Michiro Endo

Michiro Endo (遠藤 ミチロウ) was a Japanese musician, author and socialist activist.

He was best known as frontman of the influential punk rock band The Stalin.

He gained notoriety for his stage antics, having once thrown a severed pig's head into the audience.

Endo was born in Nihonmatsu, Fukushima and graduated from Yamagata University.

After college he wandered through Vietnam and Southeast Asia.

The other Red Demon, Blue Demon – Michiro Endo 60th Birthday Anniversary Tribute Album, features different artists and was first released at Endo's concert on November 14 to coincide with his 60th birthday.

He formed The Stalin in 1980, they went on to be one of the dominant acts of the 80s Japanese punk rock scene.

Endo released his first solo material in 1984.

In 2002 he formed the trio Notalin's. Two years later, he and Thee Michelle Gun Elephant drummer Kazuyuki Kuhara formed the acoustic trio M.J.Q, whose motto is "unplugged punk".

On December 1, 2010, two tribute albums were released.

One entitled Romantist – The Stalin, Michiro Endo Tribute Album, which features bands such as Buck-Tick, Dir en Grey, Group Tamashii and Jun Togawa covering The Stalin and Endo's solo songs.

Endo was still active on the live scene in the 2010s, as a solo performer, playing in M.J.Q, or with the occasional The Stalin concert.

A representative announced his death on May 1 and that he had previously undergone surgery for the cancer in October 2018.

Michiro Endo died in a Tokyo hospital while battling pancreatic cancer on April 25, 2019, aged 68.