paradoxal

^ in ~gackt years. you need to multiply that by 1.2 to get a historically accurate number.
 
he changed his mind since 1997 when being 300 something years old was the shit, tho.

Gackt - Mars
 

 
April 26, 2000
 
The first album by Gackt, which featured his second best selling single Vanilla and a myriad of other more experimental tracks featuring a wide range of sounds and instruments, as well as tempos and structures.
 
This was during a period where Visual Kei, and others forms of `different` rock music started losing its footing in any mainstream context within Japan. Yet this album was regarded as the first of many `monster` albums by Gackt, which enjoyed huge popularity and coverage, despite not being easily definable as mainstream in any sense.
This album really blew open the formula and idea for what a modern, successful Rock album could sound like, and really endorsed freedom to both Gackt`s peers, and listening fans.
 
Without an album, or artist like this, I feel that what could be mainstream in Japan would have narrowed even further, and we would not have as much freedom in major bands, or even Indie bands in terms of what we could hear.
 
Although some say Gackt starting straying away from the Visual Kei influence at this time, this is up for debate, as Visual Kei is not clearly defined look or sound-wise, and one could still easily attach Gackt`s look and sound in Mizerable (pre-Mars) Vanilla (Mars), or Redemption / YFC (very post Mars) as Visual Kei.
 
The album was written, composed and produced by Gackt. He also did the vocals (for those somehow totally unaware of Gackt) and played piano. As composer his influence also runs to the other instruments, though there is input from long-time friends and contributors to Gackt such as You (Violin, Guitar), Chachamaru (Guitar, Associate Producing), and Masa (Guitar).
 
Although this is a major album, it should be noted that the experimental sound of this album did take a while for the public to warm up to, and in fact following Gackt works which kept with the experimentation were increasingly more accepted by the public.
 
For those new to Gackt or this album, instead of listening to a Youtube video for this, I recommend you listen to the album in its entirety a couple of times to get a feel for it.

So, the point of this topic is that you'll bring up a few (let's limit it to ~2 RELEASES PER PERSON*) titles that have affected the sound in later generations. AND THIS TIME you don't need to rely on "facts" - unless you are willing to cause shitstorm here: before you post your title, discard the whole "influence fact" mess out of your head - and think how that certain title has influenced IN YOUR OPINION (I am not really looking forward to "opinions are for the weak"-ideology, btw).
 
I am not really sure whether this kind of idea has been cultivated much earlier here (as in topics with same ideas), but it's still interesting to see that what kind of titles pop up here. 
 
You can format your posts your own way, BUT MAKE SURE it includes following details:
 
1) artist title - album title (obviously)
2) album cover
3) release date (or release year)
4) Explanation to your choice (Why? How?)
5) Youtube link for certain song off the album, if possible (as a showcase/supporting element for your explanation, you can add a small description if you wish)
 
And definite rule of thumb here is of course: NO SPAM, NO SHITSTORM
*yup, I am quite harsh here.
 
Thank you.
 
As a "firestarter", I will do this first:
 
 
 
AND THIS IS NOT LIMITED TO VK ONLY, GO AHEAD AND POST NON-VK TITLES TOO (that's actually something I'd appreciate too).

Me trying to be professional and somehow ending up looking like a lawyer or something LOL

Hiya hiya hiya!
From lurking and peeking around some of the threads, I've seen/heard that there are a lot of people here with some very good opinions and insight on the whole "JRock-inspired / Visual Kei-inspired" thing. It's an eternal balancing act for those of us who choose to pursue this kind of music outside of Japan, I think.
 
ANYWAY, that said, this is a 1:40 preview of my band's first single "Set Me Free" (the full song goes live on the 20th).  Would love to hear what y'all think of it.  As a band we really love Janne da Arc, Acid Black Cherry, Dir en grey, and a bunchaothers and stuff  ^u^
 
Edit: the link now points to the full version of the song on YouTube, since it's, yenno, released and all. ^^
http://youtu.be/QRrARgw5emo

Just paste the link.
 
it's as simple as that.

RAVEN spot (also can be seen on their website):
 


 
Coooool~ ♪

Wait wait wait stop the train. Is this an option? How much do I need to donate to hear CAT read me obscure VK news?

As Champ stated earlier, this thing is basically up to Trombe to decide.
 
But I think that by using only a few tags could actually help. What if only like two tags were used, eg. "New release" and "New band"? I doubt no one would really explore tags like New member, New tour (since most of us don't live in Japan), Hiatus etc - those interest only those who are actually interested in the band and they'll check the info anyways.
 
