History Music / Loudness

* DoNotDoThisCoolThing: "Soldier Of Fortune." It's most likely a StealthParody of the BloodKnight and WarIsGlorious, but sometimes this is missed in how cool it sounds and what a rocking song it is.

Loudness is a Music/{{heavy metal}} band, founded in 1981 in Osaka, Japan.

** Yet another song from "Thunder In The East," "The Lines Are Down" is something incredibly unusual for 1980s Music/HeavyMetal by a male band (and sadly, for the band itself, see later): an anti-rape song, seeming to start from the rapist's perspective then flipping to encourage the [[FinalGirl victim]] to [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil kill her rapist]] and escape.

* CoverVersion: During the time when Masaki Yamada was in the band, "House of 1000 Pleasures" by Yamada's previous band EZO was in their live repertoire (featured on the 1993 live album ''Once and for All'' and on the 1992 concert video ''Welcome to the Slaughter House''). 1994 live album ''Loud 'n' Raw'' includes a cover of DeepPurple's "Speed King". As for other bands covering Loudness songs, {{Therion}} covered "Crazy Nights" on their 1999 album ''Crowning of Atlantis'', and there have also been two Loudness tribute albums (one from 2001, the other from 2003). One of XJapan's very first live performances in the 80s (when the band consisted only of Yoshiki and Toshi) was "In The Mirror," and {{Galneryus}} once covered "Soldier of Fortune" in the Yama-B days.

* Mike Vescera - Vocals (1988-1992)

* AuthorAppeal: For Niihara, IntercourseWithYou and anti-war songs mainly. For Yamada, much of his lyrics were ReligionRantSong, OdeToIntoxication, or RoadSong. For Takasaki and Higuchi, anti-war songs and other types of the ProtestSong and AuthorFilibuster.
* AuthorExistenceFailure: Munetaka Higuchi was one of the founders of the band as well as being its drummer, and had written/composed some of the lyrics and much of the drum sections before 2008. He was also a very deep inspiration to at least Niihara, as you can tell from the lyrics of the songs on "The Everlasting," the tribute to him, and every year the band holds a tribute concert for him.
** And now TaijiSawada is gone as well.

* NoExportForYou: Some albums have been released in the US and elsewhere other than Japan. Others have not, which leaves fans wanting to complete the discography or who like all eras stuck with the choices of EBay, piracy, or going to Japan and searching used record shops.

* OutlivedItsCreator: Munetaka Higuchi was one of the founders of the band.

** In the 1992-94 era, almost everyone was a WalkingShirtlessScene at times. AkiraTakasaki was in the Once And For All live, and TaijiSawada was in at least one photoshoot (which is the only place all of his tattoos can be seen).
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Before Masaki Yamada was landed as Loudness's vocalist in 1992, Mitsuo Takeuchi and Eizo Sakamoto were both considered.
** What if Taiji wasn't forced to leave Loudness by the record label?
** What if Taiji had somehow rejoined Loudness as a 2nd bassist or alternating bassist?
** What if MinoruNiihara had never left?

** "Racing" (2004) has "Misleading Man" which is a TakeThat at GeorgeWBush with some UnfortunateImplications regarding ViolenceReallyIsTheAnswer to ending his warmongering in the lyrics, and has "Unknown Civilians" which is yet another WarIsHell song that is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin, as well as a TakeThat at GeorgeWBush too (someone in the band was definitely not a fan of GeorgeWBush, and/or thought Bush bashing was a way to gain musical popularity.)

* EpicRocking: AKIRA TAKASAKI is the lead guitarist. Seeing as he or Tak Matsumoto of B'z is considered the top technical guitarist out of Japan, you can imagine how good the guitar solos generally are. Even in the HairMetal DorkAge or the NuMetal DorkAge, he was still good.
** Munetaka Higuchi's drum solos. You can find one on Youtube posted in memory of him by Pearl Drums (the company that made the drums he used) if you want to hear just *how* epic. As another measure of how epic, [[Music/YoshikiHayashi another Japanese rock drummer that might be more famous to people outside of Japan]] commented on Munetaka's funeral that he looked up to him. To reiterate: this is someone that someone who has been recorded at 800bpm and is recognized as one of the world's best drummers outside the US considered better than himself.
** THE BAND IN 1992 either live or on the album ''Loudness.'' Akira Takasaki + Munetaka Higuchi + TaijiSawada + Masaki Yamada = CrowningMusicOfAwesome. It is likely the most EpicRocking lineup ANY Japanese metal band has ever created and will ever create. Yamada was the only one who ''wasn't'' the very top artist of his field at the time. [[WhatCouldHaveBeen Had it been Eizo Sakamoto or Mitsuo Takeuchi instead...]]

* VisualKei: [[SubvertedTrope Not exactly]]...Loudness is not a VK band, however they started out as HairMetal and used kei-inspired makeup. Masaki Yamada's onstage makeup was the most heavily kei-inspired.

