| B'z | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Japan |
| Genre(s) | Rock, Pop, Hard rock |
| Years active | 1988–present |
| Label(s) | Vermillion |
| Website | Official website |
| Members | |
| Tak Matsumoto Koshi Inaba |
|
B'z (ビーズ Bīzu?) is a popular and influential Japanese hard rock band comprised of Tak Matsumoto (松本 孝弘 Matsumoto Takahiro?, guitar) and Koshi Inaba (稲葉 浩志 Inaba Kōshi, vocals). As of 2007, they have sold over 75 million albums in Japan alone. They are one of the most successful bands in Japan and one of the best-selling Japanese artist of all time. They were the first artists from Japan, and from Asia as a whole, to have their handprints and signatures put up in the Hollywood's Rock Walk. They were recommended by Steve Vai.[1]
Contents |
History
Early works
Tak Matsumoto, who was a professional guitarist, had been extremely busy with various recording sessions and live performances. On May 21, 1988, Tak released his first solo album, "Thousand Wave". He saw this as a finishing of a chapter as a solo guitarist, and began his search for band members. He met vocalist Koshi Inaba, the two bonded and started a band. At the time, Japan's music scene was loaded with many new bands being created. With all the digital sounds in mainstream music, the only sounds that they felt could not be expressed and replicated were the guitar and the human voice. As a result, they decided to keep it a two-man unit. On September 21 1988, B'z, with their first album, B’z, and single, "Dakara Sono Te o Hanashite (だからその手を離して)", made their debut. At that time, their music was very much a product of its times, with synthesizers and samplers sharing equal time with Tak's guitar, producing an experimental sound, very different from their well-known Hard Rock sound. Instead of immediately performing live after a debut, as many Japanese bands were doing, B'z chose to have a clear vision of how they wanted to perform and decided to wait until they had enough material to play for at least 90 minutes. So, they concentrated on recording and to raise the quality of their music. Their efforts resulted in a second album, Off the Lock, released on May 21, 1989. With this second album came their first series of live performances known better to their fans as "Live-Gym". Live-Gym #00 started in Nagoya, and then continued to Osaka, and finished in Tokyo. Tickers were sold out on the day they became available, which is surprising, considering that these were the first shows ever of this new band. On October 21, their first mini album, Bad Communication was released. This title track was a blend of rock and dance music, and still is a classic in their Live-Gyms. Their first nationwide tour, B'z Live-Gym #001, finished with 16 shows around the country. On February 21, 1990, the third album Break Through was released. At the same time, they started a tour with 22 shows nationwide. Their single Taiyō no Komachi Angel, was released on June 13 and went No. 1 on the national chart Oricon. Since this single, each of their singles has debuted at #1 on the Oricon charts. Wicked Beat, their second mini album was then released on June 21. Without much rest, they started recording their 4th album, Risky, which was released on November 7, and went platinum. The "Risky" tour, totaling 49 performances, also started this month. Their first Video, Film Risky, was recorded in New York and London within 4 weeks, and was released on December 16. With a barrage of releases, 1990 came to be the busiest year for B'z.
Going Hard Rock
The third mini album, Mars was released on May 29, 1991. The fifth album, In the Life, was released on November 27. With this album, B'z veered away from their advanced-digitally sounds and moved more towards rock. Their first live video, Just Another Life was out on December 11 The B'z tour, "In the Life '91-'92", with 66 performances, started in the same month and lasted into the next year. The total number of "Live-Gym" they did during this year exceeded 100. 1991 was a year with many shows and a year of displaying their new musical direction. In the summer of 1992, the "Pleasure '92-Time" tour took place with 12 performances in 3 major cities. The arena-class tour had amazing featured such as a huge lighting set, called the "Starfish", and has seats that were able to rotate 360 degrees. October 28 marks the release of their sixth album, Run, and proved to be more hard rock oriented than the previous. On December 9, they released a slightly different mini album titled Friends. Different from Run, its concept is somewhat similar to that of a movie soundtrack.
