Crush 40

This article is about a subject in the real world. Information in this article is about real-life people, companies, and objects, which do not relate to the in-universe Sonic series.

Logo of Crush 40 since 2021.

Crush 40, originally known as Sons of Angels, are a Japanese-American hard rock band who are best known for producing music for the Sonic the Hedgehog series.

History

The two prominent members of Crush 40; Jun Senoue and Johnny Gioeli.

Jun Senoue (the band's guitarist) was first hired by Sega to write two songs for Sonic the Hedgehog 3. After this, he recorded more songs for other Sega games, including songs for Sonic 3D Blast. He eventually contacted singer from Hardline, Johnny Gioeli, and recorded the song "Open Your Heart", which would later be featured in Sonic Adventure (the band was then known as "Sons of Angels"). They soon released their first album, titled Thrill of the Feel.

Later in their career, the band hired Katsuji and Takeshi Taneda on drums and bass, respectively. Together, they recorded many songs, the first of which was "Live and Learn" for Sonic Adventure 2. Sonic Heroes featured two new songs by the group, the theme song, "Sonic Heroes" (a "bright, melodic song"), and "What I'm Made of..." (a "distinctly dark, hard rock song with metal sensibilities"). When Shadow the Hedgehog was released, they recorded "I Am... All of Me" and "Never Turn Back". For both these songs, Katsuji was replaced with Toru Kawamura.

The band also contributed to Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), recording a cover of "All Hail Shadow", previously performed by Magna-Fi, and recorded a version of "His World", the latter only presented on the soundtrack. They later covered "Seven Rings in Hand" (originally performed by Steve Conte). They also recorded several songs for Sonic and the Black Knight, including its main theme "Knight of the Wind", the ending theme "Live Life," "Through the Fire", "Fight the Knight", and their own version of the theme "With Me". The band also recorded a cover of "Sonic Boom", a remix of the theme for the North American version of Sonic the Hedgehog CD, created in cooperation with Cash Cash.

The front cover of Crush 40's The Best of Crush 40 - Super Sonic Song album.

Some of their material was eventually released onto iTunes, including The Best of Crush 40: Super Sonic Songs and Song of Hope, their new charity single which is dedicated to the victims of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami incident. The iTunes edition of The Best of Crush 40: Super Sonic Songs contains three bonus tracks, "Free" (a cover of the Sonic Free Riders theme, originally performed by Chris Madin), "With Me -Massive Power Mix-" and "Seven Rings In Hand". Later, in June 2012, three songs which were intending to be released on an EP scheduled for July 4 were leaked onto iTunes. The songs were "Sonic Youth", "One Of Those Days", and "Rise Again".

On 13 May 2015, Crush 40 released their second EP 2 Nights 2 Remember, containing the songs "2 Nights 2 Remember", "Big Mouth", "Down & Dirty" and "Light of the Day".

On 11 June 2018, it was announced that Crush 40 would be contributing a new song called "Green Light Ride" to the-then upcoming Team Sonic Racing. This was the first time Akht. had performed as drummer for the band on a new track, replacing Toru Kawamura. In 2021, Crush 40 also performed during and for the Sonic the Hedgehog 30th Anniversary Symphony.

List of members

Entire Crush 40 band at Tokyo in 2011. (flanked left-to-right): Jun Senoue (guitar), Toru Kawamura (drums), Johnny Gioeli (vocals), Takeshi Taneda (bass).

Current

• Johnny Gioeli – vocals (1998–present)
• Jun Senoue – guitars (1998–present)
• Takeshi Taneda – bass (2001–present)
• Akht. - drums (2019-present)

Former

• Naoto Shibata – bass (1998-2001)
• Hirotsugu Homma – drums (1998-2001)
• Katsuji Kirita – drums (2001-2005)
• Mark Schulman – drums (2003)
• Toru Kawamura – drums (2005–16)
• Bobby Jarzombek – drums (2009)

Discography

Studio albums

• Thrill of the Feel (2000; as Sons of Angels)
• Crush 40 (2003)

EPs

• Rise Again (2012)

Live albums

• LIVE! (2012)
• 2 Nights 2 Remember (2015)

Compilation albums

• The Best of Crush 40: Super Sonic Songs (2009)
• Driving Through Forever - The Ultimate Crush 40 Collection (2019)

Credits

Soundtrack

• Sonic Adventure:
  • "Open Your Heart"

• Sonic Adventure 2:
  • "Live and Learn"

• Sonic Heroes:
  • "Sonic Heroes"
  • "What I'm Made of..."

• Shadow the Hedgehog:
  • "I Am... All of Me"
  • "Never Turn Back"

• Sonic the Hedgehog (2006):
  • "All Hail Shadow" (cover)
  • "His World" (cover)

• Sonic and the Secret Rings:
  • "Seven Rings In Hand" (cover)

• Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity:
  • "Un-Gravitify" (cover)

• Sonic and the Black Knight:
  • "Fight the Knight"
  • "Knight of the Wind"
  • "Live Life"
  • "Through the Fire"
  • "With Me" (cover)
• Sonic Free Riders:
  • "Free" (cover)

• Team Sonic Racing:
  • "Green Light Ride"
• Shadow Generations

Albums

• Sonic the Hedgehog CD Original Soundtrack 20th Anniversary Edition
  • "Sonic Boom (Crush 40 vs. Cash Cash)"
• Sonic 30th Anniversary Symphony (Live)
  • "Open Your Heart (Live)"
  • "Sonic Heroes (Live)"
  • "Green Light Ride (Live)"
  • "Sonic Boom (Live)"
  • "I Am... All Of Me (Live)"
  • "Knight of the Wind (Live)"
  • "Live & Learn (Live)"

Trivia

• As a cameo, the band's name can be seen in the first Sonic movie on a screen.
• At Summer of Sonic '10, Johnny explained to Gareth Spriggs that he never wanted to turn 40, which is where Crush 40 came from; because he wanted to "Crush 40". The "Crush" part also came from the fact that Jun likes Crush soda.
• In an interview with Nintendo Power magazine, Jun confirmed that Crush 40 songs would be coming to Rock Band Network, but these plans eventually fell through due to licensing issues.
• Jun Senoue said "Live and Learn" and "Escape from the City" are his favorite composed songs.
• Jun and Johnny's favorite song to perform is "What I'm Made of..."