desparejo86

You have no idea how harmful that would be to him.

What was once cool and new is destined to become uncool and old. ANY movement is going to peak and then decline at some point. It went from a huge movement/style down to a small niche thing in Japan. And like how there are still sleaze and hairmetal bands forming in Hollywood and playing the Whisky on Tuesday nights, just because there are new bands and an audience for it to a degree doesn't mean it isn't a dead genre. It said what it had to say. Fans in the west were 5-10 years behind the times. We discovered Visual at the turn on the century, and spent the decade not only getting into the bands that were around, but all the cool VK bands from the previous two decades. Needless to say, there was a TON of great shit to discover. But, eventually, the well ran dry. For most people I've met that were into the genre, VK was like Kiss: a gateway drug into music in general but for weaboo/nerdy kids. Some people got into goth stuff (guilty!), some got into screamo and numetal, some got into prog rock, whatever. But the common thread is that 99% of them left that shit (visual kei/kiss) behind once they discovered more music and refind their tastes. What's left is us: the creepy Kiss fans still painting our faces and shit to come out and see Gene Simmon and Paul Stanley phone it in for the millionth time at our local casinos. Arguing about weather Kiss would have been better off to keep Ace around, speculating as to the whereabouts of Vinny Vincent, and debating what is truly the worst track on 'Hot in the Shade.' It's the way things go. If you don't believe me, pop on over to the MetalSludge.TV message board and see old 80s rocker guys, now in their 50s, doing the same thing we're doing here. I'm here because Visual Kei changed my fucking life, man. Defined who I was, what music I listen to (I own David Sylvian's Weatherbox FFS), how I dressed and wore my hair. Every smoking hot girlfriend, every cross country tour, damn near every good thing that happened to me can more or less be traced back to getting some shitty .asf and .rm files of Luna Sea, L'arc, and Malice Mizer music videos back in 99 or 00. Look, we were there for it. Love it, accept it, talk about it, listen to the old albums that meant so much to you, maybe even find a cool new band or two (I like Xaa-Xaa), etc. but there is nothing sad about that graph. This thing, it was our thing. And that's all I have to say. Gotta get back to making fun of Yoshiki.

Man, being in a popular rock band in Japan sure sounds sucky. Alltime great jrock drummer caught with drugs? Kicked out of band. (L'arc) Fuck with groupies? Scandal causes so much heat that the band breaks up. (Femme Fatale ) Antisocial act/sack-o-weed? Kicked out of band. (Lynch) but, hey Choke some girl out/possibly try to kill her?????........ Eh it's all good (12012)

Incredible. Remember like 15 years ago when Yoshiki said he couldn't release whatever project he was working on because someone broke into his car, where he had the master recordings sitting in his car baking in the sun, while he ate lunch in LA and stole them...... and he didn't have them backed up.... anywhere? I didn't believe it back when I was 14 and I sure don't fucking believe it now, either. Dude is a just a deluded liar.

I think part of why VK fandom has a disproportionate amount of crazies is because some combination of the costumes, language barrier, different cultural norms, other side of the planet, etc make the bands and band members ripe for projecting ALL KINDS OF INSANE SHIT onto them, and the nature of the industry/culture perpetuates that, intentionally or unintentionally. All artists aim project some degree of fantasy, but western fans often times seem incapable of grasping that VK artists are just like any other group of self absorbed musicians; probably sitting on their asses, drinking and texting girls all day while their girlfriends are at work. Saying that, the Femme Fatale was really interesting and bizarre. I've got zero knowledge of the Japanese side of the fandom, but have always wondered to what lengths bands have to go to to keep groupie culture under wraps over there, as it appears anything relationship/groupie/sex related being made public is absolutely unthinkable.

He's actually trying to avoid that..... doesn't want to swallow his pride and ask Klaha to see if he can get him a job at the tire lot.

The cover is pretty cool, but uh..... how may times does he expect people to rebuy a buncha shitty, poorly recorded early-2000s VK crap? I mean, I still get the feels when I hear "Shadow" by DAS:VASSER and all.... but.. I mean, you notice how he doesn't put a track listing? Trying to trick people that have already bought everything to buy this too.

Fuck no. Very comfortable in my own skin, wouldn't trade. *shrug* Plus... that shit would SUCK. Economy's all bad. No one listens to visual anymore. China's creeping. Nah, I'm good. I am a hardcore visual fan for many decades, but I am fine with admiring from afar. Have no desire to go to Japan, even on vacation.

