Is liking VK a phase?

[madygrain 515]

People is not more or less mature of liking some kind of music. People really don't choose what they like, they just do. Part of being mature is accept what you like and what you are and be proud of it. Because nobody that considers him or herself mature has to be embarassed of what makes him or her happy.

[Nyasagi 259]

People is not more or less mature of liking some kind of music. People really don't choose what they like, they just do. Part of being mature is accept what you like and what you are and be proud of it. Because nobody that considers him or herself mature has to be embarassed of what makes him or her happy.

It couldn't be said better. I absolutely agree with you.

[Kaye 296]

I agree with some of you here, especially what Champ said. I, too, never understand when people just change 180 all of a sudden and say everything they once listened to is now crap. A few months ago I had to edit an editorial of a girl who went to Download festival and she was pretty much just talking crap about all bands that she'd listened to when she was "a kid" and how she couldn't understand etc etc. Why be embarrassed about that? Why see it as a "guilty pleasure" while at the same time you're asking yourself how on earth you'd ever loved such crappy music? Seriously, I nearly pulled my hair on that edit. Right now I might not listen to every single band I listened to years back but much like what was mentioned before, I still can get why I liked the songs and if they pop up on shuffle or on the radio or wherever, I don't mind and I'll still like them.

For VK, I was 14 when I discovered Japanese rock music and even though VK is not what pulled me in, I have been listening to various VK bands since. We're 10 years further now and even though I don't listen to as much of it anymore (mainly because the music business just bores me and hardly anyone seems to be able to be original these days), I still listen to a lot of them. The ones I started listening to back in the day, I still check their new releases.

I think it's different from person to person but saying that something totally isn't your style anymore while years before you were so into it, I don't think I'll ever get it. One of my siblings told me that a few years ago "I don't like rock music anymore." I never understood why :/

[evilcoconut 109]

I think it depends on how old you are lol. I frankly grew out of loving music one minute and hating it the next quite some time ago so for me, no it wasn't. I like less VK bands now, but that's because there are less bands to like. All the ones I started liking when I started liking VK, I still like and still listen to. Certain other musics appeal to me more now, but that's how it always is. I go back and forth, but like I said, I'm way past ~phases~. In fact, my music horizons have broadened considerably since I found VK so it's more that I have less time for it lol.

ETA - I also totally agree with everything Champ has said so far.

[Eonn_McBlack 11]

Maybe i would, but for some people and mostly some "age" everything you do it's a phase.

Talking about myself, I don't think so. I started listening VK (or jrock) when I was like 22-23 and now it's 4 years i think. Obviously now I listen less bands than in the beginning, but that's natural because in the beginning you want to know most of the band you can, you have to know what you like, the example of Champ for listening to Versailles and Sug, I did it too, but then discarded Sug AND Versailles too (LOL).

There are some periods in which i don't listen to VK very much, I'm just there on Edoh and "this new band is bad, this one also", but then I found a new, old or disbanded band which i like and I still believe I can go on with VK.

Maybe I like Vk because I can listen to something more poppier or soft (which I don't do with western bands), but with a sense of music and singing that's just better than "ours" and unique, for me.

In conclusion I'm with Champ, for sure.

[ramrod 108]

it has been a 9 year phase for me.

So no..it is not a phase...unless your music taste completely changes or you were so easily impressionable back then that you only liked VK to either:

a) try and be 'cool'

or

were a weeaboo. :s

[masquerade-parade 0]

It's been over nine years since I stumbled upon Malice Mizer, and I'd say I have gone through several phases before and after that.

But I kept one thing from all of those phases. There is still one band, or maybe just one song that I will always like because it is nostalgic or whatever.

It is also entirely possible to realize that something sounds like crap, but like it anyway.

The "nothing-but-vk"-phase is definitely a phase though.

I hope.

[Ikna 1225]

I began listening to Visual kei when I was 13. That was 8 years ago. I never belonged to the kind of people who'd only listen to VK, but I too was in that horrible phase when I thought VK was in some way totally badass, hardcore and "goffik". I'd annoy anyone with images from D'espairsRay, Mana and the Gazette. That only lasted for one or two years though, after that I l slowly lost my inteterest into it.

