Post your "UNPOPULAR" music opinions!

[Saishu 1589]

A vast majority of Withering to Death is hot trash. It is the most boring goddamn thing DEG has ever done. 

[Tokage 5930]

forever lmaoing @ people who prolly weren't even there for the ''golden age'' of the scene acting as if things haven't objectively declined in quality and homogenized over the last decade

[Gesu 1537]

3 minutes ago, Tokage said:

forever lmaoing @ people who prolly weren't even there for the ''golden age'' of the scene acting as if things haven't objectively declined in quality and homogenized over the last decade

Just cuz they weren't around for it when it came out doesn't mean they never actually listened to it. Everyone's entitled to their opinions.

[Karma’s Hat 3107]

Wait, everyone is entitled to their opinions except this one? Unless one cries out #allvkmatters then the breath exits the realm of acceptability and becomes free game to be called butthurt etc. ? 

 

I've always written like this with this very same tone by the way, and I like arguing with people who's education and taste I don't respect both irl and online. The only people who take other people trashing shit they like seriously enough to comment with such shite are the ones who are out there either to swipe under the rug their inferiority complex and lack of argument or white knight some shitty band that will disband in two years without a wikipedia article with the balance book of bataar. 

 

 

[Gesu 1537]

2 minutes ago, Disposable said:

Wait, everyone is entitled to their opinions except this one? Unless one cries out #allvkmatters then the breath exits the realm of acceptability and becomes free game to be called butthurt etc. ? 

 

I've always written like this with this very same tone by the way, and I like arguing with people who's education and taste I don't respect both irl and online. The only people who take other people trashing shit they like seriously enough to comment with such shite are the ones who are out there either to swipe under the rug their inferiority complex and lack of argument or white knight some shitty band that will disband in two years without a wikipedia article with the balance book of bataar. 

 

 

I never said he wasn't entitled to his opinion. I was just making a point. Of course he's entitled to think there's been an objective decline in quality, but I am entitled to disagree with him. Not every statement I make has to be either emblematic of an "inferiority complex" of which you speak or some huge manifesto about some band I like, so stop putting words in my mouth.

[GreatNorthernVK 183]

Part of this is a combination of nostalgia, selection bias, and increased access to the scene.

 

Sure, I’ve done it too when I’ve gone through discographies of the prominent 90s and 00s bands, and thought “Wow, I don’t think the scene will ever produce classics like this again”. But then I remember that there were probably tons of cookie cutter, derivative bands back in the day that didn’t even reach the West, because no one gave a shit enough to keep and upload their discographies.

 

Now that we have access to the entire scene by means of the internet, and social media in particular, we see all of the shit that the OG hipsters would have left behind 15+ years ago (except perhaps to mock it, see: Glam Japan). Because most of us don’t live in Japan, nor regularly attend Japanese lives, it can be hard to really gauge where these bands fit in the hierarchy of the Japanese fandom.

 

Having access to the entire fandom now also means that we have access to all of the cringe that the fandom has to offer. How much of the observed idolfication of the scene is “new”, and how much of it is just innovating the sentiment that was already there is difficult, because most of us have no real clue of how Japanese fans acted on a daily basis in the 1990s.

 

We can make observations on how the Western fandom has evolved, because most of us have over a decade of experience with that crowd. The only thing I’ve noticed over the years is the increasing openness to pop music, especially J-pop and K-pop. Also, a slight trend towards fixating on one band in the scene, or even one member (specifically, from the fans who also listen to K-pop).

Edited September 20, 2019 by GreatNorthernVK
Too*

[Tokage 5930]

''Objective decline in quality'' can't even be called an opinion anymore at this point if you take the amount of live houses, vk stores and publications that have shut down over the course of the last decade in Japan into consideration, not to mention the way in which the stream of notable acts & dedicated fandom events happening abroad have p much entirely dried up at this point other than the occasional bouts of Satsuki descending upon some poor Ukrainian village to spread his seed Genghis Khan-style or some local z-rate band of weebs dredged up out of the abyss to play at some derelict anime con. 

