featured list Copy/Paste: When Imitation is the Most Sincere Form of Flattery

[Zeus 7997]

 

I'm back with the third installment of "Copy/Paste", where I roast visual kei songs under a microscope for taking an ounce or two more influence than they should from their favorite bands. This installment is focused on cases where it's incredibly obvious if you listen for more than a few seconds. Sometimes, I don't even think they tried to hide it.

 

Moran's "Lyrics of the DEAD"

stems from "Evolution" by Ayumi Hamasaki

Homage or Copy: Homage!

 

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Credit for this discovery goes to @Ito for drawing comparisons across two scenes of Japanese music that normally don't cross. On one hand, take visual kei rock jewel Moran. The other is one of the queens of J-Pop Ayumi Hamasaki. Moran was above copying the queen of pop - and they probably wouldn't have gotten away with it if they lifted tunes as liberally as some other examples I've pointed out before - but in cases like these it's always nice to hear how our visual kei musicians is influenced. Also, considering how popular pop music is in Japan it's not as surprising that a small homage to Hamasaki's  single "Evolution" was stashed in Moran's "Lyrics of the DEAD". Compare the two choruses and tell me what you think. Also, if you've never listened to Moran now is a great time to start!

 

 

 

Viored's "君影草 (Kimikage Kusa)"

stems from "RED...[em]" by Dir en grey

"Kasumi" by Dir en grey

Homage or Copy: Copy!

 

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Talk about not even trying to hide your influences! Viored (バイオレット) was an indie visual kei band straight out of Kantou, Japan active from 2006 to 2008, best known for their strong twin guitar sound and the energy of the whole band. Most of the members have retired from music, although guitarist Nagi later ended up in Sel'm. Anyone who was familiar with visual kei at this point in time knows how common it was to compare every new indie single to a Dir en grey song, but with 君影草 (Kimikage Kusa) it's two! The intro sounds like a bad attempt at masking "RED...[em]" and then the riff kicks in and sounds like a distorted take on "Kasumi". Trust me when I say you don't have to strain your ears too hard to agree with me on this one.

 

 

 

 

√eight's "Illational of the people"

stems from "electric cucumber"by zilch

Homage or Copy: √eight's is a zilch cover band

 

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Much beloved visual kei band √eight is notorious for sounding like absolute garbage on every single release except illational, which is the only reason why anyone remembers them anymore anyway. We can all thank Kenzi of ANTI FEMINISM for stepping in and showing them how to master an album. Kenzi, however long he's been in the scene, must not be very familiar with zilch. He didn't pick up on - or maybe didn't care - that opener "illational of the people" is literally zilch's opening riff to "electric cucumber" over and over again. This isn't the only instance this happens on the album and I'll have to roast them another time for doing pretty much the same thing on another track. This wouldn't piss me off as much if the entire song wasn't based around the kick-ass riff.

 

 

 

Black Gene For The Next Scene's "DOOM"

stems from "INCREASE BLUE" by Dir en grey

Homage or Copy: Definitely a nod towards Dir en grey

 

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Otherwise known as the only BFN song you will ever catch me listening to, the first 40 seconds of this song sound like an inspired take on "INCREASE BLUE". It's subtle enough to slide by if someone doesn't point it out or unless you listen to one and then the other, but its there. The rest of the song does its own thing, and the similarities are probably why I even bother listening to "DOOM" in the first place. I have to admit that as much as I love ragging on this band, this particular instance doesn't bother me too much. What do you think?

 

 

 

 

Dir en grey's "Unknown...despair...a lost"

stems from "G" by Luna Sea

Homage or Copy: "Heavily" "inspired"

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It would be wrong of me to bring up two instances where Dir en grey served as inspiration but not to bring up this one. This goes to show that ideas get used and reinterpreted all the time. In reality, the entirety of Dir en grey's early biography can be dissected, influences traced, and that information turned into a topic all its own. The original version of  "Unknown...despair...a lost" is one of Dir en grey's earliest songs, even featured on some demo tapes they distributed during their first lives, and is very influenced by Luna Sea's "G".  It's a nice thought that they chose to strip this song down and finally give it some unique flavor when they tackled the re-recording on THE UNRAVELING, but I feel something missing in translation there too and somehow still end up preferring the original. If anything, this speaks to the power of Luna Sea's riff craft, because this is a BOSS ASS riff.

 

 

 

Xaa-Xaa's "ラストダンス (Last Dance)"

stems from "Dance Rock night" by girugamesh

Homage or Copy: You can play them one after the other and they line up damn near perfectly

 

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I alluded to this in my review, but XAA-XAA's latest album showcases some nods to both MUCC and girugamesh. Of all the influences they wear proudly on their sleeves, this is the easiest to draw parallels to. I was on a plane half asleep when I heard this riff for the first time and the only thing I could think of is girugamesh. The allusions are so grand halfway through XAA-XAA's version of the song I was expecting a guest feature from Satoshi. They both even have "Dance" in their song titles for crying out loud! I do think this was intentional, but I only wish they made it a little less obvious.

 

 

 

[emmny 4139]

the moran one is interesting, good find!

[Pretsy 1343]

@Zeus:

 

I am pretty sure you might have wanted to mention this too in light of your Unknown.../G comparison:

 

Hyena had its clues from G. too and "G." on the other hand was more or less inspired by Luna Sea's senpais and their similarly upbeat, very rocking number "Miscast" (X, ofc)

 

Also:

 

Choruses...and a bit more

 

Someone should also confirm this typical Japanese melomaniac claim that Gackt took "Another World" from Josie and the Pussycats' " Three Small Words". Not saying that pop punk would be the haven for unique songcraft but he has a lot of things to explain tbqh...

