Yellow Magic Orchestra

Template:ForTemplate:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox musical artist Yellow Magic Orchestra (abbreviated to YMO) was a Japanese electronic music band formed in Tokyo in 1978 by Haruomi Hosono (bass, keyboards, vocals), Yukihiro Takahashi (drums, lead vocals, occasional keyboards) and Ryuichi Sakamoto (keyboards, vocals).<ref name="allmusic_ymo">{{#ifeq: | yes | https://www.allmusic.com/Template:Trim/Template:Trim{{

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}}</ref> The group is considered influential and innovative in the field of popular electronic music.<ref name="allmusic_ymo"/><ref name="fidelity_1993"/> They were pioneers in their use of synthesizers, samplers, sequencers, drum machines, computers, and digital recording technology,<ref name="allmusic_ymo" /><ref name="sarasota" /><ref name="clashmusic" /> and effectively anticipated the "electropop boom" of the 1980s.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> They are credited with influencing the development of various electronic genres, including synth-pop, city pop, dance, electro, hip-hop, J-pop and techno.<ref name="EssentialFactmag">Template:Cite journal</ref> They also explored subversive socio-political themes throughout their career.<ref name="EssentialFactmag" />

The three members were veterans of the music industry before coming together as YMO, and were inspired by eclectic sources, including the electronic music of Isao Tomita and Kraftwerk, Japanese traditional music, arcade games, funk music, and the disco productions of Giorgio Moroder. They released the surprise global hit "Computer Game" in 1978, reaching the UK Top 20 and selling 400,000 copies in the U.S. For their early recordings and performances, the band was often accompanied by programmer Hideki Matsutake.<ref name="sound_147"/> The group released several albums before pausing their activity in 1984. They briefly reunited several times in subsequent decades before Takahashi and Sakamoto's deaths in 2023.

History

1976–1978: early years and formation

Prior to the group's formation, Sakamoto had been experimenting with electronic music equipment at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, which he entered in 1970, including synthesizers such as the Buchla, Moog, and ARP.<ref name="dayal_interview">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The group leader Haruomi Hosono had been using an Ace Tone rhythm machine since early in his career in the early 1970s.<ref name="wire2017">Template:Cite journal</ref> Following the break-up of his band Happy End in 1972, Hosono became involved in the recording of several early electronic rock records, including Yōsui Inoue's folk pop rock album Kōri no Sekai (1973) and Osamu Kitajima's progressive psychedelic rock album Benzaiten (1974), both of which utilized synthesizers, electric guitars, electric bass, and in the latter, electronic drums, and rhythm machines.<ref>Template:Discogs release (Translation Template:Webarchive)</ref><ref>Template:Discogs release</ref> Also around the same time, the band's future "fourth member" Hideki Matsutake was the assistant for the internationally successful electronic musician Isao Tomita. Much of the methods and techniques developed by both Tomita and Matsutake during the early 1970s would later be employed by Yellow Magic Orchestra.<ref name="sound_147"/><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Sakamoto first worked with Hosono as a member of his live band in 1976, while Yukihiro Takahashi recruited Sakamoto to produce his debut solo recording in 1977 following the split of the Sadistic Mika Band. Hosono invited both to work on his exotica-flavoured album Paraiso, which included electronic songs produced using various electronic equipment. The band was named "Harry Hosono and the Yellow Magic Band" as a satire of the idyllic perception of pacific and Hawaiian music America had been obsessed with <ref name="guardian_ymo"/> and in late 1977 they began recording Paraiso, which was released in 1978.<ref name="discogs_paraiso">Template:Discogs release</ref> Hosono then worked on the album Pacific, along with Shigeru Suzuki and Tatsuro Yamashita, which included an early version of the song "Cosmic Surfin".<ref>Template:Discogs release</ref>

Hosono and Sakamoto also worked together alongside Hideki Matsutake in early 1978 for Hosono's experimental "electro-exotica" fusion album Cochin Moon, which fused electronic music with Indian music, including an early "synth raga" song "Hum Ghar Sajan".<ref name="pitchfork">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The same year, Sakamoto released his own solo album, The Thousand Knives of Ryuichi Sakamoto, experimenting with a similar fusion between electronic music and traditional Japanese music in early 1978. Hosono also contributed to one of Sakamoto's songs, "Thousand Knives", in the album.<ref>Template:Discogs release</ref> Thousand Knives was also notable for its early use of the microprocessor-based Roland MC-8 Microcomposer music sequencer, with Matsutake as its music programmer for the album.<ref name="knives_cd">Template:Discogs release</ref><ref name=Tanaka2014/>