* VisualKei: No, Loudness is not a VK band, however Masaki Yamada's onstage makeup was heavily kei-inspired.

In 1992, both Vescera and Yamashita left the band, and were replaced by Masaki Yamada (formerly of Sapporo-based band Flatbacker, later known as EZO) on vocals and TaijiSawada (formerly of XJapan) on bass. This lineup recorded their next studio album, ''Loudness'', the same year. This album was an abrupt shift away from the hair metal stylings of the 1986-1991 albums to a '''much''' heavier (even compared to their original style) {{thrash metal}}-influenced style (much like Music/JudasPriest's 1990 album ''Painkiller''), as well as having elements of {{funk metal}} in two of the songs. This album was also the first one since 1988 (or since 1984 if not counting [=EPs=]) to have Japanese-language lyrics and the first one since 1988 (or since 1982 if not counting [=EPs=]) to not be released outside Japan the same year as it was released in Japan (although in 2005 it did get re-released in the United States).

* ''2012'' (LP) - 2012 (upcoming album; to be released August)

* Masaki Yamada - Vocals (1992-2000)

* AuthorAppeal: For Niihara, IntercourseWithYou and anti-war songs mainly. For Yamada, much of his lyrics were ReligionRantSong, OdeToIntoxication, or RoadSong.

* AuthorFilibuster: "Miles High" is a song that arguably ran into this territory.

The original lineup consisted of Akira Takasaki (guitar), Music/MinoruNiihara (vocals), Music/MunetakaHiguchi (drums), and Masayoshi Yamashita (bass). Takasaki and Higuchi had formerly been members of the band Lazy (which also included singer [[JAMProject Hironobu Kageyama]]), which disbanded earlier that year; Niihara had earlier been the bassist/singer in the band Earthshaker (although he left before they made any records). The band's early musical style was in line with the first generation and second generation (such as the NWOBHM scene) of heavy metal, especially Music/{{Rainbow}} (Ritchie Blackmore having been one of Takasaki's main musical influences; notice that his previous band was named after a DeepPurple song).

* NobodyLovesTheBassist: Largely averted. They had TaijiSawada, who needs no introduxtion, and Masayoshi Yamashita, who is known for his piercing bass tone as well as his excellent composition ability on songs like "Everyone Lies" and "Black Wall".

* TakeThat: The band's memorial song for TaijiSawada is "Black Widow," which, if you know the circumstances of his death, is probably ''the'' most apt of his songs to play in memory.

* TaijiSawada - Bass (1992-1993, with appearances at Munetaka Higuchi's memorial shows in 2009 and 2010, died in 2011)

* Akira Takasaki - Guitar, co-founder (1981-present, only permanent member of the band)

* Music/Minoru Niihara - Vocals (1981-1988, 2000-present)

The original lineup consisted of Akira Takasaki (guitar), Music/MinoruNiihara (vocals), Munetaka Higuchi (drums), and Masayoshi Yamashita (bass). Takasaki and Higuchi had formerly been members of the band Lazy (which also included singer [[JAMProject Hironobu Kageyama]]), which disbanded earlier that year; Niihara had earlier been the bassist/singer in the band Earthshaker (although he left before they made any records). The band's early musical style was in line with the first generation and second generation (such as the NWOBHM scene) of heavy metal, especially Music/{{Rainbow}} (Ritchie Blackmore having been one of Takasaki's main musical influences; notice that his previous band was named after a DeepPurple song).

* MunetakaHiguchi - Drums, co-founder (1981-1993, 2000-2008 - died in 2008)

The original lineup consisted of Akira Takasaki (guitar), Minoru Niihara (vocals), Munetaka Higuchi (drums), and Masayoshi Yamashita (bass). Takasaki and Higuchi had formerly been members of the band Lazy (which also included singer [[JAMProject Hironobu Kageyama]]), which disbanded earlier that year; Niihara had earlier been the bassist/singer in the band Earthshaker (although he left before they made any records). The band's early musical style was in line with the first generation and second generation (such as the NWOBHM scene) of heavy metal, especially Music/{{Rainbow}} (Ritchie Blackmore having been one of Takasaki's main musical influences; notice that his previous band was named after a DeepPurple song).

* {{Minoru Niihara}} - Vocals (1981-1988, 2000-present)

** Munetaka Higuchi's drum solos. You can find one on Youtube posted in memory of him by Pearl Drums (the company that made the drums he used) if you want to hear just *how* epic. As another measure of how epic, [[YoshikiHayashi another Japanese rock drummer that might be more famous to people outside of Japan]] commented on Munetaka's funeral that he looked up to him. To reiterate: this is someone that someone who has been recorded at 800bpm and is recognized as one of the world's best drummers outside the US considered better than himself.