On the search for a second guitarist, Hisashi was asked to join but declined the offer, as he was already part of a locally well-known heavy punk/rock band called Ari, which better suited his taste in music.

[4] Officially, the name "Glay" was coined by Takuro and is a deliberate misspelling of the word "gray" to represent the style of music they wanted to play: a mixture between rock (black) and pop (white).

[5][6] However, Hisashi confirmed in an interview with Natalie that the name came from Jun Gray, a member of the punk rock band Kenzi & The Trips that he and Takuro had read about in the magazine Takarajima.

[7] By the time of Takuro and Teru's graduation, Glay were enjoying some popularity in their hometown of Hakodate and were playing full live houses.

The impact of their popularity was such that, in 1998, Japan's telephone service was temporarily put out of order due to the mass number of fans trying to reserve tickets to their upcoming tour.

Their 2001 album One Love got mixed feelings among the fans, due to its disparities to their earlier works, with a different, generally poppier and experimental sound, and songs that had reggae and R&B influences.

[citation needed] During that time, Jiro created a side band with the pillows guitarist Sawao Yamanaka and Straightener's drummer Nakayama Shinpei called The Predators, in the summer of 2005.

Teru and Hisashi formed a band called Rally with The Mad Capsule Markets drummer Motokatsu and bassist Koji Ueno from Thee Michelle Gun Elephant.

In September, "Natsuoto/Henna Yume -Thousand Dreams-" was released, with "Natsuoto" being the theme song to TV show Koi suru Hanikami.

On January 31, 2007, Glay released their tenth full-length studio album, Love is Beautiful, containing 14 tracks, which reached No.

During the period between June 15 and July 6 the band held the Glay Hall Tour 2009 - The Great Vacation, prior to their two date Glay 15th Anniversary Special Live 2009 The Great Vacation in Nissan Stadium, held on August 15 and 16, which gathered a total of 150 thousand people and cost 1.5 billion yen.

2 - Super Best of Glay, another triple CD containing hit singles from 1994 to 2000 and re-recorded versions of "Acid Head", "Shutter Speeds no Teema" and "Burst", as well as a remastering of older tracks.

On October 22, 2009, a Tokyo court ruled in favor of Glay over the ownership of 147 songs and ordered Unlimited Records to pay them 670 million yen for back royalties and unpaid contract fees.

This was the issue that started in 2005 wherein royalties to Glay have ceased to be provided, leading the four-man band to seek termination of their contract with the company.

In May, the band released the video Rock Around the World 2010–2011 of the final concert of the tour performed at Saitama Super Arena.

In November, Glay released the 3-song maxi-single My Private "Jealousy", which included a cover of the Neon Genesis Evangelion theme song, "A Cruel Angel's Thesis".

The title track served as the theme song for the band's two-day Hotel Glay concert at Nagai Stadium, held July 28 and 29.

Bible also included the CD version of the song "Thank you for your love", which was written in support of victims of the 2011 Japan Earthquake and Tsunami.

[39] In December, the band released two simultaneous singles: "Justice [from] Guilty", a rock track written by Hisashi, and "Unmeiron", a ballad composed by Jiro.

[40] In July 2013, Glay released "Dark River", the theme song for the TV series Gekiryu - Watashi wo Oboeteimasuka?, starring Japanese actress Rena Tanaka.

[42] To celebrate their 20th anniversary, Glay released their 26-song 2CD+DVD Hai to Diamond Anthology in May 2014, which included remixed and remastered versions of previously-released songs as well as demo tracks, radio show recordings, and music videos from their indie era.

In October, they released the special-edition Speed Pop Anthology, which contained 27 songs including demos and remasters from the original 1995 album plus a documentary.

Along with remixed and remastered tracks, the special edition contained 2 full-length 1996 concert videos from Shibuya Public Hall and Nippon Budokan.

[54] In 2018, Glay toured Asia, collaborating on stage with Taiwanese band Mayday[55] and performed the 900th concert of their career in Hong Kong.

Glay Expo 2001 "Global Communication" was divided into four performances: two in Tokyo, one in Ishikari, and an all-night long performance in Fukuoka, which featured artists; Dome from Thailand, Nicholas Tse from Hong Kong, Mayday from Taiwan, Jaurim from South Korea, and The D.e.p., a group formed by Glay's producer Masahide Sakuma, Taiwanese singer Vivian Hsu, Gota Yashiki, Masami Tsuchiya and Mick Karn.

[60] Glay has appeared on several TV programs and front covers of many famous music magazines in Japan, such as Gigs, What's In?, BPass, Ongaku to Hito, PatiPati, Newsmaker, etc.

To promote the "Expo '99", at the peak of their mainstream popularity, they had their faces printed on the sides of Japan Airlines jumbo jets,[61] the sponsor of the event.

Besides performing in charity festivals as the "Red Ribbon Live" (in which Teru has participated since 2005), the "White Band Fes" in 2005, the "Re-style Live" (organized by the DJ Hisashi Yamada) and the "AP Bank Fes" in 2008, Glay, specially Teru and Takuro, have been actively participating in different causes.

[66][67] In 2011, after Eastern Japan was affected by the 9.0 magnitude Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, Glay joined other artists in making donations for victim relief.

[69] Teru wrote and recorded a song called "Thank You for Your Love" to send a message of support to the victims and released it via Twitter.