Featured List 10 Types of J-Music Fans

[TheStoic 176]

While I embrace my Okinawa-Expat status as the life event that got me into J-Rock as a whole, by no means am I immune to the draw of Western music, although I routinely an annoyed with people that write off Japanese music just because it is not in English.  My collection is about 35% Japanese, 50% English, 10% instrumental, and 5% other language.  For this - I can't say I am the expat.

 

I do have some elitist opinions, but try to mask them as I understand taste really is subjective.　　But I am not immune to judging when people tell me their favorite music is a regurgitation of the billboard top 40 artists.

 

I've been into the scene long enough to feel like a shadow.  I can name my fair share of artists, albums and songs to fit in, but don't expect me to really care about the trials and tribulations of each band member.  I'm into my favorite bands, but am willing to expand my horizons.  I try to really listen fully to each release, and don't keep what I don't like.

 

My infrequent yet consistent presence on MH might show I am a legit 影人.

[DeadlyClaris 52]

Yep, I'm probably the elitist shadow...

I recognize some traits of elitism in me. I'm very open-minded about genres but I have come to a point in my life where I'm able to tell whether I like or dislike a song in max. 20 seconds. I know pretty well what I want. I can spend time and listen to other people's music on dubtrack.fm and the likes but I know when I hear a crappy song. Now where the shadow part comes in is that I don't just go around preaching about what's in my opinion good music or not. Spewing shit like that helps nobody. I can keep my inner asshole in a leash. But I kinda hate that "elitist" part of myself.

Ah, I'm the exact same way.

[Delkmiroph 1649]

I am one mix of The Elitist + The Shadow + The Hype Beast HAHAHAHAHAH 

 

But in this moment i am more The shadow and The Hype Beast. Its the best combination. 

[Pretsy 1343]

VERY VOCAL ELITIST HERE.

 

I do agree with sentiments regarding that spewing stuff seems to be usually useless. However, it won't leave much room for discussion and consequent understanding of different aspects we enjoy, criticize, misunderstand, understand, pinpoint etc. in the said music. We are "the community" after all, aren't we?

 

'Asshole' is a subjective matter.

[CAT5 9075]

I have some thoughts regarding elitism that I thought might be relevant here.

From my perspective, I've come across what I'd personally categorize as two different kinds of elitists. The main thing separating these two would be their motivations.

The first type of elitist I like to call the "psuedo-elitist". For me, this is the most common type. This type of elitist is driven by insecurity. They feel the need to bash and criticize any and everything they don't like in an effort to validate their own tastes. Some of them also make it their mission to learn as much about music as possible and to listen to all of the "objective" music classics - which is nice, but they don't do it for the sake of the knowledge alone - they do it so they can feel like they have a leg up on others. Some of this type are actually really knowledgeable, but unfortunately, they wield that knowledge from an unbalanced place and use it to boost their egos instead of shedding light in a healthy fashion. More often than not, they also lack individuality because they're constantly looking outside of themselves for validation instead allowing themselves to trust and appreciate their own, unique music taste. Most of this kind aren't even aware of themselves, so they end up coming off as assholes - or just looking like clowns to those who can see through them. They're usually troublesome to talk music with because they're too wrapped up in their own egos to properly perform the dance that is conversation.

The second type of elitist probably doesn't even personally identify with the term "elitist" and you'd probably never catch these guys referring to themselves as such. They have discerning tastes and they may be super knowledgeable about music, but they are self-validated and don't look outwards to "objective" standards - they define their own taste, they come up with their own ideas about music, and they completely OWN however they feel about music, regardless of anyone else's opinion. These people understand subjectivity and that their perspective is really not "elite" at all. They're able to seamlessly interface with music fans of all kinds. They're pleasant to talk to because they're more interested in exchanging perspectives, as opposed to trying to force their own opinion on others or prove that their opinion is somehow "right".

Thankfully, the first type can become the second type later on if they wish. I definitely went through a "pseudo-elitist" phase when I was younger, which I'm glad I grew out of.

[Zeus 7997]

VERY VOCAL ELITIST HERE.

I do agree with sentiments regarding that spewing stuff seems to be usually useless. However, it won't leave much room for discussion and consequent understanding of different aspects we enjoy, criticize, misunderstand, understand, pinpoint etc. in the said music. We are "the community" after all, aren't we?

'Asshole' is a subjective matter.

Discussion is a two way street. If you are as willing to listen to thoughts as much as you are willing to share them then that's not really elitism as I usually think about it. Elitists stereotypically don't care about what others think if it doesn't line up with their thoughts. CAT5 response is much better than mine at exploring different kinds of elitism.

Also I didn't put this together as a serious attempt to categorize fans. I'd need way more than 10 groups to do that. This is mostly for laughs. Don't get too wrapped up in how I broke them down and what I said.

[Spectralion 394]

A lovely mix of the first three I'd say: Casual, Expat and Hoarder. God that sounds awful, lmao.

 

Seconded that motion

[The Moon 989]

I am Bangya trash. I will die as Bangya trash.