Pause for some Blues
In the early 1993, the "Run" tour included 49 performances in 21 locations. In this year, they held an open-air concert for the first time, called Jap the Ripper. This show took place in Bentenjima]] of Hamamatsu-city, Shizuoka on July 31 and August 1. This successful event gathered 50 thousand people each day, totaling 100,000 people. Following this, B'z concentrated on recording once again, this time, producing a two-disc seventh album, The 7th Blues. The album title not only came from it being their seventh album, but also after the seventh chord, that is frequently used in Blues. Becoming much more "bluesier" and soulful, this album evidently shows their lean towards Blues, the roots of rock music. On February 9, 1994 the "B'z Live-Gym '94 - The 9th Blues" tour started. This tour is the longest and biggest they've ever experienced thus far. They did 87 performances in this year. During this long tour, the album, The 7th Blues, was released on March 2. The tour finished in Sapporo's Tsukisamu Green Dome on December 24.
Back to J-Pop
They concentrated on recording in the first half of 1995 and after creating many demos, they held the Pleasure '95 "Buzz" stadium tour with 12 shows in 7 cities. Their eighth album, Loose, was released on November 22. Loose was concentrated on the original concept of a two-man band. While combining rock with pop sounds, this album is well balanced with a variety of sounds. This album sold over 3 million copies, marking it as the best seller for B'z thus far. The B'z Live-Gym '96 "Spirit Loose" tour, started on March 15, 1996 and held 44 performances in 21 locations. The show opened featuring a short B'z action movie, shot in Los Angeles. A short while afterwards, B'z made another mini album, their third, titled Friends II and released it on November 25. This record displayed more of an adult oriented rock. On January 29, 1997, Inaba's first solo album, Magma, was released. He had been recording the album since the previous year, writing all the music and lyrics. This record, which topped the charts, shows another side of him, different from that of Inaba of B'z. In March, the dome tour "Pleasure '97 Fireball", consisted of 9 performances in 5 locations. Tickets for each dome, which have a capacity of about 30 to 50 thousand people each, were all sold out, these dome shows, which included Tokyo (3 nights), Nagoya, Osaka, Fukuoka, and Maebashi, all were very successful. On November 19, their ninth full album, and Survive seemed to show, yet again, another new direction in sound and style. B'z played showcases in concert halls in Akita, Hakodate, Kōchi, Shiga, and Nagasaki, before plunging into the main tour. "B'z Live-Gym '98 Survive" started on January 24 1998. On May 20, B'z released their first official compilation album, B'z The Best "Pleasure", which also marks their 10th year since debuting. Every song included in this album was a huge hit, and was highly acclaimed and its first shipment had sold more copies than any other Japanese artist in history. On June 6, the "Survive" tour had successfully ended.
Time for a break
In the mid 1998, B'z entered a period of both rest and recording. Both Tak and Koshi had wanted to start on their own solo projects since the "Survive" tour, and finally got a chance to begin. During this period, on September 20, their second best-of album, B'z The Best "Treasure" was released. After a lengthy period, on December 16, Koshi released his first solo maxi single, Toku-made. There was not much activity as a band in the beginning of 1999, but Tak released his first solo maxi single, The Changing on March 25. This was the first time, he had ever sung on a released record. The single entered in at No. 2 its first week on the charts. On April 14, he released the album, Knockin' "T" Around, which contains many other tracks with full vocals and also includes, the Formula-1 '99 theme song, Go Further. The album has both instrumental and vocal tracks. However, even before the release of this album, B'z had already started recording again.
Back to work
B'z were very busy promoting their recent singles and their tenth album Brotherhood, which was released on July 14. In July, another done-class tour began starting in Sapporo. The title of this tour, B'z Live-Gym '99 "Brotherhood" included 14 performances in 7 locations. They did away with extra stage acts and concentrated on their musical performance playing songs from the new album and many hits from the past. On August 28 and 29, they played in the Yokohama International Stadium. B'z concert was the first ever to be held in this stadium and gathered a stunning 140,000 people in just two days. Although the second day at Yokohama experienced heavy rain, the tour ended successfully. Again, B'z started recording in September and continued throughout the rest of the year without rest. On February 23 2000, they released the album B'z The "Mixture", which includes re-mastered tracks of past songs, songs form past singles that were not the featured track, remixes, and a new song. In the middle of May, they started a rehearsal for the summer tour B'z Live-Gym Pleasure 2000 -Juice-, starting a hall class venue show in Toyama, May 30. The big part of the tour was total 18 shows in 10 cities, including a famous Nippon Budokan on June 20 as a start. When releasing Juice, on July 12, They set Japanese record of marking No.1 on the first week, and this No.1 was the 25th in sequence. During the tour, on August 2, awaited sixth video Once Upon a Time in Yokohama ~B'z Live Gym'99 "Brotherhood"~ was released. The year of 2000 was finished with the release of the eleventh album Eleven on December 6. B'z finished their work in 2000 with the appearance on the TV show called Music Station Special and would start the rehearsal for the tour B'z Live-Gym 2001 -Eleven- which kicked off on February 26, in the following year.