But I understand Magatsu's view of an easier way to spot new bands - though it isn't that hard or confusing atm.

I'm really glad he's safe and sound but I laughed so hard when I read that translation... Almost the whole world has been reblogging and retweeting his information around the web, and he was just shit-faced and stayed at a friend's place. That's hilarious That's one great story to tell your grand kids.

I'm really glad he's safe and sound but I laughed so hard when I read that translation... Almost the whole world has been reblogging and retweeting his information around the web, and he was just shit-faced and stayed at a friend's place. That's hilarious That's one great story to tell your grand kids.

I have played this game more than I should have, lol. It's one of those "Just one more round and then I go to bed..... oh, hey, are those birds singing outside?"-type of games. XD
 
 
My favourite victory so far: bribe the city states into submission while conquering all other civilisations, except Alexander (I left Alexander because he has a high tolerance against warmongers and liked me even when I was a ravaging tyrant subjugating the entire world. Plus, he's a cutie.) Then, when it's only me and Alexander left, initiate a UN vote - and win for lack of other candidates. So cynical.

Here's two pictures of me. The first one is probably from November 2013 and yes those are prescription glasses not image glasses, I'm pretty much blind without glasses or contacts.
The latter is a glorious and amazing bathroom selfie straight outta Instagram from summer 2013.
 
I'm amazed of the tiny amount of "normal pictures" I have of me. In almost all of my pictures there must be either 1. my student overalls, 2. student cap or 3. shitloads of other people in it. And yes, student overalls and student caps (technical universities only) are a huge thing in Finland.

it is announced at Lycaon live at Ikebukuro EDGE at 2014/01/22 that their new maxi single "馬鹿ね。(baka ne)" will be released at 2014/03/26 (2 TYPE), and their another new maxi single "悪女の微笑(akujo no hohoemi)" will be released at 2014/04/30 (2 TYPE)
 
limited edition (2,000yen, limited 2000) will include CD with digitray, and regular edition (1,500yen, limited 2000) will include CD only
 
"馬鹿ね。(baka ne)" [track list]
01.馬鹿ね。(baka ne)
02.ドグラマグラ(dogra magra)
03.残像に口紅を…(zanzou ni kuchibeni wo)
 
 
"悪女の微笑(akujo no hohoemi)" [track list]
01.悪女の微笑(akujo no hohoemi)
02.奴隷と首輪(dorei to kubiwa)
03.あゝ無情(aa mujou)(アン・ルイス(ann lewis) cover)

Ok in that pic he looks good, but from when he showed his face when he was in the band <<<<<< he was cool with the mask. And i know music is most important, but they are nice to look at like art, and even the bands say its important (VISUAL kei). most bands i really don't care if they fuge up on looks. But Lycaon has a reputation to up hold as "The hottest band" (thats why i hate the chain of collar pv). 
 
eve: "Compositions during Lycaon era : Chains of collar, The death game, Kesshô Hana, Cordyceps sinensis, CamelliA, Grow, Gu o kuragu." and i was talking drumming btw.
 
i said: "Everyone keeps saying they miss mio and eve........ You guys miss the old sound" not "dislikes Ichiro or Hiyuu because they replaced Eve and Mio."
 
And no problem Avelcain's my #2, -Gesshoku- and the pv spot of id is what got me hooked.

Here's two pictures of me. The first one is probably from November 2013 and yes those are prescription glasses not image glasses, I'm pretty much blind without glasses or contacts.
The latter is a glorious and amazing bathroom selfie straight outta Instagram from summer 2013.
 
I'm amazed of the tiny amount of "normal pictures" I have of me. In almost all of my pictures there must be either 1. my student overalls, 2. student cap or 3. shitloads of other people in it. And yes, student overalls and student caps (technical universities only) are a huge thing in Finland.

Here's two pictures of me. The first one is probably from November 2013 and yes those are prescription glasses not image glasses, I'm pretty much blind without glasses or contacts.
The latter is a glorious and amazing bathroom selfie straight outta Instagram from summer 2013.
 
I'm amazed of the tiny amount of "normal pictures" I have of me. In almost all of my pictures there must be either 1. my student overalls, 2. student cap or 3. shitloads of other people in it. And yes, student overalls and student caps (technical universities only) are a huge thing in Finland.

