Boøwy ( ; stylized as BOØWY) was a Japanese rock band formed in Takasaki, Gunma in 1981. The classic lineup of vocalist Kyosuke Himuro, guitarist Tomoyasu Hotei, bassist Tsunematsu Matsui, and drummer Makoto Takahashi reached legendary status in Japan during the 1980s.

In 1988, the year they broke up, they became the first male artists to have three number-one albums within a single year on the Oricon chart. They were named Artist of the Year at the 3rd annual Japan Gold Disc Awards in 1989. The late 1980s "Band Boom" in Japan is credited to Boøwy as they popularized the formation of musical groups. In 2003, HMV Japan ranked Boøwy at number 22 on their list of the "100 Most Important Japanese Pop Acts".

History

1980–1983: Early years and debut

In 1979, Kyosuke Himuro was in a band called Death Penalty which won Yamaha's East West '79 music contest held in his hometown of Takasaki, Gunma.

Around the same time, Hotei was also in Tokyo after being expelled from high school for saying "Jesus had long hair" when his teacher warned him about his hair being too long. He received a phone call from Himuro and, even though they did not really know each other, they decided to start a band. In September, they recruited Tsunematsu Matsui on bass, Atsushi Moroboshi from Death Penalty on guitar, and Kazuaki Fukazawa from Blue Film on saxophone. Mamoru Kimura from Spinach Power agreed to drum for them in 1981. Their staff at Being Inc. originally conceived of naming the band "Boy", as a play on the British band Girl, but feeling it lacked visual impact, it was decided to write the name in kanji as , which was found on costumes that Kansai Yamamoto had designed for David Bowie.

To earn a living they started working part-time jobs and sent demo tapes to various record companies. They finally signed with the record company Victor and began recording their first album. In May 1981, Kimura left, as he originally joined the band on a temporary basis. He would later collaborate with the group again when he co-produced their second album. Makoto Takahashi was brought by a friend to watch Bōi perform their first concert at Shinjuku Loft on May 11, 1981. He was impressed and tried out for the band when he heard they needed a new drummer. During the summer of that year he replaced Kimura on drums and Bōi went on to become the most popular bands at the Loft.

thumb|right|The band's logotype, used since 1985

In January 1982, they changed their name to "BOØWY". On March 21, they released their first album, Moral. At this time they were a punk rock band. Tsuchiya faced an uphill battle in promoting them; with no funds, he gathered hand-made flyers, posters, character goods, the musical instruments and the band in an old Toyota HiAce with no AC and went on a trip around Japan looking for places to perform. The band was lax with allowing fan recordings of their performances, particularly in their early years, leading to many bootleg recordings being in circulation. In July, they began a tour, also titled Beat Emotion, which lasted until December. Not wanting to go through the same hardship they faced in 1983, they decided to sign with the production company Yui in November, and signed to Toshiba EMI. The band then took a six-month break from touring. Boøwy performed in London, England, at the Marquee Club on March 12, 1985. Their self-titled third album was recorded at Hansa Tonstudio in West Berlin, Germany, produced by Masahide Sakuma, and released on June 21. According to music critic Takashi Honda, Boøwy's June 25 concert at Shibuya Public Hall marked a turning point in their popularity, where the "punk spirit that defined their early years, glamorous theatricality, and an energy that sought to forge a new era while drawing upon the history of international rock" perfectly converged. The Just a Hero Tour began in March and finished on July 2, with the band's first concert at the Nippon Budokan. It became Boøwy's first release to reach number one on the music charts.

The single "Marionette" was released on July 22, 1987, took the number one position and sold 230,000 copies, making it the 20th best-selling single of the year. The band held two concerts called Case of Boøwy at the World Memorial Hall on July 31 and at the Yokohama Cultural Gymnasium on August 7, where they played most of their songs from their debut to the present for four hours straight. There are many rumors concerning the breakup, but the most popular is the rift between Hotei and Himuro. An indication of the band's stature at the time, is that at their farewell concerts, appropriately titled Last Gigs; two nights at the newly-opened Tokyo Dome on April 4 and 5, 1988; they sold out all 95,000 tickets in ten minutes. The band has had several number ones since disbanding, including; their 1988 Singles collection, 1998's This Boøwy which sold over 1.6 million copies to be certified 4× Platinum by the RIAJ, and the 2001 DVD of their final concerts.

