During the early-'90s alternative wave, quirky Japanese indie rock trio Shonen Knife made major fans out of alt-rock's elite (Sonic Youth, Nirvana, and Redd Kross, among others) and built a solid worldwide cult following with their Ramones-meets-Beatles brand of sticky-sweet punk-pop. Following their early-'80s rise as indie upstarts, they signed to the majors for the release of 1992's breakthrough Let's Knife. With vocalist Naoko Yamano at the core, four albums were issued with the founding trio before the first of many lineup shuffles. The group's early-2000s output included 2003's Candy Rock and 2005's Genki Shock! Cementing their veteran status in the 2010s, Yamano kept the band going, their endearing charm and no-nonsense punk bursts packing efforts such as 2011's Osaka Ramones and their 20th album, 2016's Adventure.
Formed by Michie Nakatani (vocals, bass), Naoko Yamano (vocals, guitar), and Atsuko Yamano (drums), Shonen Knife started in December 1981 in their hometown of Osaka, where all three members were working as office clerks. The group played their first real show in March of the following year. Soon after, they began issuing albums in Japan, including 1982's cassette-only release Minna Tanoshiku (English translation: Everybody Happy?), 1983's Burning Farm, 1984's Yama No Attchan, and 1986's Pretty Little Baka Guy (the latter of which was reissued with extra tracks four years later, under the title Pretty Little Baka Guy/Live in Japan). Although their records were only available in the U.S. via import, Shonen Knife struck a chord with the underground with a track that appeared on the Sub Pop 100 compilation in 1986. In 1989, a collection of alternative bands even recorded renditions of their favorite Shonen Knife songs for the tribute album Every Band Has a Shonen Knife Who Loves Them.
The first Shonen Knife release to be issued outside of Japan was a 1990 self-titled compilation that featured the entire Burning Farm and Yama No Attchan albums, as well as three tracks that were only previously available on the obscure Japanese comp Aura Music. Shortly thereafter, the group began touring America on a somewhat regular basis, supporting their 1991 release 712 with some dates opening for Nirvana just prior to the runaway success of Cobain and company's now-classic Nevermind album. Now the hip band to name-drop, Shonen Knife signed their first major U.S. recording contract with Capitol, resulting in the release of one of their finest (and best-known) albums, 1992's Let's Knife. A year later, the group switched to the Virgin label, issuing Rock Animals, which would spawn a semi-popular MTV video with ""Tomato Head"" (even landing a spot on the network's popular animated series Beavis and Butthead).
In 1994, the trio performed as part of the traveling alternative rock festival Lollapalooza and contributed a cover of ""Top of the World"" to the Carpenters tribute album If I Were a Carpenter, while Virgin issued an 18-track collection of rare tracks, Birds & the B-Sides, in 1996. Although they were able to greatly expand their U.S. fan base, Shonen Knife never obtained the breakthrough success that was expected by many, resulting in the group returning to the independents and issuing such further releases as 1997's Brand New Knife, 1998's Happy Hour, and the 2000 Japan-only release Strawberry Sound (which featured the band's revamped lineup of Atsuko Yamano on bass and Mana Nishiura, who joined Shonen Knife after Nakatani left in 1999, on drums).
Vocalist Naoko Yamano was the only original member during the mid- to late 2000s, but even after 20-plus years and difficulties maintaining a consistent lineup, the band showed no signs of slowing. In 2005, Oglio reissued the group's first four albums, and the band released Genki Shock in Japan. Late that year, Nishiura was killed in a New Jersey traffic accident while touring with DMBQ. Both Shonen Knife and DMBQ performed at a tribute concert for Nishiura that was held in Kyoto in spring 2006, shortly before the U.S. release of Genki Shock. The group continued on with drummer Etsuko Nakanishi and bassist Ritsuko Taneda, releasing a live album and another full-length, Super Group, in 2009. A few months after completing 2010's Free Time, drummer Nakanishi parted ways with the band, to be replaced by Emi Morimoto. After celebrating their 30th anniversary with a concert in New York, the Yamano/Taneda/Morimoto lineup released Pop Tune in 2012 and Overdrive in 2014.
The year 2015 saw more lineup changes for Shonen Knife. In March, founding drummer Atsuko rejoined the group on bass, a reunion that was supposed to be a temporary gig while Ritsuko was away on maternity leave. However, Ritsuko did not return and Atsuko continued with the band. Months later, Morimoto announced her departure and was replaced by Risa Kawano (Brinky). In April 2016, the year of their 35th anniversary, Kawano and the Yamano sisters returned with Shonen Knife's 20th studio album, the '70s rock-inspired Adventure, which featured the single ""Jump Into the New World."" The following year they delivered the compilation Ready! Set!! Go!!!, a special collection released in conjunction with their tour of Australia. In 2018, the band celebrated their comeback success with ALIVE! in Osaka, a live collection culled from their lengthy list of punk confections. Speaking of confections, their 21st set, Sweet Candy Power, arrived in 2019 and featured ten upbeat punk ditties such as ""Party"" and ""Dizzy."" ~ Greg Prato & Neil Z. Yeung
