Takahiro 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 by certifications. He also has a successful solo career where, in addition to winning several Japan Gold Disc Awards, he won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Album for Take Your Pick (2010), which he made in collaboration with Larry Carlton. Matsumoto is only the fifth guitarist in the world to have his own Gibson signature model guitar.
Koshi Inaba is a Japanese singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He is best known as the vocalist and lyricist of the rock duo B'z, the best-selling music act in their native Japan. He also has a successful solo career, with six studio albums and five singles topping the Japanese music charts. Inaba collaborated with Slash on the latter's 2009 single "Sahara", and with Stevie Salas on the albums Chubby Groove (2017) and Maximum Huavo (2020).
B'z is the debut studio album by the Japanese rock duo B'z. It was released on September 21, 1988, and reached #47 on the Japanese charts. The album sold 3,790 copies in its first week and eventually sold 338,360 in total.
Off The Lock is the second studio album by the Japanese rock duo B'z, released on May 21, 1989. It was the second album they released for BMG Victor's Air Records imprint.
Kind of Love is the first long-play record by Japanese rock band Mr. Children The album was issued in December 1992, only 7 months after the release of their debut EP entitled Everything. It has commonly been regarded as the band's second studio album.
Break Through is the third studio album by the Japanese rock duo B'z. The album debuted at number 3 on the Oricon Weekly Albums Chart, being their last studio album not to reach number 1. It sold 41,700 copies in its first week and sold a total of 724,640 copies during its chart run. It was eventually certified Million by the RIAJ in January 1994.
Bad Communication is the first mini-album by the Japanese rock duo B'z, released in 1989. The album was the first hit album for the band, debuting at number 15. The album also includes the band's first two English versions of previous songs—in this case, "Out of the Rain" and "Dakara Sono Te Wo Hanashite", both from their debut album—dubbed "Off the Lock Style". It peaked at number 12 on the Oricon weekly albums chart in 1991, and by 1993, was certified million by the RIAJ. It was eventually certified 3x platinum, selling over 1,200,000 copies. The song was used in a commercial for Fujitsu's FM Towns computers.
B'z The Best "Pleasure" is the third compilation album by the Japanese rock duo B'z and released in 1998. It includes many of the group's hit singles from 1989 to 1998. With the exception of "Be There" and 'Bad Communication E.Style", all the songs are #1 hits on the Oricon charts.
Japanese rock duo B'z has released 22 studio albums, 12 compilation albums, nine extended plays (EP), 62 singles, and 20 live albums. With more than 86 million sales in Japan, the duo is the best-selling artist in Japan and with 100 million sales one of the best-selling music artists of all time.
"Kimi no Naka de Odoritai" is the second single by B'z, released on May 21, 1989. The single did not chart on the Oricon Singles Chart and has since been played live very few times. It's the first song by the band to have a tie-in, being featured as the ending theme for the TBS TV drama Haimisu de Warukatta ne!
"Real Thing Shakes" is the twentieth single by the Japanese rock duo B'z, released on May 15, 1996. The song is one of the band's many number-one singles on the Oricon chart. This is the first B'z single that was not produced by guitarist Tak Matsumoto since "Taiyō no Komachi Angel", instead opting for British producer Andy Johns. It sold over 1,140,000 copies according to Oricon, making it their thirteenth consecutive million-seller single. The band would hold the record for most consecutive million-seller singles for seventeen years until AKB48 broke it in 2013 with their single "Heart Electric". It was used as the theme song for the drama Oretachi ni Ki o Tsukero.. It was also the band's first English single.
Tak Matsumoto Group is a supergroup consisting of members from several bands around the world. It includes Tak Matsumoto, Eric Martin, and Jack Blades. From July to September 2004, they embarked on their "Dodge the Bullet Tour" of Japan.
Magic is the seventeenth studio album by the Japanese rock duo B'z, released on November 18, 2009. A limited edition was released featuring a bonus DVD with the video "Magical Backstage Tour 2009".
C'mon is the eighteenth studio album by the Japanese rock duo B'z. It was released on July 27, 2011.
Epic Day is the nineteenth studio album by the Japanese rock duo B'z. It was released on March 4, 2015, more than 3.5 years after their previous studio effort, C'mon, their longest gap between studio albums. It came after a hiatus in which the members released solo projects, including vocalist/lyricist Koshi Inaba's Singing Bird and guitarist/composer Tak Matsumoto's New Horizon.
Dinosaur is the twentieth studio album by the Japanese rock duo B'z. It was released on 29 November 2017. It came after a hiatus in which the members released solo projects, including vocalist/lyricist Koshi Inaba's collaborative album with Stevie Salas, Chubby Groove, and guitarist/composer Tak Matsumoto's solo effort enigma and collaborative studio album with Daniel Ho Electric Island, Acoustic Sea.
New Love is the twenty-first studio album by the Japanese rock duo B'z. It was released on May 29, 2019, about a year and a half after their previous album Dinosaur. It is the first B'z album to not have an accompanying single, though music videos were produced for "Tsuwamono, Hashiru", "Wolf", and "Majestic".
Friends III is the sixth mini-album by the Japanese rock duo B'z. It was released on December 8, 2021. It's a concept album and is a sequel to their previous mini-album, Friends II, released in 1996.
Highway X is the twenty-second studio album by the Japanese rock duo B'z. It was released on August 10, 2022, and was their first album released after the COVID-19 pandemic started.
