Cracked officially roasts Visual Kei

[Zeus 7997]

On 8/11/2016 at 9:57 PM, emmny said:

holy hell one of the girls flung you so hard that you broke 3 ribs? bangya dont play...she was probably the hulk or some shit

i warned y'all in my list

[JamesR 119]

Cracked? More like Cucked

[peffy 3568]

On 8/12/2016 at 1:22 PM, Peace Heavy mk II said:

 

The rumors about bands with ghost writers / musicians have been circulating for literally years.

 

 

I actually read that specific interview maybe 4-5 years ago, and that's exactly where I first heard of the ghostwriting stuff. (in fact, it might be the ONLY article/interview about the VK industry I've ever read)

 

Unless I missed something, because I skimmed parts of it, I didn't see anything there that mentions ghost musicians, which is what I've been asking about in this thread.  It did say that typical band members start out as teenage dropouts who want to be rock stars and "want to learn to play guitar", which implies that they are being taught to play their instruments. Maybe.

 

... I suppose I could believe that other people are playing instruments during studio recordings, and the actual band only plays during lives (or mostly dances during lives), which is why lives can sound shitty, which is why I usually ignore the existence of lives.

 

In any case, no one's shown me any concrete proof of it, but I suppose it doesn't really matter to me. I like the studio recordings and the photoshopped images, no matter how "fake" they are. I'm not interested in going to lives, I'm not into meeting band members, and I'm certainly not into stalking them, sending them money, or sucking their dicks.

 

On 8/12/2016 at 1:22 PM, YuyoDrift said:

 

 

 

 

... ?? Yes, I know you really hate Mejibray.

I just wanted to point out that, at the very least, MiA appears to be able to play a guitar. Whether or not you think he's good at it is another matter entirely.

I can play a piano. I learned piano for years and years with a bad teacher who didn't train me very well. I do not have a creative bone in my body and cannot write music or improvise, but I can read sheet music. If I was forced to practice it and play it for a living, I could probably perform well enough to impress untrained listeners.

[Peace Heavy mk II 7200]

@peffy

 

TDR: Would he write songs with sheet music? a computer?

 

SATOH-SAN: No, they had a recording studio in the office! He’d pick up a guitar, record the part, and then the band would come in and listen to it and learn it that way.

 

Of course, there are other bands that have been around for a long time, so they can write their own songs, and the producer just tweaks it! Or he’ll just write the lyrics.

 

But most of the bands can’t write songs. They’re 17, 18 years old, usually ex-bosozoku or at least dropouts. On their own, they’re pretty helpless. If you’re good, or smart, you wouldn’t sign that kind of contract to begin with! But Visual bands. . they don’t know how to book a tour or give interviews. And even if they did, they wouldn’t have the connections to play at a professional level.

 

SATOH-SAN: Oh, one other thing: On the CD jackets, there is always credits, saying “the guitarist wrote this, the vocalist wrote that.” That is all bogus – just a fantasy for the fans. The copyright and JASRAC (like NASCAP) licences all go to the producer or the parent company. I have no idea what the split is, but at any rate, some producers can get paid quite well – if they write for a famous band!

[peffy 3568]

1 hour ago, Peace Heavy mk II said:

@peffy

 

 

 

All of those quotes reference ghostwriting, as in another person writing songs and giving the credit to band members.

I was asking about the claim made by the bangyaru in the Cracked interview, which was band members not being able to play their own instruments. I assumed this is what you meant when you said "ghost musicians", as in another person playing the instruments while the band only pretends to play.

 

Well, there's a way you can interpret "He’d pick up a guitar, record the part, and then the band would come in and listen to it and learn it that way. " to mean that this guy recorded the parts used in the final recording, but it still says the band would "learn" it, which implies they can play it.

 

Anyway... I went through the stages of grief while writing my previous post and have now accepted that, whether or not the bangyaru's claim is true, it doesn't really matter to me.

[JamesR 119]

Mia used to be the roadie for some high-profile band, didn't he? So in the very least he knows one or two chords.

[peffy 3568]

29 minutes ago, JamesR said:

Mia used to be the roadie for some high-profile band, didn't he? So in the very least he knows one or two chords.

 

.. I don't want to keep talking about MiA but

If you watch that video I posted on page 2.. *shrug* I am no expert, but it sure looks like he knows how to play guitar solos, which is way more advanced than "one or two chords". You could claim he is faking it, but those finger movements look pretty hard to fake without actually knowing what he's doing. I would not see the point in training a "guitarist" to fake-play a guitar without actually teaching him how to play a guitar.

 

Edited August 15, 2016 by peffy

[Ikki 807]

R.I.P Sonya (or whatever your real name is), the hardcore crazies will find you before you know it.  Those crazy bangyas will figure out who she is just from the little stories and info she gave in that article. 

[appl- 313]

To be honest...This is accurate. Ofc with the sense of humor.

---

And broking something at such lives is really easy. I went to one live where band member grabbed my hand and throwed me on one fan and I hited my nose so bad. I thought I broke it because it felt REALLY bad. I'm sorry for that fan which I hited with my face. lol. But damn, I regret nothing  

[echo 547]

On 8/14/2016 at 3:02 AM, NICKT said:

I'm curious, is it just the underground nature of Visual Kei that gives way to instances like this? Or is it more of a Japanese thing?

 

Not sure which instances you're referring to exactly, but I think it's kind of a Japanese thing. They're all about limited editions and exclusivity, which makes people do stupid things and spend outrageous amounts of money. Like, for people who are into otome games and drama CDs, you have to buy ALL the CDs of one series from a specific shop to get one special edition CD, then ALL the SAME CDs at another shop to get the other special edition CD. My friend opts to buy the 2nd special edition CD on an auction site, but that can still get pretty expensive.

