What made you addicted to Japanese Music?

[TheStoic 176]

I learned about Dir en grey through visiting a few J-Rock blogs in 2001 while living in Okinawa.  "Ain't Afraid to Die" was listed as the top song of the week at a site called "Shiroi Heya / J-Rock Pitas" when I first starting researching J-Rock/V-系 online, and as a result I went on Audiogalaxy to listen to it.  I liked it, and as a result walked down to my local Tsutaya music store and bought 鬼葬-kisou- which was just recently released.  I adored that album and connected with it so intensely.  From there, I bought everything Dir en grey that I could get my hands on.

 

Every other artist I discovered from the V-K scene in my early J-Music discovery years was through looking through Shoxxx, Cure, and Fool's Mate magazines in department store book shops in Japan.  After hearing Dir en grey, I yearned for that dark, heavy, and passionate sound that could not be captured by the other bands I listened to, like Bump of Chicken, Siam Shade, Janne da Arc, and others.  As a result, when I found an artist that had a "Dark" look in the magazines, I would memorize the name, go Tsutaya, and buy any record that they had from them.  That is how I discovered Mucc, D'espairsRay and The GazettE.  After that, I returned to the U.S. in 2004 and used CD Japan and the now defunct Dir en grey fan forum "Tsukiyo" to learn about more artists, then used YouTube, Ehdosama, and forums like this to get to the point I am today.

--- For non-Japanese music ------

Silverchair is a favorite English-speaking band of mine, and that is because of the "Neon Ballroom" album.  I saw the music video for "Ana's Song" in 1999 on MTV's total request live and loved it.  I bought the album soon after that at a bookstore and was forever changed by that record.  The sense of darkness and melancholy that bellowed from that album was the perfect thing to feed my teenage angst and feelings of sadness, guilt, and alienation during my youth.  That record gives me chills to this day, and it is one of my favorites of all time.

 

Nirvana was a favorite of mine in my teen years too.  In 1992 - it was impossible not to hear "Nevermind" on the radio, and my uncle gave me his cassette of Nevermind to listen to when I was camping at the beach one weekend in San Onofre, CA.  After that, Nevermind was the first CD I bought with my own money.

 

(And yes, I feel old writing all of this)

[Traxan 148]

Aldious -- I was browsing a Japanese pop culture web site and someone posted the week's upcoming releases. There was the cover of "District Zero." Well, that got my attention and drew me into all the different Jrock/AgeHa bands.

 

Rush -- Some HS friends were gathered around a car. I came over to see what they were listening to. Instantly hooked.

 

Nightwish -- Easily the oddest. I was reading the new issue of a British metal mag, called Terrorizer, which had an April Fool's joke story that Sarah Brightman would join Nightwish as the new singer. I fell for it and immediately went home to look up who this band was and why Brightman would join. Ok, so they picked Anette Olzon instead but what a discovery.

 

Nevermore -- Went to see In Flames because I loved them. Had no idea who the headliner, Nevermore, was. Stayed after the IF set, was suitably impressed.

 

In Flames -- I had drifted off from metal in the mid-90s because the scene was so bad. Got into industrial big time (KMFDM, Frontline Assembly, etc). Read a rave review for an In Flames album in an industrial mag. Go figure. Took one listen and I was hooked on melodic death metal and the Gothenburg sound.

 

Yes, I find music in strange ways.

[Replicant 133]

I honestly can't remember most of the details, but I remember this was during a period where I hated most music at the time.
I know the whole love affair for visual kei and Japanese music started back when I first obtained a PC, MSN groups and chat rooms existed, and I was looking for character inspiration OR someone linked me to a group that had pictures of Dir en grey and Malice Mizer and a bunch of other bands. The place I remember the most that had pictures still exists, but is on Facebook now.

 

As for my current favorite band/artist, his vocaloid production work and art style drew me in initally. Then I heard he had a solo career and was instantly hooked. As for how I got into the vocaloid stuff, that I can't remember.

