Crush 40

Formed between Japan and the United States around guitarist and composer Jun Senoue and singer Johnny Gioeli, Crush 40 plays melodic hard rock infused with glam metal accents and a direct link to video game music. The collaboration began in the late 1990s when Senoue, then a composer at Sega, brought Gioeli in for "Open Your Heart" in Sonic Adventure. The project initially released under the name Sons of Angels, issuing the album Thrill of the Feel in 2000, before being renamed Crush 40 in the early 2000s. Crush 40 has since been closely associated with much of the Sonic universe with tracks like "Live & Learn", "Sonic Heroes", "What I’m Made Of..." and "I Am... All of Me", characterized by punchy riffs, fast tempos and highly singable choruses. Their discography includes Crush 40 (2003), The Best of Crush 40: Super Sonic Songs (2009), the EP Rise Again (2011), the live albums Live! (2012) and 2 Nights 2 Remember (2015), and the compilation Driving Through Forever (2019). On stage, Crush 40 have performed at events linked to video games and Sonic culture, from the Tokyo Game Show to Summer of Sonic.