Group sounds

This article is about the music genre. For the Rocket from the Crypt album, see Group Sounds (album).
Group sounds
Stylistic origins
Cultural originsMid-1960s, Japan
Derivative formsJ-pop

Group sounds (Japanese: グループ・サウンズ, Hepburn: Gurūpu Saunzu), often abbreviated as GS, is a genre of Japanese rock music which became popular in the mid to late 1960s and initiated the fusion of Japanese kayōkyoku music and Western rock music.[1] Their music production techniques were regarded as playing a pioneering role in modern Japanese popular music.[1]

Group sounds arose following the Beatles performance at the Budokan in 1966, and was strongly influenced by British beat music of the 1960s.[2] Group sounds acts included the Tigers, the Tempters, the Spiders, the Mops, and the Golden Cups.[2] The movement peaked in late 1967 when Jackey Yoshikawa and His Blue Comets won the Japan Record Award.[1]

  1. ^ a b c 第38回 ─ グループ・サウンズ (in Japanese). Bounce. 2004-12-16. Archived from the original on August 19, 2008. Retrieved 2009-03-07.
  2. ^ a b Martin, Ian F. (2016). Quit Your Band: Musical Notes From the Japanese Underground. Awai Books. p. 42. ISBN 978-1-937220-05-1.