Ikki

Welp. I think nothing I previously listed will ever top this CD. Color's Galaxy (European Pressing), which broke the bank on how much I ever wanted to spend on a rare release.

I didn't realize that J-XYZ rebranded itself as Japan Discoveries. I have never used them as Japan Discoveries since I thought the website looked shady as hell and I figured they sold bootlegs. I remember having bought from them when they were J-XYZ and had two vastly different experiences with them. The first time I bought from them, I got my item (a hide plushie) in a timely matter. But then I bought from them like a couple months/a year later, and they never shipped out the item (a D'espairsRay CD) and I never got a refund for it.

My most recent haul. I was so happy I was able to get my deputy service to order those Kamaitachi DVDs off of Kamaitachi's webstore since the DVDs are limited run release. TT I didn't want to spend how much some people were trying to sell them on Y!AJ.

When ever I think of Japanese rap, I always think of songs like these.

I think when VK/J-rock tried to break out into the Western music scene in the mid to late 2000s mirrored the Japanese metal scene trying to break out into the Western music scene during the 1980s. The only main difference is this time around, most of the groups didn't try to sing in English or try to recruit a Westerner at some point for their band to make them more marketable (looking at you Loudness and Bow Wow). Even back during the 2000s, I knew that VK wasn't going to make an impact outside of Japan due to how the majority of them were being marketed to people who attended anime cons. I was just excited I could buy VK albums that were released outside of Japan for a fraction of what CDJapan was selling them. I decided to compile a list of Japanese artists that have released albums in the West that charted on the Billboard charts. There is a few things to note right off the bat: The following Japanese metal groups that only released in Europe during the 1980s: Anthem, Earthshaker, Vow Wow The following Japanese metal groups that had albums released in the USA, but did not chart: Dead End, Gastunk The following VK groups that had albums released in the USA, but did not chart: D'espairsRay, MUCC, Kra, the GazettE, Alice Nine, Versailles, Mix Speaker's Inc, L'arc~en~Ciel Albums by Loudness, EZO, OK ONE ROCK, and Utada Hikaru that charted in the USA on this list were recorded in English. I listed everything from highest charting spot to lowest charting spot. I did not include record sells since a lot of the older releases, I couldn't find what the sales were for the date when the record charted at that spot. Sakamoto Kyu - Sukiyaki and Other Japanese Hits (1963) [Billboard 200: #26] BABYMETAL - Metal Resistance (2016) [Billboard 200: #39] Loudness - Lightning Strikes (1986) [Billboard 200: #64] Utada Hikaru - This Is the One (2009) [Billboard 200: #69] Loudness - Thunder in the East (1985) [Billboard 200: #74] ONE OK ROCK - Ambitions International Version (2017) [Billboard 200: #106] EZO - EZO (1987) [Billboard 200: #150] Utada Hikaru - Exodus (2004) [Billboard 200: #160] Loudness - Hurricane Eyes (1987) [Billboard 200: #190] Dir En Grey - Uroboros (2008) [Billboard Heatseeker: #1] Dir En Grey - Dum Spiro Spero (2011) [Billboard Heatseeker: #2] BABYMETAL - BABYMETAL (2015) [Billboard Heatseeker: #4] Dir En Grey - The Marrow of a Bone (2007) [Billboard Heatseeker: #8] ONE OK ROCK - 35xxxv Deluxe Edition (2015) [Billboard Heatseeker: #17] Pizzicato Five - Happy End of the World (1997) [Billboard Heatseeker: #32] Shonen Knife - Rock Animals (1994) [Billboard Heatseeker: #39] Dir En Grey - Withering to Death (2006) [Billboard Heatseeker: #42] From what I've posted, I do think that not singing in English could have hurt any success Dir En Grey and other VK-related bands could have had in the Western music scene. I also think the type of music Dir En Grey did also hindered them in some ways. Before someone brings up BABYMETAL sings in Japanese and managed to sell well; I view them in a similar light as Steel Panther, a group that's not super serious compare to a group like Dir En Grey.

