jrock not popular?
- Thread starter jenocide
- Start date
Zazenbeats
New member
Anyway, just wondering and maybe get the thread going again. How big is Jrock in our local music scene? I'm embarrassed to say I've never paid attention to the local music scene until recently. Lucify is the only band I know and heard, but then they only sing Mandarin songs on Superband. So are there many Jrock bands in Singapore? Only visual kei?
And yeah, I also listen to Seikima II and Onmyouza. Seikima II is very underated imo, Fire After Fire is my favourite song. I love Siam Shade too, I think they are another one of the more underated bands from the early vk era. Actually, from what I see in a couple of overseas Jrock forum, newer fans hardly know them. Well in fact they are happy listening to the newer bands and never bothered with the old ones.
And yeah, I also listen to Seikima II and Onmyouza. Seikima II is very underated imo, Fire After Fire is my favourite song. I love Siam Shade too, I think they are another one of the more underated bands from the early vk era. Actually, from what I see in a couple of overseas Jrock forum, newer fans hardly know them. Well in fact they are happy listening to the newer bands and never bothered with the old ones.
Zazenbeats
New member
I wish I have a picture to show you. Siam Shade was vk when they started out, I'm not sure when they dropped the image though. It's either before or after their first album, I'm not sure on that.
Zazenbeats
New member
Behold!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DV2INfusUhA
Who do we see... Kazuma, Hideki and Natin. I don't think Daita and Junji were in the lineup back then.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DV2INfusUhA
Who do we see... Kazuma, Hideki and Natin. I don't think Daita and Junji were in the lineup back then.
Siam shade was vk in the past; they used to open for luna sea pretty often.
And yes, kurokupo, they are well known.
I wouldnt call seikima vk...they edge more towards the glam rock side.
Theres a decent handful of VK/jrock bands in singapore, zazenbeat, but most of them play covers.
And yes, kurokupo, they are well known.
I wouldnt call seikima vk...they edge more towards the glam rock side.
Theres a decent handful of VK/jrock bands in singapore, zazenbeat, but most of them play covers.
Zazenbeats said:
I believe they dropped the visual image right after the 1st album, and rightfully after Daita was officially roped in to complete the lineup. Change of direction and a fine decision it was, to be playing more than 13 tours in their brief 7 or 8 years as a band....with albums and minimal promotion, they still sold out every show.
MadWerewolfBoy
New member
lol yeah i read ur thread title... i've gotta agree..
jrock ain't jpop... hur hur hur!
j/k... yeah u get the idea... i like jrock... esp those similar to xjapan
jrock ain't jpop... hur hur hur!
j/k... yeah u get the idea... i like jrock... esp those similar to xjapan
jrock is not popular
I'm a new member here and I realise I came in slightly too late for this thread lol. No matter, someone will come and reread this(I hope) Jrock is awesome, there's just so many styles other than rock incorporated into jrock that i wonder why its still called jrock XD otherwise, the music is great nonetheless. I find it very annoying that reasons for singaporeans not liking jrock is the language barrier. I mean, isn't good music supposed to "overcome the language barrier"?? I simply pity the singaporeans who use this lousy reason to give jrock a miss. They seriously dont know what they're missing out on. Just to name a few, I LOVE bands like X Japan, MUCC, Siam Shade, L`arc, Asian Kungfu Generation, DEG, Kagrra, the Gazette, girugamesh(fairly new), versailles(new X Japan copycat but still sounds good), Luna Sea, hide(bless his soul), S.K.I.N(Yoshiki+Miyavi+Sugizo+Gackt who wouldnt love this jrock superband?), Nightmare/Sendai Kamotsu, Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra(I know they dont really count but whatever XP)
I'm a new member here and I realise I came in slightly too late for this thread lol. No matter, someone will come and reread this(I hope) Jrock is awesome, there's just so many styles other than rock incorporated into jrock that i wonder why its still called jrock XD otherwise, the music is great nonetheless. I find it very annoying that reasons for singaporeans not liking jrock is the language barrier. I mean, isn't good music supposed to "overcome the language barrier"?? I simply pity the singaporeans who use this lousy reason to give jrock a miss. They seriously dont know what they're missing out on. Just to name a few, I LOVE bands like X Japan, MUCC, Siam Shade, L`arc, Asian Kungfu Generation, DEG, Kagrra, the Gazette, girugamesh(fairly new), versailles(new X Japan copycat but still sounds good), Luna Sea, hide(bless his soul), S.K.I.N(Yoshiki+Miyavi+Sugizo+Gackt who wouldnt love this jrock superband?), Nightmare/Sendai Kamotsu, Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra(I know they dont really count but whatever XP)
They are many types and genres of music out there. You can't judge a piece of music by its popularity of the genre as a whole. Like rock, there are many kinds or rock, nu-rock, acid rock, post rock, J-rock, mandarin-rock, canto-rock, fusion-rock, jazz-rock, folk-rock, punk-rock, wadeva-rock.