B’z in the 21st century
On February 26, 2001, B'z Live-Gym 2001 -Eleven- kicked off at Ehime Kenmin Bunka Kaikan. Most of the shows of that tour were exclusive for the fan club members to get a ticket. After the Okinawa show on June 27 and 28, B'z departed abroad. They officially released their CDs in Taiwan and Hong Kong and having Live-Gym this year, they made a promotion trip for the first time there. They were greatly welcomed with local fan and all the media which shows their high expectation towards the Live-Gym in August. B'z Live-Gym 2001 -Eleven- had 46 shows in 19 locations and 600,000 audiences all together. After the Eleven tour, B'z was preparing for the first Asia tour which includes "B'z Live-Gym in Taipei 2001" on August 25, 26 and "B'z Live-Gym in Hong Kong 2001". The first B'z Asia tour was very successful. B'z finished their activity as B'z in 2001 by August. Each of them spent rest of the year concentrating on their own solo production. While B'z started recording as soon as the year 2002 starts, Tak finished his solo albums. On February 27, two solo albums are released at the same time, Dragon from the West which consists of hard rock tunes, and Hana which includes more melodic and Asia orientated tunes. B'z finished their recording in the middle of May, and started the rehearsal in Tokyo for the Live-Gym tour soon beginning. As the excitement of the World Cup increasing, B'z performed with Aerosmith on the stage of FIFA World Cup Korea/Japan Official Concert International Day, at Tokyo Stadium on June 27. On July 3, right before the main tour starts, new album Green which is also the name of the tour this year was released. The tour started from Saitama Super Arena on July 8 to the last show at Osaka Dome on September 9, it gathered 700,000 audience all together for 14 shows in 11 cities. Band members were the former Mr. Big bass player, Billy Sheehan and the drum player Shane Gaalaas who has played for many artists' live and recordings. Having these skillful musicians, the sound became more powerful and heavy. On September, after the last show at Osaka, long time longing first US tour at a live house on the west coast took place, San Diego "Canes" on September 22 and Los Angeles "The Palace" on September 24. This US tour "Live-Gym 2002 Rock n' California Roll" was announced and sold only in the US. On October 9, Inaba released his second solo album, Shian, five and half years after his first solo album. On November 27, a live video A Beautiful Reel. B'z Live-Gym 2002 Green ~Go★Fight★Win~, which packaged everything that happened at the Green tour, was released. This title was not only about the Green tour but also it has the second disc including the tour "Live-Gym 2002 Rock n' California Roll". On December 11, their first ballad compilation album The Ballads ~Love & B'z~ was released. The year 2003 was their 15th anniversary. They started recording from the beginning of the year, and went to US in February for additional recording. Apart from B'z, Inaba released his solo single, KI, on June 11. Along with these continuous releases, the tour B'z Live-Gym The Final Pleasure "It's Showtime!!" started in July. The tour "Pleasure" series started since '91 would end this year. The tour kicked off July 3 at Hakodate Shimin Kaikan and finished at Nagisa-en on September 21 which is the day of their debut, 23 shows all together. It has been 10 years since B'z had shows at Nagisa-en in '93, B'z Live-Gym Pleasure '93 "Jap the Ripper", and it gathered 100,000 audience for two days. Even though the shows were hit by typhoon and it rained very hard, they were very successful. After the Nagisa-en, they flew to US. The tour B'z Live-Gym 2003 Banzai in North America, 7 shows including Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Vancouver took place and got a good reception. Their thirteenth album, Big Machine, was released on September 17. As they came back to Japan, B'z started their third tour in 2003, B'z Live-Gym 2003 Big Machine. It was a dome tour in 6 locations, from Saitama Super Arena to Tokyo Dome in December. During the tour, Tak announced his solo project. As the start, he worked with the late Izumi Sakai from Zard for the song "Ihoujin", and he worked with Mai Kuraki for the song "Imitation Gold". Then the compilation cover album The Hit Parade with various vocalist was released on November 26.
