THE BLUE HEARTS

Blue Hearts formed in Tokyo during 1985 when vocalist Komoto Hiroto, guitarist Mashima Masatoshi, bassist Kawaguchi Junnosuke, and drummer Kajiwara Tetsuya joined forces, creating Japan’s leading punk band through a fusion of Ramones and Clash energy, social commentary, country touches, and early rock & roll. The quartet earned nineteenth place on HMV’s ranking of the top Japanese bands of the 2000s after quickly establishing themselves as a reliable live draw. Two years passed before any recordings appeared; then Meldac issued a burst of 1987 product that included the debut single “Hito Ni Yasashiku,” the self-titled first album, the follow-up single “Linda Linda” that became their best-known track, and the second album Young and Pretty. Nationwide fame arrived with the third album Train Train in 1988, driven by press attention surrounding an attempted act of label censorship. The planned inclusion of the anti-nuclear power song “Chernobyl” drew objections from sponsor Mitsubishi, whose nuclear-industry ties prompted demands that Meldac either excise the track or drop the band. Blue Hearts accepted the latter option, yet the resulting publicity led East West Japan to sign them, propelling Train Train past the million-unit mark—a sales level their later albums routinely met. Attempts to reach American audiences in 1990 and 1991 produced two U.S. tours and two domestic CD releases, although sales stayed limited despite positive reviews, college-radio exposure, and USA Today coverage. In Japan the 1990 album Bust Waist Hip and the 1991 album High Kicks only enlarged their following, even after broadcasters imposed a yearlong television ban because of the members’ provocative conduct. Both Stick Out and Dug Out topped the charts in 1993 and outsold their predecessors, yet the band dissolved in 1994 and re-emerged as High-Lows, a punk unit featuring Komoto and Mashima that favored mildly surrealistic lyrics; in 2005 the same pair formed their third punk project, Cro-Magnons. Meldac released one final post-breakup album, Pan, in 1995. Blue Hearts songs continued to surface in video games and the 2004 dramas Socrates in Love and Gachi Baka, while “Linda Linda” supplied the title for the 2005 film Linda Linda Linda, which depicted a high-school girl rock band performing Blue Hearts covers.