JPOP and JROCK

Okay nevermind my previous question. new question. After looking at the Fandom Rivalry entry for X Japan, I have one very important question.

Why are people so stupid? It's just music... This Yoshiki fellow seems nice enough.

Judging completely from my own experiences, as stupid as American music fans are, fans of Japanese music are worse. I don't know why.

Fans of Japanese things in general seem to be dumber and more fanatical than anything else. That was one reason I was reluctant to get into anime. Luckily i found out not all anime fans were so zealous.

Same for J-Rock and Pop it seems.

Anyway, since I'm checking out Malice Mizer, I also figured I'd listen to some of Mana's new group, Moi dix Mois. Seems alright so far.

edited 9th Apr '10 1:26:54 AM by Nikkolas

Fans of Japanese things in general seem to be dumber and more fanatical than anything else. That was one reason I was reluctant to get into anime. Luckily i found out not all anime fans were so zealous.

Same for J-Rock and Pop it seems.

Anyway, since I'm checking out Malice Mizer, I also figured I'd listen to some of Mana's new group, Moi dix Mois. Seems alright so far.

edited 9th Apr '10 1:28:19 AM by Nikkolas

Yeah, Malice Mizer and Moi dix Moix are a tad too gothic for my tastes. Still good at times though.

edited 9th Apr '10 5:21:40 AM by Solstace

@Nikkolas

Don't worry about the Fan Dumb. Every group of Music fans is terrible for this in one way or another- if it isn't silly fangirling and delusion it's elitism and No True Scotsman reasoning or coming up with Epileptic Tree theories for everything.

If you really want to avoid the Fan Dumb, your best bet is to steer clear of Batsu and general Jrock livejournal coms. Sites dedicated to 1 particular musician tend to be the most sane, so search them out.

As for the negativity towards Yoshiki...well, some of the main reasons I've seen for people disliking him are:

- He's a Drama Queen (... which he is. Nobody can really deny it), and he's inclined to being something of an Attention Whore from time to time. While in my experience most X fans expect the Angsty blog posts and don't care at all, there are some people who find it very annoying.

- He's changed X's music again, which didn't go down to well with the They Changed It, Now It Sucks! lot.

- He's greenlit a lot of X merchandise which has led to accusations of 'Selling Out', and he's including hide in everything X are doing still, which has let to separate accusations of him making money out of hide's death. There's probably a bit of Scapegoat Creator involved here, as nobody's really sure how much say he has in a lot of this.

- A lot of X lives have been cancelled and several new plans have fallen flat. I don't think much of this is Yoshiki's fault (in fact, one of the lives was cancelled because he needed risky emergency neck surgery, which I daresay he'd much rather have not had to have), but he's the bandleader so he's going to get the blame.

So yes, some legit reasoning there, along with a lot of pettiness and assumptions based on rumours. But then it's a fandom, this sort of finger-pointing isn't unusual. Yoshiki's never come across as a total bastard to me- I'm yet to hear of anyone having a bad fan experience with him or working with him and then claiming he's a total arsehole. *shrug*

Excuse the ramble. I've never been much good at keeping things concise- everything turns into a supermassive essay when I'm left in charge of it, especially if I'm passionate about the subject at hand.

edited 9th Apr '10 8:06:34 AM by Headfullofimaginary

I say that music should not be judged by where it comes from.

I agree. I say that it should be judged by how it sounds and the message behind it. Or, if someone doesn't KNOW the message behind it, then just how it sounds.

Agreed. The person behind the music is not nearly as important as the music they produce.

I gotta admit though, Gackt and Mana are both very uh.....physically appealing to me. >>

edited 9th Apr '10 2:48:18 PM by Nikkolas

^^ It's a nice change to see somebody being more reserved about that. Normally fangirling (or fanboying) Japanese musicians goes along the lines of ZOMG HES SOO KAWAII DESU I WANNA RAPE HIM *GLOMP*.

The very epitome of intellect, no?

Joys of Visual Kei bands and musicians.

I use to be into alot of jpop. Not anymore though. I still listen to Dream, Hitomi, and Hikaru Utada from time to time.

I like Hikaru Utada, though I don't listen to her as much as I used to.

have any of you heard about GRANRODEO

Before I begin, remember that I find this music very randomly.

