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B'z
Inaba Koshi (Osaka, 1964- )
Matsumoto Tak (Osaka, 1961- )
The two-man rock band B'z (pronounced beez) is made up of vocalist
Inaba Koshi (photo, right) and guitarist Matsumoto Tak (left).
Formed in September 1988, the band has released over 40 singles
and 20 albums, all of which have gone straight to the No.1 position
in the Oricon charts, a remarkable feat. B'z are also easily the
best selling band in Japan in terms of both singles and albums. When
chart ranking company Oricon celebrated its 40th year in the business in 2006,
it ranked the biggest sellers of the past four decades. Top of the male
rankings were B'z, who at that point had sold a staggering 41,450,000
albums and 33,210,000 singles. They also had the most million-selling
singles (15) and albums (19).
Matsumoto lists a stint at fast food restaurant chain Mos Burger
on his resume. But feeling a life flipping burgers wasn't for
him, he became a backing guitarist for the successful band TM Network
(which included soon-to-be super producer Komuro Tetsuya)
after graduating high school in Osaka in the 1980's. He released
a couple of solo albums and was looking to set up his own band
but was in need of a vocalist. Having come across a tape of Inaba's
singing, which won him a local song contest, Matsumoto contacted
the unknown singer. After jamming their way through a couple of
Beatles songs in a studio, the pair decided to team up.
Both artists were interested in straightforward western-style
pop and rock music: Matsumoto's first visit to a live concert
was Deep Purple, while Inaba's live "debut" was when he saw The
Police. Together they started off producing the kind of pop music
that was prevalent at the time but later moved towards a harder
rock style. Matsumoto writes all the music while Inaba takes care
of all the lyrics. Inaba, originally from Okayama prefecture,
is qualified as a math teacher, having graduated from Yokohama
National University. Before finding success as a musician, he
worked as a home tutor and in a sandwich shop. Following the formation
of B'z, he has released several solo albums and written songs
for other artists.
Whatever their success in terms of sales, B'z started to hit the
real big time in 1994. They played their first big outdoor concerts,
performing before 100,000 fans over two days. In 1998, the band
took the Japanese music business by storm when they released
two separate collection albums, B'z The Best - Pleasure and
B'z The Best - Treasure, both of which sold over 5 million copies.
In 2003, they reissued 10 singles on CD at once and completely took
over the Oricon Top 10 chart.
Inaba's distinctive vocal style and Matsumoto's fiery guitar work
make for a brand of rock that resembles the "visual"
(bijuaru kei) bands that were particularly popular in the '90s.
But B'z have a more down to earth rock-an-roll style and, were
it not for the fact that they sing only in Japanese, could possibly
make it in the west. Both claim to have been good at English in
school but like many successful artists in Japan, the leap to
success abroad is very daunting. A wider western audience had
a chance to sample the band's music at the 2001 World Swimming
Championships in Fukuoka, when the lively single Gold was the
the theme song and played almost non-stop.
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