And just a few years ago I started listening to the old bands again... and now I have found back to liking VK (and recover mostly old bands from the 90s).

I guess it depends on your musical taste. As the preference for musical styles can change over a time some people just stop caring about it. I don't think you can really grow out of it. But you can either be someone who has a very limited musical horizon or someone who is open for changes. The first are mostly the people who either think their music taste is perfect and more supreme than others' or people who are just comfortable with listening nothing else than VK; the latter ones may stop listening to it because they like something else now or they still like it, but have also found other music to like.

I don't even see what's bad about people who are fixated on VK. As long as they don't start to annoy you or try to tell you how much your music taste sucks, of course. (and that's the "horrible" phase- fans who think listening to Visual kei makes them super cool and different)

Sure, the scene currently sucks with all the good bands left disbanding and visual kei was never popular for being totally professional, artistic or deep music (with a few exceptions which become rarer every year)- but like pop or punk (we can't deny that this scene also has a lot of talentess bands) crappy VK also has a right to be listened by people.

[lichtlune 915]

For me its been 5 or 6 years and though I'll admit i listen to other forms of music more so than i used to i could never stop listening to it altogether although i can understand if its more of a phase for others but for me I'll always be listening to this kind of music i don't understand why it should be a phase if the quality is there and its not just cute boys in dresses all the time only then sure its not a phase for me.

[orangetarts 249]

I just think that the way you like it changes. like you know when something is shiny and new and you just like it so much and wanna play with it all the time? i think it's like that, it gets older but you still like it in some way or another. thats how it is for me, all the bands I love broke up and it became very depressing for me so i let it go for a while but always came back in the end, but im not into it with both feet as I was before...hopefully that makes sense.

[Hoyahe 7]

I think liking all Visual kei bands only because they're visual kei it's really a phase

you discovered them and you wanted to listen to all bands but...then...you got bored

that's normal

still, I think japanese music has very interesting things!

[Number Girl 48]

It depends on the individual - there are lots of people who have been obsessed with VK for a long time and really are truly passionate about it. I think for me it was a phase. I really only was into many of the bands because I thought it was unique and edgy and it was what everyone else was listening to at the time. Once my music tastes evolved and "matured," I gradually lost interest in it. Now I only enjoy a couple VK bands and don't consider myself a fan of VK as a whole.

[TheBistroButcher666 228]

Holy shit, it's been over 10 years now since I first started listening to this crap. Now I'm an old lady with a real job shaking my cane yelling at the dubstep kids to listen to real music.

I don't follow any new bands though but I still enjoy all the old stuff I got into back in the day. Just yesterday I spent the entire day in my office jamming to KEY PARTY bands.

There was a point when I lived and breathed VK but gradually my interest diminished, especially when the bands I liked cease to be.

I wouldn't call it a phase because I still do like all those old bands but I'm not the obsessing weeaboo scumbag I was in high school.

[x_dak_x 5]

I still like my old school playlist. I guess it makes a difference genuinely liking a bands music versus only their looks. however it's not the only type of music I listen to.

[RED RUM 49]

I don't think it has to be a phase. It's about what you like the most and when you feel like Visual Kei doesn't give you this special something anymore you just listen to other sorts of music and if you don't like them anymore you'll listen to something else. 

 

In the end it's about if you're enjoying the music or not, doesn't matter if it's hip hop, jazz, rock or visual kei. 

[Guest pixyfalse01.]

I've been listening to visual kei 6 years ago, at the start i loved only one band 「Phantasmagoria」and liked many other (for example: deadman, ClearVeil, OZ, Vidoll, etc.)
Today, until now, i love that only one band still and what remained of it (凛, KP), but there is no more new.
A lot of great band turned into something else, like meh... and the new bands are just... i can't listen them more than few seconds.
May i changed, but i'm sure, the new bands of vk scene got sucks too. I agree that MEJIBRAY has potential, has something, but i couldn't get into their music, and i think i wont.
3-4 years before VK was my life, now only one artist keeps me in the scene.

