Fastest growing vk band of all time?

[Takadanobabaalien 3607]

This is something I've been thinking about for quite some time,

I am always impressed by vk bands who manage to get huge in little to no time, but which is actually the fastest growing vk band of all time?

 

I can't find any listing like this online, so if anybody knows any bands who progressed really really fast, feel free to write about them here.

 

The first one that comes to mind for me is LUNA SEA

 

January 1989 - start band activities (no label deal).

December 1989 - Sold out Machida playhouse (150 tickets sold). (Just for measure, I've never seen Grieva sell more than 250 tickets/gig in their 6 year career).

November 1990 - Sold out Meguro Live station two days straight (500 tickets sold)

March 1991 - Nuclear Fusion Tour (/w Gilles de Rais & Sighs of Love potion) sold out Shibuya Kokaido (2080 tickets sold)

April 1991 - To celebrate their debut album @ extasy records, they giged at Shinjuku Nissin Power station. (800 tickets sold out in less than 30 minutes)

September 1991 - Under the new moon tour final @ nihon aonenkan (1250 tickets sold)

December 1991 - to match the fan request they announced two days gig at nihon aonenkan (2500 tickets sold).

August 1993 - first Budoukan gig (two days, which eventually turned into one day because a typhoon destroyed part of the building) (14,000~ tickets sold)

December 1995 - first Tokyo Dome gig (56,000 tickets sold)

 

So, after signing with Extasy in 1990, going major in 1991 (a mere year later) to having their first dome gig 4 years afterwards, and getting it sold out. I think it's very impressive. I'm sure there must be bands who have managed to do it equally fast, or even faster though?

[saishuu 3220]

Probably baroque and Raphael, both playing at Budokan less than 2 years and a half after performing their first show.

[Takadanobabaalien 3607]

Damn, I've listened to both bands but I had no idea they got popular in such short time...  that's really cool!

[hiroki 5521]

SID grew pretty quickly too. They formed towards the end of 2003, and had their first oneman tour in the autumn of 2005, and tickets sold out almost immediately. They played at Budokan on 2006.08.29 - just short of their 3rd anniversary.

 

Other major milestones:

2010.07.31 - Saitama Super Arena (sold 32,000)

2010.12.11 - First Tokyo Dome live (sold 40,000)

 

The rock band holding the record for the least number of days between formation and their 1st Budokan live is ViViD

[nick 10212]

43 minutes ago, Takadanobabaalien said:

I've never seen Grieva sell more than 250 tickets/gig in their 6 year career

 

That's because nobody ever wants to see another Dir en grey. 

[Himeaimichu 1535]

This one isn't particularly Vkei, though people lump it in, but I'd say Wagakki Band got popular quite fast. And by that I mean they took less than 2 years to start playing Nippon Budokan and world tours. 

Thanks, money based Avex!

[Karma’s Hat 3107]

Dir en grey's first two-three years must've been quite a ride, but obviously slowed down, eventually stalled and even dropped since then. They didn't exactly come from nothing though. 

 

 

[Kiryu999 3336]

the GazettE grew up pretty fast too.

 

Formed in 2002, first release "Wakaremichi", the 1000 copies sold very fast and 2nd press was released 2 months after

Major debut in 2003

2004, oneman live at Shibuya AX sold out (1500 tickets)

2006, tour final at Nippon Budokan

 

They also did Tokyo Dome which is a pretty big deal for a vk band but apparently it kinda flopped so.. 

 

 

[Lereku 717]

Nightmare 

2000 : their second demo tape "Hankouki" sold out quickly during pre order period, a second pressing was demanded

2003: during a one man at  Akasaka Blitz ( capacity of 1,298 peoples) they announced their major debut with Nippon Crown, their 1st major single "Believe" went to number 24 on the Oricon charts

2004 : final of their CPU 2004 Ghz tour at Nakano Sun Plaza ( 2,222 peoples)

2006 : tour final at NHK Hall sold out (3800 tickets)

2007 : 1st Budokan gigs sold out within 2 weeks.

2009: final tour of their 10th anniversary at Saitama Super Arena

[saishuu 3220]

2 hours ago, Kiryu999 said:

the GazettE grew up pretty fast too.

 

Formed in 2002, first release "Wakaremichi", the 1000 copies sold very fast and 2nd press was released 2 months after

Major debut in 2003

2004, oneman live at Shibuya AX sold out (1500 tickets)

2006, tour final at Nippon Budokan

 

They also did Tokyo Dome which is a pretty big deal for a vk band but apparently it kinda flopped so..

 

Their major debut was not in 2003 though; reila, MADARA, DISORDER etc were all released as an indie band.

Did they ever even had a proper major debut? I cannot recall.

[Kiryu999 3336]

17 minutes ago, saishuu said:

 

Their major debut was not in 2003 though; reila, MADARA, DISORDER etc were all released as an indie band.

Did they ever even had a proper major debut? I cannot recall.

