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Difference between revisions of "JUDY AND MARY"
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* [1996.10.28] [[Classic]] (クラシック)
 
* [1996.10.28] [[Classic]] (クラシック)
 
* [1997.02.21] [[Kujira 12 Gou]] (くじら12号; ''Whale 12'')
 
* [1997.02.21] [[Kujira 12 Gou]] (くじら12号; ''Whale 12'')
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* [1997.10.15] [[Lover Soul]]
 
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* [1998.02.11] [[Sampomichi]] (散步道; ''Walking Path'')
 
* [1998.02.11] [[Sampomichi]] (散步道; ''Walking Path'')

Revision as of 04:18, 5 February 2010

JUDY AND MARY

JUDY AND MARY (ジュディ アンド マリー) was a Japanese rock band under Sony Music Entertainment's Epic Records sub-label. The band made their indie debut in 1992 with their mini-album, "Be Ambitious" and made their major debut in 1993 with the single "POWER OF LOVE". The band is best known for their noisy but melodic pop and "cute punk" music in the 1990s. After multiple hiatus' the band finally disbanded in 2001. According to a 2005 episode of Music Station the band was listed as being the 44th best-selling artist in Japan with compiled sales of over 14,130,000. A more recent figure brings the bands sales to over 14,737,920 in Japan alone.

Members

Information

Early Years

It all started back in 1991 when Onda Yoshihito meet the then college junior Isoya Yuki while she was on a film shoot. The two met in a local bar where Onda was playing. Yuki made quite an impression on him and the two became quick friends. A few months after Yuki returned home, she sent him a demo tape with some of her vocal samples. The two then started to form a band.

This cute and scandalous mixture is where their band name came from. They have explained that "Judy" and "Mary" are the two conflicting personalities embodied in every human being. As their songs say "Judy is a Punkrocker" and can be the reasoning behind their crazy songs; "Mary", we can assume, is the good-girl behind all the soft, more-ballad related songs.

Onda first left his band (Jacks'n Joker), and then the two recruit the band a drummer, Igarashi Kohta. The band was soon signed to the indie label Chainsaw Records, despite only having support member on guitar. With the label, the band released a mini-album ("Be Ambitious") and a video ("It's a Gaudy It's a Gross") several months later. The bands' music at this time had a very heavy punk sound.

After the bands' release of their debut, they headed out on an extensive tour, starting in the Kanto region in May of 1992. The band soon gathered a small follow and gained positive reviews for their high energy music and manic stage shows.

Major Label

JUDY AND MARY promoting "J・A・M" (1994)

Then, in early 2003, Asanuma Takuya was added to the bands line-up as their full-time guitarist. Not long after his arrival into the band, they landed a record deal. The band signed with Sony Music Entertainment's Epic Records sub-label. The group then made their major label debut with the single, "POWER OF LOVE".

In 1994, the band went on to release their first full-length album, "J・A・M" and then released a re-cut single. The album contained a few tracks from the bands indie release like "JUDY IS A T∀NK GIRL" and "GLAMOUR PUNKS". Most of the songs received a new arrangement, and "GLAMOUR PUNKS" this time around was sung by Yuki instead of Onda. All the songs on the album had lyrics written by Yuki and had music composed by Onda; with the exception of the song "LOVE ME DO!" which was composed by Yuki as well.

The band started releasing their next set of singles in August of 1994. "Hello! Orange Sunshine" reached #22, but "Cheese "PIZZA"" managed to crack into the top twenty reaching #15 on the Oricon.

At the end of the year, the band released their second album, "Orange Sunshine". The album was very pop heavy with a few exceptions. The album aslo saw compostitions from Takuya and lyrics penned by Tack and Yukky (pennames for Takuya and Yuki).

The band would went to release another string of singles. Of which, "Over Drive" and "DOKI DOKI" were rather successful, reaching #4 and #8, respectively. The sounds of these releases had their old punk rock style mixed into their newfound pop sound.

On 1995.12.04, the band released their third album, "MIRACLE DIVING". The album was a commercial success reaching #2 on the Oricon and selling just under a million copies. The band soon went on an extensive tour to promote the album, became the bands first concert video to be released since switching to a major label.

