History Music / YellowMagicOrchestra

* {{Feelies}}:
** The first runs of both ''Solid State Survivor'' and ''Service'' came in translucent yellow vinyl, obviously tying in with the band's name. The first pressing of ''After Service'' similarly was on translucent red vinyl.
** Early LP copies of ''BGM'' came with a foldout poster, a flyer for the book ''Omiyage'', and postcards featuring photos of the band. Similarly, LP copies of ''Technodon'' include a small pamphlet containing the album's liner notes, in place of including them on the inner sleeve. The 2019 SACD release of both albums replicates these extra packages in a shrunken down size.
** The initial Japanese CD release of ''Technodon'' made the lid of the jewel case into a polarized lens, with the messages in the liner notes being modified so that they could only be read when inserted directly under it. The European CD release and later reissues simply show the text unmodified.

** The Japanese cassette release of ''Music/{{Service}} removes the large black circle as well as the text denoting the band name and album title (which is instead listed in a generic label below the illustration), leaving behind the unedited painting of a head in profile.

* AlternateAlbumCover: The original release of ''Technodelic'' sported [[https://t2.genius.com/unsafe/1418x0/https%3A%2F%2Fimages.genius.com%2Fda591ceeff8ab85f48acb29cf7410e44.827x827x1.jpg cover art]] of three Polaroids of the individual band members in Kabuki makeup, all laid against a white background. Reissues swapped out the cover with one [[https://t2.genius.com/unsafe/1418x0/https%3A%2F%2Fimages.genius.com%2F51dcae4382fd939c18a3239904d43cae.600x600x1.jpg featuring]] a stock photo of a woman in Maoist China against a red background; this cover has become better-known over the years, if only for how much more widely used it was.

After making the concert film ''Propaganda'', YMO "spread out" in 1984: although they shifted back to solo careers, the members would frequently perform with each other. They briefly reunited to record ''Technodon'' under the name of Not YMO (or "YMO" with an X through it) in the early 90s (as Alfa Records still owned the name Yellow Magic Orchestra at the time), and occasionally performed live as Human Audio Sponge. They officially reunited in 2007 as HASYMO, first for a Kirin beer commercial and single "RYDEEN 79/07," and then live at the Live Earth, Kyoto event on July 7, 2007. The band officially reverted to the name YMO in 2009 and released the single ''The City of Light / Tokyo Town Pages'' that same year. No new recordings have been planned, though the band members have continued their touring schedules, up until Sakamoto was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014. After Sakamoto recovered, the band continued to live on as an on-again, off-again live act, performing YMO material both together and as part of solo shows (under the sole condition that they only be billed as YMO if all three are present). The band would ultimately come to a close with Takahashi's passing in 2023. Sakamoto himself would pass away two months later after his nearly decade-long battle with cancer.

* SelfDeprecation:
** Virtually every television performance, especially "Propaganda."
** The "Kimi Ni Mune Kyun" video pokes fun at how completely unlike a boy band they are and how unsuited they are to singing (what sounds like) a SillyLoveSong.

* SpellingSong: "T-E-C-H-N-O-P-O-L-I-S."

* StylisticSuck: The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lR7GAvKBIO4 video for Kimi Ni Mune Kyun]] consists of the three members of the band doing what can only be described as doing the barest minimum token effort to appear like a boy band via the medium of extremely bored dorky dad dancing.

Yellow Magic Orchestra was a hugely influential Japanese techno-kayō (techno-pop) {{supergroup}} founded in 1978, consisting of core members Music/HaruomiHosono, Music/YukihiroTakahashi and Music/RyuichiSakamoto. They were a SynthPop and proto-{{techno}} band who helped pioneer synth-pop, modern J-pop, techno and house music, while also influencing the development of CityPop. The band was the first to use the influential [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roland_TR-808 Roland TR-808]] drum machine in 1980, and one of the first to use {{Sampling}}: their 1981 album ''Technodelic'' was one of the first albums to be primarily composed of samples (alongside Music/DavidByrne and Music/BrianEno's ''Music/MyLifeInTheBushOfGhosts'' the same year). [=YMO=] have been called the Japanese equivalent of Music/{{Kraftwerk}}, while their influence within their home country has been likened to Music/TheBeatles.

Yellow Magic Orchestra was a hugely influential SynthPop[=/=]proto-{{techno}} {{supergroup}} that has been called the Japanese equivalent of Music/{{Kraftwerk}}, while their influence inside their home country has been likened to Music/TheBeatles. They helped pioneer SynthPop, modern J-pop, techno, and house music. The band was one of the first to use {{Sampling}}: alongside Music/DavidByrne and Music/BrianEno's ''Music/MyLifeInTheBushOfGhosts'' earlier that same year, YMO's 1981 album ''Technodelic'' was one of the first albums by a major artist to be primarily composed of samples.

Core members Music/HaruomiHosono, Music/YukihiroTakahashi, and Music/RyuichiSakamoto had worked together off and on throughout the 1970s, and each had worked with early electronic instruments. However, it was Sakamoto's introduction to Kraftwerk, as well as a desire to make music that didn't ape Western musicians, that pushed them to create their own band. Shortly after Hosono's 1978 exotica-tinged album ''{{Music/Paraiso}}'' (credited to Harry Hosono and the Yellow Magic Band, which featured Sakamoto and Takahashi contributing as session musicians), they decided to use the name Yellow Magic Orchestra, parodying the faddish fascination with black magic in Japan at the time. Their debut album was intended to parody Western stereotypes of Asia (and its offensive fascination with "orientalism" going on at that time) while also exploring Asianness and the potential that came from mixing western electronic and funk sounds with traditional Japanese compositional techniques, blending Sakamoto's classical training with Hosono & Takahashi's pop expertise.

After making the concert film ''Propaganda'', YMO "spread out" in 1984: although they shifted back to solo careers, the members would frequently perform with each other. They briefly reunited to record ''Technodon'' under the name of Not YMO (or "YMO" with an X through it) in the early 90s (as Alfa Records still owned the name Yellow Magic Orchestra at the time), and occasionally performed live as Human Audio Sponge. They officially reunited in 2007 as HASYMO, first for a Kirin beer commercial and single "RYDEEN 79/07," and then live at the Live Earth, Kyoto event on July 7, 2007. The band officially reverted to the name YMO in 2009 and released the single ''The City of Light / Tokyo Town Pages'' that same year. No new recordings have been planned, though the band members have continued their touring schedules, up until Sakamoto was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014. After Sakamoto recovered, the band continued to live on as an on-again, off-again live act, performing YMO material both together and as part of solo shows (under the sole condition that they only be billed as YMO if all three are present). The band would ultimately come to a close with Takahashi's passing in 2023.