastics were heard by Island Records in the US who gave them a deal to record an album in the Bahamas featuring new versions of songs from their two previous albums.
Masahide Sakuma had also been helping develop Roland’s TR-808 drum machine at the time, and brought one to the recording session. Their producer Alex Sadkin was impressed by the 808 and pushed for the band to use more synths and electronic instruments, but Hajime dismissed the idea telling him, “We don’t really want to make an album like Star Wars.”
Because the new album was made up of old songs, the recording sessions went quickly and most songs only needed one or two takes. Toshi became bored as they ran out of things to do, and the band returned to Japan for a tour as they waited for the album’s release.
The new album, Welcome Back (also released under the title Plastics), was released in March 1981 and was followed by a European and US tour. A second US album (fourth in Japan) was meant to be recorded in November, but didn’t happen as there were disagreements in where to go with their sound.
In interviews from the time, The Plastics spoke openly about being tired of the songs they were promoting and their interest in trying something new for their next album. Toshi said,
“By the end of the third US tour. I was suffering from burnout. Same song every night. I got tired of playing like that, so I tried to change it a little every night.”
Hajime didn’t agree with improvisation during their lives sets, and Toshi became frustrated. He was listening to Afro-Funk and music like Fela Kuti, and was tired of the Plastics “Techno Pop” label. Toshi wanted to embrace some of these new influences, but Hajime didn’t want to explore those genres.
As Toshi wrote new songs, they were rejected by The Plastics, so he decided to start a new group: Melon. He later said he’d hoped they might each release solo albums before reforming, but this didn’t happen, and Welcome Back became The Plastics final album.
Back in New York in 1981, Toshi and Chica played with a series of session musicians, experimenting with a more funk influence to their previous sound. They spent a night recording two tracks, Famous Last Words and Honeydew, with Adrian Belew and Steve Scales from Talking Heads, Cindy Wilson, Kate Pierson, and Keith Strickland of the B-52’s, and Ernie Brooks from The Modern Lovers, alongside Toshi and Chica. The songs appeared that October on a Snakeman Show compilation alongside a song by The Crap Heads, another band credited to Toshio, Chica, Hajime, Haruomi Hosono, and Yukihiro Takahashi. It would be their sole release under this name.
Toshi was happy with his new band Melon in New York, when Hajime called him and said to come back to Japan as they were going to record a fourth Plastics album. Toshi returned to Tokyo and began rehearsing new songs with Hajime, Masahide Sakuma, and Doug Bourne joining on drums. The songs were later described as “Prog-like” but there were problems over the group’s direction.
After an unsuccessful rehearsal, the band met at a coffee shop and Hajime announced he wanted to end Plastics. He had been learning saxophone and was more interested in classical and jazz music, which would be heard on his debut solo album H, released in 1982. Masahide was also more interested in producing records, and although Island wanted another Plastics album, and another US tour was already being planned, the band broke up.
With Plastics over (again), Melon received a budget to record their debut album in New York. The Do You Like Japan? sessions began in April 1982 with Haruomi Hosono on bass on three songs, Yukihiro Takahashi on drums, and Masami Tsuchiya on guitar, among other guests.
During the recording, Toshi and the album’s producer Moichi Kuwahara heard Africa Bambaataa’s Planet Rock and other hip hop acts. Taking this influence, the sound of scratching was included near the end of O.D. (Optimistic Depression). But rather than use vinyl, they rubbed the tape reel back and forth instead. They also watched Bambaataa live and were impressed with his breakdancers, and included them in Melon’s videos for two songs, Don’t Worry About After Death and Final News. The videos were intended to be part of a Snakeman Show film project which was otherwise abandoned.
“When I came back to Japan I talked about breakdancing, but no one understood, and then Rock Steady Crew came to Japan, after the release of Wild Style [in 1983]. That film was like an education…that’s how hip-hop started in Tokyo,” Toshi said.
After Do You Like Japan? was released in November 1982, Melon returned to Japan for live performances and recorded two more songs (PJ and Eddie Spaghetti) before Percy Jones and Douglas Bowne left and Toshi needed to find new bandmembers again.
