The Spiders

The Spiders stand out as the best-known Japanese vocal rock ensemble of the 1960s, particularly among overseas collectors. Numerous bands across non-English-speaking countries adopted the British Invasion approach during that era, yet few matched the Spiders in either timing or prominence. Between 1965 and 1970 they scored several domestic successes, issued roughly six long-players, and made modest efforts to reach listeners in Britain and the United States. Their vocals alternated between Japanese and broken English while their arrangements drew heavily from British and, to a lesser extent, American models, occasionally folding in California-style vocal harmonies and psychedelic touches. Although they blended self-penned numbers with overseas covers, neither their compositions nor their instrumental skills rivaled those of leading acts from abroad. Collectors today are drawn instead to the frantic energy that runs through much of their catalog, along with the unexpected stylistic juxtapositions and broken song forms that can register, at least to Western ears, as idiosyncratic distortions of familiar templates.

Roughly five years of prior activity preceded the group’s most celebrated phase. Shochi Tanabe assembled the band on drums in 1961, and its earliest repertoire leaned toward American country music, at one point incorporating a female vocalist. Their initial releases were instrumental guitar pieces; a version of “Wipeout” appears on the Big Beat anthology GS I Love You: Japanese Garage Bands of the 1960s. By 1966 they had shifted to vocal beat-group material shaped by the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and the Animals. Under contract to Philips they produced half a dozen albums and a steady stream of singles from 1966 through 1970.

While their strongest Japanese chart entries leaned more toward ballads and straightforward pop, the group occasionally ventured beyond mid-1960s R&B-inflected British Invasion territory. “Kuroyuri No Uta” features an inexpensive sitar and harmonies recalling the Association; “End of Love” emulates Jimi Hendrix; and “Summer Girl” reflects Beach Boys influences. Big Beat’s compilation Let’s Go Spiders! gathers the strongest tracks from 1966 to 1968.

In late 1966 the Spiders undertook a European tour and pursued Western exposure through a British single, an appearance on the English television program Ready Steady Go, and a performance at Hamburg’s Star Club. A Hawaii concert followed in mid-1967, together with two American singles. Commercial headway abroad remained elusive, yet the band sustained its popularity at home until its dissolution in early 1971. Sporadic reunions began in the early 1980s.