He Xiao Xiao (Lily)

Japanese Art History

Sand Kakuda
Case Study III: Music genres of Japan and US/Europe

“We wanted to fuse the traditional Japanese aspects of fashion with futuristic style with ethnic elements.” (Amaterase Daishi
Interview). Visual Kei is defined as a movement of music in Japan. Translated into English, “Kei” is Japanese meaning style
or type. Visual Kei was classified mostly with 80s goth rock, metal, and punk. Since its creation in the 1980s, Japanese bands
has grown to incorporate anything from heavy metal riffs to pop ballets to operatic elements into their music. The colorful
mixture of so many music genre comes very rarely in American bands,who follow strictly under what they are labeled.

I took a personal liking to Visual Kei/J-rock two three years ago when I listened to one of the GazettE's songs while surfing on
youtube. It was the mixture of screams, guitar riffs, and classic piano that caught my attention. Historically, the creation of
Visual Kei dated around 1982 when two students named Toshimitsu Deyama and Yoshiki Hayashiki created what was known
then as “X” (X Japan) that eventually, due to their success, pioneered the Visual Kei movement. X Japan was characterized
by ridiculously strange hair and fashion styles that's still seen today in Visual Kei. Dir en grey was created in February of
1997, the group has gone through numerous changes over the years both music and fashion wise. As their music constantly
takes in other genres outside of the norm, it became difficult to determine what category they fit under (as if it's that important
to label something). They are for the most part, no longer consider Visual Kei, but general J-rock. Because Visual Kei is a
sub genre under J-rock, there are numerous debate as what bands are classified under the term Visual Kei instead of J-rock.
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In the end, I feel like this whole debate of Visual Kei/J-rock is absolutely useless. Music is all matter of opinion. It saddens me
to see that these kinds of arguments sometimes result in petty criticism. Arguing over what bands were and still is considered
Visual Kei is like the replica of arguing has Metallica sold out their music and became all about the money. “What I find
interesting is that in Visual Kei (and perhaps in other music scenes in Japan) the ‘rules and regulations’ that bind American
bands today are seemingly nonexistent. Sorry, but there’s no way kids at Ozzfest could stomach a group that mixes cheesy
pop ballads with thrash metal” (Kristen Sollee). Usually, a band adheres to one genre for a better grip on their fan base. In
America, there is usually is a very strict unspoken policy to market a band gear to a specific group of people. I hate this. It
restricts the freedom to create works that are outside of one's norm. If Ozzy Osbourne started singing Lil' Wayne, I would be
pleasantly surprise to see his take on hip hop.

In particular parts of the European (mainly Scandinavian) underground, metal reign supreme. The forefathers of black metal
such as Bathory (Quorthon) and Dissection (Jon Nödtveidt) hail from Sweden. Many metalheads are very conservative, noted
ex-Swordmaster's Andreas Bergh. Andreas and Emil was part of the death metal band Swordmasters, before they turned
toward another musical direction that resulted in “death-glam” band called Deathstars. Emil Nödtveidt, the younger brother of
the now deceased Jon Nödtveidt of Dissection complained the uncreative close mind of the black metal community eventually
lead to the disbandment of Swordmasters. When Deathstars was created there was lots of backlash toward Andreas and
Emil. “Although at the same time I think that the limitations are something that people create themselves, because many
people tend to think that when you play a certain type of music you need to let the genre dictate the song, you know? They let
the genre dictate the band.” (Andreas B., COC interview). Going against the thought that Japan has a very traditional culture.
This is the difference I see between Japanese music scene and the US/Europe music scene. We have to label everything.
We need a identity, a label, to define ourself. Perhaps this is because most Asian countries like Japan are considered a
collectivist culture, there is more unity. There's less restriction and more freedom of creation in Japan without the backlash of
criticism from the fans that's suppose to support their band. What matters is the core of the music, not the rules and
regulations that go along with the music.

During a televised Japanese Christmas special Ayumi Hamasaki and Gackt performed a traditional Christian holiday song
together on live broadcast. This sort of stuff is not seen in the United States. It's like placing Miley Cyrus with vocalist of metal
band Cradle of Filth (Dani Filth) together on stage live and having them sing Japanese Buddhist chants (Shomyo?) with each
other. The thought itself is out of this world. In fact, Children of Bodom (Finland) did a fantastics heavy metal cover of 'Oops, I
did it again' by Brintey Spears. No one should complain, it's better than the original recording by Miss Spears.

Visual Kei customs are similar to the images you see in mangas, anime, and games such as Final Fantasy. “I made the new
costume with the image of a vagabond out of RPG games. For me, I think of music and fashion together. So I talk with a
designer about my songs first and then we work as a team to come up with new costumes. We usually find materials that we
like and create from nothing, but we also enjoy altering the clothes we bought from stores” (Amaterase Daishi Interview). The
androgynous looks that is part of the Visual Kei package have heavy influences from bands in the earlier decades such as
KISS. Derived of similar elements from goth and punk fashion, the wildly teased hair and Victorian age customs makes Visual
Kei more an “androgynous aesthetic” fashion.
Japanese history is fitted with the common theme of taking something artistic and distorting it to create something uniquely
their own. They take something to create their own and music is no exception when it comes to forms of art.
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