Tak Matsumoto News

It was just been announced that Tak Matsumoto will be providing newly-written music for Shizuka Kudo’s upcoming commemorative album which is as-yet untitled.

Kudo—formerly a member of large-scale girl group and AKB48 predecessor Onyanko Club in the 1980s—debuted solo in August of 1987 with her single “Kindan no Telepathy”. Thirty years later, she will commemorate the occasion with an all-new original album to which other figures in the Japanese music industry will contribute. Amongst those collaborators joining Tak for the August 30, 2017 album will also be Koji Tamaki of Anzen Chitai fame with more to be announced in the coming months.

This is far from the first time Tak has penned new music to be used by other artists. Outside of his collaborations with Koshi, such as when the two wrote “HEAT” for Korean artist Kim Hyun Joong in the summer of 2012, Tak was responsible for the music to noted KAT-TUN single “Real Face” in 2006. The single was the group’s first and went on to sell over 1,000,000 copies, remaining their biggest-selling release to date.

The subject of B’z contributing songs to other artists will be covered at length in a new featured article on July 12.

News

The latest countdown on the official B’z website will end later today and may be related to the oft-rumored 7-Eleven tie-in previously reported here. Similarly unverified rumors suggest a massive complete singles boxset is on the horizon and may be the costliest item B’z has ever released.

Next, on July 5, recent number-one single “Seimei/Still Alive” will be released on various digital platforms including the Japanese iTunes store, RecoChoku, mora, and music.jp. The single will see its live debut next month when the band hits the road on July 13 in Kumamoto for B’z SHOWCASE 2017 -B’z In Your Town-.

The support members for the band’s 2017-2018 tours have also been announced, with the familiar line-up assembled in 2011 all returning:

Drums: Shane Gaalaas

Bass: Barry Sparks

Backing Guitar: Ohga Yoshinobu

Keyboards: Takanobu Masuda

News

Last week, leaks originating on various Japanese message boards indicated B’z may soon be involved in a promotion with convenience store chain 7-Eleven in Japan. Those that have visited Japan have seen how ubiquitous the brand is in the country—in fact, there are more 7-Eleven stores in Japan than anywhere else, responsible for housing over 30% of their locations. Exact details of the promotion are yet to be confirmed, with one unverified post suggesting it could amount to a special live concert for select winners.

B’z 7-Eleven promotion redemption form

Today, apparent confirmation of some cross promotion came with the uncovering of a form on the 7-Eleven Japan website. For every 700 yen spent, there is a chance to receive a lottery ticket for at least a B’z-themed towel and possibly other unannounced prizes. There should be more news announced later this week.

News

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland (Credit: WSJ)

As was just announced on their official Facebook page with a feature in the Wall Street Journal, the world-renowned Rock and Roll Hall of Fame will be expanding to Tokyo this September. Already inductees in Hollywood’s RockWalk as its first ever Asian artists, B’z should be within the initial contenders after balloting begins—if not the outright favorites—once local artists are taken into account. The expansion will begin with a local exhibit established to showcase memorabilia from existing inductees such as Deep Purple and The Beatles.

As quoted in our article on the history between B’z and American rock legends Aerosmith—themselves inducted to the Hall of Fame in 2001—this is not the first time a similar sentiment has been put forth. Writing in 2002, David Higashi of Eye-ai Magazine suggested such recognition would be inevitable:

“Here is a hypothetical question for all J-Pop fans out there: If the Japanese recording industry were to establish a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame tomorrow, which artist would be most deserving to be the inaugural member? Of course, the question barely needs to be asked, since there is really only one answer, and that answer is B’z. It is no understatement to say that B’z is to J-Pop what Michael Jordan was to basketball (only without the constant barrage of retirements and returns).”

Just yesterday it was announced that B’z have scored their 49th consecutive number-one hit with the suitably hard rock single “Seimei/Still Alive“.

News

Tower Records display in Nagoya for “Seimei/Still Alive”

Beginning with their fifth single “Taiyou no Komachi Angel” in the summer of 1990, every such release from B’z has debuted at the top of the Weekly Oricon Singles chart despite the drastic shifts in the country’s musical landscape in that time. Today, Oricon has announced that new single “Seimei/Still Alive” has done the same with sales in excess of 120,000 physical copies sold, which will see it certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of Japan.

It bears noting that Oricon’s charting, unlike those for Billboard (in Japan or the U.S.), does not account for any radio airplay or digital purchases. While physical sales have predictably been down year over year in Japan as with most markets, digital has continued to rise despite the relative importance of the physical launches. In the American music scene, streaming services such as Spotify have led to historic lows for both the physical and digital mediums. The Japanese market remains an anomaly in a constantly shifting landscape in which its physical sales are still of considerable importance.

While the long-term success of B’z and their streak is essentially unprecedented in the schema of modern music, and especially so with regard to a rock band, that success has not changed the band’s creative output over the years. When asked about as much in 2011 by American music and arts outlet Hard News Café, Tak felt it was inevitable the record would be someone else’s in time and did not consider it a motivation:

—You have seen an incredible streak of #1 albums and top songs in Japan. Is there pressure for B’z when writing to create the next #1 hit when you were in the studio recording the new album C’mon?

Tak Matsumoto: We’re very proud of having many hit singles and albums in Japan, but there’s no pressure to write hit songs. Someday our record would be rewritten by someone else. We intend to try to write songs that will be loved worldwide.

A sixth countdown also appeared yesterday on the official B’z website. The band will soon either begin promotions for their 2017 studio album or their 54th single that could precede it and potentially yield their record 50th consecutive one to top the charts.

Feature

A very special acknowledgment goes out to Keen for the archive of materials that contributed to this article. A great debt is owed to her not only for this article but for supporting international B’z fandom from its infancy.

Aerosmith formed nearly two full decades before B’z and, by the time Tak Matsumoto and Koshi Inaba made their joint debut on September 21, 1988, had already sold well over 25 million records worldwide. “Dream On”, “Sweet Emotion”, “Walk This Way”, “Mama Kin”, “Back in the Saddle”, and “Draw the Line” had all long been released. Already commonly hailed as both the “Bad Boys from Boston” and the definitive American rock band, Aerosmith had by then already toured the world, broken up and spent a half-decade without its core line-up, reunited, battled drug addiction, and earned a reputation as both the hardest rocking and most volatile band around. The group’s biggest personalities and likewise its brightest stars—vocalist Steven Tyler and guitarist Joe Perry—earned the joint moniker “the Toxic Twins” as a result.

So distant were these two bands in age that B’z guitarist Tak Matsumoto spent his high school years playing Aerosmith songs in his bedroom, whilst a young Koshi Inaba considered Steven Tyler a top vocalist whose ability and stage presence were to be striven toward. What the two acts undoubtedly have in common is success: both topped their respective music industries, both established themselves as definitive rock icons whose staying power is long beyond reproach.

What’s more, despite the different eras from which they hailed and the ages that separate them, the divergent paths of B’z and Aerosmith would later intersect in a way that would make rock history and prove an indelible moment for fans of both bands.

(more…)