The Groove Music Life

As odd as it might seem for Morning Musume to be following up one of their best ever singles with a cover version, I certainly don’t object to their forthcoming cover of Pink Lady’s “Pepper Keibu”. Pink Lady were the first Japanese act I had ever heard back when “Kiss In The Dark” was being heavily pushed by Elektra Records here in the States, long before that disastrous variety show. And it isn’t the first time Morning Musume ever encountered Pink Lady (their 2004 Music Fair collaborations on “The*Peace”, “S.O.S.” and “Love Machine”, anyone?) or anyone in Hello! Project recorded a cover version from Mei & Kay’s back catalog – Aibon and Nono, of course, covered “Southpaw” and “Nagisa No Sinbad” on their first album as W, Duo U&U, back in 2004. Of course, there was Takitty and Gaki’s recent turn portraying Pink Lady on Japanese TV earlier this summer (doing this very song).

What makes this even cooler is that Morning Musume broke Pink Lady’s record for most Top 10 singles in the Japanese Top 10 awhile back, which adds a nice bit of irony (however unintended) to the proceedings.

Hopefully, once this single hits the racks, we won’t have to wait several months for the follow-up. It’s already been almost two years since the last studio album, for Chrissakes…