While Sakamoto was working on Thousand Knives, Hosono began formulating the idea of an instrumental disco band which could have the potential to reach success in non-Japanese-language territories, and invited Tasuo Hayashi of Tin Pan Alley and Hiroshi Sato of Huckleback as participants, but they declined.<ref name=Tanaka2014>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Hosono, Sakamoto and Takahashi eventually collaborated again to form the Yellow Magic Orchestra and they began recording their self-titled album at a Shibaura studio in July 1978.<ref name="discogs_ymo_lp"/>

1978–1983: National and international success

File:Yellow Magic Orchestra YMO (1981 Press Photo).jpg

YMO in 1981

The band's 1978 self-titled album Yellow Magic Orchestra was successful and the studio project grew into a fully fledged touring band and career for its three members. The album featured the use of computer technology (along with synthesizers) which, according to Billboard, allowed the group to create a new sound that was not possible until then.<ref name="billboard_1979">Template:Citation</ref> Following the release of the album Yellow Magic Orchestra, a live date at the Roppongi Pit Inn was seen by executives of A&M Records of the USA who were in the process of setting up a partnership deal with Alfa Records. This led to the YMO being offered an international deal, at which point (early 1979) the three members decided the group would be given priority over their solo careers. The most popular international hit from the album was "Firecracker", which would be released as a single the following year and again as "Computer Game", which became a success in the United States and Europe.Template:Citation needed

Following an advertising deal with Fuji Cassette, the group sparked a boom in the popularity of electronic pop music, called "technopop" in Japan,<ref name="guardian_ymo">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="sarasota">Template:Cite journal</ref> where they had an effect similar to that of the Beatles and Merseybeat in 1960s Britain.<ref name="guardian_ymo"/> For some time, YMO was the most popular band in Japan.<ref name="guardian_ymo"/> Successful solo act Akiko Yano (later married to Sakamoto) joined the band for its live performances in the late 1970s and early 1980s, but did not participate in the studio recordings. On the other hand, the YMO trio contributed to her own albums and became part of her live band, during these same years.Template:Citation needed Legendary English guitarist Template:Nowrap, who had disbanded Template:Nowrap and Template:Nowrap to more recently explore Electropop himself, likewise played on YMO's Template:Nowrap (1983), its non-vocals variant Template:Nowrap (1984) and subsequent solo Template:Nowrap projects, before featuring the latter on two of Nelson's own UK based releases.

Making abundant use of new synthesizers, samplers, sequencers, drum machines, computers and digital recording technology as it became available, as well as utilizing cyberpunk-ish lyrics sung mostly in English, they extended their popularity and influence beyond Japan.<ref name="allmusic_ymo"/><ref name="sarasota"/><ref name="clashmusic">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Their second album, Solid State Survivor, released in 1979, was YMO's pinnacle recording in Japan, winning the 1980 Best Album Award in the Japan Record Awards. It featured English lyrics by Chris Mosdell, whose sci-fi themes often depicted a human condition alienated by dystopic futures, much like the emerging cyberpunk movement in fiction at that time. One of the album's major singles, and one of the band's biggest international hits, was "Behind the Mask", which YMO had first produced in 1978 for a Seiko quartz wristwatch commercial,<ref name="discogs_ucymo">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and then for Solid State Survivor with lyrics penned by Chris Mosdell. The song was later revised by Michael Jackson, who added new lyrics and had intended to include it in his album Thriller.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Despite the approval of songwriter Sakamoto and lyricist Chris Mosdell, it was eventually removed from the album due to legal issues with YMO's management.<ref name="camera_mosdell"/> Jackson's version was never released until his first posthumous album, Michael, though his additional lyrics were included in later cover versions of the song by Greg Phillinganes, Eric Clapton, and Ryuichi Sakamoto himself in his 1986 solo release Media Bahn Live.Template:Citation needed Solid State Survivor included several early computerized synth rock songs,<ref name="sarasota"/><ref name="boston_1998">Template:Citation</ref> including a mechanized cover version of "Day Tripper" by the Beatles.<ref name="boston_1998"/>

Solid State Survivor went on to sell over 2 million records worldwide.<ref name="Hardy_1987">Template:Cite book</ref> By 1980, YMO had become the most popular group in Japan, where they were performing to sold-out crowds. Their first live album Public Pressure set a record in Japan, topping the charts and selling 250,000 copies within two weeks, while their next studio album X∞Multiplies had 200,000 pre-orders before release.<ref name="sarasota"/> The same year, their albums Solid State Survivor and X∞Multiplies held the top two spots on the Oricon charts for seven consecutive weeks, making YMO the only band in Japanese chart history to achieve this feat.<ref name="oricon_ymo">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }} (Translation Template:Webarchive)</ref>

