Polysics



Polysics are a Japanese New Wave band originally founded by Hiroyuki Hayashi ("Hiro") in 1997. Hiro was heavily inspired by the American band Devo as well as Japanese bands such as P-Model and Yellow Magic Orchestra. To borrow a quote from That Other Wiki: "The band has been noted for their extremely energetic live performances and their wild gimmicky outfits, notably their trademark orange boiler suits, with a simple 'P' stamped on them, and their straight-bar sunglasses."

Their official band page can be found here.

This band features examples of:

 * Bullet Time: Parodied in one of the videos for "I My Me Mine."
 * Closer to Earth: Recently-retired keyboardist Kayo often came across as this, especially in comparison to Hiro's zany antics.
 * Cool Shades
 * Cover Version: They've done a half-cover of Styx's "Domo Arigato Mr. Roboto," in that they took the intro and the Japanese lyrics and made up their own music to go with it. They've also covered "My Sharona," "Wild One," "Psycho Therapy," and a few other songs in live performances (especially by Devo).
 * Engrish
 * Gratuitous English
 * Hot-Blooded: Hiro comes across as this.
 * The Jimmy Hart Version: Hiro has lifted a lot of guitar and synthesizer licks from Devo.
 * Loners Are Freaks: "DNA Junction." Maybe.
 * Rotoscoping: Their video for "Electric Surfing Go Go" uses this.
 * Spelling Song: "Polysics Or Die."
 * Something Something Leonard Bernstein: Consisting as they do of mostly Japanese, Engrish, and gibberish, many of their songs are prone to this, even to some native Japanese speakers.
 * Tomboy and Girly Girl: Fumi and Kayo, prior to the latter leaving.
 * Word Salad Lyrics
 * Widget Band: Though how much of this is intrinsically Japanese and how much of it was inherited from Devo is up for grabs.
 * What Do You Mean It Wasn't Made on Drugs?: A great many of their music videos elicit this reaction.