Japanese alternative rock band Spitz started out as four university friends in the late 1980s who formed a rock band, promoting their music by playing small live venues in and around Tokyo. One of their early influences was the Japanese punk band The Blue Hearts who lead singer Masamune Kusano cites as a source of inspiration.
After signing to Polydor in the early '90s the band's music initially failed to make an impression on the record buying public. In 1995 their fortunes changed when they released the single 'Robinson' which stayed in the top ten for more than 30 weeks and sold more than one million copies. 'Robinson' was the first in a series of successful singles for the band and during the next two decades they established themselves as one of Japan's most popular bands with 15 albums to their credit including 'Souvenir' (2005), 'Togemaru' (2010) and 'Samenai' (2016).