The 1980 song "Multiplies" was an early experiment in electronic ska.<ref name="sicko_brewster"/> X∞Multiplies was followed up with the 1981 album BGM.<ref name="allmusic_bgm" /> UnderMain Magazine noted the album's significance in the early history of hip hop, describing its "groundbreaking" use of the Roland TR-808 drum machine, the song "Music Plans" as where "the beginnings of that funky, electronic boom-bap vibe of hip-hop beats start to emerge" and the song "Rap Phenomena" as "an aural Australopithecus of electronic rap music."<ref name="undermain2">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="allmusic_bgm">{{#ifeq: | yes | https://www.allmusic.com/album/r53034{{

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}}</ref> It was followed by their next album later the same year, Technodelic, which is significant for its early use of sampling and loops.<ref name="thevinyldistrict" />

They also had similar success abroad, performing to sold-out crowds during tours in the United States and Europe.<ref name="sarasota"/> The single "Computer Game" had sold 400,000 copies in the United States<ref name="sarasota"/> and reached No. 17 in the UK Charts. The group also performed "Firecracker" and "Tighten Up" live on the Soul Train television show. At around the same time, the 1980 song "Riot in Lagos" by YMO member Sakamoto from his album B-2 Unit pioneered the beats and sounds of electro music.<ref name="wire_1996">Template:Citation</ref><ref name="broughton_2007">Template:Cite book</ref> The band was particularly popular with the emerging hip hop community, which appreciated the group's electronic sounds, and in the Bronx where "Firecracker" was a success and sampled in the famous Death Mix (1983) by Afrika Bambaataa.<ref name="wire_1996"/><ref name="buckley_2003">Template:Cite book</ref> Bambaataa also cited YMO's subsequent albums along with Sakamoto's "Riot in Lagos" as influences.<ref name="undermain2" /> Meanwhile, in Japan, YMO remained the best-selling music act there up until 1982.<ref>Template:Citation</ref>

1984–1993: breakup and brief reunion

The band had paused their group activities by 1984. After the release of their musical motion picture Propaganda, the three members had returned to their solo careers. They were careful to avoid saying they had "split up", preferring to use the Japanese phrase meaning Template:Nihongo, and the trio continued to play on each other's recordings and made guest appearances at live shows. Takahashi, in particular, would play the band's material in his concerts. Meanwhile, Sakamoto would gain international success for his work as a solo artist, actor, and film composer,<ref name="billboard_1996">Template:Citation</ref> winning Grammy, Oscar, and Golden Globe awards.<ref name="boston_1998"/>

Yellow Magic Orchestra released a one-off reunion album, Technodon, and credited it to 'NOT YMO' (YMO crossed out with a calligraphy X) or YMO in 1993.Template:Citation needed In contrast to the group's earlier synth-pop style, Technodon sees the group adopting a more ambient techno sound. During their brief reunion in the early 1990s, they continued to experiment with new styles of electronic music, playing an instrumental role in the techno and acid house movements of the era.<ref name="UGO">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

2002–2023: post-breakup and reformation

The early 2000s saw Hosono and Takahashi reunited in a project called Sketch Show. On a number of occasions Ryuichi Sakamoto has joined in on Sketch Show performances and recording sessions. He later proposed they rename the group Human Audio Sponge when he participates. The groups Barcelona performance at Sonar festival and Wild Sketch Show DVDs chronicle these reunions, and include a tongue-in-cheek Japanese text-only history of the group that spans to 2036.

The band have reunited in 2007 for an advertising campaign for Kirin Lager which lampooned their longevity and charted No.1 on various Japanese digital download charts (including iTunes Store chart) with the song "Rydeen 79/07", released on Sakamoto's new label commmons. Recently performing live as Human Audio Sponge; Hosono, Sakamoto, and Takahashi did a live performance together as Yellow Magic Orchestra for the Live Earth, Kyoto, event on July 7, 2007, which raised money and awareness of a "climate in crisis".

In August 2007, the band once again reformed, taking the name HASYMO or HAS/YMO, combining the names of Human Audio Sponge and Yellow Magic Orchestra. Their first single under this name, "Rescue", was written for the film Appleseed EX Machina. They released a new two song single titled "The City of Light/Tokyo Town Pages" on August 6, 2008. HASYMO played two live concerts in Europe in the summer of 2008, one at the Royal Festival Hall, London on June 15, as part of the Meltdown festival of music curated by Massive Attack and another in Gijón, Spain, on the 19th. Although the primary YMO members (Yukihiro Takahashi, Haruomi Hosono, and Ryuichi Sakamoto) were effectively known as HASYMO and played both these concerts, these concerts were billed simply as "YMO" but featured only 4 YMO songs in each concert while the rest of the concert featured Sketch Show, HASYMO music and members' solo works.

