Yuan

This is a such an interesting topic, and many of your perspectives bring to light things I definitely agree with! I guess I entered a frenzy and my message is pretty long, but here's my experience as someone who has kinda left the scene (but never really left, as I explain). First off, I got into vk when I was pretty young, in middle school. Metal and vk were the first genres of music I started being active in, as in, purchasing CDs, going to concerts, etc. Before that, it was all classical music (I started playing classical piano at 5 years old), and a bit of pop or rock here and there, and Gorillaz, because I always loved animation and well, all of their MVs were animated and I loved seeing them on TV. So when I got into vk, my musical horizons were quite narrow. I was basically a musical baby. I didn't know a lot of music, and my tastes were only starting to develop. As many have said in this thread, it's natural for tastes to change as you grow older, because you want to try new things, etc. It's also worth pointing that I was really into manga (and still am lol), and branched out like many into "wow, Japanese culture is pretty cool", so it's why I was so drawn to Japanese music in general at first. So at some point in high school, I wanted to broaden my horizons, and I did. I started listening to a lot of electronic music and jazz, and a wide spectrum of different genres. I was starting to figure out that I really loved music, no matter where it came from or what genre it was, and that I was fascinated with music history. But as that was happening, I also became more and more critical of vk, because I started to figure out that many younger bands I was following were pretty much doing the same gimmicks as older bands. I was also starting to learn about idol culture and how it worked. I must admit, idol culture really threw me off the more I learned about it, and it made me pretty much run away from the scene. I didn't feel so comfortable anymore in spending lots of money on merch now that I had a better understanding of the business model behind it. This post really summarizes how I viewed the shift that happened towards K-pop. To me, whether it was K-pop or vk, it was ultimately the same model, but with a different aesthetic. Despite this, I didn't stop listening to vk altogether, and I still loved older bands, who are still active to this day. So I couldn't part with artists like DEG, Plastic Tree, MUCC, BUCK-TICK, etc. I stopped following very actively, but I still listened to them, which is why I don't consider I moved on from vk, but rather just expanded my tastes. Which, in truth, was only natural considering vk and metal were pretty much "my introduction to any music that isn't classical". I have also since reconcilied with idol culture, as in, I am not really shocked by it anymore. I like to understand how it works, I'm thankful I have left my "the artists I follow are perfect" naive phase, and I can still be critical of many aspects of it (selling 10 versions of the same single is still bogus to me). But let's just say I've come to accept it for what it is lol. But what was the most interesting to me, is that most from my friend group from back in the day did not have the same evolution at all. I definitely do remember that what killed most people's fun was D'espairsRay's disbanding. Basically, everyone that hadn't already moved on from vk, moved on soon after that. I was also on an A9 fanforum at the time, and their releases were starting to slow down. So it all happened over time and organically. If I look at what those friends are listening to now, it's either: they don't really listen to much music anymore save for what they were listening to at the time (so 2000s vk and other artists), or they have moved on to K-pop. The only conclusion I can draw from that is the same that was drawn by many people here: you're either in this for the music, or it's just a fandom, and fandoms come and go. From my standpoint, and considering the very small number of small vk bands who caught my attention in the recent years, I can only wonder how the scene will evolve? I kinda have the feeling, like many I suppose, that the golden age of vk is over, much like glam rock is over with its boom. I hope I'm wrong and that we will see interesting developments in the years to come.

I love PVs, it's so great to discover all the ones you guys picked! I just discovered Hysteric Panic and I'm very thankful for that, I love it haha! I absolutely adore all of WEDNESDAY CAMPANELLA's PVs. It's hard to pick just one but I guess Ikkyu-san will do, as it was the first one I saw from her and it made me instantly fall in love with her universe: Much of the same can be said for MONDO GROSSO but I'll pick Labyrinth: ... and Charisma.com. But my favorite is moyamoyashite: I have a big soft spot for KIRINJI's Jikanga Nai: Anyway, as can be seen from all the ones I've mentioned, even though I do enjoy watching simple PVs just centered around the band playing, they usually don't make it to my favorites. It's interesting because it didn't use to be that way. There are many simple PVs from MUCC and Plastic Tree that I love, and they are simply that. But the nicest "it's just the band playing but in extremely cool lighting" PV I can name is THE NOVEMBERS' Bad Dream. What a great song, too. The ultimate PV to me will be, always and forever, MAXIMUM THE HORMONE's eponymous. It's just everything I love about them into one song and one music video hehehe It's actually been a while since I've watched visual kei PVs, I guess I gotta get back to it. Which is why most of what I listed is J-pop (aside from the past 2). But what would be this topic without someone mentioning the GazettE's Taion, right?

Thanks everyone Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed what you saw And yes, I'll probably get around to sharing my art around here at some point too! Yay! I love math rock in general, with bands such as tricot, Covet, Lite, Hyakkei, Battles... It's a great genre! It's so hard to pick favorites but toe really does stand out, their music was my go-to to study! And in general thanks for complimenting my tastes, it's the only real compliment that matters right? ✨

Hello! I'm Yuan, in my mid-twenties, an art school dropout trying to make it in this hard ass world :^) I used to be really into vk when I was in high school and up to around 5 years ago. I was on Livejournal (the good old dayssss), owned a ton of merch, and went to as many concerts as I could. I had a lot of fun, but a couple years ago, I did a big vk sale, mainly for the money, but also because there were a lot of bands I didn't listen to anymore, namely Alice Nine, and sold their entire discography, which I had diligently collected til then, and many many issues of Shoxx, Neo Genesis, Fool's Mate, etc. Sometimes I regret selling those magazines, especially considering how they've all stopped running... But thankfully I kept most things from my favorite bands! And one day I'll finally complete my collection from Plastic Tree, DEG and Gazette. What has changed since, is that I've lost interest in indie vk, because I just couldn't keep up, although every once in a while there will be a good band that pops up and that will spark my interest. My favorites are BUCK-TICK, Plastic Tree, MUCC, cali≠gari, the GazettE, DIR EN GREY, Deadman, Pierrot, LUNA-SEA, 9GOATS BLACK OUT, MIYAVI, the studs, D'espairsRay, 12012... I guess that covers at least a good general idea. I also listen to a lot of other J-music, and in general, more music than I can name. Other big favorites (from all horizons) include Nujabes, Flying Lotus, Gorillaz, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Thee Oh Sees, toe, Kikagaku Moyo, Shiina Ringo, Jimi Hendrix, Frank Zappa, Charles Mingus... I'm a big music nerd in general, I've played the piano since I was 5, and listen to a lot of classical, traditional/folk (from all around the world), and experimental music (including noise). It's a big part of my life haha. I love exploring new sounds and expanding my tastes beyond my zones of comfort. I'm also quite invested in visual arts (illustration & animation) as my studies suggested, fashion, cinema, video games, etc. Basically my interests are very broad and I like passionate ramblings. Which is why I love forums! I haven't been on a forum in many years, and I do miss it a lot. I've been reading this one for a while now, and figured it's time to stop being a lurker haha! If curious, esp about my art and/or eventual OOTDs, my @ on most social media is yuanankh (for instance on Twitter and Instagram). I'd love to make new friends, especially since this pandemic has emphasized how important it is to not hesitate to be active online - which I knew already, as I made most of my long-term friends that way anyway.