is a Japanese

techno Techno is a genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempos being in the range from 120 to 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central rhythm is typically in common time ( ) and often ...

/ electronic band from

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

, who dubs its unique style as "technicolor pogo punk". It was named after a brand of

synthesizer A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...

, the Korg Polysix. The band started in 1997, but got their big break in 1998 at a concert in

. They create high energy music, fusing conventional

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

music with synthesized and computer generated sound to create a unique mixture of

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

and

synthpop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a music genre that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s ...

heavily inspired by the American bands

Devo Devo is an American new wave band from Akron, Ohio, formed in 1973. Their classic line-up consisted of two sets of brothers, the Mothersbaughs ( Mark and Bob) and the Casales (Gerald and Bob), along with Alan Myers. The band had a No. 14 ...

and

the Tubes The Tubes are a San Francisco-based rock band. Their self-titled 1975 debut album included the single " White Punks on Dope", while their 1983 single " She's a Beauty" was a top-10 U.S. hit and its music video was frequently played in the ear ...

, as well as Japanese bands such as

P-Model P-Model (also typeset as P-MODEL and P. Model) was a Japanese electronic rock band started in 1979 by members of the defunct progressive rock band Mandrake. The band has experienced many lineup revisions over the years but frontman Susumu Hir ...

and

Yellow Magic Orchestra 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, ...

. Their song lyrics often consist of Japanese, English, or even

gibberish Gibberish, also known as jibber-jabber or gobbledygook, is speech that is (or appears to be) nonsense: ranging across speech sounds that are not actual words, pseudowords, language games and specialized jargon that seems nonsensical to outsid ...

. The band has been noted for their extremely energetic live performances and their wild gimmicky outfits, notably their straight-bar sunglasses and trademark orange boiler suits stamped with a simple "P".

History

Polysics was formed in 1997 by Japanese high-school student Hiroyuki Hayashi. After watching some live footage of Devo and becoming inspired by new wave music of the West, Hayashi quit his soccer team and formed a band to expand on the cartoonish image and musical ideas of the zany art-punk icons he had seen on TV. He was joined by drummer Junichi Sugai and Sako (aka Poly 2). Another member named Kaneko joined within the early years of the band, but he left and was soon replaced by Kayo. Kayo's mechanical stage presence provided an asymmetrical dynamic to the frenetic antics of the other three members. The name of the band derives from the first

owned by Hayashi, the Korg Polysix. This synth appears in two of their early

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

s. In 1999, Polysics released their first albums ''1st P'' and ''A.D.S.R.M!'' on the independent label DECKREC Records. Just after the release of ''1st P'' their bassist, known only as "POLY-2", left. The band dropped the "POLY-''X''" names, and reduced to a trio, with new member Fumi on Bass Support on some of the tracks from ''Neu''. In 1999,

Asian Man Records Asian Man Records is a DIY record label run by Mike Park in Monte Sereno, California. Park started a record label and began releasing music in 1989 under the name Dill Records, with the Asian Man label established in May 1996. History Asian Man ...

released their US debut album, '' Hey! Bob! My Friend!'' to rave reviews, but weak sales. The album was a compilation of tracks from their first two Japanese releases. In 2000, Polysics signed to Ki/oon Records (a subsidiary of

Sony Music Japan , often abbreviated as SMEJ or simply SME, and also known as Sony Music Japan for short (stylized as ''SonyMusic''), is a Japanese music arm for Sony. Founded in 1968 as CBS/Sony, SMEJ is directly owned by Sony Group Corporation and is opera ...

Inc.) and released their first major album ''Neu''. The album carried with it the same manic energy as their independent releases but more refined. On the 2001 album ''Eno'', Synthesizers became more prevalent in the mix, but the songs still had an intense

-like energy. For this album, Fumi applied as a full member, returning Polysics to a

quartet In music, a quartet (, , , , ) is an ensemble of four singers or instrumental performers. Classical String quartet In classical music, one of the most common combinations of four instruments in chamber music is the string quartet. String quar ...