But the most important reason, why i'm getting out of the vk, that the scene is absolutely a lie. The artists don't take it seriously, just pick up the style, throw away the style, change the style to totally opposite, disband new band disband again new band again, uses signs without meaning, play hardcore metal next song is punk pop. most of lyrics are about stupid love story for little girls. Through many years i got to know, the all scene is disbelieving.

[miyuu 40]

first of all if you are 15 or a teenager is definitely a phase.i don't know anyone who still listens the same music from their teenage years seriously.

what is a phase

if you listen for years it's not a phase but music taste evolves you can't listen forever the same, at some point everyone changes.

 

i think the phase is liking every crappy visual kei band that exists just for the sake of being visual kei . at some point you get more selective and choose only what fits you. and sadly this may end up to be very few bands

 

 

edit: also the above post i think is more about if visual kei is dying/changing and the quality of the bands today. because you didn't stop loving vkei /you just can't find anymore bands that fit you.

[miyuu 40]

I've been listening to visual kei for a little over 3 years now. Honestly, I can't even bare to listen to any of the stuff any more asides from my favourites. A lot of the music now is either not my cup of tea or have become so formulaic and predictable. I don't want to even try because most often as soon as the singing kicks in, I'm already turned off by the awful vocals. Visual Kei vocals are just bad in general imo. But for some reason I keep trying to find something new that will click with me because of how much I love my favourite bands that have now either disbanded or changed so much.

Anyone else feel this way? I listen lots of things other than vk, but they never quite had the same effect. I guess I'm just lookin' to feel incredibly hooked with music again. But vk music or not, I'm listening to new things all the time and still getting bored so fast. Sometimes I'm wondering if I'm just bored with music altogether?? T__T Seriously, what is life without music!

 

 

maybe a phase is  more the thinking "omg this is ridiculous, how did i ever liked that"

or "i don't find this so appealing anymore, i prefer another genre" and you don' try because you don't care

 

if you still love vkei but you just can't find new bands that fit you it's another thing

 

(sorry for the second post in a row)

[Gizorz 24]

first of all if you are 15 or a teenager is definitely a phase.i don't know anyone who still listens the same music from their teenage years seriously.

what is a phase

if you listen for years it's not a phase but music taste evolves you can't listen forever the same, at some point everyone changes.

 

Well there's a first for everything I guess

[The Bread Wolf 231]

first of all if you are 15 or a teenager is definitely a phase.i don't know anyone who still listens the same music from their teenage years seriously.

So you think no one who's listened to Rolling Stones in their youth listens to it anymore? I might have to disagree with you. There certainly are teens who only listen to mainstream music, playing only the latest hits. But then again there are teens who'll listen to metal or rock through their whole life, even the same bands. So why not visual kei?

[miyuu 40]

↑ i listen to rock mostly my whole life too but not the same bands. you always find new bands. slightly different genres.

i don't know maybe  you are right, it's just so impossible to me from personal experience. i have changed so much.

i actually think a person who listens with passion the exact same bands as their teenage years and hasn't changed at all, must be boring or something is wrong with him.

also it's really weird to find a person who likes how they were in their teens and don't want to change somehow,

especially in music that is like a lifestyle.

 

(trying to explain my point)

(after all the rock / punk / grunge /metal /gothic /alternative genres i had a phase with. how the fuck i end up in vkei the last years.and then i even changed the bands i listened in vkei. i didn't stay to the first bands i discovered except maybe dir en grey that they changed so much themselves

so they  get my point LOL. in some ways i totally understand why they wanted to change growing up.)

 

yes sure  i can still listen to guns n' roses for example  , but rarely i do. i still like them.

but i have new bands.

[sai 868]

I can't believe I didn't post here yet. Anyway, here's my take on the matter:

 

Whether VK is just a phase is up to every individual. It also depends on what VK means to you, in some aspects. There are enough cases of people jumping from VK to K-Pop, totally abandoning the former. This is something I find very odd, because if you truly loved it for the music you wouldn't be able to make such a dramatic switch. So yes, for those people it's probably a phase.