Here's my current favorites list:

• Angela - Asu e no Brilliant Road (Brilliant Road to Tomorrow)
• apple41, Miku Hatsune - Puzzle
• ?, Miku Hatsune - Mojipittan
• Megumi Hayashibara - Infinity
• Megumi Hayashibara - Sleepless Night
• Ayaka Hirahara - Hajimari no Kaze
• Ikuko - Hoshizora no yurikago
• Mai Kuraki - Time After Time
• Minami Kuribayashi - Shining Days
• Little Viking - Future
• Little Viking - Oyasumi
• melocure - 1st Priority
• melocure - Agape
• melocure - Himawari
• melocure - So Far, So Near
• Nana Mizuki - Secret Ambition
• Nana Mizuki - Take a Shot
• Yukie Nakama - Makenai ai ga kitto aru
• Rie fu - Decay
• Rie fu - Life is like a boat
• Maaya Sakamoto - Afternoon Repose
• Maaya Sakamoto - Another Grey Day in the Big Blue World
• Hidetoshi Sato - A Cruel Angel's Thesis
• Ippo Yamada, Masaki Suzuki, Ryo Kawakami - Innocence
• ??? - Letter Song

edited 17th Apr '10 3:27:25 PM by GlennMagusHarvey

I got a question. Like I said I'm new to Japanese music and I'm just wondering what exactly Visual kei is?

It's mainly just big, theatrical concerts and performances where the band dress up and use well..visuals in addition to the music they're performing. Right?

^ More or less, yeah.

When done well, the visuals will be pretty original tie seamlessly into the music. When done badly, they'll be a copy of another band's look and not really depict anything.

I see.

Which one does this qualify as? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZp5faPlRDg

As I said in the Gackt thread, I'm actually more interested in Mana now instead of Gackt so I'm looking into Moi dix Mois. I thought this was pretty damn awesome.

edited 18th Apr '10 4:50:24 PM by Nikkolas

M 10 M definitely do the thing properly. Mana's always been very good at knotting everything together so that the visuals and music align.

It doesn't really matter though. Just... have a look around and find out what you like.

edited 18th Apr '10 5:06:11 PM by Headfullofimaginary

Okie dokies. It's just there are so many bands to listen to. =P

I gotta check out this band called The Gazett E though. They seem pretty awesome.

Perhaps my virgin ears are just inexperienced in distinguishing Japanese voices, but I was listening to Malice Mizer and then Moi dix Mois and man...I can't hear the slightest bit of different in how Gackt and this other guy sing.

Malice Mizer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbZu1ByuYkk

Moi dix Mois https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoX3FjgdsDw

edited 19th Apr '10 2:03:11 PM by Nikkolas

It isn't just you- Gackt and Juka do have very similar voices, although I don't think they're identical- I've personally always preferred Juka to Gackt, and I doubt that preference would exist if there was no difference between them at all.

I can only assume Mana likes that vocal style. Malice Mizer's last vocalist Klaha and M 10 M's latest vocalist Seth use it to a degree as well.

edited 19th Apr '10 2:15:42 PM by Headfullofimaginary

Yeah, I can hear subtle differences, but they are definitely similar.

Perhaps my virgin ears are just inexperienced in distinguishing Japanese voices, but I was listening to Malice Mizer and then Moi dix Mois and man...I can't hear the slightest bit of different in how Gackt and this other guy sing.

Malice Mizer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbZu1ByuYkk

Moi dix Mois https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoX3FjgdsDw

edited 19th Apr '10 2:03:11 PM by Nikkolas

When I first started to listening to Jrock I used to have a problem distinguishing the voices of some artist. Personally I think Mana deliberately picks singers with a similar singing style for all his projects. That being said I can easily distinguish Gackt and Juka's voices, despite some similarities. Gackt has a lighter tone compared to Juka. You can here the difference here more clearly in these songs.

Shadows Temple

Gekka No Yasoukyaku

Thats a comparison between Juka and Malice Mizer Gackt. Gackt voice during his solo career sounds a lot more different.

edited 23rd Apr '10 11:46:56 AM by DeadlyShinx

Can somebody tell poor me what the heck is difference between J-Pop and J-Rock?