''Atomic Heart'' is the fourth studio album by Japanese

rock band A rock band or pop band is a small musical ensemble that performs rock music, pop music, or a related genre. A four-piece band is the most common configuration in rock and pop music. In the early years, the configuration was typically two guita ...

Mr. Children , commonly referred to by their contracted nickname , are a Japanese pop rock band formed in 1989. Consisting of Kazutoshi Sakurai, Kenichi Tahara, Keisuke Nakagawa, and Hideya Suzuki, they made their major label debut in 1992. They are one of t ...

, released in September 1994. The album features two successful

lead single A lead single (also known as a debut single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date. Release s ...

s " Cross Road" and "

Innocent World "Innocent World" is the fifth single released by Mr. Children on June 1, 1994. Overview "Innocent World" was Mr. Children's first No. 1 single on the Oricon Japanese charts, managing to sell 1,935,830 copies during its run on the chart and was th ...

Background

In November 1993, the band released their fourth single "Cross Road". It provided the band with their first top-10 hit (peaked at #6) on the Japanese Oricon singles chart, and remained on the chart for about one year. Success of a single brought the band into prominence by 1994. Their follow-up single "Innocent World", which was featured in the TV advertisement for

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlanta ...

's sports drink Aquarius, came out in June 1994 and immediately went straight to the top on the chart. It stayed 2 weeks at #1 and remained the chart for 41 weeks, selling over 1.9 million copies and becoming that year's top-selling single in Japan. Popularity of the band had soared before the album was released.

Reception

Stimulated by those smash hit singles, ''Atomic Heart'' debuted at #1 on the Japanese albums chart with first-week sales of over 852,000 copies. On the 1994 year-end charts published by the Oricon, it is ranked at the third best-selling album of that year with sales of 1.7 million copies. It continuously sold well in the following year, selling further 1.5 million units and reaching number-six on that year's top-selling list. The album eventually spent 96 weeks on the Oricon top-100, with cumulative sales of over 3.4 million copies during its chart run. In November 1995, the album was certified triple million by the Recording Industry Association of Japan, for shipments of over 3 million units. ''Atomic Heart'' was once the top-selling album in Japan, until outsold by

Globe A globe is a spherical model of Earth, of some other celestial body, or of the celestial sphere. Globes serve purposes similar to maps, but unlike maps, they do not distort the surface that they portray except to scale it down. A model globe ...

's eponymous first album in 1996. Along with its lead single "Innocent World", ''Atomic Heart'' won the 36th

Japan Record Award is a major music awards show, held annually in Japan that recognizes outstanding achievements in the Japan Composer's Association. Until 2005, the show aired on New Year's Eve, but has since aired every December 30 on TBS Japan at 6:30 P.M JST a ...

s on New Year's Eve of 1994. The artist, who had flown to Australia for preparation of their forthcoming concert tour, did not attend the ceremony. There was a convention that the award's winners had been supposed to attend the ceremony absolutely, therefore their absence caused little controversy.

Track listing

Personnel

Kazutoshi Sakurai is a Japanese musician. He composes and writes almost all of the songs for his band Mr. Children, in addition to writing lyrics and singing for his solo project group Bank Band. In 2006, Sakurai ranked No. 8 in HMV's "Top 30 Best Japanese Singe ...

–

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

Kenichi Tahara is a Japanese musician. He plays lead guitar in the band Mr. Children. Early life He was born in Fukuoka, and moved to Nakano, Tokyo. He attended Komae Daini Junior High School in Tokyo, where he met the other future band members Keisuke Nakagaw ...

– guitar *

Keisuke Nakagawa is a Japanese musician. He plays bass guitar in the band Mr. Children. Early life He attended Komae Daini Junior High School in Tokyo, where he met the other future band members Kenichi Tahara is a Japanese musician. He plays lead guitar in t ...

– bass *

Hideya Suzuki , commonly referred to by their contracted nickname , are a Japanese pop rock band formed in 1989. Consisting of Kazutoshi Sakurai, Kenichi Tahara, Keisuke Nakagawa, and Hideya Suzuki, they made their major label debut in 1992. They are one of t ...

–

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

* Takuo Yamamoto -

alto The musical term alto, meaning "high" in Italian (Latin: ''altus''), historically refers to the contrapuntal part higher than the tenor and its associated vocal range. In 4-part voice leading alto is the second-highest part, sung in choruses by ...

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880&n ...

tenor sax The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while th ...

* Toshio Araki -

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

flugelhorn The flugelhorn (), also spelled fluegelhorn, flugel horn, or flügelhorn, is a brass instrument that resembles the trumpet and cornet but has a wider, more conical bore. Like trumpets and cornets, most flugelhorns are pitched in B, though some ...

* Hirokazu Ogura - bouzouki,

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gui ...

* Tomoko -

chorus Chorus may refer to: Music * Chorus (song) or refrain, line or lines that are repeated in music or in verse * Chorus effect, the perception of similar sounds from multiple sources as a single, richer sound * Chorus form, song in which all verse ...

Production

Production credits for album:"Atomic Heart" album booklet, Toy's Factory (1994) * Producer - Takeshi Kobayashi * Arrangement - Mr. Children and Takeshi Kobyashi * Executive producer - Takamitsu Ide, Akira Yasukawa * Co-producer - Hiroshi Hiranuma * Recording - Hiroshi Hiranuma * Mixing - Hiroshi Hiranuma * A&R - Koichi Inaba * Director - Katsumi Shinohara * Computer programming - Rentaro Takayasu, Yoshinori Kadoya, and Ken Matsumoto * Assistant engineering - Yoshiki Fukushima, Shigeki Kashii, Kezo Awano, Naoaki Nemoto, and Takeshi Okano * Recorded at - Tokyufun, Tokyo Hilton Hotel, Oorong-soh, Sound Village Studio, Victor Yamanakako Studio, Free Studio Tsukiji, and Baybridge Studio * Mixed at - Tokyufun, Free Stuio Tsukiji * Mastering - Sterling Studio NY * Mastered by - George Marino * U.S production supervision - Ami Matsumura * Public Relations - Masayuki Nakagawa * Promotion staff - Tomohiro Okada, Tetsuya Yamamura, Michiharu Sato, Junichi Ashikawa * Art Direction - Mitsuo Shindo * Designer - Ryoji Ohya * Photographer - Itaru Hirama * Stylist - Hiroko Umeyama * Hair and make-up - Miyuki Watanabe

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

All-time chart

Certifications

References

{{Authority control 1994 albums Mr. Children albums Albums produced by Takeshi Kobayashi Japanese-language albums