Gota Yashiki stepped in on drums, and Toshi formed a new band Watermelon (sometimes written Water Melon), after he heard songs by Les Baxter and Martin Denny in the exotica genre and wanted to try making his own. Both Watermelon and Melon had a residency at a new club named Pithecan, which also featured the Snakeman Show and other groups. An album Pithecan Thropus Erectus was released in 1983, and features songs by Melon and Water Melon with short comedy skits from the Snakeman Show. It was recorded over two days at the club.
Pithecan also hosted international guests, and when the movie Wild Style arrived in Japan in 1983, several artists and musicians connected to the film arrived as part of a tour. Toshi was able to meet Fab Five Freddy, Futura, Lady Pink, and the Rock Steady Crew, and several of them played at Pithecan too.
Hip hop had truly arrived in Japan at this point, and in 1983 Toshi also released a solo album called Homework which saw him completely embrace the genre. The album is also notable for featuring scratching from Hiroshi Fujirwara, which is said to be the first recorded vinyl scratch in Japan.
Toshi used collage techniques to create the album, layering several sampled records over one another using a Fostex X-15 4-track tape recorder. He later explained his process in 1984, noting it was simple to do, but came down to whether or not you could afford the equipment.
“In short, even people who can’t play an instrument can become a musician if they are good at collage…you can use a double cassette tape recorder to easily piece together completely different sources…it’s pretty easy to get a model with a pause button that makes it easier to get up and go, and stick parts of cassettes, records, etc. together as you think of it…The accumulation of such good ideas becomes the base for producing masterpieces.”
Toshi’s songs, from Plastics to his later solo work, often dealt with his uneasiness around nuclear power, and his Homework album was packaged in a lead material able to block radioactivity, expressing his anti-nuclear stance, with the idea being the music inside would be protected from potential radioactivity.
Homework was released as a cassette tape by Tra, a Japanese magazine which contained a cassette of music with each issue, and was distributed through bookstores. The Winter 1982 issue had also included a tape with five songs by De Melon, another Melon spinoff, and featured an experiment with stereo channels, as Toshi explained in the magazine.
“What I tried to do with this song was to think about left and right completely separately and create double music. As a result, you can hear Talking Heads-like funk on the right channel and Moro and Yuzo Kayama’s Shonan Sound on the left channel. It should be noted that by adjusting the balance of the audio system according to the listener’s preference, either the left or the right can be heard, or even if the left and right are output at the same time, the sound can be heard properly.”
1983 saw Melon evolve as they became four-piece, with Toshi, Chica, Gota, and Masayuki Kudo, a DJ who had been roadie during the Watermelon shows at Pithecan. The new lineup released their first song together, Serious Japanese in 1985, and performed the song on Japanese TV and across the UK under black light, with the band wearing fluorescent paint. Toshi later reflected in 2005, “I didn’t think of it that way at the time, but when I listen to it now, this single is all electro. Visually, it was inspired by Blade Runner, Mad Max, Dune, Sand Planet, etc. Virgin liked the sound and it was released…[as a] One single deal.”
After receiving a budget to record a new Melon album, Toshi and Chica moved to London to start. They had requested Trevor Horn to produce, but he was too busy, and their next choice, JJ from Art of Noise, was also too busy, but JJ’s assistant engineer Nick Froome was available and was given the job.
Hip hop had come to London, with Def Jam artists LL Cool J, Beastie Boys, and Run DMC all touring while Melon were recording their album Deep Cut, and Nellie Hooper and Milo Johnson from The Wild Bunch were around too, as Toshi later said.
“I think Deep Cut didn’t do well in London. However, Melon was quite early as a hip-hop made in UK… During the recording of Deep Cut, Nelly, Milo, and Jazzy (B) often came to the studio to hang out. They said, you can incorporate anything. ‘Time Enough For Love’ is about Prince, and it’s certainly an album that incorporates everything from Prince to Michael Jackson to Hawaiian.”
Deep Cut was enjoyed by I-D Magazine who claimed “their spot the beat LP…is constructed from more ‘hot’ parts than an Arthur Daley Meccano set”, and it’s worth noting the album contained several uncleared samples which were removed or replaced when Deep Cut was later re-released.
