Which era of visual kei is YOUR favorite? -The battle of the VK eras-

[shiroihana 182]

Fourth and fifth wave for me, but mostly the indie stuff. I miss when VK had that  very distinct sound especially vocal-wise. Today's VK is still cool though even if I don't listen to it as much. 

[mori 325]

Very easy : First wave.

Although I'm much into the early bands (BUCK-TICK, BY:SEXUAL, AUTO-MOD etc.), the first wave is the one that's got the bulk of bands I like (Kuroyume, Malice Mizer, Plastic Tree etc).

Also, little note, I've seen all these bands play live since I was in Tokyo during the first wave.

PS: Kuro Yume Live at La-Miss Ration 1994. Shot by me.

 

 

[YuyoDrift 1540]

I know you said it's organized in terms of popularity for their time, but goddamn it, seeing SCREW in the wrong wave makes me cringe a tiny bit robbie lol.

 

I pretty much have been coming back to the Era of Laputa/Pierrot/GLAY, and have been finding hidden gems since then.

You just can't beat the young talent during those times.

 

 

 

 

 

[Nagisa 131]

Fourth wave for me.

[vanivani 558]

I dunno. I like the current wave lol

[robkun 4184]

Yuyo, I know it was a bit late for SCREW, but I figured that if I didn't mention them at all, there'd be some pissed off people lol. Also, since they were still popular then, I figured why the hell not XD.

[DaveKei 122]

The first wave was the best and most aggressive vk ever. I'm still sad that there isn't anything like Vanishing Vision. The 2nd wave is next for me, amazing bands, very different than the first one. 

 

[lichtlune 915]

I might be alone in feeling this way but I feel that the fourth and fifth waves of visual kei are kind of unappreciated. People don't really consider 2007 to be "old-school" but in fact that's already 10 years ago now. It's kind of a shame that we've allowed many of these bands to fall through the cracks. I've noticed fans putting a lot more effort into preserving and sharing 90s visual kei. There are a lot of great bands around this time and I feel like we as fans should begin to slowly digitize and immortalize these bands as well. 

Edited January 7, 2017 by lichtlune

[薔薇の末裔 157]

To me the latter part of the 90's is probably visual kei at its peak and full bloom. It is definitely the time it got the most popular and having so much money flowing actually helped some bands (like Malice Mizer) express themselves 100%. The first half of 2000's also was impressive to me, as it took inspiration from the big bands of the 90's and experimented a bit more/tried out new things. Indie bands also started looking more polished and professional and therefore got some more exposure as well.

From around 2007/8 onwards there's been nothing really new (except Golden Bomber) and the scene has been slowly rotting so...

 

ps: I would say Luna Sea beong to the second way, as they started becoming popular around those years together with Kuroyume and L'Arc. ALso Malice Mizer and Lareine should be in the third way as they became relevant around 97-98.

[Ikna 1225]

I got into VK between the fourth and fifth wave, but strangely am not a big fan of the latter nowadays. I mostly like the earlier stuff of the mid 00s.  I remember VK started to change a lot from ca. 2007/08 onwards and that was the time when I stopped caring about newer stuff. Nowadays I listen more to the 90s stuff and I am all over the place in this decade. But if I had too choose I'd pick the fourth wave, because I have a very strong affection for all those low budget crap kei bands and obscure "we released one demo, played three lives and had two fans" groups. Also I think the style and look then was really cool (fucking feather boa's everywhere and faux goff make up).

 

Sixth wave doesn't do anything for me. I just simply can't get into it, mostly because I have a distain for metulcore and unz-unz rock (if it was actually good electro and synth rock, sigh).

 I feel there was a lot of potential that developed in the first half of the 00s wasted as bands hopped on the bandwagons of certain other music trends. But I agree that the current state of VK is a little better. Still don't curr for 80% of bands today, but even I cannot deny that Gallo and Dezert are kewl.

Edited January 7, 2017 by Ikna
spelling

[doombox 4421]

Seeing this kinda made me realize how much I don't appreciate the sixth and seventh waves as much as everything that came before. I just think that's when things started getting really homogenized and it's not that I don't still enjoy a good number of bands, but I don't find them as irreplaceable. Maybe I got used to so many bands breaking up and I'm jaded or there just isn't as much variation in musical styles as there used to be. Probably both. Things change, so I'm not really bitter, and a lot of the older bands are still releasing music so I can't complain. It's just seeing it all laid out like this made it pretty clear where I'm at these days. 

[Dionysius 1296]

2nd and 3rd are my faves

[avaritonista 116]

It's abdolutely NONE of the alternatives, I don't like visual kei nor japanse music at all.

[[ "Mainly because it's 7AM and my parents are confused as why I'm still awake." ]] You win!  

[Lestat 2167]

Anything from what you would call 'pre-wave' (and earlier), until somewhere to the early nineties. Essentially this would mean where this music was still merely a Japanese answer to glam-and sleaze rock (with a few influences of thrash metal here and there) and hadn't been given its own tag yet — 44MAGNUM, Ladies Room, X JAPAN, Cats In Boots, Lipstick Killers, Anthem, Vow Wow, Valentine D.C., TOKYO YANKEES, ZIGGY, Loudness, Dead End, 聖飢魔II, Aion, and so forth. These were the first Japanese bands I came in contact with before I had ever even heard of the term 'visual kei', as they seemlessly fit into my taste for glam rock; their music was overall similar, but the Japanese took their visual looks to a higher level indeed. I had been an X JAPAN fanatic for approximately six years before, and it was not until I was somewhere around the age of seventeen that I learnt of the term 'visual kei' after someone from my highschool at that time introduced me to Versailles and D.

Edited January 13, 2017 by Lestat

[COSMOMOBILE 33]

The 6th wave is definitely my favorite, but I also love the very first!

[aetarna 69]

It's fifth and second wave for me, even though I really enjoyed third and fourth, and everything before. I'm still looking for favourities in sixth and seventh, so I'm checking it, hoping for something to stick.  But I'm coming to realization I might be stuck in the past a bit.

[paranoia 23]

I can't if is just only one to vote, but i don't like 6th and 7th wave

[Rika 2]

Malice Mizer Era is the best in my opinion