 

I wasn't just talking about the quality of the music itself, the (foreign) scene as a whole is absolutely in much more of an anaemic state than it used to be back between, say, 2005 - 2010 or so, and that sorta shit inevitably does affect the music as well what's w/ musicians trying to cling onto whichever formulas still do work to bring in that drug money/pussy/anime op contract even if it means you end up w/ a scene that's nowadays comprised of  like 25 ''mystery bands'' playing the same tired style of metalcore & disbanding after their second single.

 

To deny that any of that's been happening or even try to play it off as ''woooow stop being so elitist'' is just willful ignorance 

[Komorebi 2193]

1 hour ago, Tokage said:

forever lmaoing @ people who prolly weren't even there for the ''golden age'' of the scene acting as if things haven't objectively declined in quality and homogenized over the last decade

All 90's bands sound exactly the same to me. I can't tell Baiser, Shazna, Baroque and Eldorado (and lots of others with that same sound) apart. What homogeneization of the last decade are you talking about lmfao. 

Edited September 20, 2019 by Komorebi

[Tokage 5930]

5 minutes ago, Komorebi said:

 I can't tell Baiser, Shazna, Baroque and Eldorado apart. 

wow racist much?

[Komorebi 2193]

9 minutes ago, Tokage said:

 

To deny that any of that's been happening or even try to play it off as ''woooow stop being so elitist'' is just willful ignorance 

No one is denying anything, but that "anything released during x period of time is shit because I say so" is pretty damn elitist. 

 

All the points you are making are both valid and applicable to the worldwide metal and rock scene.

I'd blame a cultural change of interest in the youth rather than say "bands don't sell like they used to, therefore, they are shit".

[platy 3018]

Dear All, 

 

Please don't take anything in this thread too personally. Whenever you find yourself getting too invested in the posts here, re-read the title. It's something we can all practice a little more. 

[GreatNorthernVK 183]

14 minutes ago, Tokage said:

 

I wasn't just talking about the quality of the music itself, the (foreign) scene as a whole is absolutely in much more of an anaemic state than it used to be back between, say, 2005 - 2010 or so, and that sorta shit inevitably does affect the music as well what's w/ musicians trying to cling onto whichever formulas still do work to bring in that drug money/pussy/anime op contract even if it means you end up w/ a scene that's nowadays comprised of  like 25 ''mystery bands'' playing the same tired style of metalcore & disbanding after their second single.

 

That much I can agree with. The international fandom has never been deader.

 

Aside from MH, and some low quality conversation on Twitter and Facebook, there isn’t much online presence anymore. Websites dedicated to providing VK news go ages without updates. Traditional fan sites have been phased out. Podcasts and YouTube channels have dried up, if you’re looking for anything other than React videos. Even still, I’m still grateful for the react channels, because it might inject something back into the fandom.

 

The only regular streaming show about VK stopped abruptly eight months ago because of butt hurt fans on their discord that couldn’t handle some shitposting.

 

[Zalemu 236]

This thread is a wild ride.

[hopefully_benign 56]

44 minutes ago, GreatNorthernVK said:

That much I can agree with. The international fandom has never been deader.

 

Aside from MH, and some low quality conversation on Twitter and Facebook, there isn’t much online presence anymore.

 

don't forget the occasional /mu/ thread with about 8 replies!

[psychonnect_rozen 585]

This thread is more insane than the other Unpopular Opinions thread lmao 

[astra☆ 26]

All I will say is that there is a reason most of us will say what we listen to most are acts like X, MM, Versailles, GazettE etc...where are the newer acts that inspire us like those ones have?

But, this is largely because I feel there isn't a lot of genuine intent in it right now. Compared to having musicians that used vk as a way of self expression and adding a new dimension to the music,  you mostly have standard rock bands that want to dress up because of the history of its success. I also believe the imagery has grown really homogeneous. You get people dressing exactly like more successful acts before them with no improvisation. How often do we have to see a rhythm guitarist that looks exactly like Teru? The lack of creativity is born from a place of dis-ingenuity.

