The Roosters

The Roosters
Also known as	The Roosterz
Origin	Fukuoka, Japan
Genres	Blues rock, punk rock
Years active	1979–1988, 2004, 2009–present
Labels	Nippon Columbia
Website	http://roosters.gate40.com/
Members	Shinya Ohe Hiroyuki Hanada Tomio Inoue Jyunji Ikehata

The Roosters (ザ・ルースターズ, Za Rūsutāzu^?, also written as The Roosterz) are a Japanese rock band that mixed punk, blues-rock, ska, straightforward rock and roll, and later on, even gothic rock. Originally active from 1979 to 1988, they performed at the 2004 Fuji Rock Festival before restarting activities in 2009. Through the years, guitarist Hiroyuki Hanada remained the only constant member, with the band currently consisting of the original lineup. In 2003, HMV Japan ranked the Roosters at number 75 on their list of the 100 most important Japanese pop acts. In September 2007, Rolling Stone Japan rated their album Good Dreams number 28 on its list of the "100 Greatest Japanese Rock Albums of All Time".

They formed in 1979 in the Hakata ward of Fukuoka, named after the blues standard "Little Red Rooster". Although there were four different lineups throughout the life of the band—all centered around guitarist Hiroyuki Hanada--Shinya Ohe was the band's first frontman. Ohe not only sang lead vocals, but also dominated the writing of lyrics and music for the group for the first three albums. In addition to Ohe's contributions, the first two albums were made up of several cover songs. Their third album Insane was a step in a new direction, it was not only the first original Roosters album, but it also featured the first Roosters song not written and composed by Ohe: "Baby Sitter", written and composed by bassist Tomio Inoue. This was the first sign of a more democratic Roosters, and it paved the way for Hanada to compose songs for their fourth album Dis.

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