lichtlune

do i qualify for the senior discount in the 『monochrome heaven official music store』 now

I absolutely love everything about Jpop and I don't like Kpop at all, so those arguments about being a rock fan and hating any forms of pop is a silly thing. Kpop is just bad, and that's it.

I can’t believe jasmine you died for this 

Here's the thing though:
 
 
If we stan this and their revivals do well, he'll eventually rope Hisui into coming back.
 
Then Hisui will make some band with a stupid and awful name, like Mango R[e]d Edition Cylinder, and it'll be mediocre for like 9 months but I'll force myself to stan. After 15 months they'll announce they're breaking up and their last release will be KILLER, and no one involved will ever surface again.
 
2021 let's do it

y'all this is garbage

Step 1: Don't be white. 

The reason why the VK hype came to an end after 2010 was because of the lack of original music and ideas. There were tons of bands coming out with the same copy-paste formulas, both visually and musically. People including me just got bored of listening and seeing the same uninspired vk-copycat bands. 
 
The reason why nobody cares about VK right now is not because VK is bad but because those bands play rock music. Face it, rock music right now is pretty much dead in the whole world, not just VK. What is popular with teens right now? Yes, Hip-Hop/Rap/Pop/. It's definitely NOT rock music. I'd go as far as to say that few people under 18 listen to any kind of rock . They'll rather play fortnite and listen to the latest Post-Malone, Billie Eilish, Machine Gun Kelly, ASAP Rocky, Travis Scott tune.THOSE are the rock-stars of the zoomer generation.
 
Imho K-Pop is a lot closer to this style of music than VK so it's only natural that people can get into it. I'd say the people who are into K-Pop now are basically the same demographic that would be attracted to VK. But unless rock as a genre makes a comeback, I don't see a VK revival any time soon. 

It's actually nice that we got a definite thread for this topic, and musing on some of the posts above I'll also go ahead and say that the vk boom in the west about ten, fifteen years ago consisted of
 
10% was X's gigantic popularity landing on western shores due to word of mouth and tape trading and what have you. Lots of people in the metal community knew about vk even some 20 years ago, and some went on to be converted into visual kei fans that travelled to Japan. These people were real music fans™ that were willing to learn and study despite the challenges and were unlikely to trend hop later on to the next big thing. These people did do a lot of preliminary work for the fad that was about to come by setting up databases online and etc.
 
90% a by-product of the big anime and manga culture craze that had thirsty weeaboos take anything Japanese, internalise it and then finally project themselves unto it. It had very little to do with the fandom in Japan, but more with the ( the teenage female variety, not the 4chan alt right one we see now lol ) anime fandom and the culture specific to that one ie. people switched their sasukes to uruhas and as soon as that trend stabilised the cultural moment was gone. It also helped that we were still living the outer reaches of the post-Linkin Park alt metal age that's pretty much dead now. 
 
Visual kei is very unfriendly to beginners and takes a lot of legwork to really wrap yourself around. It's culture is completely foreign to gaijins and musically also pretty unusual to people with limited musical vocabulary and experience. It got big by complete accident and caught everyone off guard. That won't happen again and like in some of the posts before me, that's completely fine with me. I think the way the scene is going to develop in the future will depend solely on its internal economical circumstances that are then of course tied to the economics and cultural situation in Japan. Visual kei has already proven that it will live in its own way completely in spite of western fads and it's quite impressive that somewhere in the world there is a music scene that's still making bank playing stuff that's not at all popular anywhere else anymore. Sometimes it reaches into its past ( Ains, old bands like MUCC and Deg looking visual again, Starwave ) and sometimes it tries to look into the future with rather umm... mixed results ( Royz, Realies, Heisei Ishin all those bands with neon colors and funny synth. ) And then some dudes decide to hop on the culture while playing what's pretty much X influenced* metalcore while slowly fads like the nu-metal riff creep into its DNA. It's a world onto itself that keeps on doing what it wants to do at its own pace, and that's pretty cool. Unfortunately like I said before the time when all those legendary big bands retire it is definitely going to be felt in the amount of boys who want to play this kind of stuff when the knowledge about this scene starts slowly getting more and more underground and other idols replace the old rock glam gods of the past. Still despite all that, there's going to be at least a few 7/11 clerks with long hair who are willing to give it a shot, if only just to get laid. 
 
 
 
*I maintain that vk's fondness of ballads and guitar solos is still leftover from X's influence.

You can't make something popular again if it wasn't popular in the first place.  Everyone looks back at 2007-2010 as the heyday of the scene, but I think we know more about the scene now than we did back then. A lot of it was people trend riding Dir en grey, the GazettE, and a whole host of other popular bands until they jumped ship for K-Pop. Even when I go to shows abroad, people in line hardly know as much about the band or the scene as people here on MH do. We are in our own bubble and we have to learn to look beyond that bubble to see the scene as a whole.
 
It's a sad fact that the scene is small and will stay small, but I rather like it that way. Visual kei is the definition of anti-mainstream. Think of how many bands are subjected to the stigma of "going major" and losing their identity. Now, imagine that happening to the entire scene at once! That's basically what it would be like to "get popular" again. Not a good look. I don't know what it is that makes visual kei tick, but I'm fine with leaving things the way they are.

