The_Dude
Member
From: Florida
Registered: 2008-07-22
Posts: 27
I can't find any Japanese music that doesn't suck. Seriously. Did the culture as a whole take a nap for the 60s-70s? Sure they have a wealth of jpop and jrock, along with a select few Carpenters-esque ballads and crappy covers, but damn! I know many of the gruff vocal styles I've come to love aren't even in the Japanese gene pools, but where are the Classic Rockers of Japan? There are no Beatles, no Zeppelin, no ZZ Top or Tom petty. No Chili Peppers or Floyd, and certainly no Creedence or Kansas.
Am I just not looking in the right direction, or do the Japanese just not like good music?
meolox
Member
Registered: 2007-08-31
Posts: 386
The_Dude wrote:
I can't find any Japanese music that doesn't suck. Seriously. Did the culture as a whole take a nap for the 60s-70s? Sure they have a wealth of jpop and jrock, along with a select few Carpenters-esque ballads and crappy covers, but damn! I know many of the gruff vocal styles I've come to love aren't even in the Japanese gene pools, but where are the Classic Rockers of Japan? There are no Beatles, no Zeppelin, no ZZ Top or Tom petty. No Chili Peppers or Floyd, and certainly no Creedence or Kansas.
Am I just not looking in the right direction, or do the Japanese just not like good music?
The 70s were awesome for music from japan, they certainly were not sleeping especially on the Prog-rock front, Pyg, Flower Travelling band, Happy End, Melting Glass Box to name a few.
The Album Kazemachi Roman from Happy End is in my top 10 albums.
Tons of good music has come out of Japan, not much since the early nineties sadly, Boris maybe the only good Japanese band enjoying some success outside of Japan.
Dragg
Member
From: Sacramento, California
Registered: 2007-09-21
Posts: 369
I know that many countries have great music if you look hard enough, but I am also curious to know if there are any generally accepted "rock legends" of Japan, and if so, who are they? For example, if you asked an American or Brit to name some timeless English language classic artists, most will rattle off names like Led Zep, Beatles, Floyd, Doors, and Hendrix just as The_Dude mentioned. So to ask the question a different way, does Japan have incredibly popular rock music that both the young and old still listen to, or do people mainly stick to their own generation's music, thus forcing all older music into near-obscurity? If ever, maybe the famous Japanese love for fads contributes to this lack?
Seems like the only one Japanese legend I ever hear about consistently is that Ryu Sakamoto guy.
Last edited by Dragg (2008 July 30, 2:02 pm)
Rock legends, let's see? before the 80's you have groups like Pyg, Happy End, Champloose and Shinji Harada.
From the 80's on rock music in Japan walks hand in hand with Visual Keiand groups like X-Japan, Larc~en~Ciel and Malice Mizer take the crown. Larc~en~Ciel is still active, and I love their sound.
Today, I enjoy Gackt (ex Malice Mizer), The Pillows and Dir en Grey, among others.
Outside the rock genre, I really like Ayumi Hamasaki, Utada Hikaru, Hirai Ken and many, many more. I guess I'm exactly your opposite: I enjoy japanese music a lot.
amthomas
Member
From: Japan
Registered: 2006-06-22
Posts: 104
Generally, if you want to find out what's popular right now, I'd suggest searching for the Oricon listing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oricon
It's a list of the current hits. You can even find some packaged torrents containing the last week/month/year of top 100 Oricon hits, if you're up for discovering random bands. It's less of a source for rock music than pop, but sometimes you can be surprised.
As far as rock-esque stuff goes, I'd echo previous posters' on The Pillows as being a pretty old school and famous band.
Have you tried:
- Plastic Tree (lead singer's voice often described as "ethereal" and "child-like", they say that they are heavily influenced by Radiohead and The Cure, but don't really fit into any genre - a really unique sound)
- Ellegarden (west coast style punk with copious usage of mostly correct English - this you gotta listen to just for the amazing English lyrics. Wow!)
- Ajikan (aka Asian Kung Fu Generation - album art is pretty sweet, music ain't bad either!)
- Bump Of Chicken (kinda more alternative-y, but it's hip with the kiddies over in JLand these days)
- Guitar Wolf (about as growly as a JHonJin's voice is going to get, wikipedia calls them "an energetic cross between The Ramones, rockabilly, classic punk, and noise rock")
- Southern All Stars (again, alternative/pop-y, and hip with the youngsters)
- Miyavi (pretty wide range of styles for this guy, so depending on what you find it might be rock or it might be acoustic guitar jazz covers, but still a good bet)
Here's a couple great sites for some other ideas:
http://www.rockofjapan.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_Japan#Rock_music
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Ja … rock_bands
I hope that helps!
-amt
(edit: also, note that 'visual kei' mostly just applies to a style of performance, not a style of music, per se. It can be anything from pop to heavy metal to electronica, so long as they have the right style and presentation... so don't write off all visual kei stuff just because their costumes are weird. Remember that you can enjoy music without enjoying a band's looks or the subculture that they promote! )
Last edited by amthomas (2008 July 30, 6:54 pm)
Dragg
Member
From: Sacramento, California
Registered: 2007-09-21
Posts: 369
I never said it was bad.. I actually like Guitar Wolf and even the Boredoms. Its good stuff for what it is, but it is basically J-noise, and just not what we are asking about (rock legends). Hell even countries like the Philippines have rock legends like Pepe Smith. So far Pyg and maybe Happy End are the closest to what I was thinking about.
I'm not saying that Japan lacks originality, but most of modern Japanese music is deeply rooted on Western foundations and occasionally outright imitation. Just look at their country western, hip-hop, and rockabilly genres. Therefore, I just dont understand their apparent lack of plain hard rock that isnt speed, death, noise, etc.
The_Dude
Member
From: Florida
Registered: 2008-07-22
Posts: 27
Dragg, you pretty much summed up my opinions in your last two posts. Polarized and extreme summarize their rock genre completely. I can see what you mean when you mention how western a lot of Japanese music is, but they only recreated the outskirts of the rock genre, and completely forgot the basics or whatever. What do the Japanese put on when they are hanging out with friends, or when they just sit around their houses? I can't picture a group of people chillin' to Dir en Grey. Maybe my problem Is that I like a more "southern" American Rock for the most part, like Skynyrd and Tom Petty. Similar bands are hard enough to find in other parts of the states, let alone Japan!
Edit: I guess I'm not even looking for a "rock legend," just music more suited to my tastes. Anything from classic Rock and Roll to Reggae to Prog, or whatever. I mean, if reggae could make it to Australia, why can't a more smooth variety of rock make it into Japan?
Last edited by The_Dude (2008 July 30, 9:25 pm)
Dragg
Member
From: Sacramento, California
Registered: 2007-09-21
Posts: 369
Anyway, I want to thank everybody for their recommendations. I am checking out all the ones I can find on Youtube one by one. Some seem pretty good.
I'm definitely looking forward to buying some great albums that can get me excited about learning the lyrics. Great music can be a fun, inspiring way to learn. When I was learning German, I learned a lot through Rammstein and for Spanish my favorite was Gustavo Cerati. I'm excited about hopefully having some new Japanese faves to add to the mix as well.
Last edited by Dragg (2008 July 30, 11:09 pm)
