Group sounds

This article is about the music genre. For the Rocket from the Crypt album, see Group Sounds (album).

Group sounds
Stylistic origins	Rock and roll rockabilly rhythm and blues beat psychedelia kayōkyoku
Cultural origins	Mid-1960s, Japan
Derivative forms	J-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. Their music production techniques were regarded as playing a pioneering role in modern Japanese popular music.

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

See also

• Music of Japan
• J-pop
• Visual kei
• Japanese hip hop
• Japanese jazz
• Japanese reggae
• Japanese ska
• List of Japanese rock bands
• Enka
• Ryūkōka

External links

• Cutie Morning Moon - Dedicated to Japanese 1960s garage punk
• The Video Beat - What are the Group Sounds?
• Showapop - Group Sounds Record & CD articles in English
• Trans World '60s Punk:Cutie Morning Moon Archived 2012-12-24 at the Wayback Machine - Provides Information Mostly About Garage Bands From Outside the United States