In August 2009, the band played the World Happiness festival in Japan, featuring many Japanese artists. The band closed the night, and confirmed that "Yellow Magic Orchestra" was their official name, dropping the HASYMO title. They opened with a cover of "Hello, Goodbye" and performed old YMO songs along with their newer songs.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In August 2010, YMO once again closed their World Happiness festival. They added classic songs from their back catalog into their set list. They also covered "Hello, Goodbye" and "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)".<ref>[1] Template:Webarchive</ref> In January 2011, KCRW announced for their World Festival concert series that Yellow Magic Orchestra will perform at the Hollywood Bowl on June 26, 2011.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Not long after, a concert for June 27, 2011, at The Warfield was added.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> It was announced in February that YMO would perform at the Fuji Rock festival in July and the World Happiness festival 2011 on August 7.

In 2012, Sakamoto helped organize the No Nukes 2012 festival held in the Makuhari Messe hall in Chiba, Japan, on July 7 and 8, 2012.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Among the many artists performing, Kraftwerk closed the July 7 concert, with YMO performing on both days, closing the July 8 concert.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> YMO also headlined their World Happiness festival on August 12, 2012.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> After these performances, the band once again went quiet; though no formal announcement was made of a hiatus or breakup, the band ultimately did not reconvene for further recordings or headlining concerts.

On June 23, 2018, Hosono played his debut UK solo concert at the Barbican Centre in London; Takahashi and Sakamoto joined him on stage to perform "Absolute Ego Dance", marking the final time that the three would appear together in public. (The band featured in Hosono's second and third "Yellow Magic Show" on Japanese TV, both recorded in 2019; their appearance in the third was in front of a live audience, but Sakamoto appeared via prerecorded video.)

2023: Takahashi and Sakamoto's deaths

On January 11, 2023, Takahashi died at the age of 70, following a case of pneumonia. He had undergone surgery to remove a brain tumor in 2020 but continued to have health troubles that interfered with his musical activities in the intervening years.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> That same year, Sakamoto died on March 28 at the age of 71, following a lengthy battle with cancer; leaving Hosono as the last surviving member of the group.

Musical style and development

While their contemporaries in Düsseldorf, and later Detroit, were using synthesizer technology to create bleak dystopian music, YMO introduced a more "joyous and liberating" approach to electronic music. According to Sakamoto, they were "tired" of Japanese musicians imitating Western and American music at the time and so they wanted to "make something very original from Japan."<ref name="sfweekly_interview"/> Kraftwerk was particularly an influence on Sakamoto, who heard the band in the mid-1970s and later introduced them to his fellow band members.<ref name="sfweekly_interview"/> They were impressed with Kraftwerk's "very formalized" style but wanted to avoid imitating their "very German" approach. He described Kraftwerk's music as "theoretical, very focused, simple and minimal and strong".<ref name="geeta_disco">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Their alternative template for electronic pop was less minimalistic, made more varying use of synthesizer lines, introduced "fun-loving and breezy" sounds,<ref name="bogdanov_565">Template:Cite book</ref> and placed a strong emphasis on melody<ref name="sfweekly_interview"/> in contrast to Kraftwerk's statuesque "robot pop".<ref>{{#ifeq: | yes | https://www.allmusic.com/Template:Trim/p4706{{

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The band also drew from a wider range of influences than had been employed by Kraftwerk.<ref name="sicko_brewster">Template:Cite book</ref> These influences on YMO included Japanese electronic music (such as Isao Tomita),<ref name="loubet_couroux">Template:Cite journal</ref> traditional Japanese music, experimental Chinese music (of the Cultural Revolution era),<ref name="sfweekly_interview">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Indian music (such as Ravi Shankar and Bollywood music),<ref name="pitchfork"/> arcade game samples,<ref name="guardian_ymo"/><ref name="wire_2002">Template:Citation</ref> American rap,<ref name="allmusic_bgm"/> exotica,<ref name="sicko_brewster"/> Caribbean ska,<ref name="sicko_brewster"/> Giorgio Moroder's disco work,<ref name="allmusic_ymo"/> the Beatles, the Beach Boys and their leader Brian Wilson,<ref name=RBMA2014solo>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Van Dyke Parks,Template:Citation needed classical music,<ref name="dayal_interview"/> animal sounds,<ref>Template:YouTube</ref> and noise.<ref name="guardian_hoban">Template:Cite news</ref> Sakamoto has expressed that his "concept when making music is that there is no border between music and noise."<ref name="guardian_hoban"/>