Success - Hiatus

The band, up until this point, had been quite successful, but nothing like what was about to happen. Their ninth single "Sobakasu" had a major tie-in as the first opening theme song to the Rurouni Kenshin anime. The single went straight to number one on the Oricon charts, and in a matter of weeks, the single had sold over the rare one million mark.

Though the bands next couple singles were successful, they came no where near the success of "Sobakasu". The band then released their fourth album, "THE POWER SOURCE". The album reached #1 on the Oricon, stayed there for two weeks, and stayed on the charts for an extensive forty-nine weeks. The album sold 2,162,370 copies, which is more then all of the bands previous albums sales combined.

The band was on top of the world at this point. They started becoming regular guests on shows such as Kohaku Uta Gassen, Music Station, and CDTV. On these shows, they often covered popular songs of the time like Amuro Namie's "CAN YOU CELEBRATE?"

After the tour ended in late 1997, the band released their 13th single, ""LOVER SOUL" which became one of the bands' biggest hits. It was then learned that Yuki had to have throat surgery; this forced the band to take a couple months off so that she could recover. During this time, Takuya reunited with his old band ROBOTS and started working with them again.

After only a four month break, the band bounced back with two successful singles, "Sampomichi" and "Music Fighter". "Music Fighter" is well known for its' music video. The video features Yuki in a small transparent dress wearing a pink bikini underneath, going up and down an escalator.

"Pop Life," perhaps the groups loudest album, was yet again, a hit. The album only reached #2 on the Oricon, but still managed to sell over a million copies. The albums booklet, mainly contains images of little girls playing with high powered weaponry, such as electric drills and chainsaws. The tour that followed the album was titled "POP LIFE SUICIDE" and was later released in two volumes. The band then released "44982 VS 1650", a live album taken from two of the "POP LIFE" shows.

The band once again decided to take another hiatus. Takuya returned to his band ROBOTS once again and Yuki also ventured out. During this time, Yuki began writing songs with Chara for their band Mean Machine that had been in the works for years. The two also released the joint single "Ai no Hi 3tsu Orange".

Yuki also teamed up with Kate Pierson (B-52's) and member from The Plastics to form the experimental pop group, NiNa. During the bands short life they release two singles and a self titled album.

Brand New Wave - Warp Final

JUDY AND MARY promoting "WARP" (2001)

The band returned in early 2000, releasing their best-of album "FRESH," which reached #1 and sold over one million copies. On 2000.02.23, JAM released their 18th single, "Brand New Wave Upper Ground," which was their first release with new material in over a year.

Two months after the release of "Hitotsu Dake", Yuki got married to YO-KING; who is the frontman for the band Magokoro Brothers, which Yuki had previously worked with.

The band returned soon, after a few months, with the single "mottö". The band released their last original single, "Lucky Pool" on 2001.01.24, and was the lead-in single for the bands' final album. "WARP", the bands final album, reached #1 on the Oricon and sold over 800,000 copies. A month later, the band released their final single, "Peace -string version-", which was a re-cut from the album. Around this time, the band began to question what to do next. Originally, Onda wanted to end the band, but he had gotten to the point where he didn't care what they did. JAM during "WARP TOUR FINAL" (2001) JAM during "WARP TOUR FINAL" (2001) After hearing this from her fellow founding member, Yuki thought to herself "JAM is over" and ultimately made the decision to end the band.

Their Legacy, Living On

Even though the band had split, they were still selling records. A couple months after the tour, the band released another best-of album, "The Great Escape ~Complete Request Best~". The album reached number one and sold 783,000 copies.

Most recently, in 2006, Sony released their "COMPLETE BEST ALBUM "FRESH"" best-of album with a DVD that contains previously rare footage of the band. The album reached #1 on the Oricon charts and become the #57 album of the year.

The band members have since gone on to other things. YUKI is the most notable, having a successful solo career with three #1 albums and has taken part in a handful of other projects. TAKUYA had a short-lived and unsuccessful solo career, but has been producing artists, such as Takahashi Hitomi since 2005. Onda currently plays bass for the band Hot Rod Crüe.

Discography

Albums

Other Albums

Singles

VHS / DVDs

Compilation / Other

External Links

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