L'Arc-en-Ciel, stylized as L'Arc~en~Ciel), also known as Laruku, is a Japanese rock band, formed in Osaka in 1991 by bassist tetsuya and vocalist hyde. Following the departure of original members hiro and pero, guitarist ken and drummer sakura were recruited to replace them in 1992 and 1993, respectively. While they first got their start as a visual kei band, L'Arc-en-Ciel have not had any association with the movement since their major label debut in 1994. Sakura left the band in 1997 and was replaced by yukihiro in January 1998, completing the current line-up.
J-pop, natively also known simply as pops, is the name for a form of popular music that entered the musical mainstream of Japan in the 1990s. Modern J-pop has its roots in traditional music of Japan, and significantly in 1960s pop and rock music. J-pop replaced kayōkyoku in the Japanese music scene.
Hideto Takarai, known by his stage name Hyde, is a Japanese musician, singer-songwriter, record producer, and actor. Best known as the lead vocalist of the rock band L'Arc-en-Ciel since 1991, he is also the lead vocalist of Vamps and has a solo career.
Crescent is the fourth full-length studio album released by Japanese solo artist Gackt on December 3, 2003. It is conceptually linked to its predecessor Moon and comes with booklets for both records. Crescent also features a duet with L'Arc-en-Ciel vocalist Hyde for "Orenji no Taiyou" with whom Gackt co-starred in the 2003 movie Moon Child.
"Stay Away" is the 21st single by Japanese rock band L'Arc-en-Ciel, released on July 19, 2000. On the same day, Japanese rock band Glay's single "Mermaid" was also released. Although "Stay Away" sold over 504,000 copies in the first week, "Mermaid" debuted at number 1 with the sales of over 525,000 copies. The second track "Get out from the Shell" is also included in their album Real as the English-language song "Get out from the Shell ". "Stay Away" was elected as "the best video of the year" at the "Space Shower Music Video Awards 00".
Merveilles is the third studio album by Japanese rock band Malice Mizer, released on March 18, 1998 by Nippon Columbia. It is the band's only album on a major record label. In 2004, it was named one of the top albums from 1989–1998 in an issue of the music magazine Band Yarouze.
The Best of L'Arc-en-Ciel C/W is a compilation album released by L'Arc-en-Ciel on March 19, 2003, simultaneously with The Best of L'Arc-en-Ciel 1994–1998 and The Best of L'Arc-en-Ciel 1998–2000. It collects previously released B-sides. The album reached number eight on the Oricon Albums Chart and charted for nine weeks.
"Kasou" is the twelfth single by L'Arc-en-Ciel. It was released simultaneously with "Honey" and "Shinshoku ~Lose Control~" on July 8, 1998. The song was used as the ending theme to TV Asahi's Shinsou Kyumei! Uwasa no Flie. The single debuted at number 4 on the Oricon chart. It was re-released on August 30, 2006. The single was also rerecorded by P'unk~en~ciel in 2012 as "花葬 平成十七年", in the album "P'unk is Not Dead".
"Shinshoku (Lose Control)" (浸食 〜lose control〜, Erosion) is the thirteenth single by L'Arc-en-Ciel. It was released simultaneously with "Honey" and "Kasou" on July 8, 1998. The single reached number 2 on the Oricon chart. It was re-released on August 30, 2006.
"Seventh Heaven" is the thirty-first single by L'Arc-en-Ciel, released on May 30, 2007. It reached number 1 on the Oricon chart. The b-side "Honey 2007" is a rewritten version of their eleventh single "Honey", and is the sixth appearance of their alter ego, P'unk-en-Ciel. The single's music video was nominated for the MTV Video Music Award Japan for Best Rock Video in 2008.
"Home" is the twenty-fifth single by B'z, released on July 8, 1998. This song is one of B'z many number-one singles in Oricon weekly chart. Japanese rock band L'Arc-en-Ciel released three singles in the same day. Although L'Arc-en-Ciel's three singles—"Honey", "Shinshoku " and "Kasō"—passed the first week sales of 500,000 copies each and were ranked at number two, three and four respectively, the single "Home" managed to debut at the number-one position. The single sold over 961,000 copies according to Oricon. While they won "the artist of the year award", the song was elected as one of "songs of the year" at the 13th Japan Gold Disc Award.
"Forbidden Lover" is the fifteenth single by L'Arc-en-Ciel, released on October 14, 1998. It debuted at number 1 on the Oricon chart, selling over 509,000 copies in the initial week of the release. The single was re-released on August 30, 2006.
"Heaven's Drive" is the sixteenth single by L'Arc-en-Ciel, released on April 21, 1999. The single sold over 634,000 copies in the first week of release. It topped the Oricon chart for two weeks and sold over one million copies. The band performed the song at the 50th Kōhaku Uta Gassen.
"Pieces" is the seventeenth single by L'Arc-en-Ciel, released on June 2, 1999 it debuted at number 1 on the Oricon chart. "Pieces" was awarded "Best Video of the Year" at "Space Shower Music Video Awards 99". It sold 483890 copies in its first week.
"Spirit Dreams Inside -Another Dream-" is the twenty-second single by L'Arc-en-Ciel, released on September 5, 2001. It was their first single of the 21st century and their last single until "Ready Steady Go" in 2004. The song debuted at number 1 on the Oricon chart and sold over 201,000 copies in its first week.
Butterfly is the twelfth album by the Japanese rock band L'Arc-en-Ciel. It was released on February 8, 2012, in two versions: regular and limited editions, with the latter including the first album by their alter ego band P'unk-en-Ciel, titled P'unk Is Not Dead, and a DVD. The album is also set to be released in several European countries, starting on March 5, 2012, with the United Kingdom and finishing on March 17 with Spain and Poland.
"X X X" is the thirty-ninth single by L'Arc-en-Ciel, released on October 12, 2011. The single debuted at number one on the Oricon chart and remained for over a week, selling 81,414 copies. The band had not reached the top of the Oricon chart since the release of "Drink It Down" in 2008.
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.
"Kiss of Death" is a song recorded by Japanese singer Mika Nakashima, released as a single by Sony Music Associated Records on March 7, 2018. It was written and produced by L'Arc-en-Ciel's Hyde. The song marks the first collaboration between Nakashima and Hyde in thirteen years, since "Glamorous Sky". "Kiss of Death" is the opening theme to the Tokyo MX anime series Darling in the Franxx. The title track was released digitally in advance after premiering on the series' second episode, on January 20, 2018.