. 2002 saw the release of the album ''For Young Electric Pop'', Polysics' attempt at a pop album. The manic punk energy was minimized, but the band showed it had an amazing sense of harmony and style. In 2003, ''Neu'' was released in the United States on Asian Man Records to rave reviews and great sales. However, shortly after recording the ''Kaja Kaja Goo EP'' drummer Junichi Sugai left the band. Ishimaru (drummer for the punk group Snail Ramp) temporarily joined as a replacement. For the 2003 album ''National P'', Polysics went to the US to tour, which was then captured on the ''PippikkippippiP In USA''

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

. Also during 2003, Polysics appeared on UK television for the programme Adam & Joe Go Tokyo performing "Kaja Kaja Goo". In 2004, Polysics released a greatest hits compilation titled '' Polysics or Die!!!!'' in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

and the United States. Yano had also replaced Sugai as the new drummer for the band in this year. Polysics toured Europe and the US for the 2005 US Release of ''Polysics or Die!!!!''. With the early 2006 release of '' Now Is the Time!'', they toured the US and the UK, supporting high-profile UK artists such as Graham Coxon and

Kaiser Chiefs Kaiser Chiefs are an English indie rock band from Leeds who originally formed in 1996 as Runston Parva, before reforming as Parva in 2000, and releasing one studio album, ''22'', in 2003, before renaming and establishing themselves in their cur ...

. On February 28, 2007 Polysics released their album ''

Karate House ''KARATE HOUSE'' is the seventh full-length album by Japanese band Polysics. "Electric Surfin' Go Go", "You-You-You" and "Catch On Everywhere" were released as singles in Japan. The song "POLYSICS OR DIE!!!!" is structured very similarly to " Jock ...

'' in Japan. Following this Polysics signed for MySpace Records making plans to re-release Polysics or Die!!!! in the US, with the inclusion of the latest singles from Karate House and a bonus DVD of videos and live cuts. ''Polysics or Die!!!! Vista'' was released on October 9, 2007 for Myspace Records exclusively for the United States, to mark the band's ten-year anniversary. Hayashi did a remix of the " Teen Titans Theme" by JPop group

Puffy AmiYumi Puffy (sometimes stylized in all-caps), also known as Puffy AmiYumi in the US, are a Japanese pop rock duo formed in Tokyo in 1995, consisting of singers Ami Ōnuki and Yumi Yoshimura. In the United States, they adopted the name Puffy AmiYumi to ...

. The song "Teen Titans Theme ~POLYSICS' CR-06 MIX~" appears on their US album '' Splurge''. On April 23, 2008, '' We Ate the Machine'' was released in Japan. It was released on September 30, 2008 in North America. In their newsletter it was announced that Kayo's last day with Polysics would be March 14, 2010, the day of their huge

Nippon Budokan The , often shortened to simply Budokan, is an indoor arena in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It was originally built for the inaugural Olympic judo competition in the 1964 Summer Olympics. The Budokan was a popular venue for Japanese professional wres ...

concert. She says that she has spent happy and quality time with the band, but she wants to live on as a woman and not a musician. Their Budokan concert, ''BUDOKAN OR DIE!!!! 2010.3.14'', was released on July 7, 2010 on both DVD and Blu-ray. On August 8, 2010 they came back from their hiatus during the

Rock in Japan Festival The Rock in Japan Festival is an annual three-day rock festival A rock festival is an open-air rock concert featuring many different performers, typically spread over two or three days and having a campsite and other amenities and forms of ...

as a trio in brand new outfits and visors. They covered

Buck-Tick Buck-Tick (stylized as BUCK-TICK) is a Japanese rock band formed in Fujioka, Gunma in 1983. The classic lineup of lead vocalist Atsushi Sakurai, lead guitarist Hisashi Imai, rhythm guitarist Hidehiko Hoshino, bassist Yutaka Higuchi and drum ...

's "Sid Vicious on the Beach" for '' Parade II -Respective Tracks of Buck-Tick-'', released on July 4, 2012. In 2018, Polysics started a side project called The Vocoders, with a presentation modeled off

Kraftwerk Kraftwerk (, ) is a Germany, German Electronic music, electronic band formed in Düsseldorf in 1970 by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. Widely considered innovators and pioneers of electronic music, Kraftwerk was among the first successful a ...