Despite the fact that I download a lot japanese music (other music not as much, because it's easier to get for me, except it's a discontinued release from 20 years ago that has never been re-released) I don't know so much about the laws and legal aspects of it. But I know that the copyright laws are very different. In the US the entertaiment industry tries any possible way to turn people into criminals so they can charge a shit load of money for having downloaded copyrighted material. I find it extremely exaggerated that even the FBI can arrest you and put into jail for downloading.
But then I am living in Austria, where, as far as I know, downloading music per se isn't forbidden, unless you intend to use the files for commercial purposes or you are plagiarizing it (which I too consider as the real act of "stealing music").
 
If I remember correctly I read a lot of articles about the whole "if people don't buy records, the music scene will die" argument. It's an argument brought up by the media industry since the triumphal march of the cassette, which as we all know made copying and sharing music and videos very easy. I guess anyone who is old enough to remember the time when taping and recording music or radio programs was popular may be familiar with these nice warning signs:
 

 
We all know that the music industry is still alive and very well and they survived the taping craze. Of course the internet is kind of a bigger dimension, because files aren't just shared with your best friends and their friends, the file can be accessed by billions of people. Popular music will spread quite fast. But I still don't believe the music industries condition is as worse as they claim to be. From what I can gather of articles in the net record sales declined already in 1999, so long before the whole file sharing thing dramatically exploded (which I think didn't happen until p2p and filesharing services became standard). And since one year the sales seem to rise again and (the interesting thing) partially due to people downloading from online shops like itunes.

I guess it just can't be said objectively how many damage or not downloading makes as the whole issue is a double edged sword: really popular artists like Lady Gaga don't really suffer from declining record sales, because there are still enough people who buy the music or there are enough people willing to pay 100$ or more for a concert ticket. Some may be even following their artist and visit several concerts. If Lady Gaga and her Label gain 20 billion or just 10 billion $ doesn't make such a difference- of course only for us, not so much for the profit lusting music industry.
But then you have to admit that those good earning superstars are an exception. The majority of bands and musicians are not rich and they don't earn that much money. So it makes a huge difference if the can get say 150.000 or only 50.000 $. (Vk groups of course make much less). Those numbers are just imaginary. I am not so familiar with the earnings of musicians, but you get the idea.
The problem however is, that the smaller the band, not only the less will the earn, but the more will they suffer from the money the label takes from them. So in most cases just buying more releases alone won't help. And if it's true what I have read a lot of labels even charge their bands for the stuff and merchandising they sell on tours. That's actually stealing, but what can you do? (or what choices do the bands have)?

So ultimately... downloading can be damaging, but it mustn't, and sometimes it's better to at least buy concert tickets or support the band otherwise than doing nothing. I know that coming from me sounds foolish though XD

Regarding VK music: I agree with what most here said. Visual kei isn't really meant to be marketed for foreign fans. I'd say that this isn't even an "issue" concerning visual kei, basically anything from japan, except maybe video games and electronic devices, never surface outside the island, may be fashion, make up or any music (vk, as well as pop or rock music). I believe Japan doesn't really care for us mostly white weaboos as much as we do for their culture. Also notable is that japanese fans don't even want foreigners to drool over their Vk stuff. If you don't live in Japan and aren't able to go to the live yourself than that's your problem. Even if you ask nicely the japanese fans probably won't share the live distros with you. Of course that's also because they can't speak English so well, but I am sure they just don't give a fuck about us too.
Also I doubt japanese record sales are so heavily influenced by sharing the stuff. Yeah, some japanese people will download them as well, but some of the truly hardcore fans are still buying everything or they are still visiting the lives and buy lots of chekis, photosets and so on. (and Vk bands actually make more profit with those than with records)

Lastly... I have to thank the Vk filesharing community. The first Visual kei records I owned were bought myself, when Vk became "trendy" and cool here in europe and Gan-shin would distribute some artists here. But I didn't really get into the thing until I discovered the old school shit on blogs like Evil en Lucifer. There would have been no way at that time to find it otherwise, let alone buy it. I still don't have enough money to buy me everything i have on my wishlists and most of the stuff is hard to get. So blogs like these were really helpful. And I guess I will continue to share the old stuff I buy- in hope that people can get access of good rips instead of the 128 kps files floating around and because I think people need to check those groups out.
I am not so fond of new vk, but I guess the principle is similar. Many people just want to share so people who don't have the money to order the CDs can still get to hear the band. Japanese CDs are really expensive for us foreigners, especially if shipping options are stupid and you are unlucky and have to pay custom fees.