Search the Community

Hey guys, Quick Questionnaire to provoke some discussion and see everyone`s opinion / way of looking at Visual Kei. As a quick preface: I simply view Visual Kei as a genre, and terms such as Rock, Metal, Nu-Metal, Goth, etc... All simply as descriptors when inside of this genre. To be honest, I never use these descriptors much myself. When I am looking for new bands or sounds, I usually start with the image of the band. I can tell what kind of music they will have, for the most part, and also, get a rough idea of their quality. In my listening history this may seem like a simple, biased way to view things, but it has worked very well, although there area few bands which slip under the radar, or I end up being putting aside and then realizing I like very much (Alice Nine Alpha album, DOG in the PWO, etc...) I don`t really even know, or have much care for what terms like Nu-Metal and so forth really entail, and don`t think I will ever need the terms. I know this may seem silly to some, but my methods work for me. If I want a certain sound, I search for a certain band look. If a band changes styles, I can describe how they changed and from what-to-what the change was, but to be honest, putting genre tags or labels on to bands, songs, albums etc... Feels too judgmental to me, and like I am trying to brand things, which I am not interested in, in music. I also regard all Classic Rock, as just Classic Rock, I don`t worry about putting Rush into Prog.Rock, Lynyrd into Southern Rock, etc... I feel like Visual Kei is free, or at least it should be, in terms of being anything the band wants, and genres don`t interest me, besides calling it all Visual Kei. Maybe I am just too romantic about it, but alas... Just to clarify, I am not getting into what I think is proverbially, or objectively correct, etc... I am speaking on a personal level. Questions: 1: Don`t worry about others, is Visual Kei a genre, or a scene, or something else, to you? 2: Most of the time can you tell the genre, or if you will like a band based on their look? 3: Do the looks matter to you? If the same band dressed in Jeans and T-shirts with short hair, would you be as interested? 4: Do you search for music by sub-genre, such as Nu-Metal, Alt. Rock, etc? 5: Do you get annoyed when others label your favorite music as genres which you don`t agree with? Bonus: If a band starts as Visual Kei, even if they change, are they Visual Kei 4 Lyfe? Thank you for reading, please feel free to discuss any of my opinions, and express your own within and outside of my questionnaire.