THE BOOM

Overview

THE BOOM is a Japanese four-piece rock band formed in November 1986 and disbanded in 2014. The lineup was Kazufumi Miyazawa (vocals), Takashi Kobayashi (guitar), Hiromasa Yamakawa (bass) and Takao Tochigi (drums). Their best-known songs include "Hoshi no Love Letter" (1989), "Shima Uta" (1993) and "Kaze ni Naritai" (1995). Across 28 years, despite several hiatuses, the band never changed its lineup. Miyazawa chose the name as a paradox: a band that would stay true to its own music regardless of trends. Emerging in the late-1980s band boom, they won fans with flashy live shows, jumping, dancing and diving from the stage into the crowd.

Career

Formation and the Hokoten years (1986-1988)

Four friends from Yamanashi Prefecture formed the band in November 1986. On July 26, 1987 they began playing at the Harajuku Hokoten (pedestrian paradise) street scene, and on December 18, 1988 they passed a Sony audition.

Debut and first hiatus (1989-1992)

They made their major debut on May 21, 1989 with the single "Kimi wa TV-kko" and the album A Peacetime Boom, released together. On September 5 they began their first national tour, the "Signature Live": fans signed petitions at record stores asking for the band to visit, and the band played where the most signatures were collected. Their second album, Sairen no Ohisama, and the single "Kikyu ni Notte" followed on December 1.

A full national tour began on January 30, 1990, and on July 26, exactly three years after their first Hokoten show, they played their first Nippon Budokan concert, performing on a stage built in the middle of the arena, surrounded by about 11,000 fans. The third album, JAPANESKA (September 1990), became a turning point that broadened their sound.

The mini-album D.E.M.O., re-arranging songs from their amateur days, came out in March 1991. The fourth album, Shisyunki (January 22, 1992), included "Shima Uta." After a show in Osaka on August 8, 1992 the band went on hiatus for the rest of the year, with no return date set, and the members pursued solo work. Miyazawa joined the musical "Nagaland" at the invitation of Singaporean musician Dick Lee and toured Asia, an experience that laid the groundwork for the 1993 album FACELESS MAN. The first best-of album, THE BOOM, appeared on September 21, and "Shima Uta (Uchinaguchi Version)" was released in Okinawa only on December 12. Helped by an awamori commercial tie-up and a wave of interest in Okinawa, the song began to catch fire.

Return and the success of "Shima Uta" (1993-1997)

The band returned in earnest with the tour "Kini Itta Kyoku ga Dekita Kara" starting February 25, 1993. "Shima Uta (Original Version)" was released nationwide on June 21, 1993 and sold about 1.5 million copies, bringing fame at home and abroad. On December 31, 1993 they won the Best Song Award at the 35th Japan Record Awards and performed the song at the 44th NHK Kōhaku Uta Gassen. Miyazawa wanted to write more Okinawan songs, which led to an album of purely Okinawan material.

"Kaze ni Naritai" was cut as a single on March 24, 1995 and became a hit, followed by "Kaero-kana" and "Tsuki sae mo Nemuru Yoru." On August 26, 1995, marking 50 years since the end of the Battle of Okinawa, they performed "Teida Akara Nami Kirara," set to publicly submitted lyrics, at an event in Naha; it was released as an Okinawa-only single. In May 1996 they gave their first overseas concerts, four shows in three Brazilian cities. In January 1997 they appeared at MIDEM in Cannes and on July 10 at the Montreux Jazz Festival, after which the group paused and the members went solo.

Solo activity and the "Shima Uta" revival (1998-2003)

In March 1998 Miyazawa sang the theme song "Tabidachi no Toki" at the opening ceremony of the Nagano Paralympics. On June 29 the band made a surprise appearance at the farewell shows of Nissin Power Station, playing three songs, and in November they regrouped to record a new album.

They resumed activity with the single "Tsuki ni Furu Ame" on April 28, 1999, and held 10th-anniversary concerts at Osaka-jo Hall and the Nippon Budokan in May. That year they moved from Sony Music to Toshiba EMI. In October 2001 they released "Kamisama no Hoseki de dekita Shima/Shima Uta" on their own label.

