In many ways, The Monochrome Set are the archetypal "Big in Japan" band. Formed in 1978 by a handful of Adam Ant's former backing musicians, the band, featuring guitarist Lester Square's faintly retro playing style and vocalist Ganesh "Bid" Seshadri's dryly humorous lyrics, flew insolently in the face of the spittle-flecked and violently imploding punk movement.
Unfortunately, despite releasing one of the all-time great debut albums in 1980's "Strange Boutique" and coming ever-so close to widespread acclaim with "Eligible Batchelors" in 1982, they fell apart in the mid-'80s after a misjudged switch to major label Warner Bros., leaving behind a collection of songs that inspired numerous copycats in subsequent generations (every good idea that The Divine Comedy or Franz Ferdinand ever had was ripped off from The Monochrome Set).
Another unusual legacy the band left was their involvement with Mike Alway's el Records, a label that, with its stylish, exotic imagery and its dedication to intelligent, offbeat pop, formed a large part of the inspiration for the explosion of Japanese music from the late '80s that came to be known as Shibuya-kei. Even after the Set's demise, el continued to release Bid's solo material, and all members worked together as the backing band for Jessica Griffin project Would-Be-Goods.