Crush 40

The band formed by guitarist/composer Jun Senoue, singer/songwriter Johnny Gioeli, and a rotating lineup of several bassists (Takeshi Taneda, Naoto Shibata) and drummers (Hirotsugu Homma, Toru Kawamura, Katsuji Kirita) in 2001, mainly known for performing songs for the Sonic The Hedgehog series.

Crush 40 was originally named Sons of Angels in 2000 for their debut album "Thrill of the Feel", the soundtrack to NASCAR Rubbin' Racin', but changed their name to Crush 40 when the [url=http://www.discogs.com/artist/1986222]Norwegian group of the same name[/url] reunited in 2001. After renaming themselves to Crush 40, they re-released their debut album, minus the instrumental tracks, as an eponymous album in 2004. From 2001 onward they did theme songs for each major Sonic the Hedgehog game, from Sonic Adventure 2 all the way up to 2009's Sonic and the Black Knight; also in 2009 they released the compilation album "The Best of Crush 40: Super Sonic Songs", which was their first album to feature songs that were not game-related. However, after 2009 their influence began to wane heavily, and the last Sonic the Hedgehog game they made music for was Sonic Free Riders in 2010.

In 2012 Crush 40 released an EP, "Rise Again", which contained the charity single "Song of Hope" that was made for the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami in Japan, and "Live!", Crush 40's first live album, recorded in Japan. New material after 2012 would be scarce, with 2015's "2 Nights 2 Remember" featuring only four new studio tracks and the rest being a live recording of their "2 Nights 2 Remember" concert show in Japan.