Sampling

{{#invoke:Listen|main}}

Their approach to sampling music was a precursor to the contemporary approach of constructing music by cutting fragments of sounds and looping them using computer technology.<ref name="condry_59">Template:Cite book</ref> Their 1978 hit "Computer Game / Firecracker", for example, sampled Martin Denny's 1959 exotica melody "Firecracker"<ref name="guardian_ymo"/> and arcade game sounds from Space Invaders and Circus.<ref name="guardian_ymo"/><ref name="wire_2002"/> According to The Vinyl District magazine, they also released the first album to feature mostly samples and loops (1981's Technodelic).<ref name="thevinyldistrict">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The pace at which the band's music evolved has been acknowledged by critics. According to SF Weekly, YMO's musical timeline has gone from "zany exotica-disco spoofs" and "bleeps and blips" in the 1970s to "sensuous musique concrète perfected" in their 1983 albums Naughty Boys and Service.<ref name="sfweekly_interview"/>

Technodelic (1981) was produced using the LMD-649, a PCM digital sampler that Toshiba-EMI sound engineer Kenji Murata custom-built for YMO.<ref name="rockin">Template:Cite magazine Tokyosky (February 3, 2011). "月刊ロッキンf 1982年3月号 LMD-649の記事 1982" [Article on the LMD-649 from the March 1982 Issue of Monthly Rockin' f]. Tokyosky Webmaster's Blog</ref> Soon after Technodelic, the LMD-649 was used by YMO-associated acts such as Chiemi Manabe<ref>Chiemi Manabe – 不思議・少女 Template:Webarchive, Discogs</ref> and Logic System.<ref>Logic System – Orient Express Template:Webarchive, Discogs</ref>

Instruments

File:Roland TR-808 drum machine.jpg

YMO was the first band to use the Roland TR-808 Rhythm Composer, which has appeared on more hit records than any other drum machine.

The band often utilized a wide variety of state-of-the-art electronic music equipment immediately as they were made available.<ref name=Tanaka2014 /><ref name="discogs_ymo_lp">Template:Discogs release</ref> The group leader Haruomi Hosono had already been using an Ace Tone rhythm machine since early in his career in the early 1970s.<ref name="wire2017"/> Yellow Magic Orchestra and Ryuichi Sakamoto's Thousand Knives were one of the earliest popular music albums to utilize the Roland MC-8 Microcomposer, which was programmed by Hideki Matsutake during recording sessions.<ref name="knives_cd"/><ref name="discogs_ymo_lp"/> Roland called the MC-8 a "computer music composer" and it was the first stand-alone microprocessor-based music sequencer.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="SOS Nov. 2004">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Chadabe, Joel. 1997. Electric Sound: The Past and Promise of Electronic Music. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, (p. 194). Template:ISBN.</ref> It also introduced features such as a keypad to enter note information and 16 KB of RAM which allowed a maximum sequence length of 5200 notes, a huge step forward from the 8–16 step sequencers of the era.<ref name="SOS Nov. 2004"/> While it was commercially unsuccessful due to its high price,<ref name="SOS Nov. 2004"/> the band were among the few bands at the time to utilize the MC-8, which they described as, along with its music programmer Hideki Matsutake, an "inevitable factor" in both their music production and live performances.<ref name="sound_147">Template:Cite book</ref> "Behind the Mask" (1979) made use of synthesizers for the melodies and digital gated reverb for the snare drums.<ref name=Tanaka2014/> It was one of the first songs to use gated reverb, a technique that later became popular in 1980s pop music.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

They were also the very first band to utilize the Roland TR-808 Rhythm Composer, one of the first and most influential programmable drum machines, as soon as it was released in 1980.<ref name="cbc_808">Template:Cite news</ref> While the machine was initially unsuccessful due to its lack of digital sampling that the rival Linn LM-1 offered, the TR-808 featured various unique artificial percussion sounds,<ref name="cbc_808"/> including a deep bass kick drum,<ref name="hess_2007">Template:Citation</ref><ref name="wired">Template:Cite magazine</ref> "tinny handclap sounds",<ref name="wired"/> "the ticky snare, the tishy hi-hats (open and closed)", and "the spacey cowbell",<ref name="cbc_808"/> which YMO utilized and demonstrated in their music, as early as its year of release in 1980, paving the way for the TR-808's mainstream popularity several years later,<ref name="cbc_808"/><ref name="hess_2007"/> after which it would be used for more hit records than any other drum machine<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and continue to be widely used through to the present day.<ref name="cbc_808"/> Hosono said the 808 is his favourite machine because "that sound is close to the Japanese Wadaiko drum, it has a unique presence."<ref name="undermain">Template:Cite news</ref>

At the time, Billboard noted that the use of such computer-based technology in conjunction with synthesizers allowed YMO to create new sounds that were not possible until then.<ref name="billboard_1979"/> Yellow Magic Orchestra was also the first computer-themed music album, coming before Kraftwerk's Computer World (1981) by several years.<ref name="japantimes"/> As a result of such innovations, YMO were credited at the time for having "ushered in the age of the computer programmer as rock star."<ref name="sarasota"/>