Dedication to solo projects
B'z started recording as soon as 2004 started. On February 25, a DVD, Typhoon No.15 ~B'z Live-Gym The Final Pleasure "It's Showtime!!" in Nagisaen~ in Nagisa-en, was released. For the rest of the year, they worked mainly on their solo projects. Soon after finishing each solo tour, they started to record together again.
Back to work
On April 6, 2005, B'z released their fourteenth album The Circle. For this album recording, they were particularly worried about its live sound. With this album, B'z started the tour B'z Live-Gym 2005 "Circle of Rock" that ran from April to September, 27 shows in 41 locations. House of Strings label, which Tak established an year before, released the second album, Theatre of Strings, on October 19. On November 30, B'z The Best "Pleasure II", the third compilation album, was released. The sales of B'z The Best "Pleasure II" reached one million by the end of 2005. On June 28, 2006, their fifteenth original full album Monster was released. Most of the recording took place in Los Angeles. B'z kicked off the tour B'z Live-Gym 2006 "Monster's Garage" from Amami Bunka Center on July 2. There were 17 shows in all, including 5 big domes in 11 locations and 450,000 audience members all together.
Induction into Hollywood's Rock Walk
On November 19, 2007, B'z was inducted into Hollywood's Rock Walk as the first Asian inductee in Sunset Boulevard, California, US. In the end of 2007, more precisely on December 5, B’z has released their sixteenth album, Action.
Origin of the name "B'z"
The origin of the name is a subject of debate among fans, though two explanations have come to light via fan sites, interviews with B'z, and fan discussion. One story says that the band almost went with A'z. This served two purposes: to illustrate their everything-from-A-to-Z variety and to have them be first on alphabetical lists. But because A'z sounded like AIDS, the group decided to use the letter next to A, which is B. During their appearance on a Japanese music program, they were asked why they didn't choose A'z. Koshi Inaba answered, "The pronunciation is not good," supporting this explanation. The other recently revealed explanation is that B'z is short for The Beatles and Led Zeppelin, two of their influences.
Discography
Miscellanea
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Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones. |
Live-Gym (concert tours)
- Live-Gym #00 (1989)
- Live-Gym #001 "Off the Lock" (1989)
- Live-Gym "Bad Club-Gym" (1989)
- Live-Gym "Break Through" (1990)
- Live-Gym '90~'91 "Risky"
- Live-Gym "Pleasure '91"
- Live-Gym '91~'92 "In the Life"
- Live-Gym Pleasure '92 "Time"
- Live-Gym '93 "Run"
- Live-Gym Pleasure '93 "Jap the Ripper"
- Live-Gym '94 "The 9th Blues" Part 1
- Live-Gym '94 "The 9th Blues" Part 2
- Live-Gym Pleasure '95 "Buzz!!"
- Live-Gym '96 "Spirit Loose"
- Live-Gym Pleasure '97 "Fireball"
- Live-Gym '98 "Survive"
- Live-Gym '99 "Brotherhood"
- Live-Gym Pleasure 2000 "Juice"
- Live-Gym 2001 "Eleven"
- Live-Gym in Taipei 2001 / Live-Gym in Hong Kong 2001
- Live-Gym 2002 "Green ~Go★Fight★Win~"
- Live-Gym 2002 "Rock n' California Roll"
- September 22 - Canes Bar & Grill: California
- September 24 - The Palace: California
- Live-Gym 2003 The Final Pleasure "It's Showtime!!"