I'm aware this reads like a gigantic gatekeeping post but that is not my intention. Let people find visual kei naturally is what I say! The site continues to find and support both new members and old, so the hooks to get drawn into the scene are still out there.

Before people mentioned it here I had totally forgotten that not even that long ago they were using pretty much none of the social media platforms used in other countries. 
 
The Japanese are just not interested in investing time in figuring out how the market here works and then investing money in those foreign markets if it doesn’t work out practically by itself like when manga and anime did the heavy lifting for them, and that’s it. I doubt most of these labels have any business savvy other than the yakuza school of street entrepeneurship that was beaten into them. They’re about as clueless as to how things work here as most of us are about how it works there. You can’t really blame them for that when things are lucrative enough domestically, and everything else is a great unknown with big risk and mediocre reward at best.
 

Hot take:
 
The initial seed for a lot of people is seeing cute boys in crazy makeup. We need to start spamming Twitter threads with slow motion gifs of [insert guitarist here] sticking his tongue out while looking to the side.

The reason why VK hype died out is because it was entirely fan driven, and the bands and management themselves didn’t know what they were getting into. They assumed that they could come over here and do everything like they did in Japan, and people would just accept it, because they received x amount of fans without even trying.
 
What they needed was *connections* to keep the western market engaged and active. They failed, because management of the bands assumed that they were too good for trying things a different way and integrating into Western markets. The connections they did make ended up being alienated. Both industry and fans. That’s why only die hard fans are left, perhaps with the exception of Dir en Grey or Miyavi crowds.

I still have more hope in Mana than Yoshiki, lol.

vk won't become the next k-pop because it's not even that big in Japan to start with and there're no major parties interested in funding and representing it;
 
a whole bunch of social phobias in the west (the entire racism>xenophobia>homophobia>otherization mental umbrella that american mass culture is built on) is also not helping it, but there's a good chance a random japanese VK act will unexpectedly obtain cult status completely accidentally, by mere combination of talent, theatrical game, and charisma
 
buy underfall justice on closet child x

ariana grande owns tho. stream sweetener x

I haven't read to all big texts (no time atm), but really, I feel we really overcomplicate things. The sad truth that many are in denial is, that VK in the west was just a fad and trend. The majority of people who aren't into it anymore wouldn't have stuck around even without the web, mumble rap or K-POP.
 
VK was popular because it was the kind of thing to be obsessed with if you were an awkward weeb in the 00s. By the time it hit seemingly big in the west it was already heavily declining in Japan. I mean, the last time VK was actually relevant in a music scene was in the 90s, when it peaked in popularity back at home. 00s VK was only seemingly relevant in western circles thanks to anime and manga, hence the illusion many weebs had about wanting to go to Japan as they imagined it some kind of VK paradise with hawt bandmen waiting for them at every corner and then are disappointed when they got there and had to realize that it was pretty niche and rather embarrassing thing, that most japanese people either don't care about or deny to like.
 
The japan hype that was so closely tied to the advent of manga and anime in the west is long over. Sure, there are still weebs and fans of that stuff, but the hype isn't quite as strong as it used to be. We have to put our rosa tinted glasses down and accept that the time was over when most of us edgy and angsty  kids that were outcasted for liking "chinese cartoons" all hopped on the japanese music bandwagon. I used to be quite pissed by VKs decline in quality, aesthetics and appeal too and was cringely obsessed with 90s VK, but eh… I just have to live with it being a niche genre and that most people I knew who liked it have moved on because it was just a phase for them. In that regard it's no different than grunge, Nu Metal or 00s new-modern emo. 

For the west it is mostly the same reason new non-rap / non-edm music doesn't get popular. Like previously stated here, its way less costly to make (giving consequently bigger profits/less risk for the creator) but at the same time a lot of people see the possibility of doing it themselves, which regardless if the person is actually doing it or not it still creates more instantaneous attachment.
 
Saying they should do the same thing korea did would not work because most famous kpop groups are still composed of mostly singers / dancers which is not the same as having to buy/learn about an expensive instrument AND find other people that play the other instruments that you don't so you can actually start getting somewhere.
 
Also, I going to be a retard here and say the main reason k-pop exploded the way it did its because it got the people that liked the androgynous look PLUS it had the benefit of going the same way musically that was getting popular (rap/edm). They just had to add coreographies and multiple members that raises the chance of the listeners getting attached to at least one of them instantaneously. Although, obviously they are not the inventors of the boyband concept they did it with such efficiency (and mercilessly if you see how most k-pop trainees live) that it could only result in a lot of money.

i don't think that's tru m8, the lamestream is for sure edgier it has ever been before. there was a time when you couldn't even make a political platitude without the management being out for your ass, and now it's sometimes even part of the marketing both from left to right to say something inflammatory.
 