Influences

In Hiroyuki's words, Polysics is inspired by "the spirit of

." Obvious references to Devo have been made in Polysics videos, and songs. The band has also covered "Jerking Back And Forth", "Social Fools", " Secret Agent Man" and on their 15th anniversary album, 15th P, Devo front man,

Mark Mothersbaugh Mark Allen Mothersbaugh (; born May 18, 1950) is an American musician and composer. He came to prominence in the late 1970s as co-founder, lead vocalist and keyboardist of the new wave band Devo, whose " Whip It" was a top 20 single in the US ...

joined the band to perform a new version of "Mecha-Mania Boy". Polysics have also creatively repurposed Devo and other new wave/punk material in their own original songs; for instance, in the song "Each Life Each End" from the album "Neu" they borrow the opening riff from the Devo song "Girl U Want" (along with a sample from "Love Missile F1-11" by

Sigue Sigue Sputnik Sigue Sigue Sputnik were a British new wave band formed in 1982 by former Generation X bassist Tony James. The band have had three UK top-40 hit singles, including " Love Missile F1-11" and " 21st Century Boy". The band's music, image and in ...

), and the lyrics are playfully paraphrased from Devo's "The Day My Baby Gave Me A Surprise" and "Red Eye Express." The tributes even extend to the album art; in a miniposter included with the album "National P", the members of Polysics are shown seated around a picnic blanket, about to eat cakes shaped like Devo's famous red Energy Dome headgear. In addition, the giant robot mascot from the cover of their "Lo-Bits" EP sports a battle helmet that resembles the same iconic dome. While Polysics claim Devo as their most prevalent influence, other bands and artists that have influenced their music, are occasionally referenced in their album or song titles, and whose music has sometime been repurposed in similar ways include

Neu! Neu! (; German for "New!"; styled in block capitals) were a West German krautrock band formed in Düsseldorf in 1971 by Klaus Dinger and Michael Rother following their departure from Kraftwerk. The group's albums were produced by Conny Plank, w ...

Brian Eno Brian Peter George Jean-Baptiste de la Salle Eno (, born 15 May 1948), also mononymously known as Eno, is an English musician, songwriter, record producer, visual artist, and activist. He is best known for his pioneering contributions to ambien ...

XTC XTC were an English rock band formed in Swindon in 1972. Fronted by songwriters Andy Partridge (vocals, guitars) and Colin Moulding (vocals, bass), the band gained popularity during the rise of punk and new wave in the 1970s, later playing ...

(who they have opened for),

Talking Heads Talking Heads were an American Rock music, rock band formed in New York City in 1975.Talking Heads

, Sparks,

The B-52's The B-52s, originally presented as the B-52's (with an errant apostrophe; used until 2008), are an American band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1976. The original lineup consisted of Fred Schneider (vocals, percussion), Kate Pierson (vocals, k ...

King Crimson King Crimson were an English progressive rock band formed in London in 1968 by Robert Fripp, Michael Giles, Greg Lake, Ian McDonald (musician), Ian McDonald and Peter Sinfield. Guitarist Fripp remained the only constant member throughout the ...

Denki Groove is a Japanese music group founded in 1989. It consists of Takkyu Ishino and Pierre Taki. History Denki Groove was founded in 1989 by Takkyu Ishino and Pierre Taki, both of whom are natives of Shizuoka (city), Shizuoka, Shizuoka Prefecture. They ...

Nirvana Nirvana, in the Indian religions (Jainism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sikhism), is the concept of an individual's passions being extinguished as the ultimate state of salvation, release, or liberation from suffering ('' duḥkha'') and from the ...

, Man or Astroman, Spoozys, and

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...

, Hikashu and

Plastics Plastics are a wide range of synthetic or semisynthetic materials composed primarily of polymers. Their defining characteristic, plasticity, allows them to be molded, extruded, or pressed into a diverse range of solid forms. This adaptab ...

. Polysics have covered songs by

Styx In Greek mythology, Styx (; ; lit. "Shuddering"), also called the River Styx, is a goddess and one of the rivers of the Greek Underworld. Her parents were the Titans Oceanus and Tethys, and she was the wife of the Titan Pallas and the moth ...

Suzi Quatro Susan Kay Quatro (born June 3, 1950) is an American singer, bass guitarist, songwriter, and actress. In the 1970s, she scored a string of singles that found success in Europe and Australia, with both "Can the Can" (1973) and "Devil Gate Drive" ...