So what if you understand or not understand the lyrics of the songs? The song can be in English or Mandarin, however, not all lyrics make sense, do they? So what if the song is sung in a language that you understand? Music is not just about lyrics. It is about the melody and the tune itself. You can have a love song, and it can be performed in many ways, metal, techno, opera..classical.
To make ppl understand your song, not only lyrics, music is also very important. You can sing a love song in German, but the song is performed as a metal piece. Yeah, in this case only the Germans understands it. Then this are not musicians. They are not making music, they are just having fun, and making fame.
Music is like a piece of artwork. A painting. You can draw a portrait in different mediums, oil painting, graffiti, water color, oil pastel, color pencil, magic pen. As long as its a portrait, ppl who look at your artwork, will still be able to understand. No matter what color, what medium u used, a portrait is still a portrait.
It is when you express the right mood, with the right feel, the right words, with the right tune and music, even if ppl dun understand your language, they will still be able to feel, enjoy and understand your music.
So ppl who says:"wah..i dunno what they singing about wor..japanese wor..german wor..hokkien wor..." all the time, do they REALLY know how to appreciate music or not. Dun make urself a laughing stock..dudes..
---
On the other hand, i am a J-Rock fan. But i am very selective with what i listen to. I dun like nonsensical and mainstream stuff. Being mainstream is a i-copy-u-u-copy-me kinda thing.
I dun understand y some of the J-Rockers out there likes being VK so much. VK makes me feel a sense of not belonging to oneself.
Newer bands really care alot about their image. VK is getting fancier and fancier than ever before. They are even VK bands doing cross dressing too. Alot of J-Rock fans, i noticed, tend to focus their attention on the band's VK image rather than the music. To prove it, you can go to any J-Rock forums and you'll see ppl saying things like "eeeee...the whoever is sooooooo cool...soooooo cute....!!"
makes my hair stand...i mean.."cute" meh?
Thats y..if you guys have notice, they is really a drop in the standard of music in J-Rock. Whereas VK wise, it is getting fancier and fancier. The newer bands are producing typical and too standard kind of music. The older bands that are still in the scene are better than ever. You never gone bored listening to their music over and over again. Who doesn't have the older bands in their mp3 players these days?
If you are listening to the band, just becos the VK image is cool, then think again. Ask yourself, you like the music becos you like their image, or you like their image becos their music is cool?
And to those local VK bands out there, is it sooooo important to be visual? You want to attract more attention with your music or image? You form/join a VK band, is it becos, you want to pose like VK artists, be like them, or just becos you like the music?
Ask yourself all these questions seriously, becos, you dunnoe which direction you are heading to. If you like the image, den dun buy guitar. Dress up and go catwalk on stage on the next Sg Street Fest.
Bands like Beatles, velvet underground, Bee Gees, they are not visual. They dun have stunning images, but their music still lasts until today.
Think about it.
So what if you understand or not understand the lyrics of the songs? The song can be in English or Mandarin, however, not all lyrics make sense, do they? So what if the song is sung in a language that you understand? Music is not just about lyrics. It is about the melody and the tune itself. You can have a love song, and it can be performed in many ways, metal, techno, opera..classical.
