Bow Wow is an influential Japanese rock band formed in 1976 by Kyoji Yamamoto. They were one of the first Japanese metal bands. In 1984 they renamed themselves to Vow Wow, recruited vocalist Genki Hitomi and adopted a mainstream sound. Yamamoto was invited to record with the supergroup Phenomena in 1987, where he met former Whitesnake bassist Neil Murray who then joined Vow Wow.
In 1990, Vow Wow officially disbanded as Hitomi retired from music and Murray joined Black Sabbath. Yamamoto reformed Bow Wow in 1995 with all new members, before it became a trio when original members Mitsuhiro Saito and Toshihiro Niimi rejoined in 1998. Vow Wow reunited in 2010 for a reunion tour.
In Japan their best-selling album is V which reached number 12 on the Oricon chart. Internationally their best-selling album is Helter Skelter, which reached number 75 on the UK Albums Chart.