Yellow Magic Orchestra - Legacy and Influence

Legacy and Influence

In 1993, Johnny Black of Hi-Fi News, in a review for the record Hi-Tech/No Crime, described Yellow Magic Orchestra as "the most adventurous and influential electro-techno-dance technicians the world has produced" and further argued that "without them (and Kraftwerk) today's music would still sound like yesterday's music." In 2001, Jason Ankeny of the Allmusic Guide to Electronica described Yellow Magic Orchestra as "a seminal influence on contemporary electronic music – hugely popular both at home and abroad" and placed them "second only to Kraftwerk as innovators of today's electronic culture." In HMV Japan's list of top 100 Japanese musicians of all time, YMO were voted second place, behind only Southern All Stars, a pop-rock band who remain largely unknown outside of Japan.

Yellow Magic Orchestra are considered pioneers in the field of popular electronic music, and continue to be remixed or sampled by modern artists, including electronica acts Yamantaka Eye and LFO, jungle band 4hero, electrolatino artist Senor Coconut, ambient house pioneers The Orb and 808 State, electronic music groups Orbital and The Human League, hip hop pioneer Afrika Bambaataa, and mainstream pop musicians such as Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones, Greg Phillinganes, Eric Clapton, Mariah Carey, and Jennifer Lopez.

YMO's success with music technology encouraged many others, with their influence strongly felt in the British electronic scene of the early 1980s in particular. They influenced many early British synthpop acts, including Ultravox, John Foxx, Gary Numan, Duran Duran, Depeche Mode, Camouflage, OMD, The Human League, Visage, and Art of Noise, as well as American rock musicians such as Todd Rundgren. They also influenced the New Romantic movement, including British bands Duran Duran and Japan, whose member Steve Jansen was influenced by drummer Takahashi, while lead member David Sylvian was influenced by Sakamoto, who would later collaborate with Sylvian. YMO also popularized a style of live performance that eschewed human movement in favour of electronics such as rhythm boxes and samplers. The band also influenced the heavy use of sampling and looping in popular music.

The 1978 song "Behind the Mask" was an international hit covered by various later artists, most famously Michael Jackson. Alongside Quincy Jones, Jackson produced a slightly more dance-funk version of the techno classic with additional lyrics, originally intended for his best-selling album Thriller (1982). Despite the approval of songwriter Sakamoto and lyricist Chris Mosdell, it was eventually removed from the album due to legal issues with YMO's management. Nevertheless, various cover versions were later performed by Greg Phillinganes, Eric Clapton, Orbital, and The Human League, among others, before Jackson's cover version eventually appeared on the posthumous Michael album in 2010.