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My aim for Minyo Minyo Power is to put together the most comprehensive resource on the net for all things Kidorikko, because screw Fandom! Don't let Kidorikko take up just one tiny page on a huge J-pop wiki - they deserve better than that!!
This entire page will include a probably nauseating amount of information about this band, and so, like a wiki page, you have the option to jump to certain areas:

Hover over images for more info, and feel free to check out any links!

THE BASICS

Kidorikko was a Japanese synth-pop/new wave band active from January 1985 to April 1991 (just over 6 years). It was comprised of eccentric vocalist Chiyumi Ten (てんちゆみ), synthesiser player Ryuichi Sato (佐藤隆一), and briefly, keytarist Kimitaka Matsumae (松前公高). The band had a very unique sound, always energetic, yet just a bit off, whether it was because they frequently made use of odd time signatures and other gimmicks, or because of their lyrics; sometimes their songs were childish and cutesy, and sometimes their songs bordered on Jun Togawa-esque insanity.

CHIYUMI TEN

There is not much known about Chiyumi Ten, but I do know that Chiyumi Ten is indeed her stage name! Her real name is Umi Tenchi (天地海) shown in this image. In Japanese, it would be said as "Tenchi Umi", while her stage name would be said as "Ten Chiyumi"... See the similarities?
If the J-Pop wiki is to be trusted, she was born in Tokyo on February 1st, 1957 (making her 27 years old at Kidorikko's formation, and 67 years old now), and her blood type is B.
Chiyumi Ten was the face of Kidorikko; almost literally the poster child, as Kidorikko's albums "C'est L'elegance Na Tanoshimi" and "Ryukou Tsushinbo" both featured photographs of her for their covers.
She had an idiosyncratic singing style, high pitched and very energetic, and when singing for albums she would occasionally include her own laughter, like in Himitsu no Okurioukami. When performing on stage, Chiyumi would wear colourful, frilly dresses, seemingly putting on an exaggerated persona of a princess, as during the Kodomotachi no City tour she even sported a little tiara! She also seems to have liked cats as well; quite a few Kidorikko songs make reference to cats.
Chiyumi Ten had a truly awesome stage presence. She had so much energy; there was always a smile on her face, and she seemed to constantly move around the stage. I've seen people compare her dancing to Jun Togawa before, and while the two are similarly theatrical, Chiyumi is definitely more cute, and Jun is quite a bit more angry and punk.
Each member of Kidorikko had their own little nickname, and while Ryuichi's and Kimitaka's make a lot of sense, Chiyumi's just... doesn't. It's "Kumiko Amatsu" (あまつくみこ) (though I've also seen it written as "Kumiko Amachi"), oftentimes shortened to "Kumi-chan". She's actually referred to as Kumi-chan in quite a few places, including on the VHS of the Kodomotachi no City tour released by Music Hot Live (don't worry, I'll talk about that later).

RYUICHI SATO

Even less is known about Ryuichi Sato, mostly because "Ryuichi Sato" is a very common name, and a quick Google search of just his name wields very few Kidorikko-related results.
Ryuichi Sato was born on January 28th, 1961 (making him 23 years old at Kidorikko's formation, 63 years old now).
The only non-Kidorikko release he has credits on (at least on his Discogs page) is on the album "ロマンティストは殺される = Romantist Wa Korosareru" by the band Deep's, where he allegedly just did programming. This is Discogs, though - I haven't actually seen photographic evidence of him being credited, so I can't be sure.
Ryuichi Sato is the reason why so much information about Kidorikko is available nowadays - in the late 90's, he made a website all about Kidorikko, sharing a lot of info about what they got up to.
Ryuichi's little nickname is "Ruu-Tan" (る〜たん).

KIMITAKA MATSUMAE

Kimitaka mostly just did keytar solos during live performances; I don't think he contributed much to Kidorikko's first LP "C'est L'elegance na Tanoshimi" before he left.
Unlike with Ryuichi and Chiyumi, though, Kidorikko was only the start of Kimitaka Matsumae's music career. Born on June 13, 1963 (Making him 21 years old at Kidorikko's formation and 61 years old now) Kimitaka Matsumae went on to work with many other music groups, such as Hi-Posi, Space Ponch, and... Sega Sound Team? And has also made the very popular ending theme for Kill Me Baby. He's published books on synthesisers, this guy is a big deal.
Kimitaka's reason for leaving Kidorikko was just creative differences, and y'know, that happens sometimes.
Kimitaka's little nickname is "Kimi-Kun" (きみくん).

BEFORE KIDORIKKO

Before I begin, I need to say, alongside the release of Ryukou Tsushinbo there was a little booklet, which included a bunch of stuff, including commentary, lyrics, and a page on Kidorikko's history. This is pretty standard fare for Japanese bands, but it also gives us a lot of information about Kidorikko that I haven't actually heard people talk about at all.

In this booklet, there's a little bit of information about how the members of Kidorikko got together. I've roughly translated this:

  • 1974: Ryuichi Sato began recording multi-track songs with a radio/cassette player.
    1974枣、ラジカセさんで多重録始める

  • Summer 1983: On a whim, Chiyumi began to add extra things to Sato's songs. The two tried practising music in a regular band formation (with drums, bass, guitar, keyboard and vocals), but it didn't go well and it faded out after a while.
    1983夏　ちゆみ、ひょんなきっかけで、佐藤の曲に仮用を入れるようになる BAND編成(Dr.B.G.Key、Vo)で練習を試みるが、上手くいかず自然消滅

  • Winter 1984: Kimitaka Matsumae appeared in a "Japanese Sound" article in Fool's Mate, and Chiyumi and Ryuichi began exchanging demo tapes with him.
    1984冬　フールズメイト　「日本の音」に松公高登場、デモテープ交換をする

(Fool's Mate is a Japanese music magazine, by the way!)

