Arkady

5 hours ago, Milayou said:

By the way, you mention you're french, are you familiar with Tanja? She used to have her own website with live reports going as far back as 1998. That place was a goldmine for me back in the day and it still remains an exclusive source of info outside of Japan for some of the more obscure bands she covered.

Oh no, I'm not french. I was one of those other envious european weeaboos.  The maximum I was able to score at the time were two overpriced (still MUUUCH cheaper than importing originals from Japan) taiwanese bootlegs with X-Japan and Lareine PVs from my comic book shop. It was before the Youtube era and PVs were not so easy to find and download.

When in 2004 I discovered Cdjapan I recuperated all I could from Lareine discography (adding M10M to), tho.

The fact that around 2007/8 some bands did get EU editions you could actually find in music stores blew all our 1st-wave minds. It was a surreal experience to go in a store and find them among other western music and at the same price (true story).

Sorry mods for the OT, but my old ass didn't resist to tell when back in our days we got our VK uphill with 3 meters of snow on the ground.

3 hours ago, saiko said:

It would be interesting if someone 'old enough' could share his /her opinions on VK spreading before the 2006-2008 boom in the West.

Back in my days (around 2001/2) if you wanted to follow the scene you either googled (band name) + mp3 and ended in some shady page with some songs if you were lucky, or you hoped someone was sharing some of them on some peer to peer program like WinMX, every song taking at least 30 minutes to download beacuse you had 56k internet and were paying every minute of it (my random Lareine 6-7 songs selfmade CD lasted me all 3 last years of high school).

There was also the option to buy the CDs, but the chapest ones would cost 40-50€, if you didn't live in Paris (there was a fabled used Japanese bookstore that was all Europe weebs envy) or didn't have parents/friends working in Japan.

It's pretty clear IMO that Lareine's Goshujinsama no Tango is about Kamijo going out and getting some kinky D, even if he doesn't use any "vulgar" words and he sing about being a "neko"🙀.

Going in a corner to cry because spotify doesn't have lareine discography and I cannot misc gems like this in my "work" playlist.

I thought it would be easier to pretend to not give a f*ck about Yoshiki's last random socialite shenaningans if we collect them in one single topic (so we also don't spam the forum with a new thread for each appearance.)

In the previous episodes our posponing antihero was spotted trying to strangle the Queen of England with his scarf

And trying to marry into the royal family.

Where will he go next and what will he do to not realease the new album he absolutely did complete (cross on his heart)?

God I LOVE "Derry Girls". This second season didn't even have the first one problems, the writing was better and more consistent (First season started Great, dipped into boring and repetitive pretty early then returned good around the last 2 episodes).

I wish it was around when I was a teen. As caricaturey the characters are, they are more genuine and realistic as teens portrait as the 30 years olds glamourous ones they sell you in US teen serials (like the one cited a few post above), I never liked teen dramas even when I was a teen.

Next stop: season 2 of Mindhunters

Chosing only one band in Vkei is pretty simple for me, since I listen to like less of 10 and half of them are Kamijo's... 😆

Band: Lareine
Album: "Reine de fleur II" (yes it's a collection) from Lareine

Song: I refuse to listen to only one song for the rest of my life, shoot me now and spare me the suffering.

In general:

Band: Rammstein (but was a REALLY close call with Muse)

Album: "Electra Heart" from Marina and the Diamonds

Song: Same as before, but if I REALLY was forced to it would be a really though choice between REM's "Losing my Religion" and the Cranberries' "Zombie". Honor mention to Queen's "Bicycle Race".

I cannot help cringing every time I read this group name, because "cula" is a ridiculous word used as a homophobic slurs in north Italy.

I like the photos though.

10 hours ago, evenor said:

(culo would have been better name obv)

I know what you did here, your mamma will give your an earful when I'll tell her you did say culo. 😆

Limited Mc Yoshiki speciality at Mc Donald. I'm calling it.

BaN: putting the V in V系. 😍
I love how extra she is with her looks.

The 2 genders: the collector and the listener.  😆

6 hours ago, jaymee said:

I keep them for CDs but throw them out for books and the occasional time they come with a DVD or whatever.

 

When most imported VK was from bootleggers, having a pic of the obi with the release was one way you could prove it’s authenticity to potential buyers. Now I just think keeping them is mostly out of habit lol

Bootlegs too did have obi tho (or at least some of them). I have one chinese bootleg Lareine DVD bought (knowingly) in my comic shop in like 2001/2 and it has an obi. The difference it's that is written in chinese and it's different from the original.

Kamijo and Machi had the best hats ever! 🤩

5 hours ago, spockitty said:

This has turned into People Weirdly Obsessed with Japanese Paper: The Thread

"Me and my kawaii paper fetishism desu"

I love obi. actually I have a whole ONE cd missing it in my collection and it bothers me constantly.

(I'm too one of those that keeps all the stuff the cd came with, except the wrapper)

It's at a point that my western cds seems shabby and incomplete, and I don't buy many of them.

Not the kind of music I usually enjoy but I'm liking some of this italian artist stuff. (She sings about/parodyes the "Milano da bere/Milan to drink" culture of wealth, sex, hard drugs and wannabe internationality while being strongly (and sometimes ilariously) provincial (she alsosing/speak with a very thick Milan accent))

Welcome!

42 minutes ago, God said:

 

edit: oh god nvm he was a pedo? bye.

If I don't misremember at the time it came out that he molested many of the boys that were in his groups or wanted in. It was a casting couch scandal but with pedos.

(I always thought that the "contract" part of Golden Bomber video "Amore" obliquely referenced if not THAT scandal, at least the kind of "underwold" gravitating the Idols industry)

32 minutes ago, Zeus said:

I'm finding this manufactured controversy around the skin tone of Ariel the mermaid endlessly annoying. Society loves picking at old scars over and over again when we get bored, eh?

Don't tell it to me. I'm completely avoiding FB because I saw a friend of mine having a complete ugly FB meltdown over it  and now I'm afraid she'll start with me too in chat if she see me there. 😨  I know that if I'd say that I don't care it would not be received well, but I don't want to argue over the f*cking Little Mermaid nor silently submit to one hour rant about it and pretend I don't find all of it embarassing. So I'm ghosting FB and her untill things blow over and she regain a bit of sanity.

It's not even fucking "Brave" by Jove!

Meanwhile the real (HARD) Disney animation fangirl I have on the friendlist doesn't give a shit about it because she likes the story.

(And at Disney they are rubbing their hands because it's a ton of free advertising)

END OF MY RANT 😂

Have you ever heard about Daddy Issues? (I'm joking, you don't need D.I. to find someone older attractive.)

up!

No one because my arms are weak and I'll end up hurting myself. Plus I hold no grunges among the groups I follow.

15 hours ago, Arkady said:

Dear Yoshiki, here I gift you the new X album cover, so you can release it. IT'S FOR FREE! No need to thank me. xoxo

 

Added the rest of the band since they absolutely wrote it all together.  (Yes Gillian Anderson is taking Sugizo's place playing the guitar)

Dear Yoshiki, here I gift you the new X album cover, so you can release it. IT'S FOR FREE! No need to thank me. xoxo

I don't hate the 3B but I don't anticipate repetitive listening to it either, it's a generic j-rock song. Not bad but not memorable either.

I like the first two. the second one intro melody remind me a bit of some Malice Mizer stuff.  Third may be a bit anime-y but not too bad.

I'm in the team that think they should release an album, if they don't want to bother writing one they should make a "greatest hits" chosing among their released singles and run with the cash. 😛