[shiroikitsune 16]

I don't really know how to define myself.

Well, I've joined this community also in order to share my interests with people with similar ones, since I don't usually talk about Visual Kei (or other topics in general) with people I know they are not interested in or not willing to learn more about it. So I can assume I'm a shadow, aren't I?

 

I just listen to different artists that I like, no matter which genre their music belongs to.

 

At the same time, I could be a casual fan of J-Music because I'm only a bit familiar with Visual Kei artists. I'm gonna fill the gap, sooner or later.

[CELESTIAL CIEL 985]

elitist x something between sick bangya and pro-tanuki. that's it.
REGRET NOTHING

[Vercingetorix 185]

Hoarder-turned-historian, albeit more about J-metal than VK.

[NICKT 147]

 

10 Types of J-Music Fans

Pros: They're on top of everything that's happening

Cons: Listens to Instigate the Grief and THE RUDIE SATAN PARK for pleasure.

 

[gekiai 231]

The Expat and the Tanuki but the ones that really matched my music soul is the Hoarder and the Shadow

[Nagisa 131]

Expat and Shadow. I basically grew up listening to Japanese music and won't listen to anything else. Very interesting poll!

[eiheartx 1310]

Don't forget the underground beast (I've got no idea for a good name, any ideas?), a strange creature derivated from 'The Elitist' I would say, who love only super underground bands who are recording their obscure crap in their garage and that no one knows, except him. And when these bands finally emerge and got better tools and recognition, it's suddenly shit and not as good as before, and you can see them whining everywhere on MH because of this on each new releases.

 

 

For me, I think I'm somewhere between The Shadow, The Historian in a way (for my favourites, I could be an open bible xD) and The Casual (for the limited knowledge).

[Ito 2438]

If I'm honest, I don't even know...

[Devilish_Eye 1168]

The most fitting is the Expat ahahaha....
But also the hoarder

[peffy 3568]

Sorry, reviving this "old" thread cuz I saw it in the rotating banner and I love talking about myself.

(too bad the images aren't working)

 

I guess I'm a mixture of Casual x Expat x Hoarder x Shadow

 

Casual cuz I don't really make an effort to find new artists to listen to.. I will stick to what I know, because I think I already download/buy too much music. The more artists I try out, the more money I end up spending... However, I don't think VK is "gay" at all, and anime doesn't affect what I listen to (because I've barely seen any anime in the past 10 years). Actually, not sure if I really fit this category, but I picked it cuz I don't give any shits about gossip, band interviews, reviews, lives, making-ofs... hell, I rarely even watch PVs.

 

Expat cuz I almost never listen to anything Western anymore. But I'm not an extremist who says all Western music sucks.

 

Hoarder cuz I have many gigabytes of downloads that I've never listened to (some more than 5 years old).. and I also fear poorly-tagged stuff. I HAVE to make sure everything is perfectly tagged before I listen/scrobble it, but I don't really have time to do that, so stuff just sits there.

 

Shadow cuz I don't talk about my J-music obsession with most people IRL. The ones that know about it give me weird looks or ignore me, so I feel embarrassed by it.. I don't think that makes me "cool" at all, though. I do think I have an unpredictable music sense - my favourite songs span a pretty wide variety of genres, and I might hate an artist that sounds similar to one I like, for mysterious reasons.

[Monochromelove 6]

On 28/3/2016 at 5:32 PM, Zeus said:

10 Types of J-Music Fans

 

 

 

 

 

The Tanuki

 

qurl you won't believe what i just found about about satsuki...

 

 

Pros: They got all the details about everyone

Cons: All but one of them are a lie (and they might not know which)

 

 

I hope you enjoyed the read! Are there any you think I missed? Comment and leave them below.

Well... tanuki is known as 'gossip' but my friend who know japanese perfectly, said that everything they write is true. There's really few gossip. are fans who wish those things are not real.. but sadly... my friend told me they even show pics... 

also.. about satsuki. when the 'gossip' about the finnish girlfriend was leaked on tanuki.. everyone dont want believe it at first. now we all know finnish girlfriend was true story.... and a lot of things was said and all were true. (airi and so on)...

 

tanuki is not gossip. when a gossip is around it means something is going on... 

 

 

Edited May 18, 2016 by Monochromelove

[evilcoconut 109]

Definitely the Shadow overall, but bits of Expat, Hoarder and Historian sprinkled in there too lol.  But many people have told me that they can't predict my music taste or what I'll like at any given time. x)  Or, depending on what they like, they'll be surprised that I listen to x-popular band or x-very obscure band.

Edited May 18, 2016 by evilcoconut

[MaikoMizu 167]

Mainly Shadow.

[Undead burger 24]

I am the Bangya for sure. My friends and I are kind of extreme with lives, we're always in front of the concert venues before dawn (like 4-5 am) to be on the first row. 

[Hakari 282]

I used to be a mix between a Hoarder and a Shadow...but over the years I have dwindled to a Casual