generasia:Featured article for 2022 week 36
ONE OK ROCK
ONE OK ROCK is a Japanese rock band signed to A-Sketch and managed by AMUSE. They play varied styles of music, with songs ranging from alternative rock and emo to post-hardcore and pop rock. The band's name comes from "one o'clock", the time that the band used to practice their music on weekends. They chose to play at one o'clock in the morning because it was cheaper to use the rehearsal space during such hours. However, noticing that the Japanese language made no distinction between R's and L's, "O'CLOCK" transformed into "O'KROCK", which later transformed into "OK ROCK".
ONE OK ROCK rose to international fame with their 2012 single "The Beginning" from their sixth album Jinsei×Boku=, which led them to concerts and music festivals outside Asia. Following the success, the band started to release their later albums in two versions (Japanese-English and full English) with two to three different tracks in each version. Their seventh studio album, 35xxxv, became their first album which charted on US Billboard. It peaked at #11 on Heatseekers Albums, #43 on Independent Albums, #23 on the Hard Rock Albums, and #1 on the World Albums Chart. The band's eighth album, Ambitions, debuted at #106 on the US Billboard 200 and international charts while incorporated more American pop and pop-rock. In 2019, the band adopted electronic and pop sound on their ninth album Eye of the Storm.
ONE OK ROCK won Classic Rock Roll of Honour Awards for Eastern Breakthrough Male Band in 2016, and Rock Sound Awards for Best International Band in 2017 and Best Live Performance in 2018. The band was also nominated for two Alternative Press Music Awards – Best International Band in 2016 and Best Breakthrough Band in 2017.
Their tenth Japanese album and fourth English album, Luxury Disease, are released this week on September 9th.
