Talk:Fujiyama Mama

Latest comment: 3 years ago by SL93 in topic Did you know nomination

Did you know nomination edit

The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by SL93 (talk) 19:56, 7 January 2021 (UTC)Reply

  • ... that Wanda Jackson's 1957 record "Fujiyama Mama", described as "the ultimate Virile Female metaphor", was a No. 1 hit in Japan? Source 1: Maruy Dean, Rock 'n' Roll Gold Ruch, p 149 (""Wanda Jackson offers us the ultimate Virile Female metaphor here."). Source 2: Keaveney, "Western Rock Artists, Madame Butterfly, and the Allure of Japan", pp. 24–25 (discussing No. 1 hit status in Japan)
    • ALT1:... that "Fujiyama Mama", an American rockabilly song that compared a woman's energy to the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, was a No. 1 hit in Japan in 1958?

Created by Cbl62 (talk). Self-nominated at 04:37, 22 December 2020 (UTC).Reply

  •   Wow, this is one record I did not know about. Article creation and filing date okay, article length okay. Article sourcing and neutrality good, no evident signs of copyvio. Hook length okay, sourcing verified in book view online, neutrality okay. The 'Virile Female metaphor' part of the hook has good interest, but to me the real interest is that a song which explicitly references the atomic bombings of Japan in multiple places in its lyric became a prolonged number one hit in Japan only 13 years after the event. Maybe that could be worked into the hook as well, or given as an ALT1 for the DYK promoter to choose between? Also, QPQ still pending. Wasted Time R (talk) 13:20, 22 December 2020 (UTC)Reply
@Wasted Time R: Thanks for the review. I added the QPQ and an alt per your suggestion. Glad you were introduced Fujiyama Mama - if you haven't already done so, have a listen -- it really rocks. Cbl62 (talk) 18:28, 22 December 2020 (UTC)Reply
Yes, I listened to it right after reading the article and yes it really does rock. QPQ now done. ALT1 is okay except that it says it was a No. 1 hit in 1959, whereas the article says 1958. Looking at some of the sources in the footnotes, I see various statements regarding dates and length of stay at the top. It would be good to get specifics on this – on such-and-such a chart, it reached number one in the week of some date and remained there through the week of some other date. But I don't know where those specifics would be. There is an article on the Oricon Singles Chart, but that did not begin until 1967. I did a brief search for Japanese music charts in the 1950s but didn't see anything. The skeptic in me is wondering if there even was a Japanese pop music chart during the late 1950s and if not, exactly what the statement about its popularity is based on. Wasted Time R (talk) 22:02, 22 December 2020 (UTC)Reply
@Wasted Time R: I fixed the year in alt 1, which was just my typo. As for the song being a No. 1 hit on the Japanese chart, there are multiple reliable sources for confirmation, including: (1) Christopher T. Keaveney (2020). Western Rock Artists, Madame Butterfly, and the Allure of Japan. Lexington Books. p. 24 ("'Fujiyama Mama' became a hit in Japan, where it reached number one in 1958 ..."); and (2) Mina Carson; Tisa Lewis; Susan M. Shaw (2004). Girls Rock! Fifty Years of Women Making Music. University Press of Kentucky. p. 2 ("'Fujiyama Mama' was a big hit in Japan, staying at number one there for six months"). Cbl62 (talk) 02:58, 25 December 2020 (UTC)Reply
@Cbl62: Do you have Wikipedia Library access to Newspapers.com? If so, take a look at these results for "Fujiyama Mama" from 1954 through 1960. My takeaways: 1) the Annisteen Allen recording had a somewhat bigger impact in the U.S. than the article currently indicates; 2) the Annisteen Allen recording itself was heard in Japan and was a hit there in 1955; 3) Armed Forces Radio wouldn't play it in 1958, on the (apparently mistaken) grounds it would offend the Japanese; 4) yes, the Wanda Jackson recording was a big hit in Japan, probably from fall 1958 and into 1959; and 5) the Wanda Jackson recording was very popular among U.S. service personnel stationed there. Wasted Time R (talk) 14:12, 25 December 2020 (UTC)Reply
@Wasted Time R: My searches of Billboard did not reveal Allen's version entering the R&B or pop charts though it did make the "Coming Up Hot" list, and I added that to the article. I also added something about a version of the song (probably Allen's but not clear from the source) being a hit in Japan in 1955. Couldn't find solid sourcing for a ban by Armed Forces Radio, so I didn't add that. The sources I found (referenced above) indicate Jackson's version was No. 1 for several months, including during the summer months of 1958. With that material now added, are you able to approve the proposed hooks? Cbl62 (talk) 21:42, 26 December 2020 (UTC)Reply
  Marking as passed. When I get a chance I will add the Newspapers.com material myself and I'll do clips of them so that you can see what they say. Wasted Time R (talk) 22:47, 26 December 2020 (UTC)Reply