The Appeal of 80s Techno Kayō: Classic and Popular Technopop Songs

As you delve into the Japanese music scene of the 1980s, many of you have probably come across the term “techno kayō” in disc guidebooks and the like.

From the late 1970s to the early 1980s, forward-thinking artists—centered around YMO—developed sounds that incorporated elements of techno, and when those elements were applied to mainstream pop, the result was “techno kayō.”

Some tracks became massive hits, while others went largely unnoticed at the time and were later reappraised—making it a genre that becomes more enjoyable the more you learn about it.

In this article, we’ve carefully selected and will present some of the finest techno kayō classics.

You might even discover, “Wait, was this song techno kayō?”