S.O.B.

S.O.B. are an influential and enduring japanese hardcore punk and thrashcore band who were, along with similar thrashcore bands like Siege, pioneers and precursors of grindcore. The group debuted in 1986 with the single Leave Me Alone. In 1990, S.O.B. found international recognition with their split 7" EP with British band Napalm Death, who are also pioneers of this genre with bands like Terrorizer and mostly Repulsion. In July of 1989, S.O.B. met Napalm Death during a Japanese tour, and Napalm Death's members Shane Embury and Lee Dorrian played on the record Thrash Night, an EP released by Dorrian's label Rise Above. In the same year, the band held a session for John Peel's Radio program on BBC. In June of 1995, after the release of Vicious World (their first experimentation with many sound effects and different song structures), Tottsuan, the band's lead vocalist, committed suicide by jumping onto railroad tracks as a train was moving. Soon after, Kevin Sharp of Brutal Truth took Tottsuan's place during live S.O.B. performances, but in 1996, the band announced that Tottsuan had been replaced by Naoto, former bassist of rise of the dead. In 2003, S.O.B. made a comeback with the release of Still Grind Attitude and a series of re-recorded classics with their most current vocalist Itsushi. They still exist today but are only actively known in Japan. While they still exist today, old school fans of the band criticize the band for once "selling out" in their career, where they used to participate in fashion conventions, played with mainstream pop-affiliated band, and changing their sound to "mainstream hardcore."