When I was a student in Tokyo, a very popular music group, Off Course, was active both in producing new numbers and in giving concerts. I myself didn’t like it very much, as opposed to a lot of fans around me. One of my close friends, one day,  brought me an album called WE ARE.  As I wasn’t interested, I left it on the shelf for a long time.

My girl friend at the time liked talking about music and movies then, with talking on the phone,  she started mentioning Off Course as I being bored with the name of the music group with repeated information from everywhere then.  Indeed, such they were popular then.

We kept conversation with trifle topics and as usual, we would notice we had such happy time and sad time over the past years. Maybe I got a little sentimental just after the lovely talks with her.

Coincidentally I found the record of Off Course, WE ARE, after that.  I put it on and the melody coming out was just how my heart faced then.  That was my first recognition about this music group.

Since then, I have scarcely listened to their music.  However, sometimes the tenderly familiar music for my ears flows on from somewhere, I soon notice like ” that’s it”.  Also the pastel colored memory of my past time begins to play on my mind screen inside with the one and only music of the time.

For many of our generation, Off Course could be such a love story like music group. They made hits and they made times, and they lived with us…maybe still lives on.

The leader of Off Course, also the lead singer and main composer of this group, Kazumasa Oda, later left the group and kept solo career.  His sucess was propably promised then, as supposed by many, he is an icon of Japanese POP music still and forgood.

If my memory was right, the name, Off Course, was decided because the 2 main members, Kazumasa Oda and Yasuhiro Suzuki, dropped out the promised routes of top notch college graduates for music business tryout.  For them, Off Course means they stay OFF the standard COURSE.

But in the end, they went ON COURSE of honor with huge success in music business.