 

Also, this is a culture where host clubs exist, where people literally spend crap tons of money to just drink and talk with a pretty face. People will also give expensive gifts/money to hosts and hostess they like too even though they aren't in a real relationship.

 

In the music industry, I don't  know if other fandoms get as violent as some bangyas in the VK world can be, but they certainly dish out the money. I knew someone who was an Arashi fan and would spend hundreds of dollars on an auction site for a shitty ticket to their concert since their tickets sell out so quick (I'm not really into the Johnny's bands so I don't know much more than that). As far as lacking the talent to perform, that's literally what the whole idol culture is about. AKB48? They seriously can't sing. Their group is just so big you can't really tell. I ask my Japanese students why AKB is so popular and their response is generally because "they're cute and they try hard even though they aren't good."

[Masato 365]

On 8/12/2016 at 7:03 PM, peffy said:

 

lol

<-- Mejibray's drummer is literally my avatar.

 

I know you're joking but

I'm reasonably convinced that Mejibray can play instruments, even if you don't like the sounds that they produce

 

Anyway my problems with Mejibray have more to do with the vocals and the usually-bland songwriting.

 

Speaking of songwriting, I have heard accusations that most VK bands don't actually write their own music/lyrics. That's a more believable accusation than "they don't know how to play their instruments".

And now they have revealed their real skills as 8P-SB!

[monkeybanana4 1732]

Some of the points made me lol a little. It's obviously written with a twist of humor, but like @Takadanobabaalien said, many of the things written are true. (Although, I don't know if it is to that extreme, but some fans/bands are.) A lot of times, I would end up discovering fans who traveled miles away just to see their favorite band at a taiban live or attend an in-store event to see their favorite member regardless of the time or day. I think another somewhat hilarious practice they didn't mention is diving for shit that bandomen throw into the crowd during lives (guitar picks, drum sticks, used towels, sweaty t-shirts, etc). Bangyas get really competitive for that, lol.

 

Aside from the craziness, there are nice fans and most are just looking to enjoy their favorite band (for whatever reason) like in any other scene/fandom.

[riyusama 79]

I was gonna find the article hilarious but they over exaggerated a lot of things so I just lost interest in it... Also that article is too hella fucking long like wtf???? Ain't nobody have the time to unpack all of that shit lol

 

Altho some parts that were highlighted in the thread here, it seems that there are still some factual shit there XD but I guess for us fans reading the article would be more for shit and giggles lol are there not enough drama and scandal in pop music now so they decided to find VK as their new toy for this article???? lol I don't get it tbh, VK is just like any other music industry out there, there's the good and there's the bad...

 

I just think the hardcore fans of Japan spend way more money on their idols than fans from the west ouo

On 8/26/2016 at 1:06 AM, echo said:

 

As far as lacking the talent to perform, that's literally what the whole idol culture is about. AKB48? They seriously can't sing. Their group is just so big you can't really tell. I ask my Japanese students why AKB is so popular and their response is generally because "they're cute and they try hard even though they aren't good."

 Holy fuckkkkk this comment hit me so hard ahahahahahaha to think I auditioned for AKB48's sister group MNL48 lol but in a way, a lot of the fans of idol groups mostly see them like that. Their music is pretty mediocre for me (that or just I'm not really a big fan of pop music lol) I only have a few songs from AKB48 that I actually like lol

 

But anyways, isn't it normal that a lot of fans are just more into a musicians face rather than, their music??? or am I wrong to think that that way of thinking is so normal? lol

[Gesu 1537]

I actually read this entire article about... I wanna say two years ago? Anyways, for anyone who didn't read the whole thing, the author basically talks about how this girl was so into VK that she couldn't actually live a functional life. Like, she was losing sleep, refusing to socialise, physically injuring herself... which just goes to show that the worst part of any fandom is the fan. VK isn't the problem; it's fucking weirdos like these who can't even juggle basic human reasoning skills with something that's just meant to be a hobby. The woman in this article is insane. If I were her friend, I would rehabilitate her before she killed herself, intentionally or accidentally.

 

Absolutely disgraceful. Makes the whole fandom look like a bunch of meth-heads. My heart goes out to her if she's accepted help for this, because let's be real - she clearly has some sort of mental disorder - but if she's really embracing this and trying to make this emblematic of the entire scene, then I'm just appalled. I know this pretty strongly-worded, but someone had to say it.

 

Also, before anyone tries to correct me on this, I know that this kind of thing does happen sometimes, but what scene doesn't have its psychopaths? I just hate it when people try to lump us all together like this. This is why people get shy about being into things like VK/J-rock.

[Peace Heavy mk II 7200]

Did they delve into Kanadajin and her enlightened ex-vkei-fan-turned-saudi-house-wife hot takes on women's issues

[Zalemu 236]

23 minutes ago, Peace Heavy mk II said:

Did they delve into Kanadajin and her enlightened ex-vkei-fan-turned-saudi-house-wife hot takes on women's issues

Hold up, Kanadajin liked vkei at one point? I thought she was just gyaru 

[Masato 365]

58 minutes ago, Zalemu said:

Hold up, Kanadajin liked vkei at one point? I thought she was just gyaru 

Who is this? Share the tea!

[Nighttime Jae 238]

1 hour ago, Zalemu said:

Hold up, Kanadajin liked vkei at one point? I thought she was just gyaru 

I'm somewhat knowledgeable of Kanadajin myself and I'm pretty sure she was never a bangya.