Other electronic equipment used by the group included the LMD-649 sampler (see Sampling above),<ref name="rockin"/> Roland MC-4 Microcomposer sequencer,<ref name=Tanaka2014 /> Pollard Syndrum electronic drums,<ref name="discogs_ymo_lp"/> Roland VP-330 and Korg VC-10 vocoders,<ref name="discogs_ymo_lp"/><ref name=Tanaka2014 /> Yamaha CS-80 and DX7 synthesizers,<ref>Tim Barr, Kraftwerk: from Dusseldorf to the Future With Love, page 152, Random House</ref><ref name=Tanaka2014 /> Korg PS-3100 and PS-3300 synthesizers,<ref name="discogs_ymo_lp"/><ref name=Tanaka2014 /> Moog III-C and Polymoog synthesizers, and ARP Odyssey, Oberheim Eight Voice, and E-mu Emulator synthesizers.<ref name=Tanaka2014 /> Electric instruments were also used, the Fender Rhodes piano and Fender Jazz Bass.<ref name="discogs_ymo_lp"/>

Legacy

The band has been described as "the original cyberpunks"<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and their early work has been described as "proto-techno" music.<ref name="keyboard_28">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> By the 1990s, YMO were also frequently cited as pioneers of ambient house music.<ref name="allmusic_ymo"/> YMO also popularized a style of live performance that eschewed human movement in favour of electronics such as rhythm boxes and samplers.<ref name="takamura_1997">Template:Cite book</ref> They also influenced the New Romantic movement,<ref name="takamura_1997"/>Template:Failed verification including British bands Duran Duran<ref name="guardian_ymo"/> and Japan, whose member Steve Jansen was influenced by drummer Takahashi,<ref name="japan_lifeintokyo">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> while lead member David Sylvian was influenced by Sakamoto, who would later collaborate with Sylvian.<ref name="japan_lifeintokyo"/>

Various cover versions of "Kimi ni Mune Kyun" (1983) have also been produced by other artists,<ref name="whosampled"/> including The Human League in 1993 ("YMO Versus The Human League")<ref name="YMO_League">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and Asako Toki in 2006.<ref name="whosampled"/> In 2009, a cover of "Kimi ni Mune Kyun" was used as the ending theme song for the anime adaptation of Maria Holic, sung by Asami Sanada, Marina Inoue, and Yū Kobayashi, the voice actresses of the main characters. In 2015, in the anime Sound! Euphonium, episode 5, the song "Rydeen" is played by Kitauji highschool's orchestra. The popular anime series Dragon Ball Z also paid homage to the band with the song "Solid State Scouter" as the theme song of the 1990 TV special Dragon Ball Z: Bardock – The Father of Goku.

In HMV's list of top 100 Japanese musicians of all time, YMO were voted second place, behind only Southern All Stars, a pop-rock band who remain largely unknown outside Japan.<ref name="geek_20">Template:Cite journal</ref> In 2006, Senor Coconut paid tribute to the band with his Yellow Fever! album.<ref name="clashmusic"/>

Electronic music

YMO were pioneers of synthpop, a genre which emerged at the start of the 1980s. In 1993, Johnny Black of Hi-Fi News, in a review for the record Hi-Tech/No Crime, described YMO as "the most adventurous and influential electro-techno-dance technicians the world has produced" and further argued that "without them (and Kraftwerk) today's music would still sound like yesterday's music."<ref name="fidelity_1993">Template:Cite journal</ref> In 2001, Jason Ankeny of the Allmusic Guide to Electronica described YMO as "a seminal influence on contemporary electronic music – hugely popular both at home and abroad" and placed them "second only to Kraftwerk as innovators of today's electronic culture."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The 1980 release of Sakamoto's "Riot in Lagos" was listed by The Guardian in 2011 as one of the 50 key important events in the history of dance music, listing at number six.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

YMO are considered pioneers in the field of popular electronic music, and continue to be remixed or sampled by modern artists,<ref name="allmusic_ymo"/> including experimental artist Yamantaka Eye, electronica group LFO, jungle band 4hero, electrolatino artist Senor Coconut, ambient house pioneers The Orb and 808 State,<ref name="dayal_interview"/> electronic music groups Orbital<ref name="camera_mosdell"/> and The Human League,<ref name="YMO_League"/> hip hop pioneer Afrika Bambaataa,<ref name="wire_1996"/> and mainstream pop musicians such as Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones, Greg Phillinganes,<ref name="camera_mosdell">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Eric Clapton, Mariah Carey, and Jennifer Lopez.<ref name="fox_mariah_jlo"/>

