The common thread linking them is their strong influences from Western music.
Major city pop artists include Ohtaki Eiichi, Yamashita Tatsuro, Ohnuki Taeko, Yoshida Minako, Matsutoya Yumi, and Takeuchi Mariya. The common thread linking them is their strong influences from Western music. Popular styles of music in Japan in the mid-1970s included folk songs with a focus on lyrics, and an early type of Japanese pop called Kayokyoku (popular music). However, the city pop artists mentioned above were instead influenced by contemporary rock, pop, and Black music styles from the USA. These artists experimented with using a Western-style sound to create an original Japanese style of pop music.