DIR EN GREY vs. X JAPAN: The battle of the century

[seikun 317]

I don't know if they still do it here, there's a street in the capital of my city where all Visual Kei fans used to gather up until 2010 or 2011 in masses. I remember one of my friends sending pics of VK fans gathered for a Hide's memorial at night and I think that a clip with Hide was exhibited on the big screen that adorns the street. If I well recall, that was in 2008. Then I began to lose contact with my friends and acquaintances there.

 

 

 

 

Edited November 3, 2016 by seikun

[desparejo86 160]

Diru has released albums that charted in America and toured extensively internationally. In the mid-to-late 2000s they were all over the place.

 

X Japan does what most VK bands do... coast on the backs of anime fans/weebs and Issei fans.

 

Its apples and oranges really. In America, Dir en Grey's relevance can be debated, but X's positively never existed.

[Karma’s Hat 3107]

I have a small update to this thread. I just did a survey with some Japanese exchange students at a bar, and the only vk band they had any idea existed was the one and the only

 

Golden Bomber

 

Visual kei in the 21th century folks. 

[Takadanobabaalien 3607]

^ we can all thank memeshikute for that. that fucking song was playing at every god damn conbini for at least 2 years straight (almost worse than the frozen theme song /ari no mama plague of 2014).

[herpes 1597]

voted x japan because despite yoshiki being a garbage person i can't bring myself to vote for a positive dir en grey option

 

people are also forgetting how rabid x japan stans used to be, know you have kareki and all the kyo is my husband freaks, but the x japans on livejournal 2006~2012 era were literally the track you ip and burn down your house types for preferring the 1992 extasy summit live to the 1993 extasy summit live

[Takadanobabaalien 3607]

Only a fool would prefer the 1993 performance though so I kinda get them. 

[patientZERO 1066]

3 hours ago, Disposable said:

I have a small update to this thread. I just did a survey with some Japanese exchange students at a bar, and the only vk band they had any idea existed was the one and the only

 

Golden Bomber

 

Visual kei in the 21th century folks. 

 

I completely agree. I've been studying in Japan and every time I tell people that my favorite band is Dir en grey, they go "huuuu?" I then say that they used to be a Visual Kei band like X Japan and have been active for almost 20 years. They instantly know who X is, though.

Out of all the people I've talked to, only one person said they knew who Dir en grey was, and she is actively involved in the music industry. I asked if they knew any active VK bands and they all said Golden Bomber. Granted I go to an international university, so the majority of students primarily listen to Western music, but still, you would think that VK was a bit more well known. Not anymore.

 

So yeah, visual kei in the 21st century.

[Tokage 5930]

once again proof that japan is to smart for visual kei

[desparejo86 160]

On 11/7/2016 at 5:04 PM, herpes said:

but the x japans on livejournal 2006~2012 era were literally the track you ip and burn down your house types for preferring the 1992 extasy summit live to the 1993 extasy summit live

 

Miss those times.

Edited November 10, 2016 by desparejo86

[TomoMAD 256]

DIR EN GREY x100000000000

[gojiragojira 17]

I prefer diru than x japan... Diru is the band of kyo, shinya,toshiya,kaoru& die... But x without hide is just the band of yoshiki & his friends.. 

[len 67]

On 31/10/2016 at 11:38 AM, chemicalpictures said:

I'm not even a fan of both bands, but you guys must have lost your minds. Someone wake me up when kyo's death draws a crowd like this:

 

How dare you.

 

Anyway, every people over their 30s that I talk to about japanese music knows bands like X Japan, Luna Sea, etc., don't listen to the newst VK bands and have a bigger amount of heavy metal and rock bands outside Japan they like than the younger people who are more into the VK scene, and also dislike growls/screaming and seem to prefer ballads, they don't research for new bands and mostly just complain that there's nothing else like what they already listen to, but into the community, from people who really are into japanese rock, Dir en grey seem to have took X's place.

Edited January 11, 2017 by len

[jiangshi girl 8]

On 2016/10/21 at 1:39 AM, Takadanobabaalien said:

Yeah and also 

 

@sume7 dir are obviously not unknown... Within the rock community. While 50-60 year old obaachans who only listened to enka and jpop their entire life will still know who X Japan are. It's kinda like the blue hearts and bands like that. Even if they're not fans or listen to their music, they're still aware of who the guys are. 

 

Also to put sales into the perspective: X has sold over 30 million records in Japan. I have no specific number for DIR but they're not on this list (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_music_artists_in_Japan#15_million_to_20_million_records) meaning they at least haven't sold over 15 million records.

 

also this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_albums_in_Japan#Best-selling_albums_by_year

 

is a list of Japanese albums that has sold over 1 million copies. X has 2 albums there, DIR has none.

30 million is a lie.

Over here X fans laugh at newer ones who believe in the 30 million myth.

The true number is about 12 million, I mean, according to good old oricon, they only have one release over a million, that means they have to make 30 Jealousys to reach 30 million, which is simply impossible. Also Wikipedia is untrue about L'arc, defintely Glay sold more CDs than L'arc, Glay is something like 38 million+, L'arc is likely 29 million+.(Wiki is also very wrong abouy Hotei Tomoyasu, defintely Himuro sold more)

all in all, don't trust the numbers in Western promotion news.

 

According to Nikkei Entertainment, DEG is the 9th best-selling VK band in Japan(10th if you think Buck-Tick is VK), sold over 2 million, I don't remember a more accurate number.

 

But sale numbers are not everything, the market itself changed rapidly since 80s, CDs are much easier to sell in 1995~2000 than 1990, and much easier in 1990 than now, so I think the positions in oricon's year charts are more representative than numbers.

[jiangshi girl 8]

On 2016/10/21 at 1:39 AM, Takadanobabaalien said:

Yeah and also 

 

@sume7 dir are obviously not unknown... Within the rock community. While 50-60 year old obaachans who only listened to enka and jpop their entire life will still know who X Japan are. It's kinda like the blue hearts and bands like that. Even if they're not fans or listen to their music, they're still aware of who the guys are. 

 

Also to put sales into the perspective: X has sold over 30 million records in Japan. I have no specific number for DIR but they're not on this list (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_music_artists_in_Japan#15_million_to_20_million_records) meaning they at least haven't sold over 15 million records.

 

also this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_albums_in_Japan#Best-selling_albums_by_year

 

is a list of Japanese albums that has sold over 1 million copies. X has 2 albums there, DIR has none.

30 million is a lie.

Over here X fans laugh at newer ones who believe in the 30 million myth.

The true number is about 12 million, I mean, according to good old oricon, they only have one release over a million, that means they have to make 30 Jealousys to reach 30 million, which is simply impossible. Also Wikipedia is untrue about L'arc, defintely Glay sold more CDs than L'arc, Glay is something like 38 million+, L'arc is likely 29 million+.(Wiki is also very wrong abouy Hotei Tomoyasu, defintely Himuro sold more)

all in all, don't trust the numbers in Western promotion news.

 

According to Nikkei Entertainment, DEG is the 9th best-selling VK band in Japan(10th if you think Buck-Tick is VK), sold over 2 million, I don't remember a more accurate number.

 

But sale numbers are not everything, the market itself changed rapidly since 80s, CDs are much easier to sell in 1995~2000 than 1990, and much easier in 1990 than now, so I think the positions in oricon's year charts are more representative than numbers.