Music Without Borders ~Introduction of J-pop & J-rock Music~ [PART 2]

After an introduction to J-pop music, we'll proceed to J-rock music now.. As I already review on the previous post about the genre of J-rock, here's the peak of it's explanation below.

But before that, let's listen to few songs I'll feature here especially those people that have not heard of J-rock song or let says, new to this genre.
[Reila ~ The GazettE]

[Mejibray ~ Emily]

[Buck-Tick ~ Kuchizuke]

 [Ayabie ~ Hoshigaoka]

[SuG ~ Gr8 Story]

So, how do you feel when you listen to those J-rock songs? Is it different from what you have thought of J-rock sounds like? Did it change your thoughts about them? You see, they also sing songs just like the above.. Isn't it calm you too and at the same time tapping your feet and fingers while listening... It's not as bad as you think it is.. I hope this will change some other people that are negative towards them..

This is mainly focusing on Visual Kei.. This is a currently trending genre..

Visual kei
Stylistic origins	Various (mainly heavy metal,glam rock and punk rock)
Cultural origins	Japan
Typical instruments	Vocals, electric guitar, bass guitar, drums, keyboards
Subgenres
Angura kei • Eroguro kei • Kote kei • Kurafu kei • Oshare kei
Regional scenes
Nagoya

Visual kei (ヴィジュアル系 bijuaru kei, lit. "visual style" or "visual system") is a movement among Japanese musicians, that is characterized by the use of make-up, elaborate hair styles and flamboyant costumes, often, but not always, coupled with androgynous aesthetics. Some sources think that visual kei refers to a music genre, with its sound usually related to glam rock, punk rock and heavy metal. However, this is contradictory to the fact that visual kei acts play various genres, including those unrelated to rock such as electronic, pop, etc. Other sources, including members of the movement themselves, state that it is not a music genre and that the fashion and participation in the related subculture is what exemplifies the use of the term.

History

Visual kei emerged in the early 1980s, pioneered by bands such as X Japan, D'erlanger, Buck-Tick and Color. The term visual kei is believed to come from one of X Japan's slogans, "Psychedelic violence crime of visual shock". There are two record labels, both founded in 1986, that were instrumental for helping the visual kei scene spread, they are Extasy Records in Tokyo and Free-Will in Osaka.

Extasy was created by X Japan's drummer and leader Yoshiki and signed bands, not limited to visual kei acts, that would go on to make marks on the Japanese music scene, including Zi:Kill, Tokyo Yankees and Ladies Room. Glay and Luna Sea, who went on to sell millions of records, with Glay being one of Japan's best-selling musical acts, had their first albums released by Extasy. Free-Will was founded by Color vocalist and leader Dynamite Tommy, while at the time not as popular as Extasy, it had many moderately successful acts, such as By-Sexual and Kamaitachi. Currently Free-Will is still going strong and has been a major contributor in spreading modern visual kei outside Japan, whereas Extasy followed its owner and became based out of the US, signing and producing American acts, and has since faded away.

In 1992, X Japan tried to launch an attempt to enter the American market, even signing with Atlantic Records for a US album, but this ultimately did not happen. It would take another 8 years until popularity and awareness of visual kei bands would extend worldwide. In the mid 1990s, visual kei received increasing popularity throughout Japan, when album sales from visual kei bands started to reach record numbers. The most notable bands to achieve success during this period included X Japan, Glay and Luna Sea; however, a drastic change in their appearance accompanied their success. During the same period other bands, such as Kuroyume, Malice Mizer and Penicillin, gained mainstream awareness, although they were not as commercially successful. By the late 1990s, the mainstream popularity of visual kei was declining; X Japan had disbanded in 1997 and one year later their lead guitarist hide died, and in 2000, Luna Sea decided to disband as well. In 1998, Billboard's Steve McClure commented that "To a certain extent, hide's death means the end of an era, X were the first generation of visual kei bands, but the novelty has worn off. For the next generation of bands, it's like: That's it. The torch has been passed to us."

Notable newer visual kei bands include Dir en Grey, Alice Nine, The Gazette and D'espairsRay, who have all performed overseas. Veterans of the scene have also established new acts, such as Malice Mizer's Mana with his band Moi dix Mois, and several members of Pierrot forming Angelo. In 2007, visual kei was revitalized as Luna Sea performed a one-off performance and X Japan officially reunited with a new single and a world tour. With these developments, visual kei bands enjoyed a boost in public awareness, with bands formed around 2004 having been described by some media as "neo-visual kei" (ネオ・ヴィジュアル系).

However, there has been criticism about newer visual kei bands having lost the spirit of their forefathers, copying each other and becoming all the same. Kirito, vocalist of Pierrot and Angelo, said "Now it’s more like people are dressing up a certain way because they want to be visual kei or look visual kei. They are doing it to look like others instead of doing it to look different. This is obviously very different from when we started out more than ten years ago.", and Sugizo of Luna Sea expressed concern that "They cannot make good sounds and music is more like a hobby for them. I cannot feel their soul in the music". Kenzi of Kamaitachi, The Dead Pop Stars and Anti Feminism commented "Back in the day, there were bands, but people would try to do things differently. Nowadays, there’s one band, and everyone copies off of them.", with Free-Will founder and Color frontman Tommy concluding with "I don’t think our breed of visual kei exists anymore."

Popularity

Visual kei has enjoyed popularity among independent underground projects, as well as artists achieving mainstream success, with influences from Western phenomena, such as glam, goth and cyberpunk. The music performed encompasses a large variety of genres, i.e. punk, metal, pop and electronica. Magazines published regularly in Japan with visual kei coverage are Arena 37°C, Cure, Fool's Mate and Shoxx. The popularity and awareness of visual kei groups outside of Japan has seen an increase in recent years.

Taken from:

Wikipedia Visual Kei