The Ramones The Ramones were an American punk rock band formed in the New York City neighborhood Forest Hills, Queens in 1974. Known for helping establish the punk movement in the United States and elsewhere, the Ramones are often recognized as one of t ...

The Knack The Knack was an American power pop band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1978 by Doug Fieger (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Berton Averre (lead guitar, backing vocals), Prescott Niles (bass) and Bruce Gary (drums). Spearheaded by the succes ...

Soft Cell Soft Cell are an English synth-pop duo who came to prominence in the early 1980s. The duo consists of vocalist Marc Almond and instrumentalist David Ball (electronic musician), David Ball. The band are primarily known for their 1981 hit versio ...

, Hikashu,

Thin Lizzy Thin Lizzy are an Irish rock band formed in Dublin in 1969. The band initially consisted of bass guitarist, lead vocalist and principal songwriter Phil Lynott, drummer Brian Downey, guitarist Eric Bell and organist Eric Wrixon although Wr ...

and

Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Honorific nicknames in popular music, Nicknamed the "Chairman of the Board" and "Ol' Blue Eyes", he is regarded as one of the Time 100: The Most I ...

and have been known to play

Yes Yes or YES may refer to: * An affirmative particle in the English language; see yes and no Education * YES Prep Public Schools, Houston, Texas, US * Young Eisner Scholars, in Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago, and Appalachia, US * Young Ep ...

during their sound checks.

Members

;Current members * Hiroyuki Hayashi – Guitar, vocals, vocoder, programming (1997–present) *Fumi – Bass guitar, vocals, synthesizer (2001–present; support - 1999-2001) *Masashi Yano – Drums, vocals (2004–present) ;Past members *Junichi Sugai – Drums (1998-2003) *Sako Eisuke (aka Poly-2) – Synthesizer, vocoder, concert toast throwing performance (1997-1999) *Kaneko ShingoAkiko, Mima. Absolute POLYSICS BOOK. regular ed. USEN, 2010. p. 190. Print. – Synthesizer (1997) *Kayo – Synthesizer, vocals, vocoder (1998-2010) *Ryo Nakamura - Guitar, vocals, synthesizers (2017–2020) ;Touring musicians *Ishimaru – Drums (2003-2004)

Discography

Albums

* ''1st P'' - 1999 * ''A.D.S.R.M!'' - 1999 * ''Neu'' - 2000 * ''Eno'' - 2001 * ''For Young Electric Pop'' - 2002 * ''National P'' - 2003 * '' Now Is the Time!'' - 2005 * ''

'' - 2007 * '' We Ate the Machine'' - 2008 * '' Absolute Polysics'' - 2009 * ''Oh! No! It's Heavy Polysick!!!'' - 2011 * ''15th P'' - 2012 * ''Weeeeeeeeee!!!'' - 2012 * ''Action!(album)'' - 2014 * ''What's This???'' - 2016 * ''That's Fantastic!'' - 2017 * ''In the Sync'' - 2019

Compilation albums

* '' Hey! Bob! My Friend!'' - 2000 * '' Polysics or Die!!!!'' - 2004 * ''Polysics or Die!!!! Vista'' - 2007 * ''Bestoisu!!!!'' - 2010

Live albums

* ''Live in Japan / 6-D'' - 2000 * ''Replay!'' - 2017

Video releases

* ''Live at Newwave'' - 1999 * ''B.G.V.'' - 2000 * ''DVDVPVDVLIVE!!'' - 2003 * ''PippikkippippiP in USA'' - 2004 * ''Now Is the live!'' - 2006 * ''Clips or Die!!!!'' - 2007 * ''We Ate the Show!!'' - 2008 * ''Budokan or Die!!!! 2010.3.14'' - 2010

Singles

* "Plus Chicker" - 1999 * "Modern" - 1999 * "XCT" - 2000 * "Each Life Each End" - 2000 * "New Wave Jacket" - 2001 * "Baby Bias" - 2005 * "Coelacanth Is Android" - 2005 * "Electric Surfin' Go Go" - 2006 * "You-You-You" - 2006 * "Catch On Everywhere" - 2007 * "Rocket" - 2007 * "Pretty Good" - 2008 * "Shout Aloud! / Beat Flash" - 2009 * "Young Oh Oh!" - 2009 * "Lucky Star" - 2012 * "Everybody Say No" - 2012 * "Part of Me" - 2019 * "Kami-Saba" - 2019 * "Piko" - 2019

