B'z -- Love Phantom

Man, was this the coolest song when the duo's 18th single came out in October 1995! Used as the ending theme song for "The X-Files" when the then-popular Fox series had debuted in Japan via TV Asahi, I thought Inaba and Matsumoto just hit the bull's-eye when they made this song. Whether or not the B'z boys had intended to or not, they made the song a perfect fit for the spooky and exciting mood of the show. And with Inaba's banshee vocals, Matsumoto's riffs, a full orchestral intro at the beginning, and the opera singer near the end, you couldn't have asked for a more over-the-top arena rock song for Halloween.

Released also as a track on their 8th album, "LOOSE" in November of that year, "Love Phantom"sold close to 2 million copies, about half of which was sold in just the first week of release. It hit the top of the charts and quickly became the 10th-ranked single of 1995.

There were also a couple of brief backing vocals on the song as well. Keiko Utoku（宇徳敬子） appeared first; she was part of the B.B. Queens chorus and the retro-kayo trio Mi-Ke. And the second vocal was provided by actress Naoko Iijima（飯島直子）.