Warning - scary Japanese dance moves ahead

One of my favourite movies is "Perfect Blue". The plot starts as retired pop singer turned actress's sense of reality is shaken when she is stalked by an obsessed fan. The fact that she retires as a pop star because she is too old at 20 says a little too much about j-pop.

I'm writing about this because of Shanadoo. Shandoo Shanadoo are four Japanese girls Chika, Junka, Marina and Manami, in other words they are a j-pop group. The video of their "King Kong" song can be seen here. This went to no14 in Germany, where it was given great TV support.

It's apparently a cover version of a German/Swiss eurodance group E-Rotic's song, which was released in 2001, however while looking at the youtube video I noticed that it's also a cover of a Hinoi Team song, which features the same dance (and at least one of the members going by looks). The dance seems to be called the Para Para. Be warned, they are trying to get released over here.

Why do people make near perfect covers of the original instead of putting their own spin on it. In practice the spun covers get remembered, sometimes longer than the original.

tags :
Perfect Blue Japan j-pop Shanadoo King Kong music youtube E-Rotic Hinoi Team Para Para