Super Junky Monkey was an all female

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

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funk metal Funk metal (also known as thrash-funk or punk-funk) is a subgenre of funk rock and alternative metal that infuses heavy metal music (often thrash metal) with elements of funk and punk rock. Funk metal was part of the alternative metal movement, ...

group.

History

Beginning

Their first release was in 1994: a live recording called ''

Cabbage Cabbage, comprising several cultivars of '' Brassica oleracea'', is a leafy green, red (purple), or white (pale green) biennial plant grown as an annual vegetable crop for its dense-leaved heads. It is descended from the wild cabbage ( ''B.& ...

'', originally released as an audio recording, but also released as a video recording later that year. This was quickly followed in 1995 by the studio album '' Screw Up'', which features some of the songs from ''Cabbage'' as well as some new tracks. The band released two full-length albums, both of which were released internationally. Additionally, in Japan, they released several EPs and three concert videos. The band's performances of "Skysurfers!!" and "I Call Myself Sliced Ice" were used as the opening and end credits music, respectively, for the second season of the American animated series, ''

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''. The album '' Super Junky Alien'' features a bonus 1996 cover of the MTV Top of the Hour tune.

Death of Mutsumi

On February 5, 1999, Mutsumi Fukuhara committed suicide by leaping from the balcony of her apartment in Osaka, leaving behind her husband and one-year-old son. The other band members decided not to continue without her and instead moved on to other projects. Several years after Mutsumi's death, the band released the material they were working on at the time as the ''E-KISS-O'' EP and the greatest hits ''Songs Are Our Universe''. ''E-KISS-O'' includes three songs with Mutsumi's vocals and two instrumentals. ''Songs of Our Universe'' features two unreleased tracks and several videos. On June 20, 2009, the remaining three members of Super Junky Monkey reunited to commemorate the tenth anniversary of Mutsumi's death with a performance at the Liquid Room in

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 ...

Musical style

They performed and merged various styles and genres of music, including hardcore, heavy metal,

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...

noise rock Noise rock (sometimes called noise punk) is a noise music, noise-oriented style of experimental rock that spun off from punk rock in the 1980s. Drawing on movements such as minimal music, minimalism, industrial music, and New York hardcore, a ...

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funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...

. Influences on the band members include

Steve Vai Steven Siro Vai ( ; born June 6, 1960) is an American guitarist, songwriter, and producer. A three-time Grammy Award winner and fifteen-time nominee, Vai started his music career in 1978 at the age of eighteen as a Transcription (music), transc ...

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and

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states "A quick description of the band would be 'Japanese all-girl

Faith No More Faith No More is an American Rock music, rock band from San Francisco, California, formed in 1979. Before September 1983, the band performed under the names Sharp Young Men and later Faith No Man. Bassist Billy Gould, keyboardist/rhythm guitarist ...

or Primus'".

Members

* Mutsumi "623" Fukuhara, ''née'' Takahashi — vocals * Keiko — guitar * Shinobu Kawai — bass * Matsudaaahh!! — drums

Discography

LPs

*''

'' (1994) *'' Screw Up'' (1994) *'' Parasitic People'' (1996) *'' Super Junky Alien'' (1996)

EPs

*'' A.I.E.T.O.H.'' (1995) *'' E Kiss O'' (2001)

Collections

*'' Songs Are Our Universe'' (2001) *''Is the Best'' (2015)

Compilation appearances

* ''Benten Bentoh'' - "Po Po Bar" * ''Japanese Homegrown Vol. 1'' - "Another Mother" * ''Japanese Homegrown Vol. 2'' - "If (Take 2)" * ''Soy Milk Vol. 1'' - "Towering Man"

Videos

*''キャベツビデオ'' (1994) *''Deathi'' (1995) *''Holy Mother Of Meatloaf'' (1996) *''Live - We're The Mother Of Meatloaf! Hyper Collection'' (2010)

References

External links

KURUGE TRAVOLTA - bassist Shinobu Kawai's site
{{Authority control Japanese all-female bands Japanese alternative metal musical groups Japanese avant-garde metal musical groups 1999 disestablishments in Japan Musical groups disestablished in 1999 Funk metal musical groups All-female metal bands