 

 

[Zeus 7997]

@Carmelzors interesting find on G! I never knew the rabbit hole went that  deep, but there are other songs in visual kei that use the same chord progression. I just came across -OZ-'s S.I.N. and can't believe it hasn't been stated earlier. If anything, this is even worse than what I highlighted in the master post.

 

[-NOVA- 3027]

All very interesting these were all new to me

Moran one especially  very interesting, im surprised you guys found that 

GREAT JOB/FINDS  

 

 

[Tokage 5930]

lol i'm like 99% sure that other √eight roasting is gonna be about that 1 track on the same album that's basically just Zilch's 'Psyche' 

[Zeus 7997]

2 hours ago, Tokage said:

lol i'm like 99% sure that other √eight roasting is gonna be about that 1 track on the same album that's basically just Zilch's 'Psyche' 

There's also another one on that album but you would have be familiar with Black:List to catch it. And that time, the roles were reversed and √eight was the source. But yes, that is the next roast in line.

[WhirlingBlack 1043]

I think among the few people who still remember eight, the opinion that illational is the only listenable release is in clear minority.

[Himeaimichu 1535]

On the subject of Diru using other people's riffs, I'll is suspiciously similar to Tsuioku by D=Sire, and Miss Moonlight by Kuroyume. 

What's really ironic is how Grieva used the main riff for I'll as the basis for the song "Wish". A copy, of a copy. Copyception, am I right?

 

Also, Dir en Grey used the riff to Kuroyume's "Yuri no Hanataba" in Mazohyst of Decadence. 

 

Basically, Dir en Grey's early history is filled with covers and taken ideas. From Kyo's famous black tear eye makeup, which was most likely taken from Kon of La'Mule, since he popularised it's use among 90's bands, but started by Kiyoharu of Kuroyume, though Kiyoharu didn't use it as much, to even the band's name, which comes from a Lareine song, "Dir en Gray".

 

This is why I don't get mad when a band's song sounds similar to a Dir en Grey one, because it's fair game. Though I would not advise completely copying another song, it's totally fine to base one song off of another, as long as you don't "copy-paste" (Hence why I don't get mad at Grieva, because only a few songs actually are full on copy-pastes, the rest either tribute ones, or are original. Also, hypocritical of me, but I do enjoy their work... it's a guilty pleasure of mine)

Edited May 11, 2017 by AimiGen7

[WhirlingBlack 1043]

Actually, Kamijo supposedly gave them the idea of the name and said they should use it, and gave them that bogus explanation of it meaning grey coin in English, french and german, which they used to mention in interviews until they released the truth that it was utter garbage.

 

I'm going to bet also that any makeup steals by Kyo would be from Kiyoharu and not from Kon. For some reason visual kei musicians are very wary about taking influence from contemporaries, which is why when there are sessions and things they usually cover bands from the previous generation rather than their friends.

[Himeaimichu 1535]

3 hours ago, WhirlingBlack said:

Actually, Kamijo supposedly gave them the idea of the name and said they should use it, and gave them that bogus explanation of it meaning grey coin in English, french and german, which they used to mention in interviews until they released the truth that it was utter garbage.

 

I'm going to bet also that any makeup steals by Kyo would be from Kiyoharu and not from Kon. For some reason visual kei musicians are very wary about taking influence from contemporaries, which is why when there are sessions and things they usually cover bands from the previous generation rather than their friends.

Ah. Seems like Kamijou to make up a meaning xD

[Peace Heavy mk II 7200]

 

 

This sounds like another G-inspired song.

[Takadanobabaalien 3607]

STYLE is LUNA SEA's second best selling album, I wonder if all these bands thought nobody would notice?

[xriko 165]

Is this working ?

edit:It must not, I didn't read at first the paragraph about copy/paste of musical band.

And the story under isn't probably a kind of "Most Sincere Form of Flattery" from Dio XD

 

Dio - Distraught Overlord : INSTRUMENT OF HELL

 

The lyrics are inspirated by a letter writed by a serial killer "Albert Fish",  sent to the parents of the victim.

Story here : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Fish    *EDIT: Warning, be careful, hardcore story

Edited May 18, 2017 by xriko
included a little warning

[Pretsy 1343]

2005

2004

 

Also:

 

(Pay special attention to the bridge vocal melody)

(no studio version but pay attention to the first verse melody - it's slowed down a bit but you will recognize it)

 

 

Edited May 18, 2017 by Alroy

[xriko 165]

Quote

 

from

the 2 intro are similare.

 

 

and I had another track similare of "Swallow Rain" by Sadie in mind, I thought this was from LAGING, but I didn't found the track, I'll check more.

[Komorebi 2193]

Well this explains why that Moran song sounded so familiar when I first heard it.

[qotka 433]

I heard rottengraffty's Sekai no Owari the other day and my first thought was that I won't be surprised if it's a deliberate half-tribute to MUCC's Sora to Ito

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

[Ikki 807]

My boyfriend pointed this one out to me a long time ago.

 

 

The guitar riff in the verse parts sounds too similar to one in The Boys' 1977 single, I Don't Care. 

 

[Mamo 1172]

No wonder I liked Xaa-xaa so much.

[plastic_rainbow 2162]

holy crap xaa xaa's and girugamesh's sound almost the same! kinda surprised to see a vk band copy ayumi, haha. interesting!

where can i read the first two installments of this btw?

[Zeus 7997]

8 hours ago, plastic_rainbow said:

holy crap xaa xaa's and girugamesh's sound almost the same! kinda surprised to see a vk band copy ayumi, haha. interesting!

where can i read the first two installments of this btw?

This is part two. This should be part one.