Problem: Toru Takemitsu (Wu Man  Che , Takemitsu Toru, October 8, 1930 - February 20, 1996) pronounced [takemitsW to:rW] was a Japanese composer and writer on aesthetics and music theory. Largely self-taught, Takemitsu possessed consummate skill in the subtle manipulation of instrumental and orchestral timbre. He is famed for combining elements of oriental and occidental philosophy to create a sound uniquely his own, and for fusing opposites together such as sound with silence and tradition with innovation. He composed several hundred independent works of music, scored more than ninety films and published twenty books.

Takemitsu was born in Tokyo on October 8, 1930; a month later his family moved to Dalian in the Chinese province of Liaoning. In 1938 he returned to Japan to attend elementary school, but his education was cut short by military conscription in 1944. Takemitsu described his experience of military service at such a young age, under the Japanese Nationalist government, as "... extremely bitter". Takemitsu first became really conscious of Western classical music during his term of military service, in the form of a popular French Song ("Parlez-moi d'amour") which he listened to with colleagues in secret, played on a gramophone with a makeshift needle fashioned from bamboo.  During the post-war U.S. occupation of Japan, Takemitsu worked for the U.S. Armed Forces, but was ill for a long period. Hospitalised and bed-ridden, he took the opportunity to listen to as much Western music as he could on the U.S. Armed Forces network. While deeply affected by these experiences of Western music, he simultaneously felt a need to distance himself from the traditional music of his native Japan. He explained much later, in a lecture at the New York International Festival of the Arts, that for him Japanese traditional music "always recalled the bitter memories of war".  Despite his almost complete lack of musical training, and taking inspiration from what little Western music he had heard, Takemitsu began to compose in earnest at the age of 16: "... I began [writing] music attracted to music itself as one human being. Being in music I found my raison d'etre as a man. After the war, music was the only thing. Choosing to be in music clarified my identity." Though he studied briefly with Yasuji Kiyose beginning in 1948, Takemitsu remained largely self-taught throughout his musical career.

Where did he go to school?

Answer with quotes: In 1938 he returned to Japan to attend elementary school, but his education was cut short by military conscription in 1944.


Problem: Janis Lyn Joplin (; January 19, 1943 - October 4, 1970) was an American rock singer and songwriter; one of the most successful and widely-known female rock stars of her era. After releasing three albums, she died of a heroin overdose at the age of 27. A fourth album, Pearl, was released in January 1971, just over three months after her death.

Janis Lyn Joplin was born in Port Arthur, Texas, on (1943-01-19)January 19, 1943, to Dorothy Bonita East (1913-1998), a registrar at a business college, and her husband, Seth Ward Joplin (1910-1987), an engineer at Texaco. She had two younger siblings, Michael and Laura. The family belonged to the Churches of Christ denomination.  Her parents felt that Janis needed more attention than their other children. As a teenager, Joplin befriended a group of outcasts, one of whom had albums by blues artists Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey, and Lead Belly, whom Joplin later credited with influencing her decision to become a singer. She began singing blues and folk music with friends at Thomas Jefferson High School.  Joplin stated that she was ostracised and bullied in high school. As a teen, she became overweight and suffered with acne, leaving her with deep scars that required dermabrasion. Other kids at high school would routinely taunt her and call her names like "pig", "freak", "nigger lover", or "creep". She stated, "I was a misfit. I read, I painted, I thought. I didn't hate niggers."  Joplin graduated from high school in 1960 and attended Lamar State College of Technology in Beaumont, Texas, during the summer and later the University of Texas at Austin (UT), though she did not complete her college studies. The campus newspaper, The Daily Texan, ran a profile of her in the issue dated July 27, 1962, headlined "She Dares to Be Different." The article began, "She goes barefooted when she feels like it, wears Levis to class because they're more comfortable, and carries her autoharp with her everywhere she goes so that in case she gets the urge to break into song, it will be handy. Her name is Janis Joplin." While at UT she performed with a folk trio called the Waller Creek Boys and frequently socialized with the staff of the campus humor magazine The Texas Ranger.

Did she have any siblings?

Answer with quotes: She had two younger siblings, Michael and Laura.


Problem: Earth Crisis is an American metalcore band from Syracuse, New York, active from 1989 until 2001, reuniting in 2007. Since 1993 the band's longest serving members are vocalist Karl Buechner, guitarist Scott Crouse, bassist Ian Edwards and drummer Dennis Merrick. Their third guitarist Erick Edwards joined the band in 1998. The band has released eight studio albums, three compilations, two live albums and six music videos.

Earth Crisis had a huge impact on both the hardcore punk music and its ideals. MetalSucks said: "For anybody who was not in the hardcore scene back then, it is hard to describe the impact they had or how controversial they were. You either loved them or hated them for bringing both metal and veganism into the hardcore scene". Sociologist Ross Haenfler stated in The Vinyl Factory that "Earth Crisis became the face of straight edge throughout the 1990s" through "the convergence of 'radical' animal rights activism, a more aggressive 'metalcore' sound, and hardcore crews", becoming "one of the most controversial bands in the scene's history."  Their albums Firestorm, Destroy the Machines and Gomorrah's Season Ends were particularly influential for the emerging metalcore genre. According to Andrew O'Neill, "Earth Crisis inspired a much more heavy metal sound in hardcore" and "the distinction between the two [genres] started to crumble" shortly after those records were released.  To a large extent, Earth Crisis was responsible for the rising of vegan straight edge militancy in the mid- to late 90s, when veganism was rarely present in mainstream culture. Haenfler said that, while "earlier straight edge bands advocated vegetarianism - for example Youth of Today, Insted and Manliftingbanner", Earth Crisis "made animal rights (and environmentalism) central to the scene" as a "self-described 'vegan straight edge' band", "inspiring thousands of kids to give up animal products entirely." They also spawned many activists in the scene because their message "imparted the sense of urgency in a way that nothing else that ever come before had", according to Peter Daniel Young.  Some of their songs went on to be considered by some as anthems, such as "Firestorm" for straight edge and "Ultramilitance" for eco-terrorists. They also drew major media attention, having been featured and interviewed by CNN, CBS and The New York Times, while lead singer Karl Buechner was invited to address the Congress about teens and substance abuse.

Did they influence other bands?

Answer with quotes:
Their albums Firestorm, Destroy the Machines and Gomorrah's Season Ends were particularly influential for the emerging metalcore genre.