 

For the ones who like VK mostly because of the music are different cases. You can grow out of it in a way that your musical tastes develop in such manner that you won't see the appeal in most VK stuff you listened before anymore. I can honestly say that I stopped listening to almost 60% of the VK bands I used to listen to back when I just got into the scene. That doesn't mean it was a phase and that I'm over it now, but it just means that my musical tastes have developed and changed, and that most VK doesn't fit in there anymore. I still have some VK bands that I really enjoy listening to and that I still actively follow, the number has just decreased. Other people who develop musically might do that differently than I do and might still find VK more appealing than I did at that moment.

 

So if I have to put it short: it depends on the person, basically. Saying it's a phase everybody gets out of is a bit close-minded.

[kurenaishineek 646]

Well i can say for sure that i only like old school VK . The new ones just do not sound good , most bands technically sound like a boysband but with more rock/metal sound to it nothing more . Seriously i miss the good old VK , where bands where really amazing and all had they're own style and sound , they where what VK was meant to be unique . Now its just a bunch of copycats who suck at doing anything alone , and are not unique at all . One band is a copy of another who is a copy of some other that is a copy of some other and so on . You can compare the new VK bands to crap on the same level as Justin Bieber . Just listening to them make me wants to puke , old VK had some awesome range of different genres from softer rock to really heavy and brutal metal , now its all just nu or alternative metal with some mix of alternative rock here and there . I check almost all new bands , but after first minute i have enough of them . At least there are some good VK bands in all that mass of crap that play some good stuff like , Nocturnal Bloodlust (did not start as VK , turned into a VK and lost 2 starting members also started to play post hardcore instead deathcore) , Omega Dripp (good old schoolish VK Band with some great technique and some good old school sound , they play industrial/glam rock , and sound like Rob Zombie in some songs) , Versailles (what to say Hizaki and Kamijo are both oldschool in VK) , NoGod (tend to have some good songs , but mostly nothing special) and thats all .

I cant say its a Phase for VK , its rather the fact that you're music taste changed or matured . There are a lot of japanese music fans who want to listen to some unique bands , and its just happens that the new VK stuff is everything but unique . Playing the same genres and copying each other does nothing good , and i think that Hideto Matsumoto is turning in his grave when he sees what has become of VK . And if you look more closely around the forums and ask more about who listens to VK and who not you will see that 60-70% of VK listeners are girls between age of 12 to 20 , so its only natural that a bunch of beautiful/handsome and cool guys will be an awesome band no matter how crappy and unskilled they're music is .

BTW , if you listen music with passion than you cant grow out of it . I still listen to EZO , old Loudness albums , Mari Hamada and other 80s stuff , why ? Cause rock and metal was milion times better than most stuff released today , but thats only one side of the medallion the other one is of course that is just love those bands .

[The Bread Wolf 231]

There are a lot of japanese music fans who want to listen to some unique bands , and its just happens that the new VK stuff is everything but unique .

Now now, I know you like old school VK but seriously, this is just wrong. Saying you don't like something and saying everything sounds the same are completely different things. I mean, for example, I'd claim that no band before has sounded exactly like Kameleo, which is my favorite band atm. Also, well, I listen to FUTURISM BOYZ which is a good example of a band that mostly sounds like any other band in the whole world, except for one thing - their singer. I can seriously play Arc or FUTURISM BOYZ to anyone and they can confirm they've heard nothing like KO-JI before. They don't usually like him, but they DO admit his voice is different from everyone else.

 

Also, Kiryu. There are not too many Neo japanesque bands aside from Kaggra, and OROCHI, and to be honest Kiryu sounds nothing like them. They have more... horror-ish feeling in their songs. So a third example.

 

And I'm not even a large scale consumer of VK - I've just picked the best ones.

 

Tl;dr: I do not agree with your point. There certainly are unique bands in new VK wave. It's a different thing if you like them or not. You don't need to like them for them to be different.

[kurenaishineek 646]

Great but those are only 4 bands that are unique vs hundreds of copys .