Big In Japan - Goodbye (1979)

If Big In Japan are remembered for anything, it's the fact that they were a supergroup in reverse, with all the members going to to much greater things when the left the band. Coming from the same Merseyside scene which would produce Echo & the Bunnymen, The Teardrop Explodes, OMD, and Dalek I Love You, Big In Japan started off playing gigs around Liverpool, alongside bands like Wah! Heat, but will always be predominantly associated with Eric's Club. Their stage show was unique: lead singer Jayne Casey would perform with a lampshade over her shaved head, guitarist Bill Drummond played in a kilt and bassist Holly Johnson performed in an overtly flamboyant manner. The group was originally the  idea of Deaf School's Clive Langer, his friend Bill Drummond (guitar, vocals), Kevin Ward (bass, vocals) and Phil Allen (drums), and they formed the band in May 1977, playing only three gigs, the first of them at Bretton Hall College, in Yorkshire. In August the line-up expanded to include Jayne Casey (vocals), Ian Broudie (guitar) and Clive Langer (guitar), who quit in September, just after the band recorded their eponymous first song, which appeared on the 7" single compilation 'Brutality, Religion And A Dance Beat'. In October, Ambrose Reynolds joined to replace Ward who then left that December, with Reynolds himself quitting shortly afterwards to be replaced by Holly Johnson. In January 1978, Budgie (previously in The Spitfire Boys and later a member of The Slits and Siouxsie and the Banshees) replaced Allen on drums, and in early June, Johnson was sacked and was replaced by ex-Deaf School bassist Steve Lindsey, who was in turn replaced in July by Dave Balfe (previously of Dalek I Love You).
Hatred of the band reached such a level that a petition calling on them to split up was launched by a jealous young Julian Cope, and after being displayed in local record shop Probe Records, the petition gathered numerous signatures, including those of the band themselves! According to Cope's autobiography, Bill Drummond was into the whole thing and told Cope that if they got 14,000 signatures then the band would split up. They got about nine. They did eventually split up of their own accord after a last gig at Eric's on 26 August 1978. During their short career Big in Japan made just four studio recordings, which were later included on the 'From Y to Z and Never Again' EP, and was released to pay off debts, as well as a session for the John Peel show in 1979 with a line-up of Casey, Broudie, Johnson and Budgie. To show the extraordinary membership of the band, the full line-up is:
Clive Langer (ex-Deaf School, later of Clive Langer And The Boxes, and famed producer)
Bill Drummond (later of The KLF and founder of Zoo Records) 
Kevin Ward (later designer of artwork for many Liverpool bands)
Phil Allen (is the brother of Enrico Cadillac Jnr, lead singer of Deaf School)
Holly Johnson (later of Frankie Goes to Hollywood)
Ambrose Reynolds (later of Frankie Goes To Hollywood and Pink Industry)
Jayne Casey (later of Pink Military and Pink Industry)
Ian Broudie (later of The Lightning Seeds, and famed producer)
Budgie (later of Siouxsie And The Banshees, The Creatures, and The Slits)
Steve Lindsey (ex-Deaf School, later of The Planets)
Dave Balfe (ex-Dalek I Love You, later part of Lori & The Chameleons, and founder of the Zoo and Food Record labels)

Ironically, the band never performed or released any music in Japan.

Track listing

01 Big In Japan (from 'Brutality, Religion And A Dance Beat' split single 1977) 
02 Society For Cutting Up Men (previously unreleased 1977)
03 Nothing Special (from the 'From Y To Z And Never Again' EP 1978)
04 Cindy And The Barbie Dolls (from the 'From Y To Z And Never Again' EP 1978)
05 Suicide A Go Go (from the 'From Y To Z And Never Again' EP 1978)
06 Taxi (from the 'From Y To Z And Never Again' EP 1978)
07 Don't Bomb China Now (John Peel session 1979)
08 Goodbye (John Peel session 1979)
09 Suicide High Life (John Peel session 1979)
10 Match Of The Day (from 'Street To Street - A Liverpool Album' 1979)