YMO's success with music technology encouraged many others, with their influence strongly felt in the British electronic scene of the early 1980s in particular.<ref name="Hardy_1987"/> They influenced many early British synthpop acts, including Ultravox, John Foxx, Gary Numan, Duran Duran,<ref name="guardian_ymo"/> Depeche Mode,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Camouflage,<ref name="allmusic_ymo"/><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> OMD, The Human League,<ref name="sfweekly_interview"/> Visage,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and Art of Noise,<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> as well as American rock musicians such as Todd Rundgren.<ref name="guardian_ymo"/>

YMO also influenced techno music,<ref name="bogdanov_1996">Template:Cite bookTemplate:Dead link</ref> including its pioneers Juan Atkins, Kevin Saunderson, and Derrick May,<ref>Reynolds, Simon, Energy Flash: a Journey Through Rave Music and Dance Culture, p. 15, Pan Macmillan, 1998 (Template:ISBN)</ref> who cited YMO as an important influence on their work alongside Kraftwerk.<ref>Archived at GhostarchiveTemplate:Cbignore and the Wayback MachineTemplate:Cbignore: {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}Template:Cbignore</ref> YMO continued to influence later techno musicians such as Surgeon, μ-Ziq, and Cosmic Baby.<ref name="allmusic_ymo"/> "Technopolis" (1979) in particular is considered an "interesting contribution" to the development of Detroit techno and the group Cybotron.<ref name="sicko_brewster"/> "Computer Game" (1978) also influenced Sheffield's bleep techno music; the Warp record, Sweet Exorcist's "Testone" (1990), defined Sheffield's techno sound by making playful use of sampled sounds from "Computer Game" along with dialogues from the film Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977).<ref>Template:Citation</ref> "Computer Game" (1978) was later included in Carl Craig's compilation album Kings of Techno (2006).<ref>{{#ifeq: | yes | https://www.allmusic.com/Template:Trim/Template:Trim{{

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The earliest use of the term "techno" in reference to an electronic genre is credited to YMO, who coined the term "techno-pop" in the late 1970s. They used the word 'techno' in a number of their works, such as the song "Technopolis" (1979), the album Technodelic (1981), and a flexi disc EP, "The Spirit of Techno" (1983).<ref name="Pitchfork">Template:Cite news</ref> "Technopolis", a tribute to Tokyo as an electronic mecca that used the term "techno" in its title, foreshadowed concepts that Juan Atkins and Rick Davis would later have with Cybotron.<ref name="sicko_brewster"/> When Yellow Magic Orchestra toured the United States in 1980, they described their own music as technopop, and were written up in Rolling Stone magazine.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

In the 1990s, YMO influenced ambient house pioneers such as The Orb and 808 State,<ref name="dayal_interview"/> as well as Ultramarine and other ambient/house artists.<ref name="allmusic_ymo"/> This resulted in the release of the tribute remix album Yellow Magic Orchestra: Hi-Tech/No Crime in 1993,<ref name="allmusic_ymo"/> by leading ambient, house and techno musicians at the time, including The Orb, 808 State, and Orbital.<ref>{{#ifeq: | yes | https://www.allmusic.com/Template:Trim/Template:Trim{{

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}}</ref> The music YMO produced during their comeback in the early 1990s also played an instrumental role in the techno and acid house movements towards the end of the 20th century.<ref name="UGO"/> The band's use of oriental musical scales and video game sounds has continued to be an influence on 21st-century electronica acts such as Dizzee Rascal, Kieran Hebden,<ref name="guardian_ymo"/> and Ikonika.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Hip hop

YMO had a significant influence on the development of early hip-hop music.<ref name="undermain2" /> The band was popular with the emerging hip hop community, which appreciated the group's new electronic sounds, and in the Bronx where Firecracker was a success and sampled in the famous Death Mix by Afrika Bambaataa.<ref name="wire_1996"/><ref name="buckley_2003"/> Bambaataa also cited subsequent YMO albums as well as Sakamoto's 1980 solo track "Riot in Lagos" as influences.<ref name="undermain2" /> Afrika Bambaataa's influential song "Planet Rock" was partly inspired by YMO.<ref name="perkins_1996">Template:Citation</ref><ref name="cmj_1999">Template:Citation</ref> The "terse videogame-funk" sounds of YMO's "Computer Game" would have a strong influence on the emerging electro and hip hop genres.<ref name="dayal_interview"/>

YMO as well as Sakamoto's "Riot in Lagos" were cited by Kurtis Mantronik as major influences on his early electro hip hop group Mantronix;<ref>Template:Citation</ref> he included both "Computer Game" and "Riot in Lagos" in his compilation album That's My Beat (2002) which consists of the songs that influenced his early career.<ref>{{#ifeq: | yes | https://www.allmusic.com/Template:Trim/Template:Trim{{

