Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...
ese
band
Band or BAND may refer to:
Places
*Bánd, a village in Hungary
*Band, Iran, a village in Urmia County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran
* Band, Mureș, a commune in Romania
*Band-e Majid Khan, a village in Bukan County, West Azerbaijan Province, I ...
, formed in 1998 and made its major label debut in 2001. The name is a
portmanteau
A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of words
History
In May 1998, Kobuchi and Kuroda met each other in
Sakai
is a city located in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. It has been one of the largest and most important seaports of Japan since the medieval era. Sakai is known for its keyhole-shaped burial mounds, or kofun, which date from the fifth century and inclu ...
near
Osaka
is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of ...
. Kobuchi was a salesman who held street concerts every Saturday for relaxation and Kuroda was a physical education teacher and a street musician. In September the same year, Kobuchi offered Kuroda a song and seeing that Kuroda was not a skilled guitar player, Kobuchi became the guitar player of the group. Thus, ''Kobukuro'' was formed.
Kobukuro received moderately successful ratings for their first three indie albums—''Saturday 8:PM'' (July 1999), ''ANSWER'' (December 2000) and ''Root of My Mind'' (March 2001). Kobukuro signed with
Warner Music Japan
Warner Music Group's labels include the following.
Flagship labels
*Atlantic Records
*Elektra Records
*Parlophone Records
*Warner Records
Atlantic Records Group
* 1st & 15th Entertainment
* Nipsey Hussle, All Money In
* Mike Caren, Artist Par ...
in 2001, and made their debut with the hit single, "Yell" which reached number 4 on the
Oricon Charts
, established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan and Western music. It started as, which was founded by Sōkō Koike in Nove ...
.
Kobukuro released the studio album ''Nameless World'' on December 21, 2005. ''Nameless World'' became their first number-one album on the Oricon weekly charts. On September 27, 2006, they released their
greatest hits
A greatest hits album or best-of album is a type of compilation album that collects popular and commercially successful songs by a particular artist or band. While greatest hits albums are typically supported by the artist, they can also be crea ...
album ''All Singles Best'', which topped the Oricon weekly charts for four consecutive weeks.
On March 21, 2007, Kobukuro released the single " Tsubomi." When the song "Tsubomi" was released,
Marty Friedman
Marty Friedman (born December 8, 1962) is an American guitarist, best known for his tenure as the lead guitarist for thrash metal band Megadeth from 1990 to 2000. He is also known for playing alongside Jason Becker in Cacophony from 1986 until ...
pointed out that the song's arrangement was very simple and did away with the influence of the music of the
Western culture
Leonardo da Vinci's ''Vitruvian Man''. Based on the correlations of ideal Body proportions">human proportions with geometry described by the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius in Book III of his treatise ''De architectura''.
image:Plato Pio-Cle ...
. The song "Tsubomi" became their first number-one single on the Oricon weekly charts. "Tsubomi" won the coveted "Grand Prix" awards in December 2007 at the
49th Japan Record Awards
The 49th Annual Japan Record Awards took place at the New National Theatre in Shibuya, Tokyo, on December 30, 2007, starting at 6:30PM JST. The primary ceremonies were televised in Japan on TBS.
Awards winners
*Japan Record Award: Tsubomi
** ...
. The song was included in their 2007 studio album ''
5296
''5296'' is Kobukuro
, a Japanese band, formed in 1998 and made its major label debut in 2001. The name is a portmanteau of the two family names, Kentarō Kobuchi and Shunsuke Kuroda.
Members
*
*
The band's visual appearance is unusual; t ...
'', which also topped the Oricon weekly charts.
On their 2009 album '' Calling'', Kobuchi wrote "Sayonara Hero" as a memorial song for
Kiyoshiro Imawano
, born , was a Japanese rock musician, lyricist, composer, musical producer, and actor from Tokyo, Japan. He was dubbed "Japan's King of Rock". He formed and led the influential rock band RC Succession. He wrote many anti-nuclear songs followin ...
, who had died earlier that year. On March 3, 2010, they released their cover version of "
Layla
"Layla" is a song written by Eric Clapton and Jim Gordon, originally recorded by Derek and the Dominos, as the thirteenth track from their only studio album, ''Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs'' (1970). Its contrasting movements were compose ...
" (used in a Pepsi Nex commercial they starred in) as a digital single of
iTunes Store
The iTunes Store is a digital media store operated by Apple Inc. It opened on April 28, 2003, as a result of Steve Jobs' push to open a digital marketplace for music. As of April 2020, iTunes offered 60 million songs, 2.2 million apps, 25,00 ...
without the release of the CD single.
When the Oricon weekly charts dated May 17, 2010 was released, the sales of ''All Singles Best'' passed 3,000,000 copies on the Oricon charts, becoming the first album to do so in 7 years 10 months since the 2002 achievement of
Southern All Stars
, also known by the abbreviations and SAS, are a Japanese rock band that first formed in 1974.
The band is composed of Keisuke Kuwata (lead vocals and guitars), Yuko Hara (vocals and keyboards), Kazuyuki Sekiguchi (bass), Hiroshi Matsuda (dru ...