Ten things that I think can hurt the Japanese music scene, in no order.
I’ve gone back and added “visual” to all the “kei”s I had no idea people wold get so upset over it.Have a nice day and enjoy the article.
10. Forgetting the roots:
From what I can gather this isn’t a problem with the artists, they know were Jrock came from and who to thank for the most part but to many fans don’t have a clue. For example I know a girl that was convinced that Kyo from D’erlanger was the same Kyo from Dir en Grey until I informed her that Diru Kyo was a pre-teen when D’erlanger was in it’s first incarnation. This person who is a self proclaimed Diru expert had no idea that Yoshiki was important to the rise of Dir en Grey. Another example is the number of Gackt fan girls that don’t know what Malice Mizer is.
9. Bands changing to appeal to western audiences
This might not be as big a problem as I once thought it would be, I was afraid at first because at one point LOUDNESS had replaced their vocalist with an American alienating their fans. Then years later Dir en Grey emulated American screamo to gain an audience here. While Dir en Grey shows no signs of ever going back, LOUDNESS reunited the old lineup and toured America after a decade absence. So far though it doesn’t look like other bands are going the same root, though one could argue that X is no longer a Visual Kei band because they were about to tour American in 93.
8. Too much focus on sex appeal in the Visual Kei market
All the big Visual Kei bands are full of smoking hot men, while this is fun to watch it’s bad for the musical talent pool. Think back to the old Visual Kei bands; Tokyo Yankees, X, etc they had some ugly ass members. Think Pata could get work if he was starting the scene now instead of 20 years ago? Maybe,maybe not. Another effect of this is that women have very little chance in the industry, the market for Visual Kei has shifted to young girls that want hot guys to look at.
7.Limited differences between many bands in the Visual kei scene
Many many bands have the androgynous look, that’s fine, but far to many have a member that dresses and looks 100% female. When Yoshiki and Mana were first doing that it was fun and unique. Now it’s redundant, time to find a new gimmick.
6. Little effort to be ground breaking
Sure every band wants to be the greatest, but few are actually making the effort to raise the bar musically. Not that the music now doesn’t sound good, but no one is out there trying to top “Art of Life”, “Bohemian Rhapsody”, or “Stairway to Heaven”. The question might be IF we’ll see another song of that caliber, not when.
5. Where’s the emotion?
Seems like the powerful, tearful ballad is dieing. Songs like “Tears” for X Japan or “Rocket” from ZI:KILL. I miss piano ballads. Maybe the upcoming X Japan single, a ballad dedicated to hide entitled “Without You” will bring it back into popularity. Remember acoustic guitars? Fading, though MiyAvi makes great use of them.
4.Targeting Otaku exclusively(mostly)
First off, nothing against the Otaku, they are certianly Jrock/Jpop’s foothold into the American market. That said, you aren’t going to get anywhere very fast when you only get the word out at conventions, sure the word is then spread through word of mouth but it’s slow going. Targeting this niche audience assures you yourself will be niche for quite some time. While I don’t approve of Dir en Grey’s changes to appeal to the American contemporary metal market, I do approve of how they’ve attached themselves to non-otaku events such as the Family Values Tour, and touring with the Deftones. I believe that other bands could learn from this, for example Black Sabbath is releasing a new album soon, perhaps X Japan could open for them. It’s a stretch, but hell, it could work.
3.Charging too much.
Ok, a cd is 12-20 dollars in America. Want a Jrock CD? That’s going to cost you 20-40. In the age of the internet people are just going to pirate. take a look at most forums that you see, that’s what’s going on. Bring the price down, and make your CD’s available at brick and mortar stores. We’re out there, we’ll spend a reasonable amount of money, maybe even in the 25 dollar range would still sell.
