The Drifters

The Drifters is a Japanese music band and comedy group. They were active as a music band until 1969, and afterwards, they were mainly active as a comedy group. Their TV show called Hachijidayo, Zen'inshugo was a big hit, and many people from children to adults had seen it.

Members

Current membe 
Cha Kato        : joined 1962, the fourth leader, lead guitar 

Koji Nakamoto    : joined 1962, main vocal and guitar 

Boo Takagi        : joined 1964, drum and vocal

Past members 
Chosuke Ikariya    : joined 1962, the third leader, base, died because of lymph node cancer in 2004  

Chu Arai        : joined 1964, piano, left the group in 1973, died because of liver failure in 2000  

Kyu Sakamoto        : joined 1958, vocal, left the group in 1958

Ken Shimura        : joined 1974, guitar, died because of COVID-19 

Kiyoshi Kishibe    : joined 1956, the first leader, left the group in 1957

Teruo Sakurai        : joined 1958, the second leader, left the group 1965

History 
The Drifters is known as a comedy group, and the members are Kato, Nakamoto and Takagi currently. However, It was originally a music band, and far from owarai. It was formed as a band in 1956. The first leader was Kiyoshi Kishibe and the second leader was Teruo Sakurai. Teruo was active as leader, but he wanted to change the band to a comic band that entertains the audience with funny lyrics and gestures rather than playing music, therefore he recommended Ikariya who was active in the other band at that time and was also focusing on owarai as the third leader. The early band members had a lot of rapid changes because there was a band transfer culture at that time. Even Ikariya didn’t understand who the early members were. Since he became the third leader, the group changed into a comic band. Additionally, he was a perfectionist, and too strict, so four members withdrew from The Drifters because they detested his teaching and comic band. After then, only Ikariya and Kato remained, and he gathered Arai, Takagi and Nakamoto from the other band hurriedly. New The Drifters was formed with them in 1964. Subsequently, the activities of the group centered on owarai. However, Arai left the group, and Shimura joined in 1974 instead of him.  After becoming new The Drifters, the members were fixed, and the group was composed of five members. They gained popularity in a TV program called Hachijidayo, Zen'inshugo.

Musical and comedy styles

Musical style 
New The Drifters was a comic band, and they sang mainly cover versions and parodies of songs that had been sung in Japan. They played as an opening act for the concert of The Beatles that was popular with people all over the world for only about one minute. They got people’s attention because they performed not on stage for the opening act, but on the main stage. After becoming new The Drifters,  they mainly acted as comedians, but the music activities continued without hiatusing.

Comedy style 
The Drifters created many patterns made use of the group. There were many vulgar skits such as script wasting food such as watermelon and milk. Also, there were many musical scripts and they devoted themselves to jokes. Takagi was the center of laughter in the group, but Kato became the center of comedy skits after a few months. Although the others improvised on TV, The Drifters created a completely calculated story without improvising. After Shimura joined, it changed into a comedy style in which Ikaria was swayed by members of indecent roles. Shimura sometimes improvised on the stage, ignoring Ikariya’s teaching.

Television 
Hachijidayo, Zen'inshugo was broadcasted on TBS from 1969 to 1985 with 803 episodes, and made them famous. The Drifters did comedy skits and sang songs including cover versions and parodies in front of audiences. It became a hit and recorded an average audience rating over 40%, and highest audience rating 50.5%.

Awards 
They won 12th Japan Record Awards Mass Award in 1970, Japan Music Awards, Comedy Honor Award in 2012 and top 10 in the record chart, and sold 1.15 million albums.

References 

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8. こ. (2020b, October 8). 坂本九や木の実ナナも元メンバー!コント集団化する前のドリフ ターズ!. Middle Edge(ミドルエッジ). Retrieved January 10, 2022, from https://middle-edge.jp/articles/rKqQQ?page=2

11.  繝峨Μ繝輔. (2006, March 20). エンピロ. Retrieved January 10, 2022, from https://green.ap.teacup.com/page1nosai/122.html

12.  M. (2020a, May 20). オィッスー!~ザ・ドリフターズ | お笑い漫才芸人列伝. お笑い漫才 芸人列伝 | 古今東西の漫才を映像とともに. Retrieved January 10, 2022, from https://manzai.ohmineya.com/%E3%82%AA%E3%82%A3%E3%83%83%E3%82%B9%E3%83%BC%EF%BD%9E%E3%82%B6%E3%83%BB%E3%83%89%E3%83%AA%E3%83%95%E3%82%BF%E3%83%BC%E3%82%BA/

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Japanese musical groups