Before and after debut Funky Sueyoshi and Hojin Egawa, then members of funk band Bop Gun and winners of the Grand Prix in the EastWest band contest sponsored by the
Yamaha Music Foundation in 1981, formed Bakufu-Slump together with Sunplaza Nakano and Papala Kawai, then members of Super Slump, a rock band which won the Excellent Group Award in the same contest. The band got together in June 1982. The band originally performed extreme acts during its
live concerts such as dowsing the audience with fire extinguishers, throwing watermelons, throwing tatami mats and wooden boards then performing on them, holding shoes or lit fireworks in their mouths, igniting fuel-soaked cotton balls on their heads, among others. They were considered a "
comic band" because of their obscene and idiosyncratic lyrics with taboo words and their costumes. For this reason, at the time of their debut, they were sometimes considered one of "
Sony's three most colorful bands" together with
Seikima-II (Fitzbeat) and
Kome Kome Club (
CBS/Sony), both of which belonged to the same Sony-affiliated record company. Bakufu-Slump and Seikima-II, in particular, were from Sony's audition division "Sound Development" (distinguished by the SD mark). Their management agency at the time of their debut was Office Suika. In June 1985, the band made its first appearance on
Fuji TV's music show
Yoru no Hit Studio Deluxe and went on a rampage, doing the aforementioned fire performance (which later drew
complaints from the
fire department) and walking around the studio shaking hands with other performers and orchestra players. In subsequent appearances on the same program, such acts took place repeatedly, including breaking
The Alfee's set and climbing on top of the cameras. On December 13, 1985, Bakufu-Slump performed at the
Nippon Budokan for the first time. After performing at the Kudan Kaikan in the previous year, singer Sunplaza Nakano could see the Budokan from the bathroom window and thought, "I wish I could do a concert there". Soon he was told by his record company it had reserved the Budokan for a concert later in the following year. In anticipation, Nakano believed there was no way they could fill the Budokan to capacity. From this idea, a romantic song was composed as an excuse for empty seats, about a
pen pal girl who didn't attend the concert being the reason of it. The song, "Okina Tamanegi no Shita de" ("Under the Big Onion", in reference to the
giboshi on the Budokan's roof) was later regarded as one of their best-known works. Bakufu-Slump performed in front of a full house at the Budokan and soon after it gradually became recognized as a talented band with a strong rhythm section.
Runner As the band's activities began to show their limits, they moved to Daikanyama Production in 1986 with Ichiro Nitta as their producer. Nitta initially decided to adopt a more commercial approach, but bassist Hojin Egawa didn't approve the new direction and decided to leave the band. Nakano wrote lyrics to a song composed by drummer Funky Sueyoshi, using Egawa's departure from the band as inspiration, and "Runner" was born. Released in 1988 and selling 340,000 copies, the song became a longtime hit. The song was performed on
NHK's music program Just Pop-Up and the program was inundated with requests. This led to Bakufu-Slump's participation in the 39th
NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen in 1988, and its second performance at the Budokan on January 9, 1989. Egawa left the group after this performance. The original plan was for a three-day performance on January 7, 8 and 9, but due to the death of Emperor
Showa, the band refrained from performing on January 7 and 8. "Runner" became a big hit when it was used as an insert song for
Takeshi Kitano's program "Tensai Takeshi no Genki ga Daru TV!!". The song also became very popular in
karaoke and a staple in
high school baseball brass bands as a
fight song. After Egawa's departure, the substitute bassists for TV appearances included
Kazuyuki Sekiguchi of
Southern All Stars, Zenon Ishikawa of
Seikima-II, Ken Sakurai of
The Alfee, Satomi Senba of
Show-Ya, Atsuko Watanabe of
Princess Princess,
Kazuya Takahashi of Otokogumi, Kiyoshi Kakinuma of
Stardust Revue,
Casiopea keyboardist
Minoru Mukaiya (playing
synth bass), and
Chiba's local talent, Jaguar. Later, TOPS bassist Tatsuhiko Wasada (BarbeQ Wasada) joined as an official member. This was the only member change in Bakufu-Slump. The band had a close friendship with Seikima-II and TOPS, who were active at the same time and often performed live together. Masahiro Mitsui, the vocalist of TOPS, became the manager of Bakufu Slump after Wasada joined the band in 1989.
Further hits In 1989, after transferring to
Amuse, which was effectively the parent company of Daikanyama Productions, the band continued to release hits with "Gekko", "Rizo Raba -Resort Lovers-", and a remake version of "Okina Tamanegi no Shita de" from their 1985 album "Shiawase". During this period, their own TV show, "Bakufu Slump no Omiya", aired on
Nippon Television. Later, as the members' fatigue had built up, they individually went abroad to take long vacations. The overseas experience inspired the album "Oragayo 〜in the 7th heaven〜", released in November 1990, which included "The 7th Heaven", performed by Nakano and Kawai at a political demonstration in
South Africa. Sueyoshi was fascinated by
China and finally shifted his main focus to that country, where he became known as the "Asian Drum King".
Stagnation period – Solo activities After "Oragayo", the band released the album "Seishun-Oh" in September 1991, based around the theme of "youth" just like their hit "Runner," but they couldn't achieve the same level of success as with their previous works. They entered a long period of stagnation with only one hit single released in March 1992, "Namida² (Love Version)". During this period, each member began to pursue solo activities, and each of them achieved some success. On November 6, 1992, they appeared on
TV Asahi "
Music Station" and Sunplaza Nakano dived into the audience. He broke two miniature light bulbs and a panel, showing a glimpse of his wildness.
Collaboration with Denpa Shonen Bakufu-Slump's 1996 single "Tabibito – The Longest Journey" was chosen as the support song for "Saruganseki's hitchhiking across Eurasia" from the
Nippon Television's
variety show "Susume! Denpa Shonen". The single became a hit song as the hitchhiking project became popular. The album "Kaibutsu-kun" was released shortly after in January 1997 in a two-disc set (first pressing limited edition).
End of activities In March 1998, the band's 32nd and last single "Attakai Hibi" was released, followed by the last album "Hard Boiled" on April 1. In April 1999, they announced that they would be suspending their activities. == Post-hiatus ==