Kidorikko formed in January 1985, and very quickly began to perform music live.

LIVE

In the Ryukou Tsushinbo booklet, there is a list of a lot of times Kidorikko performed live (though not every time, unfortunately). I have put together a list of Kidorikko's live performances using this booklet, information from Kidorikko's VHS compilation "Pan Pon VIDEO Pin", and Ruichi Sato's website. This is not a complete list; I am sure they performed more times than this.

1985

  • 2nd of March - Live activities start at Kagurazaka EXPLOSION on Modetn Street C (神楽坂 EXPLOSION Modetn Street C ライブ活動スタート)
    ("Modetn" was probably meant to be spelt "Modern", as there are a lot of English spelling mistakes in this booklet. Live venue. Ryuichi described Kagurazaka E. as a mecca for hard rock, and how weird it was that it was the first place Kidorikko performed live.)

  • 1st of April - Newyork Antinock
    (Antiknock is the name of a live venue in Tokyo, New York Antiknock being the one in Shinjuku specifically.)

  • 3rd of April - LAMAMA Shibuya (渋谷LAMAMA)
    (Live venue.)

  • 16th of May - EXPLOSION
    (Short for Kagurazaka EXPLOSION.)

  • 6th of June - LAMAMA
    (Short for LAMAMA Shibuya)

  • 30th of August - Nishiogikubo Watts "World Model TV" (西荻窪 Watts "世界 模型TV")
    (Seemingly a live event, very little information available online about it. Ryuichi Sato described it as an experimental project.)

  • 14th of September - Harajuku Crocodile (原宿クロコダイル)
    (Live venue.)

  • 17th of September - Roppongi Tamatsubaki "BICAN" releases live (六本木玉椿 "BICAN" 発売ライブ)
    ("BICAN" is a compilation album that Kidorikko contributed to, which was released on cassette. Very little is known about it, and it has not resurfaced online. This was most likely a live event commemorating the release of the album.)

  • 13th of October - Watts
    (Short for Nishiogikubo Watts "World Model TV".)

  • 4th of December - Shibuya Egg-man (渋谷Egg-man)
    (Live venue. If this was the only live show that Kidorikko did in December, then the sound library recordings of "このこのこねこ" (Konokono Koneko) and "カオカオ・ブクブク" (Kao Kao Bukubuku) were taken during this show, and the video of "あかずの間" (Akazu no Ma) in Pan Pon VIDEO Pin was recorded there too. Ryuichi Sato said that there were an incredible number of attendees.)

Unknown Dates

  • February - the page for Kidorikko on the J-pop wiki says that they first performed live in February 1985, not March. Ryuichi Sato stated on his website that they first performed in March, and so does the booklet, so either there was a Kidorikko show before the one in March, or this is incorrect information, likely spread by fans via word-of-mouth. Unsure.

  • June - Ryuichi Sato says they toured with a popular band called "Uchoten" (有頂天). Unknown venue.

  • Unknown Date - a video of them performing "愛しのリカちゃん" (Itoshi no Licca-Chan) on Pan Pon VIDEO Pin. Unknown venue.

1986

  • 27th of January - LAMAMA
    (Likely the show where the sound library recordings of "なかまはずれ" (Nakama Hazure) and "このこのこねこ" (Konokono Koneko) were taken.)

  • 7th of February - Yokohama VIVRE (横浜VIVRE)
    (VIVRE is a shopping mall in Yokohama, and supposedly has a live venue called VIVRE-HALL, where Kidorikko performed many times.)

  • 15th of February - Shibuya CSV (渋谷CSV)
    (CSV is a record store in Shibuya, apparently doubling as a live venue. Ryuichi Sato said that they performed with Papaya Paranoia.)

  • 17th of February - Yokohama VIVRE21 (横浜VIVRE21)
    (Info available on the Kidorikko sound library. "桃色金魚" (Momoiro Kingyo) and "乳酸菌シンドローム" (Nyuusankin Syndrome) were some of the songs played.)

  • 3rd of March - LAMAMA

  • 18th of April - VIVRE

  • 24th of April - Watts

  • 2nd of May - Egg-man

  • 1st of June - Egg-man

  • 14th of June - Captain Records gig at Yoyogi Park, marking Kidorikko's debut at Captain Records (代々木公園　"キャプテン・GIG"　これを機にキャプテンレコードからのデビューが決まる)
    (Yoyogi Park is just a park in Shibuya, used for all sorts of events. Seems like a nice place.)

  • 16th of July - Harajuku Crocodile (原宿クロコダイル)

  • 9th of August - Egg-man
    (Photos from this show are available here and here.)

  • 30th of August - Urawata Shimagahara Rock and Roll Festival (浦和田島ヶ原ロックン ロールフェスティバル)
    (Most likely performed at Urawata Shimagahara Outdoor Stage (浦和田島ヶ原 野外特設ステージ). If so, part of their performance was recorded and included as part of Pan Pon VIDEO Pin. Video available here.)

  • 10th of October - Egg-man

  • 11th of November - LAMAMA

  • 30th of November - Toshima Public Hall (豊島公会堂) (Kodomotachi no City)
    (Live venue. First(?) of a few shows that were part of the Kodomotachi no City tour, which multiple bands (mostly on Captain Records) participated in. A full audio recording of this show, or at least Kidorikko's part of it, is available here (though the source of this recording is unknown), and Kidorikko's segment in Music Hot Live's VHS compilation of the tour, where they perform "C'est L'elegance Na Osho" and "Momoiro Kingyo", is available here.)

  • 27th of December - LAMAMA

Unknown Dates

Created on 13/9/2023 by cydthezombie ☆ (HelloKittyMinigun).