Alphaville "Big In Japan (Single & Video)"

"Big in Japan" is the debut single of the German synth-pop band Alphaville. It was taken from their 1984 album Forever Young.

The single was a success in many countries, including Germany, Sweden and Switzerland. It was also the group's only UK Top 75 hit, reaching No. 8 on the UK Singles chart. The song also reached number one on the Hot Dance Club Play in December 1984.

The group had a Roland System-100M which they first used to create the bassline. The timing of the song was influenced by "The Safety Dance", changing the speed to double-time, halfway through the song. The melody was developed by all three members of the band, working in their provincial home studio.

Marian Gold developed most of the lyrics while going to a dentist. The theme was based on two friends who were involved in the sordid drug scene of Berlin's Zoo station. The song tells of such lovers who fantasize about being drug-free. The refrain "big in Japan" symbolises this idea of being successful in another world.

That line has a certain meaning. It means that if you're a complete loser, you're telling other people, 'I'm not a loser because in Japan I'm really big.' It's the lie of the loser and it fitted perfectly into the story of these junkies, which the song is about, in a very tragic way.

— Marian Gold

The phrase was inspired by the name of the real band, Big in Japan, whose album Gold had recently bought.

As you know, there's a considerable musical market in Japan. If you wanted to become famous, what you should do was to form a hard rock group and then release an album over there; it would definitely sell well... so the story went ...

— Marian Gold

As the song reached the top of the German charts, the number one song which it displaced was "Relax" by Frankie Goes to Hollywood whose lead singer, Holly Johnson, had formerly been in Big in Japan – a remarkable coincidence, according to Gold.

The video was directed by Yello's Dieter Meier.