Saying goodbye to The Pillows

Written by Ross Locksley on 10 Feb 2025

Sad news for fans of raw, unfiltered rock as The Pillows have officially disbanded after more than three decades. 

Anime fans are likely to remember the infectious energy the band provided to Hideki Anno's anarchic coming-of-age series FLCL, in particular the seminal Little Busters, which was also the title of their 1998 album. The entire FLCL album is full of infectious hits, from Ride on Shooting Star, Runner's High and One Life. It was an anime that was solid to begin with, but elevated to cult status thanks to the band turning in a performance so good that it spawned no less than three soundtrack albums, cementing them as the cool sound of anime for millions of fans globally. It's also one of the anime vinyl soundtracks living proudly in the UKA collection since it was made available in the UK officially by Anime Ltd.

As news of the band's split spread across the internet, they resurfaced into the top slots of the music streaming sphere, with four of their tracks making it into the Spotify Viral 50 - Japan list (Funny Bunny, Hybrid Rainbow, Thank You My Twilight and Ride on Shooting Star). 

The Pillow's 35th anniversary live show

The band was formed in 1989 when bassist Kenji Ueda left Kenzi & The Trips with drummer Shinichiro Sato and invited then vocalist of The Coin Locker Babies Sawao Yamanaka to join them in forming a new band. Once guitarist Yoshiaki Manabe (formerly of band Persia) signed up, The Pillows officially began their journey into legend on September 16th 1989. The band name allegedly came from Sawao Yamanaka noticing a poster of an English post-punk compilation poster entitled Pillows & Prayers hanging on the wall of Yoshiaki Manabe's home.

Ueda left The Pillows in 1992 with Sawao Yamanaka taking over the leadership of the band and recruited Tatsuya Kashima to replace Ueda on bass and restarting the band. 

Success and singles followed, with the band's music making the first appearance in film with 1995's Love Letter. Their relationship with Gainax was created in 1999, when the studio approached the band to use their previous three albums as the soundtrack for FLCL, a move that created a huge amount of exposure for the band in the West, leading to the release of Ride on Shooting star in the US and providing the impetus to tour the country. The same year bassist Tatsuya Kashima was replaced by newcomer Jun Suzuki.

Since then, the band has continues to work as a touring and studio band, releasing no less than 22 studio albums between 1991 and 2018. In 2007, the single Ladybird Girl was used as the intro to the Japanese version of animation Ben 10, while another single from the same year, Scarecrow, was used by the anime Moonlight Mile. They turned down an offer from Oasis in 2008 to play as the warm up act on their tour, but The Pillows refused so that they would have "a fun story to tell". 

More anime themes followed in 2010, with Rodeo Star Mate (also the name of that year's album) appearing in Disney's Stitch - Utazura Alien no Dabouken. 2011 saw Comic Sonic being used as the ending for anime Sket Dance, 2018 saw the band return to FLCL to provide music for the new anime series. 2019's Happy go Ducky! was the opening to Ahiru no Sora.

Ahiru no Sora featuring The Pillows' Happy Go Ducky!

Another band change came in 2015 when bassist Jun Suzuki was fired from the band over "bad conduct" that had been going on for years, but this prompted several guest bassists and even the return of Kenji Ueda for their remaining live shows that year.

In a further nod to their cultural impact, the band;s track Be Wild was featured in a commercial for female wrestler Eri Tosaka who won gold in the 2016 Olympics women's freestyle 48kg event - the wrestler was a fan, having used Funny Bunny as her fight song.

The band's constant energy, enthusiasm and clear love for music won fans over across the world, their live performances finding huge audiences both attending and across albums and DVD releases. The raw power of their music is timeless in the best way and no doubt their distinctive style will remain beloved by music fans, not to mention those of us who are anime nerds made just a little bit cooler for the undeniable rock'n'roll power of The Pillows.

So we doff our caps to a band that crossed boundaries, raised spirits and lent us their effortless swagger - cheers to The Pillows for three decades of incredible music.

If you're looking to catch up with what makes The Pillows so special, you could do worse than start with heir greatest hits album, Fool the Planet. Many of their live performances can also be found on the official The Pillows Youtube channel.