I actually got this back when it was released last month, but I never got around posting about it. Ignore how messy my CD bookcase is at the time being. This is what I got in the mail today. Some Gastunk vinyl. Banana Fish album and two Sleep My Dear singles. Girltique flexi-disc and Tokyo Yankees autograph board. This cool special issue of Rockin' f magazine from 1994. The magazine featured a lot of early 90s VK and late 90s VK groups, so I was super excited to see some less featured early VK groups (like Amphibian and Red Tail Cat) get some attention in this magazine and seeing early versions of Baiser, Shazna, Vasalla, and La'cryma Christi.

The cheapest 30,000 yen I have ever spent. Too bad the next VK item I really want, Ladies Room - Toy Girl vinyl single, is going to set me back just as much money.

So I got my other package I was talking on my last post. Rouage - Soup (on vinyl) A bunch of Wizard releases. Aliene Ma'riage - Les Soiree (both versions) Kuroyume - 生きていた中絶児 Eliphas Levi - リデルの赤い書物 Decameron - バラードは歌わない Baiser - Psychoballet Baiser - Ash Color - Galaxy Grand Slam - Faraway VHS + Single Grand Slam - Infinity VHS

My most recent purchase. Nothing too special. I wasn't supposed to get this until Friday with my other haul that contains Color's Galaxy and Decameron's バラードは歌わない. I only bought that magazine for the Kamaitachi and Loudness articles.

I really don't have much of an opinion on piracy in general. Piracy has always been the foundation of the Western VK scene since the beginning. I still remember trying to download Kuroyume and GLAY songs that were ripped at 128kbps on dial-up in 1999 that took over 2 hours to download per song. I'm pretty sure most of the groups, Japanese or not, I've been into, I probably got into them due to filesharing. Anymore, I rarely download anything VK related since there's Youtube to sample newer bands. I'm more likely to illegally download Kpop and Jpop artists's releases than VK ones. The only things I usually download are lives since when ever I have bought one, I usually only watch it once and then it collects dust on my shelf. Hell, I had DEG live DVDs I have bought and never even watched to only give them to a friend because I knew she would enjoy them more than I was. Most of the bands I share are either long disbanded or are active and have a large enough fanbase that the single/album was going to get shared sooner or later. When it comes to purchasing releases, I have an odd way of thinking on how I make a purchase. I considered myself more of a collector of VK bands than a fan at times. If I really like the band's sound, it usually translates into me buying the releases new off of Amazon.co.jp or CDJapan. If the band catches my eye but I don't think they're going to last long, I sometimes try to snag a used copy of their releases until I'm sure the group is going to be sticking around for awhile. If an album is considered a 'classic' in the VK fandom and I don't like the artist, I will usually try to get a used copy dirt cheap. It's a bit off topic, but I included why I buy used copies over new copies.

Here's the pictures of this haul.

I bought the new Loudness album. Nothing too special. However, I am waiting for a package to arrive within the next week with the following: Aura - Smile & Smile (promo cassette) Azz - Electric Body Baiser - La Luna Baiser - くちづけ (Lawson Special Edit version) Baiser - Kaleidoscope Baiser - En Fleur Baiser - Utopia Color - Returned Again Sandbag Baby II (limited live single) Dir en grey - Missa Gilles de Rais - Gilles de Rais Gilles de Rais - Damned Pictures (1st pressing, autographed) Missalina Rei - 月花白麗 Penicillin - Vibe Penicillin - Samurai Boy Penicillin - Hamlet Penicillin - Indwell Penicillin - God of Grind Penicillin - Missing Link Penicillin - Imitation Love Penicillin - ロマンス Penicillin - Earth Penicillin - into the valley of dolls Shady Dolls - Happy Swing Shady Dolls - こころの眼 Shady Dolls - The Band on the Roof 女的 (Girltique) - う・そ・つ・き 黒蝪蝶 - 帝王切開 妖花 - Seek Since I'm working a bunch of overtime right now, I have no idea when I am able to post pictures of that haul when it does arrive.