In spring 2002 news arrived that Argentine multi-talent Alfredo Casero had covered "Shima Uta" in Japanese and scored a huge hit. Sony Music reissued the song as "Shima Uta - Shima Uta" on May 22, 2002; helped by the Argentine hit and its adoption as a support song for Argentina at the 2002 FIFA World Cup, it sold 100,000 copies in a revival hit. "Kaze ni Naritai (Samba.Novo)" followed on August 6, 2003.

15th anniversary and Ganga Zumba (2004-2008)

The band held 15th-anniversary concerts titled "Arigato" at Osaka-jo Hall (May 5, 2004) and the Nippon Budokan (May 8). In August 2005 twelve past albums were reissued, digitally remastered with bonus tracks. THE BOOM did not operate in 2006-2007: members worked solo, and Miyazawa formed a new band, Ganga Zumba, whose first album Um came out in April 2007. In 2006 "Shima Uta" was adopted in a junior high school English textbook.

On May 21, 2008 the members appeared as secret guests at a Miyazawa solo show, the first time all four had shared a stage in two and a half years. On September 15 they performed at "10,000 SAMBA!" in Yokohama, marking the 100th anniversary of Japanese immigration to Brazil, and announced their move to avex. On December 31 they appeared on the 59th Kōhaku Uta Gassen in a Brazilian-immigration segment as "Kazufumi Miyazawa in Ganga Zumba & The Boom."

20th to 25th anniversary and disbandment (2009-2014)

Activity officially resumed for the 20th anniversary in 2009. On May 20 they released their first single in about six years, "Yume kara Samete/All of Everything," together with the best-of 89-09 THE BOOM COLLECTION 1989-2009, and held anniversary concerts at Osaka Castle Open-Air Concert Hall (May 23) and Hibiya Open-Air Concert Hall (May 30). The national tour "My Sweet Home" began on July 9, and on October 7 they issued Shijuso ("Quartet"), their first album in about five and a half years.

On September 29, 2010 they released "Aoi Yuhi," the first of a collaboration trilogy, featuring Yu of GO!GO!7188. On March 2, 2011 came "Akatsuki Zukuyo," a collaboration single with Sayuri Ishikawa, and on August 27 a free open-air concert in Kofu, Yamanashi drew about 3,500 people; the album Yotchabare appeared in 2011. In 2013 they moved to Yoshimoto R&C, and on March 20 released a newly recorded single for the 20th anniversary of "Shima Uta."

On March 31, 2014 they announced they would disband at the end of the year. A newly recorded "Hoshi no Love Letter" was released on May 21 as a 25th-anniversary single, followed on September 17 by THE BOOM HISTORY ALBUM 1989-2014 25 PEACETIME BOOM. Their final tour, "25 PEACETIME BOOM," began on September 19 and ended with the last concert "THE BOOM FINAL 20141217" at the Nippon Budokan on December 17, 2014.

After the breakup

The official website and Facebook page closed on March 31, 2016. On May 24, 2017 an analog 7-inch single of "Kaze ni Naritai" was released as part of the J-POP compilation project "Ace." Miyazawa has also released solo albums and written songs for other artists, including Akiko Yano, Kyoko Koizumi and Rimi Natsukawa.

Musical style

Until the early 1990s THE BOOM was a conventional rock band, but JAPANESKA (1990) widened their range. Their sound moved from cheerful, light ska in the early days to Okinawan influences in the early 1990s, Brazilian rhythms in the mid-1990s and kayokyoku later on, always blending ska, rock, folk and Okinawan folk music into a style of their own, often exploring several genres at once. Miyazawa writes the lyrics and music, inspired by Okinawan music; the 2002 album OKINAWA -Watashi no Shima- is made up entirely of Okinawan-themed songs. At their own concerts the band sometimes opened as a fictional act, Horustains, showing a humorous side.