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}}</ref> The song was also later included in Playgroup's compilation album Kings of Electro (2007), alongside later electro classics such as Hashim's "Al-Nafyish" (1983).<ref>{{#ifeq: | yes | https://www.allmusic.com/Template:Trim/Template:Trim{{

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}}</ref> Sakamoto's use of squelching bounce sounds and mechanical beats was incorporated in a number of early American electro and hip hop tracks, such as "Message II (Survival)" by Melle Mel and Duke Bootee (1982), "Magic's Wand" (1982) by Whodini and Thomas Dolby, "Electric Kingdom" (1983) by Twilight 22, and The Album (1985) by Mantronix.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

YMO's use of video game sounds and bleeps also had a particularly big influence on 1980s hip hop<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and pop music.<ref name="sfweekly_interview" /> Beyond early electro and hip hop acts, "Computer Game / Firecracker" was also sampled by a number of other later artists, including 2 Live Crew's "Mega-Mixx II" (1987),<ref name="whosampled">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> De La Soul's "Funky Towel" (for the 1996 film Joe's Apartment),<ref>Template:Citation</ref> Jennifer Lopez's "I'm Real" (2001), and the original unreleased version of Mariah Carey's "Loverboy" (2001).<ref name="fox_mariah_jlo">Template:Cite news</ref>

Japan

The band has also been very influential in its homeland Japan, where they had become the most popular group during the late 1970s and 1980s.<ref name="guardian_ymo"/> Their albums Solid State Survivor and X∞Multiplies held the top two spots on the Oricon charts for seven consecutive weeks in 1980, making YMO the only band in Japanese chart history to achieve this feat.<ref name="oricon_ymo"/> Young fans of their music during this period became known as the Template:Nihongo.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In Japan, YMO sold 4,165,000 albums<ref name="oricon_album_archive2">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and 1,123,000 singles,<ref name="oricon_single_archive2">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> for a total of {{#expr:4,165,000+1,123,000}} records sold nationwide.

The band significantly affected Japanese pop music, which started becoming increasingly dominated by electronic and computer music due to YMO's influence.<ref name="loubet_couroux"/> YMO were one of the most important acts in Japan's "New Music" movement and paved the way for the emergence of contemporary J-pop in the 1980s.<ref name="whonejp">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }} (Translation Template:Webarchive)</ref> The band also had a significant influence on the development of city pop, with YMO influencing the genre to incorporate electronic instruments and with the YMO members themselves working on various city pop records.<ref name=EssentialFactmag/><ref name="Qobuz">Template:Cite news</ref>

They also inspired early ambient techno artists such as Tetsu Inoue,<ref>{{#ifeq: | yes | https://www.allmusic.com/Template:Trim/Template:Trim{{

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}}</ref> and the classical music composer Joe Hisaishi.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The manga author Akira Toriyama, creator of Dragon Ball and Dr. Slump, cited Yellow Magic Orchestra as his favorite music band in a 1980 interview.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Video games

YMO also influenced many video game composers and significantly affected the sounds used in much of the chiptune and video game music produced during the 8-bit and 16-bit eras.<ref name="japantimes">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 1994, four video game composers employed at Namco formed a parody band called Oriental Magnetic Yellow (OMY), producing parody cover versions of various YMO records, consisting of Shinji Hosoe as Haruomi Hosonoe, Nobuyoshi Sano as Ryuichi Sanomoto, Takayuki Aihara as Takayukihiro Aihara, and Hiroto Sasaki as Hideki Sasatake.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Members

Official members

• Haruomi Hosono – bass, keyboards, vocals (1978–1984; 1992–1993; 2002–2004; 2007–2012)
• Yukihiro Takahashi – lead vocals, drums, percussion, occasional keyboards (1978–1984; 1992–1993; 2002–2004; 2007–2012; died 2023)
• Ryuichi Sakamoto – keyboards, synthesizers, vocals (1978–1984; 1992–1993; 2002–2004; 2007–2012; died 2023)

Frequent collaborators

• Hideki Matsutake – synthesizers, sound programming, sequencers (1978–1982)

Discography

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}}

• Yellow Magic Orchestra (1978)
• Solid State Survivor (1979)
• ×∞ Multiplies (also known as Zoshoku, 1980)Template:Refn
• BGM (1981)
• Technodelic (1981)
• Naughty Boys (1983)
• Service (1983)
• Technodon (credited to YMO, 1993)

External links

• YMO Template:In lang
• {{#if:Yellow Magic Orchestra|Template:PAGENAMEBASE discography at Discogs|{{#if:Template:Wikidata|Template:Wikidata Template:PAGENAMEBASE discography at DiscogsTemplate:EditAtWikidata|Template:PAGENAMEBASE discography at Discogs}}}}
• Template:Imdb name
• Official Facebook website
• Official MySpace website