A fan of Japanese rock and visual kei for over six years now, I am still amazed about some of the glances I get from people confronted with a Japanese rock band for the first time. I admit, it can be frightening to see a guy in his late twenties wearing bunny ears and a girl’s school uniform while playing low-tuned riffs with a lipstick smile on his face. Even Manson wouldn’t cross some lines, right? But even a visually low-profile band like MUCC attracts enough attention that a little chat’s needed about how to get a grip on that visual kei thingy.
So, this girl I just met a few days ago comes over to my place and she notices that MUCC tour poster on my wall.
“Who’s that?” she wonders.
“MUCC,” I respond.
“What?”
They’re called MUCC. Japanese band. They’re playing mostly alternative and hard rock, but don’t think of Nirvana now.”
“I try to,” she says, and I decide to show her “Zetsubou”, one of MUCC’s earliest videos.
My friend likes the dark atmosphere, but she’s also somehow irritated about the Japanese vocals.
“Sounds strange,” she says. Nothing strange about it, if you ask me – sure, not after six years.
“How come you listen to this in the first place?” she wants to know.
I tell her about that friend I knew who sent me Love Hina episodes on CD and asked if I liked Japanese music. I only knew a handful of anime songs back then, and she gave me another CD with a special song on it that made me listen up: Gackt’s “Mizérable” with its catchy violin and rousing groove, plus those suprisingly falsetto vocals from this guy who looked like a spoiled feminist vampire. The sound was so unique, I couldn’t help but take a deeper look into this mysterious world. Today, Gackt is still my favorite musician from Japan.
“Hey, wake up!” my friend shouts. I must have drifted away…
“Show me some more clips,” she demands, and I show her some different clips to give her a quick overall impression. The 2008 hit “LEECH” from the GazettE (“I wish Linkin Park would sound that good”), a little bit of Kagrra (she likes the classical Japanese instruments and compositions), and “Sanbika” from the alternative rock band Plastic Tree whose vocalist has a pretty remarkable voice.
“He sounds totally gay,” she laughs, but nicks her head to the bassist’s rhythmic lines.
“I’m totally amazed you mentioned gay.” I take a chance with Kiyoharu, who is one of the most successful veterans of Japanese rock and also openly gay.
“Rinne” makes her frown about some of Kiyoharu’s more pompous verses, but in the end she can’t deny the beauty of the song and even says, “I couldn’t compare that with any American artist now.”
A “Kurenai” live clip from X JAPAN (“My dad would love that…but I never liked Van Halen and all this hairspray metal.” - uhm…) ends with a discussion about the godlike status of the late X guitarist Hideto Matsumoto, better known to fans as hide.
“So he killed himself with a towel and thus became an idol?”
I cough with suppressed outrage, as if she directly insulted me. “Of course not! He’d been an established idol in his lifetime and influenced every second Japanese guitarist I can think of. It’s like he’s the Japanese John Lennon.”
She can do with that. “I see. You’re idolizing him, huh?”
I… well, am I? “I guess that’s what most visual kei fans do.”
She raises her hand. “Wait, what visual cape?”
“You know, when you compare J-rock and… well, American rock, then visual kei is like Marilyn Manson meets Final Fantasy. Visual kei bands play all sorts of musical genres, though, and some seem more gothic, while others play disgustingly sugary pop. Some visual kei bands even spend more money on their outfit and looks than on their music production.
“On the other hand, many indie bands are surprisingly good and well-produced. And many of the various, innumerable band members are also doing their best to make you feel like they’re your buddies. They write blogs and post pictures of their recent meals, new best buddies, new haircuts or even new audio material. Which Sepultura fan would visit the blog of Sepultura’s drummer? You see! Stalking may actually be rewarded by Japan’s musicians.”
I wouldn’t stalk that drummer there, would you? … I mean, do you?” I get excited and reach for my keyboard and mouse. Time for sudden death – there’s still another video “you have to see!”
“Alright, play it!”
While Kyo throws up in Dir en grey’s repulsive “OBSCURE” video clip, my friend finds herself reminded of KoRn, the brooding basslines and ferocious riffs successfully eliciting hints of headbanging from her. She’s smiling at the fierce vocalist who soon becomes a wicked monster with tentacles rising from his mouth.
“Ha ha, it’s great!” I guess that did the trick.
When my friend has to leave a few minutes later, she turns to that MUCC poster once again and back to me. “That’s some intense stuff you got there. Can you copy some of it to my iPod?”
* * * * *
For newcomers to the genre who still don’t know where to start, I recommend visiting YouTube and looking up some of the songs I picked below. They should provide a good start, and are among my genre favorites.
- LUNA SEA - “ROSIER” (1994, “MOTHER” - Their biggest hit, but certainly not their only one! In fact, this band never really disappointed and produced great albums from 1991 till 2000.)
- X JAPAN - “X” (1989, “BLUE BLOOD” - Not my type of genre or band, but the glam-rocking classic with thunderous YOSHIKI drums and TOSHI’s unmistakable voice even got me in the end.)
- Dir en grey - “AMBER” (2003, “VULGAR” - The most popular modern J-rock band. You even see them on MTV nowadays. “AMBER” is timeless, epic and emotional like… well, almost the whole album.)
- Malice Mizer (Gackt & Kami) - “regret (Live)” (1996 - This gorgeous two-man performance with Gackt on keys and late Malice Mizer drummer Kami on percussion is one of the finest pieces of visual kei.)
- RENTRER EN SOI - “MISERY LOVES POISONOUS BLUE” (2007, “The bottom of chaos” - one of this great, recently disbanded band’s greatest hits, and why not start with one of their best?)
WHAT TO DO NOW?