According to my Last.fm account (that I had since 2005), my all time list would be: BY-SEXUAL - Romantic BY-SEXUAL - Deep Kiss BY-SEXUAL - Dynamite Girl BY-SEXUAL - So Bad Boy BY-SEXUAL - Psychic Dance BY-SEXUAL - Be Free Color - Fuzzy Boy Color - Tomorrow Never Comes BY-SEXUAL - Thank You For Smile BY-SEXUAL - Home Alone According to iTunes, it looks more like this: Billy & The Sluts - Maybe True Aura - Ai Aurand (New Version) X Japan - Scars BY-SEXUAL - Dynamite Girl Red Tail Cat - Free-Dom Malice Mizer - Gardenia Shazna - Piece of Love かまいたち - かMARCH Baiser - 毒 Jolly Pickles - All You Need Is Love

There's at least two that I know of and those were listed on the page you linked previously. There might be more out there, but since LBB weren't popular and were based in Kyoto, the people that still have them might not be as eager to sell them. I own a demo tape by Naoki (Decameron) that I have zero information other than it was released before Decameron's Blue Stranger and I have never been able to find it for sale outside from the MH user I bought it off of.

Outside of the Emergency Express 1992 omnibus, LBB didn't have anything ever released on CD. They released a handful of demo-tapes due Andy and Ryollan burnt their bridges with Free-Will Records when they left Decameron. Back during the early days of VK, burning bridges with one of the 'big two' (Extasty & Free-Will) once you made that connection with them meant the death of your band and vk career. Since Lucky Bon Bon were based in Kyoto, that also adds up to the rarity of the demo-tapes.

I lied about the Fool's Mate #202 not having any DEG in it. It just wasn't listed in the magazine's index page. It's just a 2-page live article. Here's the DEG ad from the Fool's Mate #198 issue. I uploaded the raw version of the ad here.

I have 2 Fool's Mates from 1998, Issue #198 and #202. Issue #198 is the only one that has DEG in it. I don't know if it's any thing you're looking for, but I'll be willing to scan it if it is something you're searching for.

Out of all of the albums on this list, D'espairsRay's Mirror is the only one I own a copy of and from what I remembered, I seemed to enjoyed it. I haven't spinned it in like four years. Of the other albums featured in this article, I only remember hearing the ones by Girugamesh, bis, HIZAKI grace project, Merry, Rentrer en Soi, and the GazettE albums. As it's been years and three computer hd failures ago, I haven't hear any of these albums in years. I remember that I loved the Girugamesh and bis albums. I can't remember my opinion on the HIZAKI grace project album. I remember being super disappointed in the Merry and RES albums. The GazettE album was the one that made me jump off of that bandwagon. For the other two VK albums on the list, I quit listening to Plastic Tree several years prior by the time of this release and I was never a Versailles fan. The only 2007 release I own that I would say I play a lot is test-No.'s test-No. 005. It has a lot of sentimental value to me, mostly due to my online friends at that time and I made a lot of parodies of Den's horrible photoshop skills at the time of this release. Those old parodies are probably lost on LJ/Photobucket somewhere out there.

YEEEEESSSSS. Everyone can see how garbage/all over the place my taste in music for the year is. For Decameron, Aura, and Dream, the generator used one of the many other artists that share those band names. So I crappily photoshopped the proper band that I listen to of those names. Also, I guess I haven't corrected my tags because S/mileage appears twice on the list. XD

My copy of the newest live DVD of my favorite Grandpa VK band arrived today. I also bought a CD of The Street Sliders. The Street Sliders - 天使たち かまいたち - The End

Today, my local record store had the album that American hair metal band Takashi O'Hashi was in after he left Seikima II.

A lot of the bands I follow don't release vinyl and a lot of of the old bands that had vinyl releases haven't had any reissues on vinyl. This is what I do own on vinyl and they're all original pressings. I would double dip if most of these were ever re-pressed since a few of them were pressed on thin vinyl that was super popular in the late '80s because it was cheaper for the labels. Also, I have a bunch of flexi-singles that were released in various Rockin' F magazines during the late '80s and the early '90s.

Just got this today~