coloured hair, face tats and anti-social behaviour is endemic and you have dudes like XXXTENTACION and Lil Peep becoming legends. After years of everyone looking the same ( think of a generic early 90's rapper and then a generic early 2000's rapper, now think of the scene today )  all kinds of old barriers are breaking down, aesthetic movements from the past that people used to think were in bad taste like nu-metal are being reappropriated almost solely for being edgy and brutish. even Billie Eilish is a gigantic jump from the saccharine feel good corporate morass of the 1980's that everyone loves for some reason, the same 80's where without the big business say so no one could get famous because the music business controlled every single media outlet that didn't involve some dudes mom's basement 'zine factory; now you can make a living independently and do what you want just by E-begging, let alone being "yourself" and selling the music you do. I doubt we've ever had as sincerely political and personal music before as we do now with all sides of the spectrum being represented.  
 
it's even acceptable and almost expected to like all kinds of music now, whereas back in the day it was common for the general music consumptee to identify with just one thing. theoretically I think if there was ever a time for vk to finally break through with people who seriously actually spend time with music then the time should be now, but in my opinion we'll never see a time when vk will get rid of the anime weeaboo kawaii stigma. people who like good post-punk, goth etc. stuff will never discover what vk had to offer and all those gems around the millenia will be just forgotten somewhere in dead blogspots and dusty cabinets because of this, and that's unfortunate. 
 
 

Fuck I wish I had not clicked those links

I'm completely fine being in the remaining minority of a dying genre. I would rather find what I like on my own, then have 'them' figure it out for me.
 
I think the whole 2006-2010 resurgence of the genre was more organic than any of the created/algorithmic/lackadaisical trends the post 2010's have given us. This was in part due to social feeds/search terms/content that we were using/sharing/discovering ourselves during this period. These days, the internet has basically been turned against its users, and through very powerful technology, we're shown a barrage of cookie cutter content that the vast majority are entertained by. It doesn't matter if it's good or not, or if some of us aren't interested in it, it's what works. Fortunately, VK is only cookie cutter enough for it's own genre, and too risky for mainstream audiences.
 
If it takes VK following mainstream trends to get popular again, count me out. I am grateful for the old bands and existing bands that keep true to their style without selling out.

vk's largest active demographic is domestic and centered around live venues and night life (hosts, etc.) any cultural references basically go over foreigners heads, the music has never been meant/directed for a global market. vk's propagation and global interest stemmed from its parallels to emo culture (i'm talking about '06~ish onwards), which in its current form has merged with the hip-hop scene and barely resembles what it once was aesthetically. we're "old" dawg, like the median age here late-20's to 30's. it's natural to see things come and go, musically. preface
to reference something that has risen drastically in popularity... mainstream k-pop's popularity was a manufactured process. it was something heavily funded (in the millions) by the government ("soft power") after the asian financial crisis from 97'-98'. the more you put in, the more you get out.  japan's counterpart to this hallyu push, c o o l   j a p a n , has been noted as a massive failure with money pouring out w/ little-to-no direction. mainstream j-pop evolves at snail's pace, and still pushes the same saccharine, lackadaisical tunes that simply appease the public b/c "stability in sales = best" and they don't like taking risks (ex. the AKB48 group groups.) granted there are indie acts/artists on the rise that show musical evolution japan is starting to embrace music streaming services and more bands are putting music out on spotify and apple music vk is sharply increasing its presence on mainstream SNS platforms with global following (shift from ameba/ameblo to twitter + insta.) utaite and nnd-like stuff is increasingly popular w/ western zoomer e-culture + memes... and *cough* TikTok *cough* what could happen
japan needs to take more risks in mainstream jpop promotion for heightened global interest, and instead of trying to emulate the kpop sound, they should try and put money in the right place like korea did.  when mainstream stuff gets popular, indie follows suit youtube is a powerful tool that has become increasingly popular in japan. take advantage of the platform. rev up that SEO and tackle that youth insatiability for music discovery by releasing targeted videos. perhaps they could collaborate with the rising utaite on the site w/ global recognition (ex. mafumafu) ex. vambi who was the vocalist of LOG, a band that did pretty meh under B.P, is now a youtuber w/ 1.83 million subscribers and making bank. the "Adore you～キミヲ想フ声～" MV is now at 2 mil+ views, with most coming after the band's disbandment  visual kei would have to completely change into something that it's not, palatable enough for global consumption... ...so what's really going to happen
nothing. the music industry is doing just fine and japan's "galápagosization" or "island mentality" hasn't really costed them. vk making some sort of western resurgence is a pipe dream, and only future iterations of the genre "might" attract interest again.  

Also, there are a ton of people, regardless of their political affiliation, who wear colored hair. Dyed hair is arguable more popular and accepted than it ever was, and so are piercings and makeup on men. 
The current social climate is arguably the best for Visual Kei, because alternative fashion is becoming more normalized as people just stop giving a fuck. I mean, Scene fashion is seeing a revival in 2020, and in recent years, Gothic Rock and Post Punk made a mini comeback. People are finally starting to no longer giving a fuck what you look like, or what you wear. 

ex-DAMY Vo.椋  (Ryo) solo project "鴉-カラス- (Karasu)" has formed.


 
http://karasu-web.com/

Oh great the two things I hate most in vkei. Cheesy synthesizers and deathcore. 

Its pretty good for a first song, I absolutely hate the synthesizers though 😑