In Japan, music includes a wide array of distinct genres, both traditional and modern. The word for "music" in Japanese is 音楽 (ongaku), combining the kanji 音 on (sound) with the kanji 楽 gaku. Japan is the world's largest market for music on physical media and the second-largest overall music market, with a retail value of US$2.7 billion in 2017.
Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. The label was founded predominantly as a jazz and classical music label in 1953, but later expanded its scope to include a more diverse range of genres, including pop, R&B, rock, and hip hop.
Zebrahead is an American rock band from La Habra, California, formed in 1996. As of 2023, the band has released thirteen studio albums. They are perhaps best known for their 1998 single, "Get Back".
52nd Street is the sixth studio album by American singer-songwriter Billy Joel, released on October 11, 1978 by Columbia Records. Presenting itself as the follow-up to his breakthrough studio album, The Stranger, Joel tried to give the new album a fresh sound, hiring various jazz musicians to differentiate it from his previous studio albums.
Number Girl (ナンバーガール) was a rock band formed in Fukuoka, Japan in August, 1995 by guitarist and vocalist Shutoku Mukai. They first disbanded in 2002 following bassist Kentaro Nakao's departure from the band.
American singer Mariah Carey has released fifteen studio albums, two soundtrack albums, eight compilation albums, four extended plays, and one remix album. Carey is one of the best-selling music artists of all-time, having sold over 220 million records globally. She was presented with the Millennium Award at the 2000 World Music Awards for becoming the best-selling female artist of the millennium. According to the RIAA, she is the highest-certified female artist and tenth overall recording artist with shipments of 74 million albums in the US. She is also ranked as the best-selling female artist of the US Nielsen SoundScan era (1991–present) with album sales of 55.5 million.
Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) Inc., often abbreviated as SMEJ or simply SME, and also known as Sony Music Japan for short, is a Japanese music arm for Sony. Founded in 1968 as CBS/Sony, SMEJ is directly owned by Sony Group Corporation and is operating independently from the United States-based Sony Music Entertainment due to its strength in the Japanese music industry. Its subsidiaries include the Japanese animation production enterprise, Aniplex, which was established in September 1995 as a joint-venture between Sony Music Entertainment Japan and Sony Pictures Entertainment Japan, but which in 2001 became a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment Japan. It was prominent in the early to mid '90s producing and licensing music for animated series such as Roujin Z from acclaimed Japanese comic artist Katsuhiro Otomo and Capcom's Street Fighter animated series.
"Original Prankster" is a song by American rock band the Offspring. It is featured as the third track from their sixth studio album, Conspiracy of One, and was released as its first single on October 10, 2000. The song features additional vocals by Redman and is included on the band's 2005 Greatest Hits album.
Puffy is a Japanese pop rock duo formed in Tokyo in 1995, consisting of singers Ami Onuki and Yumi Yoshimura. In the United States, they adopted the name Puffy AmiYumi to avoid legal naming conflicts with Sean Combs, who also performed under the name Puffy. They sing in Japanese and English.
Supercar was a Japanese rock band active from 1995 to 2005, who made their debut in 1997. Consisting of composer and vocalist Kōji Nakamura, lyricist and guitarist Junji Ishiwatari, bassist Miki Furukawa, and drummer Kōdai Tazawa, Supercar is best known for combining alternative rock with electronic music and has been characterized as having an "almost foundational importance to 21st century Japanese indie rock". Internationally, Supercar is also known for providing much of the soundtrack for the Japanese film Ping Pong, as well as being featured in the anime series Eureka Seven.
An independent music scene is a localized independent music-oriented community of bands and their audiences. Local scenes can play a key role in musical history and lead to the development of influential genres; for example, no wave from New York City, Madchester from Manchester, and grunge from Seattle.
Abbasalutely is a compilation album released in 1995 by New Zealand recording label Flying Nun Records as a tribute album to ABBA.
Koji Nakamura is a Japanese musician who is most famous for being the lead singer/songwriter in the Japanese band Supercar. His music style in general involves drone-like guitar riffs and mixed in raw electronica. He presently records music under the names iLL and Nakamura Koji, and also participates in a band called Lama.
Miki Furukawa is a Japanese musician. From 1995 to 2005 she was the bass player and vocalist of the indie rock band Supercar. She released her first solo record in 2006.
Junji Ishiwatari is a Japanese musician, songwriter and record producer. He is also famous for being a guitarist of the Japanese band Supercar.
Futurama is an American animated science fiction sitcom created by Matt Groening.
Three Out Change is the debut studio album by Supercar. Released on April 1, 1998, it peaked at number 20 on the Oricon Albums Chart. The album helped establish Supercar as an important and influential Japanese rock band. Music critic Ian Martin has described it as an "epic indie rock/shoegaze album" and "one of the all-time great Japanese rock albums."
Highvision is the fourth album by the Japanese alternative rock band Supercar. It was released on April 24, 2002, and peaked at 11th place on the Oricon Albums Chart. The album is notable for Supercar's continued experimental trajectory starting from their previous album Futurama expanding upon it in Highvision, with the single "Strobolights" not even containing a guitar. The song "Storywriter" was used in the soundtrack of the anime Eureka Seven, which also contains several references to music from the 1980s and 1990s.
Answer is the fifth and final non-compilation album by the Japanese indie rock band Supercar. It was released on February 25, 2004 and peaked at #18 on the Oricon Albums Chart.
Japanese rock, sometimes abbreviated to J-rock, is rock music from Japan. Influenced by American and British rock of the 1960s, the first rock bands in Japan performed what is called group sounds, with lyrics almost exclusively in English. Folk rock band Happy End in the early 1970s are credited as the first to sing rock music in the Japanese language. Punk rock bands Boøwy and The Blue Hearts and hard rock/heavy metal groups X Japan and B'z led Japanese rock in the late 1980s and early 1990s by achieving major mainstream success.
