The Untold History of J-Pop Before the 1980s (FanimeCon 2025) Panel Slides

I debuted this panel at San Diego Anime Con of all places, and I was amazed with how many people went to it considering the size of the con. I admittedly did give this one a sneaky title, but I honestly didn't think anyone would care about J-Pop music from the '60s and '70s. I was barely even aware of any of the artists I was covering either, so writing it almost felt like going back to the very first decade panels. Much to my surprise, it was a hit at Fanime too. I guess I can't be the best of judges, but it felt like this panel was the most well-recieved one of the entire weekend. I also noticed that several people took pictures of the slides as I advanced them, which always feels good. Hopefully they took note when I said I put the slides here though, as these might be better quality than the pictures. It's also interesting to note that I was very tired by this point of the weekend, and felt like this panel was the least rehearsed of them all. Somehow I locked in right as it was starting, and managed to give the smoothest read through, even if my voice wasn't the best at times. While I don't think I'll bring this one back to Fanime next year (I always have other panel ideas!), I do plan to take it to all the other conventions until then. It has a lot of variations still left in it, and there are some other pre-Oricon songs I want to discuss. Seeing as I only have done the decade panels one time each at Fanime, I think it's time to at least bring back the 1980s one next time around. That Fanime 2023 one was so early in its writing that it didn't really gel with what would come later, and I want to rectify that. I also might do a "Top Ten J-Pop Songs of All Time" panel too, as there are songs on that list I still somehow have never talked about. I guess we'll see about that in the future. Anyhow, be sure to come to a panel near you, and thank you to everyone who has either attended one or somehow made it to this page!

Lastly, the songs from the opening montage can be found below:

• Hana no Kubikazari – THE TIGERS (1968 #6)
• Toki ni wa Haha no Nai Ko no You ni – Carmen Maki (1969 #9)
• Ai no Kiseki – Hide to Rosanna (1970 #7)
• Saraba Koibito – Masaaki Sakai (1971 #10)
• Taiyou ga Kureta Kisetsu – Aoi Sankaku Jougi (1972 #10)
• Gakuseigai no Kissaten – GARO (1973 #3)
• Namida no Misao – Tonosama Kings (1974 #6)
• Romance – Hiromi Iwasaki (1975 #6)
• Yokosuka Story – Momoe Yamaguchi (1976 #8)
• Shitsuren Restaurant - Kentaro Shimizu (1977 #9)
• Canada Kara no Tegami – Masaaki Hirao & Yoko Hatanaka (1978 #7)
• Gandhara - GODIEGO (1979 #6)