 

Ah yeah they signed with PS COMPANY in 2003 that's why I thought they went major at this time. I guess it was when they signed with Sony? Around 2010 or something

Edited July 15, 2017 by Kiryu999

[Ikki 807]

I know BY-SEXUAL went major within a year, but that might had to do with the first "boom" of vk than anything else.  I can't remember if they had any notable feats that make them stand out from other VK bands at that time.

• Formed in early 1989 with all of the members only being 18 years old at the time
• First live was on April 1st, 1989
• Released three demo-tapes through out 1989
• Were signed to Pony Canyon by October 1989
• Released their first single on February 21, 1990
• Released their first album on April 21, 1990
• Did the theme song for the 1991 movie Bakumatsu Junjoden that starred Watanabe Ken.

They probably had one of the biggest drop in popularity, too. After their producer, Korenaga Kouchi, left them after the release of 1992's "Hurry Up, Let It Go!", their popularity plummeted big time. You can also tell that Pony Canyon cut their budget by how poorly mastered/recorded their later releases were and how far spaced out their later singles were.  But that's probably a topic for another thread.

[Pretsy 1343]

All of you guys pretending that ViViD never existed nor that their progress was way too fast for acts of such calibre...

 

Lol.

 

@Kiryu999NIL was their major debut album (with King records AFAIK, which technically makes Cassis their very first major debut)

Edited July 15, 2017 by Alroy

[Himeaimichu 1535]

On 7/15/2017 at 9:57 AM, Disposable said:

Dir en grey's first two-three years must've been quite a ride, but obviously slowed down, eventually stalled and even dropped since then. They didn't exactly come from nothing though. 

 

 

That's mostly from under the table Yoshiki money in 1998 xD (which became openly over the table money in 1999 with Yurameki, Cage and Yokan).

Though apparently, there wasn't even enough people to fill their 1998 Last Indie Tour at the Budokan. 

[WhirlingBlack 1043]

Agreed, not be able to even fill Budokan after being around for a whole year is a real disgrace.

 

Also source on that Dir en greys success is due to Yoshiki money. He just produced their major debut singles. Songs which were already written and done by the time he came into the picture, lol.

I feel like all newcomers overestimate his importance to Dir en grey vastly.

[Furik 832]

baroque formed in May of ‘01 and released Gakidou (their first major label single) in July of ‘03. That’s pretty impressive. 

[Himeaimichu 1535]

On 7/16/2017 at 10:15 PM, WhirlingBlack said:

Agreed, not be able to even fill Budokan after being around for a whole year is a real disgrace.

 

Also source on that Dir en greys success is due to Yoshiki money. He just produced their major debut singles. Songs which were already written and done by the time he came into the picture, lol.

I feel like all newcomers overestimate his importance to Dir en grey vastly.

I didn't mean that Yoshiki produced anything before Gauze, I'm talking about promotion and stuff. Yoshiki discovered them in 1998 with their single I'll and took them under their wing, and got them to officially leave Free Will and go major in 1999. It was also in late '98 that Diru had their first performance at the Budokan, and got TV promotion on a show other than hotwave. It was under the table because it wasn't until '99 that they full on left freewill. 

I have some friends who are experts on Freewill and Extasy stuff (one even knows Yoshiki), but I could ask them more if you want

[WhirlingBlack 1043]

Dir is still managed through free will, it was hardly a dramatic separation that needed to be negotiated under the table. I'm just saying that Yoshikis involvement was of marginal importance given their already quickly rising fame at that point. The curve was already pointing in the right direction and he just jumped on the chance to put his brand on another band that was a surefire success.

 

Also, I'm glad you have friends. Keep it up.

Edited July 18, 2017 by WhirlingBlack

[Tokage 5930]

'''My dad totally works for Nintendo you guys, I swear!''

[suji 8317]

3 hours ago, AimiGen7 said:

one even knows Yoshiki

where's the new album

Edited July 18, 2017 by sheepprincessgara

[Himeaimichu 1535]

4 minutes ago, sheepprincessgara said:

where's the new album

Even he doesn't know. xD. He and I mostly joke over how much of a mess he is. 

[Himeaimichu 1535]

Ok, so I made a mistake. My friend said it was just speculatory stuffs. Nevermind, ignore everything. It was a hypothesis he came up with and shit, so yeah.. 

I hope this clears confusion

Edited July 18, 2017 by AimiGen7

[robkun 4184]

Dir en Grey. Next question.

[Takadanobabaalien 3607]

1 hour ago, robkun said:

Dir en Grey. Next question.

[jaymee 405]

Well, since nobody else has said it yet... BUCK-TICK

 

Even though they technically "formed" in 1983, they didn't start performing at live houses together until 1985. They played Tokyo Dome to about 50,000 people in 1989. (An amazing feat, considering Imai had been arrested and just released for LSD possession and the political climate toward drug use was harsher than it is now.)

 

In that regard you could say bands like BUCK-TICK and LUNA SEA were riding the rock wave that would eventually spawn the offshoot genre of VK. I find it more interesting that VK's 4 "God Bands" never achieved as much commercial success as their predecessors, nor are they as well-remembered by the general public or even current (overseas) VK fans now.