TM Network is a Japanese rock/new wave/pop musical band, made up by

Tetsuya Komuro is a Japanese musician, songwriter and record producer. He is recognized as the most successful producer in Japanese music history and introduced contemporary electronic dance music to the Japanese mainstream. He was also a former owner of the ...

(keyboardist), Takashi Utsunomiya (vocalist) and Naoto Kine (guitarist). They became popular in Japan as the "futuristic pop songs with synthesizer" after the release of their 1987 single "Get Wild" Tetsuya Komuro became a famous producer of dance-oriented J-pop singers in 1990s, and as such they are considered a prototype of the

J-pop J-pop ( ja, ジェイポップ, ''jeipoppu''; often stylized as J-POP; an abbreviated form of "Japanese popular music"), natively also known simply as , is the name for a form of popular music that entered the musical mainstream of Japan in the ...

genre. However, their 2000 album ''Major Turn-Round'' was influenced by

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...

History

Originally called Speedway during their school days, the group would reform in 1983 with the name TM Network. The name is commonly thought to stand for "Time Machine Network", supported by a statement by

on a 1984 appearance on the show ''LiveG''. However, on September 6, 2006, an episode of ''Trivia no Izumi'' claimed that TM actually stands for Tama, the district from Tokyo they all came from. On August 22, 1983, TM Network took part in the "Fresh Sounds Contest" (フレッシュサウンズコンテスト) which was sponsored by

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 Atla ...

. They performed the song "1974", and the event was aired on TBS. This was their first step towards a record deal. They made their record debut with single "Kin'yōbi no Lion (Take It to the Lucky)" ( "Friday's lion") and album ''Rainbow Rainbow'' on April 21, 1984. They first became famous in

Hokkaido is Japan, Japan's Japanese archipelago, second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost Prefectures of Japan, prefecture, making up its own List of regions of Japan, region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; th ...

. They later found success with the songs "Self Control", "Get Wild", " Beyond the Time", and others, becoming one of the most popular rock bands in Japan. In particular, in the

anime is hand-drawn and computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japanese, (a term derived from a shortening of ...

world, "Get Wild", used as the first ending song of ''

City Hunter is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Tsukasa Hojo. It was serialized in ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from 1985 to 1991 and collected into 35 ''tankōbon'' volumes by its publisher Shueisha. The manga was adapted in ...

'', sold a combined 525,010 single in Japan. "Get Wild" has received a number of covers by many J-pop bands and singers, as well as

Vocaloid is a singing voice synthesizer software product. Its signal processing part was developed through a joint research project led by Kenmochi Hideki at the Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, Spain, in 2000 and was not originally intended to b ...

s. "Beyond the Time" was used as the ending theme the 1988 anime film '' Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack''. Several musicians have supported them at their live shows as backing bands such as

Tak Matsumoto is a Japanese musician, songwriter and record producer. He is best known as the guitarist and main composer of the rock duo B'z, the best-selling music act in their native Japan. He also has a successful solo career where, in addition to winn ...

(

B'z are a Japanese rock duo, consisting of guitarist, composer and producer Takahiro "Tak" Matsumoto and vocalist and lyricist Koshi Inaba, 佐伯明『B'z ウルトラクロニクル』ソニー・マガジンズ、2003年。新型光�B'zはなぜ ...

), Daisuke Asakura (

Access Access may refer to: Companies and organizations * ACCESS (Australia), an Australian youth network * Access (credit card), a former credit card in the United Kingdom * Access Co., a Japanese software company * Access Healthcare, an Indian BPO ...

), and more. They changed their name to TMN in 1990, and broke up in 1994. They reunited under their original name in 1999 and signed with an independent label, Rojam Entertainment, which released the band's next two albums, ''Major Turn-Round'' and ''SPEEDWAY''. They then signed with their current label,

avex Entertainment is a Japanese entertainment conglomerate led by founder Max Matsuura and headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1988, the company manages J-pop talents like Ayumi Hamasaki and internet sensation PikoTaro. It has also shifted into other busi ...

in 2000, but Komuro's withdrawal from public appearances in 2018 following revelations of infidelity to his wife,

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 glo ...

singer Keiko Yamada, once again put an end to the group's activities. In 2021, the group reunited once more and began performing a series of virtual concerts titled ''How Do You Crash It?'' The first concert was streamed on October 9, 2021, the second will air on December 11, and the third in February the following year. In the summer of 2022,

avex is a Japanese entertainment conglomerate led by founder Max Matsuura and headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1988, the company manages J-pop talents like Ayumi Hamasaki and internet sensation PikoTaro. It has also shifted into other bu ...

released live CDs of all three concerts and a compilation Blu-Ray. Additionally, Sony Music Japan announced that their TM Network catalog would become available on all music download services worldwide. They collaborated with musicians such as Julio Iglesias Jr., Sheila E., Leehom Wang for "Happiness×3 Loneliness×3".

Members

(小室哲哉 ''Komuro Tetsuya'', born November 27, 1958 in

Fuchū, Tokyo 260px, Fuchū City Hall is a city located in western Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. Fuchū serves as a regional commercial center and a commuter town for workers in central Tokyo. The city hosts large scale manufacturing facilities for Toshiba, NE ...

) Keyboard, composition,

arrangement In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestr ...

lyrics Lyrics are words that make up a song, usually consisting of verses and choruses. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist. The words to an extended musical composition such as an opera are, however, usually known as a "libretto" and their writer ...

, producer, chorus. * Takashi Utsunomiya ( 宇都宮隆 ''Utsunomiya Takashi'', born October 25, 1957) Main vocals, chorus. : He is acting solo singer. And also, as an actor, performed in the musical ''

Rent Rent may refer to: Economics *Renting, an agreement where a payment is made for the temporary use of a good, service or property *Economic rent, any payment in excess of the cost of production *Rent-seeking, attempting to increase one's share of e ...

'' in Japan. * Naoto Kine ( 木根尚登 ''Kine Naoto'', born September 26, 1957) Guitar, composition, piano, harmonica, chorus. : He is acting solo singer-songwriter. And also, as an author, written many novels and other books.

Discography

Video game

* '' TM Network: Live in Power Bowl'', released in 1989 for the Famicom

References

External links

* at Avex * at Sony Music * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tm Network Avex Group artists Japanese musical trios Japanese pop music groups Japanese progressive rock groups Japanese rock music groups Musical groups disestablished in 1994 Musical groups disestablished in 2018 Musical groups established in 1983 Musical groups from Tokyo Musical groups reestablished in 1999 Musical groups reestablished in 2021 Sony Music Entertainment Japan artists Tetsuya Komuro