Haruomi Hosono, Ryuichi Sakamoto and Yukihiro Takahashi used the Roland MC-8 and early samplers with a pop sensibility nobody in Europe matched, and became as foundational for hip-hop and electro as for synth-pop. Solid State Survivor charts here. Sakamoto and Takahashi both died in 2023, closing an extraordinary chapter.
- Number 137 on The 250 Best Electronic Albums of the 20th Century
1979
