The early stages of THE YELLOW MONKEY (known lovingly as YeMon by their fans) started all the way back in the late 80s. At the time, the members were Yoshii 'Lovin' Kazuya, Hirose 'Heesey' Youichi and Kikuchi 'Annie' Eiji, as well as a vocalist on whom information is very hard to find. After said vocalist left, Kazuya decided to try his hand at singing while Eiji's elder brother, Hideaki, joined the band and played guitar. It's also at this time that Kazuya switched from bass to guitar in addition to being the band's vocalist and, over time, he ended up being the band's main lyricist.
With the new line-up cemented, THE YELLOW MONKEY frequently toured the underground circuit and with the release of their first album, Bunched Birth, the band obtained some much-needed attention. Not too long afterwards, the band scored a major deal with Columbia Music and released their major debut album, The Night Snails and Plastic Boogie, in 1992. Even still, the band had to work hard to gain recognition and it paid off over the next few years as their fan base multiplied exponentially.
In 1995, the band started building up their popularity and their LOVE COMMUNICATION single debuted near the top of the Oricon Charts. In addition, the last date of their accompanying tour occurred in Nippon Budokan, which is quite an accomplishment for any band. The band also recorded an album in London and by the end of the year, THE YELLOW MONKEY was as good as a household name.
The next year, THE YELLOW MONKEY held a concert in London and, upon their return to Japan, held a massive 43-date tour. However, due to some problems with their label, the band left Columbia and switched to FUNHOUSE. On January 22, 1997, the band's sixth album, SICKS, was released and it is arguably THE YELLOW MONKEY's best album. Like their earlier releases, it shot straight up to the top and their following single, BURN, sold well over a million copies. Their song, Tactics was also used as the first ending to the highly popular anime Rurouni Kenshin.
On April 3rd of the following year, THE YELLOW MONKEY embarked on an unheard-of 113 date Japan-wide tour. Around this time, the band also released several of their tracks in English versions. Towards the end of 1998, they took a small break from their tour to make another trip to the United Kingdom.
Upon their return to Japan, they resumed their tour and finished up in March. Afterwards, the band decided to take the rest of the year off. But, not ones to be out of the spotlight for very long, THE YELLOW MONKEY released a single at the very end of the year. The next year didn't see much activity as the band participated in very few events and festivals, but they did release another album, 8, in the summertime.
In 2001, THE YELLOW MONKEY announced that they were taking a break of an unspecified duration. This break allowed the members to dabble in various solo projects. Kazuya began a solo career, while Hirose began a band called HEESEY WITH DUDES.
Three years later, on July 7th, THE YELLOW MONKEY officially disbanded. While the ex members of various and unique solo projects are enjoyable, fans still miss this famous and influential group.
