B'z

Lore & Background

B'z formed in 1988 after guitarist Tak Matsumoto, busy with session work, sought a singer and discovered Koshi Inaba through a demo tape. At their first session, they played The Beatles' 'Let It Be' and 'Oh! Darling'. They decided to remain a two-man unit, believing guitar and human voice were sounds that could not be replicated by digital music. Their debut album and single were released on September 21, 1988, featuring an experimental sound with synthesizers and samplers.

Instead of performing live immediately, they waited until they had enough material. Their second album, Off the Lock, was preceded by their first live performances, 'Live-Gym #00', which took place before the album's release in 1989 and sold out on the day tickets became available. Their single 'Taiyō no Komachi Angel' (1990) started a trend of every subsequent single debuting at No. 1 on the Oricon Singles Chart. Over the years, their style shifted from pop rock to hard rock and blues, as seen in albums like The 7th Blues (1994) and Loose (1995), the latter selling over 3 million copies.

In 1997, Inaba released a solo album, Magma, but there was no hiatus—B'z released 'Survive' in 1998 and toured extensively that same year. B'z's first compilation album, B'z The Best 'Pleasure' (1998), sold over 5 million copies, becoming the first Japanese album to reach that milestone. They have released 50 consecutive No. 1 singles, 28 No. 1 albums, and 4 No. 1 EPs on the Oricon charts, selling more than 100 million records worldwide.

Reader's Guide

B'z holds a significant place in music history as one of the world's best-selling artists and the best-selling act in Japan by certifications. Their 50 consecutive No. 1 singles and 27 No. 1 albums on the Oricon charts demonstrate sustained commercial dominance. In 2003, HMV Japan ranked them at number 30 on their list of the 100 most important Japanese pop acts. In 2007, they became the first music act from Asia to have their handprints and signatures placed on Hollywood's RockWalk. In 2008, they received a Guinness World Record for 'Best-selling album act in Japan', also noting them as the best-selling act in Japan overall. Their legacy includes pioneering a two-man rock unit in Japan, evolving from experimental pop rock to hard rock and blues, and influencing the Japanese music scene through their 'Live-Gym' concert series and massive album sales.

Did You Know?

• B'z is the best-selling music act in Japan by certifications, with over 100 million records sold worldwide.
• They have achieved 50 consecutive No. 1 singles on the Oricon Singles Chart.

The Two-Man Philosophy

In the late 1980s, guitarist Takahiro Matsumoto was already a highly in-demand session musician, lending his playing to acts like TM Network and Mari Hamada, and had even released a well-received solo album called Thousand Wave in May 1988. Yet he felt the pull to build something of his own. Through his management company, he came across a demo tape from vocalist Koshi Inaba, and the two sat down for a first session where they played The Beatles' "Let It Be" and "Oh! Darling." Japan's music scene was in the middle of a band boom, and mainstream productions were saturated with digital production. Matsumoto and Inaba reasoned that the raw interplay of a guitar and a human voice was something no synthesizer or sampler could truly capture, so they committed to remaining a strict two-person unit. Their debut arrived on September 21, 1988, with the self-titled album and the single "Dakara Sono Te o Hanashite." The early sound was experimental, blending guitar with heavy synthesizer and sampler textures—a far cry from the hard rock identity that would later define them.

A Record-Breaking Commercial Reign

B'z occupies a singular position in global music history as one of the best-selling acts of all time and, by certification, the top-selling artist in Japan. Their Oricon chart résumé is staggering: fifty consecutive number-one singles, twenty-seven number-one albums, and four number-one EPs, with cumulative worldwide sales surpassing one hundred million records. The streak of chart-topping singles began in June 1990 with "Taiyō no Komachi Angel," and every single released after that point debuted at the top of the Oricon Singles Chart. Their dominance has been formally recognized on multiple occasions. In 2003, HMV Japan placed them at number thirty on its list of the one hundred most important Japanese pop acts. In 2007, B'z became the first act from Asia to receive handprints and signatures on Hollywood's RockWalk. Then in 2008, Guinness World Records officially named them the best-selling album act in Japan, a distinction that also made them the best-selling act in the country overall.

From Experimental Pop to Hard Rock and Beyond

B'z's sound evolved dramatically over the first few years of their career. Their 1988 debut leaned heavily on synthesizers and samplers, producing an experimental texture that shared the spotlight with Matsumoto's guitar. By 1990, with the album Risky, the duo began a steady pivot away from pop rock toward the driving, guitar-forward hard rock of the 1980s. The 1991 release In the Life marked a further departure from digital production, pushing the music closer to a rawer rock aesthetic. By the time Run arrived in October 1992, the hard rock orientation was even more pronounced. The following years brought new textures: the 1992 mini-album Friends adopted a concept reminiscent of a film soundtrack, while 1994's double album The 7th Blues—titled partly after the seventh chord central to blues music—signaled a deliberate turn toward blues-inflected rock. Each era reflected the duo's refusal to settle into a single formula, constantly reshaping their sonic identity while maintaining the core partnership of guitar and voice.

The Live-Gym: A Touring Phenomenon

Rather than rushing into live shows after their debut, B'z deliberately waited until they had enough polished material to perform. When they finally took the stage, they branded their concerts "Live-Gyms," a name that stuck with fans. The very first Live-Gym, #00, ran through Nagoya, Osaka, and Tokyo, with tickets selling out the moment they went on sale. From there, the scale grew relentlessly: sixteen shows for Off the Lock, twenty-two for Break Through, forty-nine for the Risky tour, and sixty-six for In the Life, with the total number of Live-Gyms in a single year exceeding one hundred. The 1992 "Time" tour introduced arena-class spectacle, including a massive lighting rig nicknamed the Starfish and seats that rotated a full three hundred and sixty degrees. In 1993, B'z held their first open-air concert at Bentenjima in Hamamatsu, drawing fifty thousand fans per night for a combined audience of one hundred thousand. Their 1994 tour stretched to eighty-seven performances, making it their longest and largest to that point.

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