- Live-Gym 2003 Banzai in North America
- October 12 - House of Blues: Las Vegas, Nevada
- October 14 - House of Blues: Los Angeles, California
- October 15 - House of Blues: Los Angeles, California
- October 18 - The Fillmore: San Francisco, California
- October 19 - The Fillmore: San Francisco, California
- October 21 - Showbox: Seattle, Washington
- October 23 - Commodore Ballroom: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
- Live-Gym 2003 "Big Machine"
- Live-Gym 2005 "Circle of Rock"
- Live-Gym 2006 "Monster's Garage"
- B'z Showcase 2007
- The showcase 2007 is an unofficial tour they made this year. They visited a few cities (3 to 5) and played to small audiences. A rumor says that this tour was for a practice for the next Live-Gym tour in 2007 or 2008. They played a lot of their old songs. Many of them were rarely played live including their new English song, that was released with Burnout Dominator's soundtrack, "Friction".
Covers
- Priscilla Chan has covered a Cantonese version of "Native Dance" called "放鬆三分鐘".
- For her second major label single, Aya Kamiki has covered "ピエロ" [Pierrot], the 2nd Beat to "ゆるぎないものひとつ" [Yuruginai Mono Hitotsu].
- A cover of 熱き鼓動の果て [Atsuki Kodou no Hate] appeared as a stage theme in the Nintendo DS rhythm game Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan. The performance is credited to Tetsushi Kimura.
Featured songs
- The first track in Matsumoto's "The Hit Parade" solo album, titled Kenji Sawada's 1977 song "Katte ni Shiyagare" (勝手にしやがれ?), features Inaba as the vocalist.
- During the height of The X-Files' popularity in Japan, the B'z single "Love Phantom" was used as the closing credits theme song.
- Their song "Devil", an English cover of their song "Tokyo Devil", was produced for the 2002 FIFA World Cup Korea/Japan.
- The first track in Matsumoto's "The Hit Parade" solo album, titled Kenji Sawada's 1977 song "Katte ni Shiyagare" (勝手にしやがれ?), features Inaba as the vocalist.
- Their song "Atsuki Kodō no Hate" appears in the arcade drumming game Taiko no Tatsujin 4, and recently in the Nintendo DS rhythm game Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan.
- Their song "Bad Communication" appears in the Game Boy Color rhythm game beatmania GB GotchaMIX2.
- Their song "Konya Tsuki no Mieru Oka ni" was used in the 2000 TV drama Beautiful Life.
- Their song "Liar! Liar!" appears in the arcade and PlayStation 2 rhythm game GitaDora! GuitarFreaks 4th Mix & DrumMania 3rd Mix.
- Their song "ultra soul" appears in the arcade drumming game Taiko no Tatsujin 2.
- Their English song "Friction" will be featured on the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable game Burnout Dominator. This will mark their debut on an official United States property.
- Several B'z songs were used in the Detective Conan anime series.
- "Giri Giri Chop" (TV series OP from Ep. 143-167)
- "Shoudou" (TV series OP from Ep. 425-437)
- "One" (Movie #3 ED)
- "Everlasting" (Movie #6 ED)
- "Yuruginaimono Hitotsu" (Movie #10 ED)
- "Roots" by B'z was also used as the ending theme to the four-part Black Jack OVA series to promote the then newest TV series. Tak Matsumoto also did a guitar-lead instrumental as the opening.
- "Lonely Stars" by B'z was used in the ending credits in the movie, The Legend of Raoh II: Fierce Fighting Arc ("Raō Den II Gekitō no Shō" (ラオウ伝Ⅱ 激闘の章?)) which is part of the Fist of the North Star anime series.
Trivia
- In the manga Shaman King by Hiroyuki Takei, the rock n' roll Buddhist shaman pair "BoZ" is loosely based on B'z. Similarities include the name and the sunglasses.
See also
External links
References
- ^ Duo B'z enters L.A. Rockwalk The Japan Times (English)
Official Websites
- B'z Official Website English Version of Official Website
Fan Websites
- B'z no bise Lyrics Translations in French and News
- B'z Fanatics First American B'z Website (now defunct)
- B'z Online Music Site by Keen Very comprehensive & very complete English language fansite
- B'z Net Party Unofficial Fan Forum (English, for everyone to understand)
- B'z Fansubs Karaoked Music Videos, News, and IRC chat.