[Lestat 2167]

I cannot quite remember how I did discover Phantasmagoria. It likely happened in a most common setting of where I was browsing off bands on Youtube based on the GazettE (I do still blame Kuroshitsuji for this) — I do recall my first song ever heard by them being NEO ARK, though. There was an instant connection I still haven't found myself getting rid of, nor do I desire to let them go regardless of the certainty that I shall never hear a singular written track live with my own ears, or I would have to be very lucky to find myself in Osaka where miraculously Kisaki would have organized a throwback-party with ex-members of 12012 and ヴィドール with the lost crew playing a 15-minute set of 神歌. Despite their rather limited setlist, each song carries a turbulence with itself that draws me within another world. Their magic doesn't fade, even when time does.

[RinFukurou 46]

My friend introduced me to Malice Mizer, back in the day, i was 11 i think, and then it led to DeG on youtube, Gazette, and such, otherwise i use last.fm or tumblr.

[MaikoMizu 167]

Yep, mostly through YT, blogs, anime or browsing the record label shop and finding new artist. 

[Purlpi 79]

Hope I can answer this even when the last reply was in February...

 

DIR EN GREY - Since I decided to start listening Japanese music (thanks to Nightmare's "the world" and a crazy friend), I was looking for music in YouTube and I was jumping between some bands like: Nightmare > Miyavi > the GazettE > Dir en Grey. My first reaction was "What? Japanese people are crazy!"

 

D'espairsRay - A friend of mine discovered that I loved DEG, so she told me "you must listen to D'espairsRay". I search in "Ares" and the only result was "Oboro no Tsuki". I loved them since that song.

 

And my current favorite bands:

 

VAMPS - I was fan of L'Arc~en~Ciel and HYDE, so I discovered them since their announcement 7 years ago. At first I hated them, though.

 

[Alexandros] - Since they performed with VAMPS at JAPAN NIGHT last year (and this year in all the world), I saw them at a JAPAN NIGHT's video report. Love at first sight listen.

[vanivani 558]

From the news section here or other visual kei news sites or from dicking around on online shops for hours... Find a CD that looks cool, look up the band and its samples, and go from there. 

[Deathtopi4 428]

Primarily tthrough Youtube, Last.fm, tumblr, and from just downloading things that looked interesting.

[yakihiko 1480]

BORN by the GazettE

Crazy Shampoo by mistake

My BACTERIA HEAT IsLAND by friend

NAINE by hiLo's twitter

[Akaricchi 11]

These are probably the most interesting.

The Gazette:

I remember when we were on a skiing trip with my high school class and one evening we were sitting on a staircase with my friend watching some anime on her notebook. She then suggested watching a concert instead. The Gazette's DIM Scene in Saitama was what introduced me to jrock in general. People around us were annoyed because we were pretty much the only two people in the whole building who would enjoy such music, but that night I fell in love with Ruki's performance. It left a deep impression on me as it was something completely different from what I was used to. For the next few weeks I wasn't able to listen to anything other than them.

That concert is still one of my favourites.

Versailles and Mejibray:

These two were almost forced on me by my dear VK-obsessed friend. She would send me so many pictures and songs and just wouldn't shup up about them that they gradually grew on me. I remember my mind being totally blown off upon a realization that Hizaki was not a woman (I think that was the moment when I took liking to androgynous musicians ._.;; ). Upon listening to Mejibray's Raven (that was the first song presented to me) I stopped the PV after a few seconds thinking what the hell was wrong with them, it certainly was the worst choice. But again I watched The Theatrical show which reminded me of my beloved DIM Scene a little and I needed nothing more. Now I can tolerate all of Tsuzuku's shit. Even Eiki.

My story with X Japan is also interesting. My ex-girlfriend used to really like their live version of Endless Rain. Together we would listen to it for so many times that the song became closely tied with her in my memories. Even now I cannot listen to X Japan without thinking of her and that is also the reason why I cannot bring myself to explore their discography more. It would certainly deserve my attention...

[JukaForever 758]

I remember my mind being totally blown off upon a realization that Hizaki was not a woman (I think that was the moment when I took liking to androgynous musicians ._.;; ). 

 

This topic deserves its own thread but that is also the time I appreciated VKs artistic visuals and started liking androgyny. 

[LIDL 692]

Anime magazines, all through 2000

Their music pages were covering bands such as Dir En Grey, Luna Sea, X Japan, Penicillin, Kagerou, Shazna, Malice Mizer, and L'arc-en-Ciel. 2 full pages each time.

The rest is history.