Tetsuya Komuro had already established himself as one of the most important dance producers in Japan by the time he formed globe in the mid-'90s, but along with singer Keiko Yamada and rapper Marc Panther, he was about to blaze yet another new trail. The trio merged elements of rock and hip-hop, all backed by Komuro's Europop-inspired keyboard playing, and painted with a futuristic sheen. The band's 1996 self-titled debut was the highest-selling Japanese album of that year, and made this bouncy electro-pop a household sound.