Yellow Magic Orchestra

Harry Hosono and the Yellow Magic Band

Haruomi Hosono's project was first called Harry Hosono and the Yellow Magic Band, a satire of American fascination with Hawaiian and Pacific music. Yukihiro Takahashi recruited Ryuichi Sakamoto in 1977 to produce his solo debut, Sakamoto made The Thousand Knives of Ryuichi Sakamoto (1978) with a Roland MC-8 sequencer, and the trio formed in Tokyo in 1978; Hideki Matsutake worked as a frequent fourth member on synthesizers and programming until 1982. The self-titled album was recorded in July 1978 in Shibaura and released on November 25, 1978. After an A&M offer in early 1979, the members agreed to put the group first.

Solid State Survivor (September 25, 1979) reached number 1 in Japan, took the Japan Record Awards' best album in 1980 and sold over 2 million copies by Wikipedia's count; it and X-Infinity-Multiplies held Oricon's top two spots for seven weeks in 1980. BGM (March 21, 1981) and Technodelic (November 1981) followed, then Naughty Boys and Service in 1983 and the final Sankai tour. In 1984 the group paused, which the members call spreading out, not a split.

Technodon (May 26, 1993) was a reunion album credited to YMO and NOT YMO. After a Kirin Lager ad in 2007 they played as HASYMO, including the Royal Festival Hall in London and Gijon in June 2008, then as YMO again from August 2009, with the Hollywood Bowl and the Warfield in June 2011 and Fuji Rock that July. The three performed together in public for the last time at Hosono's Barbican concert on June 23, 2018. Yukihiro Takahashi died on January 11, 2023, aged 70, and Ryuichi Sakamoto on March 28, 2023, aged 71; Hosono is the last surviving member.

They influenced British synth-pop acts such as Ultravox, Gary Numan, Depeche Mode and OMD, and Detroit's Juan Atkins, Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson. Afrika Bambaataa's "Planet Rock" was partly inspired by them, and he sampled "Firecracker" in his Death Mix. HMV Japan placed them second on its list of the top 100 Japanese musicians.