To make ppl understand your song, not only lyrics, music is also very important. You can sing a love song in German, but the song is performed as a metal piece. Yeah, in this case only the Germans understands it. Then this are not musicians. They are not making music, they are just having fun, and making fame.
Music is like a piece of artwork. A painting. You can draw a portrait in different mediums, oil painting, graffiti, water color, oil pastel, color pencil, magic pen. As long as its a portrait, ppl who look at your artwork, will still be able to understand. No matter what color, what medium u used, a portrait is still a portrait.
It is when you express the right mood, with the right feel, the right words, with the right tune and music, even if ppl dun understand your language, they will still be able to feel, enjoy and understand your music.
So ppl who says:"wah..i dunno what they singing about wor..japanese wor..german wor..hokkien wor..." all the time, do they REALLY know how to appreciate music or not. Dun make urself a laughing stock..dudes..
---
On the other hand, i am a J-Rock fan. But i am very selective with what i listen to. I dun like nonsensical and mainstream stuff. Being mainstream is a i-copy-u-u-copy-me kinda thing.
I dun understand y some of the J-Rockers out there likes being VK so much. VK makes me feel a sense of not belonging to oneself.
Newer bands really care alot about their image. VK is getting fancier and fancier than ever before. They are even VK bands doing cross dressing too. Alot of J-Rock fans, i noticed, tend to focus their attention on the band's VK image rather than the music. To prove it, you can go to any J-Rock forums and you'll see ppl saying things like "eeeee...the whoever is sooooooo cool...soooooo cute....!!"
makes my hair stand...i mean.."cute" meh?
Thats y..if you guys have notice, they is really a drop in the standard of music in J-Rock. Whereas VK wise, it is getting fancier and fancier. The newer bands are producing typical and too standard kind of music. The older bands that are still in the scene are better than ever. You never gone bored listening to their music over and over again. Who doesn't have the older bands in their mp3 players these days?
If you are listening to the band, just becos the VK image is cool, then think again. Ask yourself, you like the music becos you like their image, or you like their image becos their music is cool?
And to those local VK bands out there, is it sooooo important to be visual? You want to attract more attention with your music or image? You form/join a VK band, is it becos, you want to pose like VK artists, be like them, or just becos you like the music?
Ask yourself all these questions seriously, becos, you dunnoe which direction you are heading to. If you like the image, den dun buy guitar. Dress up and go catwalk on stage on the next Sg Street Fest.
Bands like Beatles, velvet underground, Bee Gees, they are not visual. They dun have stunning images, but their music still lasts until today.
Think about it.
Last edited:
blissuicide
New member
As an old-school j-rock/VK fan, having gone to Japan and immersed myself silly in all things Jappy, attending underground gigs and such, I must say that j-rock is much more prevalent now as opposed to say, 8 to 10 years ago where J-pop are the dominant genre. Of cos, that is, if you take the brilliant bands of the 80s such as Loudness, Earthshaker etc, which created a ruckus among our Mat Rockers, out of the equation. As much as our youths are embracing japanese pop-culture and enjoying their music, there's just something sad that's happening. Those fans worth their salt and who've been around, definitely know how huge Siam Shade was, as well as others like Laputa, D-Shade, La'cryma, Janne Da Arc, Sex Machineguns etc. But how many can actually remember JILS, Kein, D=Sire, Luca, E.mu, Blue, Wyse, Jurassic, Zipang, Psycho Le Cemu, Merry-go-round etc. I'm not saying the current crop of bands are off, but they just lack that charismatic approach, demeanours and sound from before. I think right now, its more about the visuals than the 'j-rockness' and that makes every band looks eerily similar without any form of distinction. And I've yet to hear those elegant basslines such as Tetsu's or the smooth, flowing grooves of Gackt's Ren, exemplified perfectly in Dears. In all, its a progress, but somehow, j-rock as a whole has just started to lose its charm for a bit. Its just me though, for it might be shedding its old skin, for a new one. But at anytime of the day, I'd settled for the music rather than the image or the 'kawaiiness' side of things. Here's to the impending reunion of Siam Shade....
Last edited:
