He experienced culture shock after seeing the Woodstock film; "Up to that point, I hadn't had a chance to listen to real rock music, so when I saw people smoking dope and running around naked, and musicians like Alvin Lee and Keith Moon in 'Woodstock,' it was like a spark going off in my head.
"[1] The first song he learned on guitar was "Love Like a Man" by Lee's band Ten Years After, but he was also influenced by Jeff Beck, Ritchie Blackmore and Jimi Hendrix.
Yamamoto has called Bow Wow's performance at the 1982 Reading Festival, which was their first show in the United Kingdom, "the most exciting day of my life.
[1] Yamamoto reformed Bow Wow with all new members in 1995, however, original guitarist and vocalist Mitsuhiro Saito and drummer Toshihiro Niimi rejoined him in 1998 to become a trio.
[9] Yamamoto was to perform his first solo show in the United States on September 24, 2011, with Karl Wilcox from Diamond Head supporting him on drums.