2. Taking videos down off YouTube
Yes, people putting your videos up is illegal Japan, but realize that it’s done to get the word out about your product. Youtube has informed me on bands I’ve never heard of and I’ve bought their stuff. Realize this but still want to control your media? Hey, that’s fine and I understand, do what American companies have started to do: Make your own YouTube channel and upload the videos yourself. We’ll still see the media, and you’ll still get your bands seen.(Apparently I need to clarify for some readers that it’s generally the music TV channels and labels taking the music videos down, not the bands)
1. Some artists like to lip sync
Americans will decapitate artists for this, Nana Kitade, I saw you do it live let’s not do that anymore.
I agree with a lot of your points. However the only one I disagree on is the whole idea of changing to a Western audience. I don’t think that this is what dir en grey has been trying to do. It’s different to say that they’re mimicking the style of the US rock scene more, however they’ve been doing this since 6 ugly when they didn’t even have a focus on becomming popular in the West. It’s also important to remember that rock music in general is a “western” music style and it’s just retarded in the end to bicker about selling out and changes in music style as to cater to different audiences
I never said they sold out.
“Another example is the number of Gackt fan girls that don’t know what Malice Mizer is.”
Some people don’t even know who Mana is let alone Yoshiki sometimes.
I agree about the Prices. That’s why I can’t “really” get a feel for any one Japanese band, because while I may love one or two of an Artists albums..It’s impossible to get a feel for a band through 20 or so songs. And at 40 bucks a pop..And you can’t find them in stores, so you have to order for overseas..It gets really expensive, and as the cost of living goes up..It’s just a dream to get into a Japanese artist and really know what they’re about.
I totally agree with everything in this article. When I first heard of visual kei I was really interested because everything seemed so original and distinct and pure but as I heard of new bands I realized that nothing is quite as original, distinct, or pure as it may seem. As for the changing to appeal to western audiences the GazettE’s new album includes rapping…in english.
lana – Well, I think the English rapping thing isn’t an appeal to western audiences. It’s considered cool and attracts their Japanese fans, I believe.
In general, a huge percentage of Japanese musicians use English is some of their songs. Whether they use it WELL is another story.
i would just like to say that this is all true, the j-music scene is gonna rot if this keeps up, no offense, but honestly its just becoming too trendy, that nobody really cares for the quality for the music anymore, and its not just japan but also in america.
i understand thats its cool and all but still its going too far, ppl start disrespecting old and older bands and state that the new stuff is better, in which ppl are lacking the roots of the j-rock. most notably X-Japan in which lotsa ppl i know havnt or dont even listen to them.
Dir en grey is also one of the best influential bands in j-rock, but to be honest they gave up that visual-kei look, cuz you know its like the saying “we’ve been there and done that” so its something else new, they are trying to do something different from the trends, cuz Visual Kei’s prime era was during the 90s, now Visual Kei is just an ordinary trend. nothing more and nothing less.
There were also other bands than Loudness, there were also Vodka Collins, Ziggy, Laughin’ Nose, Samurai Attack and a buncha other great sounding bands, that were from the 80s, the music had ranged from glam rock to punk rock, hair metal and even pop music. but it wasnt j-music, it was just the music they played in japan, it wasnt “special” unlike how some ppl see it.
i would also like to say, what is visual kei now? i see ads that say “be lolita, be visual, be unique” whats so unique about dressing up looking the same, and as a fact visual kei started from glam rock and hair metal and thats how X-Japan got their style as well as other Exstasy Record bands.
Lastly i would like to note that there is one band i really luv and in my opinion beats the average visual kei. the band’s name is “Onmyouza” if you havnt heard of it, i suggest you listen to this j-metal band. they have the most unique i’ve heard in a long while. just youtube the name and enjoy!
I just want to say that the best of Visual-kei is the old school.
Definitely agree on most of these points, ESPECIALLY #4.
Visual Kei faces a lot of the same problems as the contemporary mental scene: too many bands that sound too similar, too much fractioning off into obscure and elitist subgenres, existence of significant musical talent but lack of creativity to do much of anything interesting with it, relying too much on rather cliched images, and loss of the shock value/excitement in the music and performance.
Then there’s the assumption that all Japanese rock is supposed to be Visual Kei, which also hurts Japanese rock in general as some people have a rather negative view on visual kei.