Visual kei has become synonymous with marketing gimmick. Of course, there was always a marketing aspect to it, but there was also a rebellious nature to it, a way of expressing one's inner self and rejecting conformity. Adults on the large seem really afraid to be this way these days. So it's quite sad!

But, I believe like all things, a resurgence will come. There are people who experience the artists I enjoy for the first time now and think "This is really interesting!" For example, that youtuber who makes all those reaction videos where he experiences Japanese artists and usually really enjoys them! This has been my experience showing Japanese music to others as well.

Anything that is or was a pop culture phenomenon will fade out for a bit and come back eventually in full force. Remember how vaporwave was 'ironic' at first, "haha it's so corny and 80s isn't that silly" and now so many people are creating new genres to tap into sounds and moods of the 80s and obsessing over cyberpunk themes and imagery. I don't think visual kei will be too different in the end.

Let's do our best to help it grow further!

Edited September 22, 2019 by astra☆

[hopefully_benign 56]

I dunno where to post this, but

is it just me or does a lot of vk REALLY sound like early Birthday Party?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rK7IlATxRcs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c39AXnckmGQ

I dunno for sure that there's any connection, but something's afoot

[sleepy coffee 1476]

Despite everyone for the most part really liking them 2 vk bands that I could never get into were diaura and arlequin. I guess that's not an opinion but moreso I just dont get all the praise 

[TheZigzagoon 670]

47 minutes ago, chipathy said:

Despite everyone for the most part really liking them 2 vk bands that I could never get into were diaura and arlequin. I guess that's not an opinion but moreso I just dont get all the praise 

I agree with you on the Diaura front to an extent, I do think Diaura are decent but I wouldn’t go out of my way to listen to them, I think they should stick to the 90’s homage project they did the other year when they released Unmei Kaika 

[Ro plz 1290]

D'espairs Ray's music hasn't aged well.

Edited November 6, 2019 by Ro plz

[Tokage 5930]

13 minutes ago, Ro plz said:

D'espairs Ray's music hasn't aged well.

im sad to say im feelin this fucking hard. felt nostalgic for them & downloaded their discog up until mirrors & ended up trashing everything the same day : / 

some tracks on coll:set are still rad but i somehow can't get into a lot of the other stuff anymore

[Seimeisen 4406]

2 hours ago, Ro plz said:

D'espairsRay's album "MONSTERS" hasn't aged well.

fixed 😉

[ghost 2687]

1 hour ago, Seimeisen said:

4 hours ago, Ro plz said:

D'espairsRay's album "MONSTERS" aged poorly the month it came out.

fixed 😉

double fixed 🙃

 

tbh, Kumo is one of my favorites by them still. That guitar solo in "Kisei -Parasite" takes me straight back to the late 90's/early 2000's the moment it plays.

Edited November 6, 2019 by ghost

[Axius 2019]

I think that bleach was the only good song on Sadie's GANGSTA album. Anyone else?

[Karma’s Hat 3107]

11 hours ago, ghost said:

double fixed 🙃

 

tbh, Kumo is one of my favorites by them still. That guitar solo in "Kisei -Parasite" takes me straight back to the late 90's/early 2000's the moment it plays.

D'espairsray's sound went something like this:  

 

first started out as a pretty typical darker vk band for the time with an interest for the mallgoth aesthetic, something which would start overpowering more flagrantly old school sound like the one you mentioned — and eventually the fishnet stockings and rob zombie shit start getting faded out by increasing influences from Linkin Park and other alternative rock. They grew more west-conscious as they went along and I guess imploded right at the moment when that venture went bust. Vk definitely started looking more at itself than at others around the time they disbanded. 

 

Monsters though is such a profoundly horrible album that there's absolutely no defending it. I remember even as a bitter as I was about their post-MIRROR stuff when I was a teenager thinking that when Final Call came out that it made the D'espairsray of Horizon and Kamikaze look like a top tier band at the peak of their powers. The band that made Monsters however was completely washed up. I mean listen to this shit

 

 

 

myself personally I'm fine with most of the pre-coll:set stuff. Sexual beast is their best