B'z

B'z (bees) is a popular and influential hard rock band comprising Tak Matsumoto (guitar) and Koshi Inaba (vocals) and was formed in 1988. Matsumoto writes all the music and Inaba the lyrics.

There are two popular explanations for the band’s name: One is that the band almost went with A'z, to illustrate their everything-from-A-to-Z variety and have them be first on alphabetical lists. Because A'z sounded like AIDS, they decided to use the next letter. The other recently explanation is that B'z is short for the Beatles and Led Zeppelin, two of their influences. Inaba's distinctive vocal style and Matsumoto's fiery guitar work combine to produce a sound that resembles the bijuaru kei bands that were popular in the 90s. B'z sing only in Japanese, which makes it difficult for them to achieve success overseas.

Matsumoto was a backing guitarist for the TM Network after graduating high school in Osaka in the 1980s. He released a couple of solo albums and wanted to set up his own band but needed a vocalist. After hearing a tape of Inaba's singing, Matsumoto contacted him. After spending some time jamming through a couple of Beatles songs in a studio, they decided to team up.

Inaba, originally from Okayama, is a qualified math teacher and graduated from Yokohama National University. Before becoming a musician, he worked as a home tutor and in a sandwich shop. He has released several solo albums and written songs for other artists.

B'z made their record debut with Dakara Sono Te wo Hanashite. That was followed by Bad Communication, from the mini album of the same name, the next year.

In 1994, they played their first big outdoor concerts, performing before 100,000 fans over two days. In 1998, B'z The Best - Pleasure and B'z The Best - Treasure, both sold over 5 million copies. In 2003, they reissued ten singles on CD at once and completely took over the Oricon chart.

Since their fifth single, Taiyou no Komachi Angel, all of the band’s singles have gone straight in at number one in the Oricon charts. B'z is the best-selling Japanese musical act of all time with 75,000,000 records sold.

Contents 1 Trivia 2 Members 3 Discography 4 External Links

Trivia

• Love Phantom was used as the closing credits theme song for the X-Files in Japan.

• In 2003, B'z were ranked the highest paid performers in Japan.

• Devil was produced for the 2002 FIFA World Cup Korea/Japan.

• Atsuki Kodou no Hate appears in the arcade drumming game Taiko no Tatsujin 4, and recently in the Nintendo DS rhythm game Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan.

• Bad Communication appears in the Game Boy Color rhythm game beatmania GB GotchaMIX2.

• Several B'z songs were used in the Detective Conan anime series.

• In the manga Shaman King by Hiroyuki Takei, the rock n' roll Buddhist shaman pair "BoZ" is loosely based on B'z.

Members

• Vocals: Inaba Koshi
• Guitar: Matsumoto Takahiro

Discography

Singles

• Dakara Sono Te wo Hanashite (1998)
• [Kimi no Naka de Odoritai] (1989)
• Lady-Go-Round (1990)
• Be There (1990)
• Komachi Angel [Taiyou no Komachi Angel] (1990)
• Easy Come, Easy Go! (1990)
• Good Night... (1990)
• Lady Navigation (1991)
• Alone (1991)
• Blowin' (1992)
• Zero (1992)
• Ai no Mama ni, Wagamama ni Boku ha Kimidake wo Kizu Tsukenai (1993)
• Hadashi no Megami (1993)
• Don't Leave Me (1994)
• Motel (1994)
• Negai (1995)
• love me, I love you (1995)
• Love Phantom (1995)
• Invisible One~ [MIENAICHIKARA ~INVISIBLE ONE~ (1996)
• Real Thing Shakes (1996)
• Fireball (1997)
• Calling (1997)
• Liar! Liar! (1997)
• Samayoeru Aoi Dangan (1998)
• Home (1998)
• chop [Girigiri chop] (1999)
• Konya Tsuki no Mieru Oka ni (2000)
• May (2000)
• Juice (2000)
• Ring (2000)
• ultra soul (2001)
• Gold (2001)
• Atsuki Kodou no Hate (2002)
• It's Showtime!! (2003)
• Energy [Yasei no ENERGY] (2003)
• Banzai (2004)
• Arigato (2004)
• Ai no BAKUDAN (2005)
• Ocean (2005)
• Shoudou (2006)
• Yuruginai Mono Hitotsu (2006)
• Splash! (2006)

Albums

• B'z (1988)
• Off the Lock (1989)
• Bad Communication (1989)
• Break Through (1990)
• Wicked Beat (1990)
• Risky (1990)
• In the Life (1991)
• Mars (1991)
• Run (1992)
• Friends (1991)
• The 7th Blues (1994)
• Loose (1995)
• Friends II (1996)
• Survive (1997)
• B'z The Best "Pleasure" (1998)
• B'z The Best "Tleasure" (1998)
• Brotherhood (1999)
• B'z The "Mixture" (2000)
• Eleven (2000)
• Green (2002)
• Devil (2002)
• The Ballads ~Love & B'z~ (2002)
• Big Machine (2003)
• The Circle (2005)
• B'z The Best "Pleasure II" (2005)
• Monster (2006)

External Links

• Official Website (English)
• Fansite (English)