On February 1, 2012, Hotei performed a concert at the Saitama Super Arena to celebrate his 50th birthday. Takahashi appeared as a special guest and together they played Boøwy's "Justy" and "No. New York". This was the first time the two performed together publicly in 24 years.

To celebrate Boøwy's 30th anniversary, the compilation album Boøwy The Best "Story" was released on March 21, 2013. It contains 32 tracks, including the song "Cloudy Heart", which received the most votes in a poll.

Musical style

Music writer Takashi Honda wrote that Boøwy established their unique musical style around 1983, after becoming a quartet. Tatsuya Sakamoto, a recording engineer who worked on several of their albums, described Himuro as possessing a "rare voice that combines both sweetness and intensity", and expressed marvel at Hotei's "impeccable" musical sensibility and ability to fill-out the band's sound with a single, distortion-free guitar. He opined the latter was possible due to the "sheer density" of the drums and bass, and suspected Takahashi was able to explore various rhythmic possibilities because Matsui refrained from superfluous playing. According to their record producer, Masahide Sakuma, Boøwy had a strong kayōkyoku-like emotional sentimentality in their songwriting.

Honda described Boøwy's debut album Moral (1982) and its "cynical" lyrics as conveying a powerful punk attitude, as if the band had "channeled all their anger and frustration directly into the grooves of the record". The band themselves described Beat Emotion (1986) as a return to their roots.

Legacy

In 1988, the year they broke up, Boøwy became the first male artists to have three number-one albums within a single year on the Oricon chart. They were named Artist of the Year at the 3rd annual Japan Gold Disc Awards in 1989.

In September 2007, Rolling Stone Japan rated their album Just a Hero at number 75 on its list of the "100 Greatest Japanese Rock Albums of All Time".

Their album Beat Emotion was named number 5 on Bounces 2009 list of "54 Standard Japanese Rock Albums".

In a 2012 poll by Recochoku, Boøwy were ranked the number one band that people wanted to see reunite.

With the release of Boøwy The Best "Story" in 2013, Boøwy became the second band ever, and first Japanese, to reach number one over 20 years after they broke up. The Beatles being the first.

In 2017, Hotei suggested that with their spiky hair and heavy make-up Boøwy might have been the first visual kei band. Having always been conscious of visuals and influenced by David Bowie, he explained that "I too wanted to create something extraordinary and by wearing make-up, I felt like I had another identity. I thought by adding some fantasy to rock music, it would create more depth in the music."

Members

Classic lineup

  • – lead vocals (1981–1988)
  • – guitars, keyboards, backing vocals (1981–1988)
  • – bass guitar (1981–1988)
  • – drums (1981–1988)

Former members

  • – drums (1981)
  • – saxophone, backing vocals (1981–1982)
  • – guitars (1981–1982)

Members timeline

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Discography

Studio albums

  • Moral (March 21, 1982), Oricon Albums Chart Peak Position: No.&nbsp;2 (1989 re-release)
  • Instant Love (September 25, 1983) No.&nbsp;3 (1988 re-release)
  • Boøwy (June 21, 1985) No.&nbsp;48
  • "Bad Feeling" (August 22, 1985) No.&nbsp;46
  • "Last Gigs" Complete (April 5, 2008) No.&nbsp;10

Compilations

  • Moral+3 (February 3, 1988, debut album +3 songs from "Dakara" single) No.&nbsp;1
  • "Gigs" Case of Boøwy (4 VHS: October 5, 1987, 2 DVDs: November 28, 2001, Blu-ray: September 1, 2021) No.&nbsp;2 and No.&nbsp;3
  • "Last Gigs" Complete (DVD: April 5, 2008, Blu-ray: September 1, 2021) No.&nbsp;3
  • 1224 Film the Movie 2013 (March 23, 2013, theatrical documentary and live concert)
  • 1224 -The Original- (December 24, 2017) DVD: No.&nbsp;7,