Hard Core Hawaiian was released as a single and features a Def Jam remix, thanks to a connection from Toshi’s Plastic days. While recording Deep Cut, Toshi had to leave England to extend his VISA and went to New York, where he visited the Def Jam Records offices. While there he met with The Plastics ex-road manager Steve Lablovski who was now head chief, and through this connection Melon’s Hardcore Hawaii 12” secured a rare Def Jam remix.
When Deep Cut was completed, Melon performed a showcase at The Astoria and Hiroshi Fujiwara and Takagi Kan came to cover it for their Last Orgy magazine column. The launch was held 24 January 1987, and was panned by NME and Melody Maker magazines.
Inspired by what he had seen during the Def Jam tours, Toshi decided to tour the album without a band, using two turntables and microphones. He had their label press records of the album without their vocals, so they could use the instrumentals, and Melon embarked on their Wheels of Steel Tour in Japan.
With no instruments on stage, Melon’s drummer Gota felt he had nothing to do, and when Toshi begun creating a demo tape for a planned follow up album, Gota left the group. At the same time, Chica wasn’t interested in the hip hop angle Toshi was following, so Melon broke up. Deep Cut was their final album, though in 1992 Deep Cut Remix was released featuring a collection of remixes of the album.
This decision to end Melon led to the formation of Major Force, a new record label specialising in Japanese hip hop, set up by Toshi, Kudo, Hiroshi Fujiwara, and Takagi Kan. The label’s third release was Tycoon To$h & Terminator Troops’ Copy ’88, a rapped update to The Plastics Copy. The label became the home of Toshi’s other experiments too, like the clubby Tribe Of Love by Sexy T.K.O. and Water Melon’s comeback album Out Of Body Experience, which saw Toshi and Kudo embrace what had become known as Trip Hop.
At the beginning of the 90s, Toshi and Kudo moved back to London and released music on two labels in the middle of the Trip Hop genre, Mo’ Wax and Pussyfoot. Their contributions as part of UNKE, Major Force West, Skylab, and other projects, are significant highlights in their discographies, though both labels closed in 2002 and their catalogues spent the next two decades mostly out of print.
After spending so much time overseas, Toshi returned to Japan again and continued to release music prolifically, often as ambitious solo albums. In 2013 he published his autobiography The Rise and Fall of Plastics, Melon, and Major Force, which features small anecdotes from several of his friends and collaborators, including Chica who wrote “he was too ahead of his time as a pioneer, a little out of step with the times, and I think that no one has been able to appreciate him properly.”
Plastics reformed several times, firstly in 1988 for a brief tour, and then later in 2007. This second reunion didn’t feature Chica as she had retired from music and was working in fashion in London. Instead Toshi, Hajime, and Masahide were joined by Gota, with Plastics featuring a live drummer for the first time since their early formation. A recording of the performance was released as the album Dr. VoBG in 2009 as the band celebrated 30 years since their debut single was released. Continuing the celebrations, all of their albums were added to iTunes, and a third reunion was held in 2010 with the same lineup as 2007.
All three Plastics albums were reissued as deluxe CDs in 2016 with bonus discs including live recordings from shows in 1976, 1980, and the 1988 reunion. An album titled A was also released in 2018, with a recording from the 2016 reunion show, and their early demo tape from 1977 was finally released as a bonus CD with Toshi’s autobiography. Both Melon albums were also reissued in 2005 with bonus tracks, alongside a compilation titled Shinjuku Bladerunner that collects several non-album tracks. A final compilation, titled Ripe (but also sometimes listed as Full Grown), collected early demos and live recordings from 1981–87.
Toshi was diagnosed with cancer in September 2016. To help pay for his treatment, he ran a fundraising campaign called God Save The Tosh! and prepared a new single covering T.REX’s Children of the Revolution, renaming it Children of Radiation. Unfortunately, the single became a posthumous release as Toshio Nakanishi died in February 2017.
This article was originally published in The Shadow Knows Issue #4, March 2023. Buy the fanzine here or read more at our website.
