HISTORY

Jieitai
(1979-1980)

Jieitai was Michiro Endo's band before The Stalin. They were named after the Japanese Self-Defense Force and many of their songs were prototypes of songs that would later be remade by The Stalin or Video Stalin, including proto-versions of Romanticist, Miser, Niku, Loving, and more. There is a live tape of them floating about on the internet, it is believed that someone actually stole this tape from Michiro's house.

The Stalin
(1980-1985)

The Stalin were formed by Michiro Endo in 1980 when he was in his early 30's. He chose the name The Stalin because Joseph Stalin was very hated in Japan and the name also, in Michiro's own words, represented "the downside of every nice idea". 

Their first release was a flexi containing 2 tracks, Dendou Kokeshi and Niku, which were 2 great raw punk songs. The lineup at the beginning was Michiro on vocals and bass, Atsushi Kaneko on guitar, and Jun Inui on drums. In 1981 Shintaro Sugiyama joined on bass and the "Stalinism" 7" was made very soon after. 

In 1981 The Stalin were gaining notice from their live shows, where Michiro would act like a madman and fight the crowd, strip naked and masturbate, throw around animal guts, and leave the stage after one song if the crowd reaction wasn't good. This behaviour got them banned from most venues. There was even an incident where Michiro was arrested for putting his penis into the mouth of a girl in the front of the crowd. 

After Stalinism the band's first LP "Trash" was released, and by that time they had a new guitarist, Tam, formerly of Typhus. When Tam joined the band they sped up their pace and began to sound like a hardcore punk band. Trash was a highly influential album released on Political Records. It's now quite rare and bootlegged often. 

In 1982 the band appeared in the Sogo Ishii movie "Burst City" along with other rock bands from the time. I believe their appearance in the movie made The Stalin enemies with another Japanese punk band, Anarchy, who believed that they should have appeared in Burst City instead of The Stalin. 

1982 saw the release of the LP "Stop Jap" which was The Stalin's major label debut on Climax Records. From this record the 2 singles Romanticist and Allergy where released and Sogo Ishii also directed 3 promotional videos for the band. Also by 1982 Jun Inui had vacated the drumstool. 

In 1983 The Stalin reached the peak of their popularity with their 3rd LP "Mushi" and the single "Go Go Stalin". However soon after these Tam left on guitar, and the band gained a new guitarist (Ryoujou) and drummer (Tatsuya Nakamura) and did their Go Go Stalin tour. Also around this time The Stalin reached an international audience when they recorded the song Chicken Farm for the MRR "Welcome To 1984" compilation album. Sometime around 1983 Shintaro Sugiyama left on bass, and I also think the drummer and guitarist left also. 

In 1984 The Stalin returned with another line up which included Jun Inui returning and made the Fish Inn LP. This album was very unpopular with punks and fans of The Stalin at the time, the album seeing The Stalin moving in more jazzy directions which sounded very very different to The Stalin's earlier work. After this Michiro became disillusioned with the punk scene in Japan and announced he was going to finally break up The Stalin after a final concert. The final concert was held in 1985 at Daiei movie studios (home of Gamera). I think it was the longest concert of The Stalin and I also think it was the biggest venue and audience The Stalin had ever received. A video of the final concert was directed by Sogo Ishii and also a live album recorded from the concert was released. After this The Stalin broke up.

Video Stalin
(1987 - 1988)

Video Stalin were formed by Michiro in 1987. His theory was to make a band that focused on releasing videos instead of records. The members were chosen from auditions that were held. The line up was  2 male members, Michiro on vocals & Kubota on guitar (later replaced by Sakamitsu on guitar, just before they split), and 2 female members, May on bass & Shoko on drums. The band held a debut live at Shinjuku Loft where they mostly performed songs from The Stalin or Michiro's solo work. This concert was released on a video called "Debut!". After this the band toured and then the "Love Terrorist" video was released. It consisted of music videos for newly recorded original Video Stalin songs and footage from Video Stalin's tour. In 1988 Video Stalin released their only LP called "Minus One", it contained the original songs from the Love Terrorist video and also a new song.
After this Video Stalin broke up.

Stalin
(1988 - 1992)

Michiro quickly embarked on a new musical venture, which he chose to call simply "Stalin". When asked why he was starting another band, he replied "because I will never learn". This new project went through various members, always of course with Michiro at the helm, and didn't have much to do with anything "The Stalin" had done. A lot of great diverse sounds came out from this band "Stalin", from commercial rock to synth pop to heavy metal - all with a punk edge, of course. One thing that can never be said of Michiro Endo is he "sold out". He always maintained the punk attitude.

All through Video Stalin / Stalin, Michiro also released a whole string of solo albums. I wonder where he ever found time to get drunk? In December '91 he apparently flew to America & played some shows in San Francisco & Berkeley, using band members from a local band Ikagen, and also performed at a Hopi Indian reservation in Arizona.

After Stalin fizzled out, Michiro continued making music, either solo or in various band guises, and even today is very prolific in the Tokyo gig circuit.