I've never looked into X's numbers, but 30 million is not even remotely kinda sorta possible. Not even kinda. B'z are/were much bigger than X and have like a zillion #1 albums and singles, and they have barely cracked 30 million. They were passed by some pop group as Japan's biggest selling act of all time a while back, check it out there. http://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2015/12/10/music/total-sales-akb48-singles-hit-36-million-copies-japan-record/ "The previous record for total single CD sales by the same artist was held by the Japanese rock group B’z, who sold a combined 35,809,000 copies." that's per Oricon. EDIT: Okay, just realized that's for singles only. Apparently B'z have sold 35 million singles and 45 million album. Holy fuck.

The idea of them making music together is so far fetched/seems impossible, but all the signs seem to point to exactly that. Shit is insane. But then again, there was a time when the idea of Luna Sea and X getting back together was absolute madness.

These guys are so Kagerou-esque in that they release a lot of music, but so much of it is shitty/lazy/filler. When the songs are good, theyre GREAT, but theyre usually just half baked jams with the shimmer of a good song here and there. The new song has a good chorus, verse sounds like something Dir en Grey discarded like 5+ years ago.... which is par for the course with a lot of VK these days but still....

I don't like it.... I fucking hate prog stuff. But I didn't like Phantoms on first listen either, and now it's my favorite. I'll buy the regular edition... 85 bucks for a CD/DVD? Fuck thatttttt.

Miss those times.

Diru has released albums that charted in America and toured extensively internationally. In the mid-to-late 2000s they were all over the place. X Japan does what most VK bands do... coast on the backs of anime fans/weebs and Issei fans. Its apples and oranges really. In America, Dir en Grey's relevance can be debated, but X's positively never existed.

Oooooohh boy, I can't wait to see how Yoshiki is going to wiggle his way out of releasing a new album next spring! What excuse this time? He's still got March 4th, 2017 at Wembley booked. Tickets on sale now! Be sure to pay the up-charge on your air fare so you can cancel it... in case, ya know, the unthinkable happens and X doesn't show. You know what? Nevermind. Forget the upcharge. You can trust Yoshiki, go ahead and book it at the discount rate.

Jesus fucking Christ. The mystery sure wears off quick once you give some of these fools twitter.

Hey, it's hard out there. These fools need to eat, ya know?

One of their weaker offerings so far, huh? I mean its not bad... but doesn't sound "single worthy" either. Reminds me of one of Kagerous thousands of throwaway tracks.

This stuff is meant to be listened to? ... like, with our ears? Uh...

Why would I need to discover new music when I have every Luna Sea album??

that is one loaded hand you've got there~!

I mean, it's alright. SUPER derivative of Providence/Breathe. But doesn't sound like cookie-cutter, lazy poprock bullshit they've been doing since they reunited.

This is fucking great. Great sound, songwriting, and vocals... I love it. I like that you're not in a band with other VK fans. During my band days I never even let my bandmates know what VK was, because I didn't want them to be influenced by the same stuff I was and end up with a generic/derivative sound. You bringing your Vk influenced angle to music that otherwise isn't has exciting possibilities and I loved that song. Keep up the good work!!

Hurtful words, r!! STILL MY LOVE rules!!! One of my favorites! Hold You Softly and Day Dream are also great. I don't know why but Craze never really did it for me.

Been listening to BODY the past few days and figured they could use a little love. Cipher (D'erlanger) and Tetsu (Zi:Kill) formed BODY following Zi:Kill's breakup. Naoki Kimura landed the vacant vocalist position after being approached after a gig by Yasuyuki Saito, guitarist of Reaction, who had gone to work for Sony Records and was scouting a singer for Cipher and Tetsu's new project. Naoki was an amateur singer who had never even heard D'erlanger before, due to only listening to western bands at the time. Motoki Okada, another really green player, rounded out the lineup on bass (I've never found info on how he landed the gig, I'm guessing through Saito as well). Despite having loads of talent and a some great songs, BODY didn't work out; they disbanded following one album and a series of shows at the Nippon Budokan. There have been many theories why they broke up, I've seen it suggested on Japanese sites that their debut album, Flame, was derided for poor sound quality and the albums shortcomings caused internal strife within the band. The album was remixed with some added keyboards and overdubs and re-released a year later, but it was too late, as Cipher and Tetsu had formed CRAZE and released their debut single by the time the remixed Flame hit the market. -As stated above, Cipher and Tetsu found success in CRAZE following BODY's breakup, and are both currently in the reunited D'erlanger. -Naoki dropped off the radar for a few years before resurfacing as the new singer for the his mentor Yasuyuki Saito's band, Reaction, with which he performed until Saito's death. -Motoki and Naoki also formed THE LOVEROCK VIOLENT together with Kenji Shimizu, who was a BODY support member. Disclaimer: I got 90% of this information from Naoki's old blog, so if anything posted here is untrue... Naoki be lying.