EPs

* ''Lo-Bits'' - 2002 * ''Kaja Kaja Goo'' - 2003 * ''New Wave Jacket / My Sharona'' - 2004 * ''I My Me Mine / Jhout'' - 2006 * ''eee-P!!!'' - 2010 * ''Mega Over Drive'' - 2013 * ''HEN 愛 LET'S GO!'' - 2015 * ''HEN 愛 LET'S GO! 2'' - 2015

Soundtracks

*Polysics performed the theme song for the Japanese-American

Jetix Jetix (stylized in all caps) was a children's entertainment brand owned by The Walt Disney Company. The brand was for a slate of action and adventure-related programming blocks and television channels. Jetix programming mainly originated fr ...

television show '' Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go!''. *Polysics' song "You-You-You" is used as one of the opening themes for the anime '' Keroro Gunso''. *A track from their album ''Now is the Time!'', "Tei! Tei! Tei!", was included in ''

FIFA 07 ''FIFA 07'' (also known as ''FIFA Football 07'' and ''FIFA 07 Soccer'') is a football simulation video game developed by EA Canada and published by Electronic Arts under the EA Sports label for GameCube, PlayStation 2, Windows, Xbox, Xbox 360, P ...

'' the soundtrack by

EA Sports EA Sports is a division of Electronic Arts that develops and publishes sports video games. Formerly a marketing gimmick of Electronic Arts, in which they imitated real-life sports networks by calling themselves the "EA Sports Network" (EASN) ...

. *

Anime Network Anime Network was an American video on demand (VOD) network dedicated to anime owned by AMC Networks. History The network was launched in North America in late 2002 and is marketed to multi system operators (MSOs) as both a free and subscr ...

used Polysics' track "Each Life Each End" for the Girl Power programming block. *The ending theme to the Moyashimon anime is Polysics' "Rocket". *The opening and ending theme to the Cells at Work! Code Black anime, "Hashire" and "Ue wo Muite Hakobou" respectively.

Legacy

In 2020, Jonathan McNamara of ''

The Japan Times ''The Japan Times'' is Japan's largest and oldest English-language daily newspaper. It is published by , a subsidiary of News2u Holdings, Inc. It is headquartered in the in Kioicho, Chiyoda, Tokyo. History ''The Japan Times'' was launched by ...

'' listed ''For Young Electric Pop'' (2002) as one of the 10 Japanese albums worthy of inclusion on ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

s 2020 list of the

500 greatest albums of all time 5 (five) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number, and cardinal number, following 4 and preceding 6, and is a prime number. Humans, and many other animals, have 5 digits on their limbs. Mathematics 5 is a Fermat pri ...

, describing it as "a top-tier Polysics record and an accessible introduction to a band unequaled in their ability to leave you grinning from ear to ear."

Neil Cicierega Neil Stephen Cicierega ( ; born August 23, 1986) is an American musician, filmmaker, YouTuber, and animator. He is known as the creator of '' Potter Puppet Pals'', " The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny", and various music albums under the ...

Lemon Demon Lemon Demon is a musical project and band created by American comedian and musician Neil Cicierega in 2003 in Boston, Massachusetts. Lemon Demon's studio work is performed solely by Cicierega, who is the project's sole official member. Live per ...

cites Polysics as one of his musical influences. In the text commentary to his 2006 album Dinosaurchestra, he says that the song "Neverending Hum" was inspired by Polysics and

. In 2007, he posted a video of him dancing in

fast motion Time-lapse photography is a technique in which the frequency at which film frames are captured (the frame rate) is much lower than the frequency used to view the sequence. When played at normal speed, time appears to be moving faster and th ...

to Polysics' " Jhout" to his

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

channel.

References

External links

Polysics official website
*
Polysics Official BlogNowOnTour Polysics InterviewPolysics Interview on Music TowersPolysics Official Tour PhotographyPolysics' Top 10 of 2008
{{Authority control Ki/oon Music artists Japanese electronic rock musical groups Japanese new wave musical groups Japanese punk rock groups Japanese post-punk music groups Japanese noise rock groups Electropunk musical groups Japanese post-punk revival music groups Musical groups established in 1997 1997 establishments in Japan