Visual kei
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Visual kei | |
|---|---|
| Stylistic origins: | Japanese rock, glam rock, hard rock, pop rock, punk rock, heavy metal, gothic rock, darkwave, industrial rock |
| Cultural origins: | 1980s Japan |
| Typical instruments: | Guitar, bass, drums, keyboards |
| Mainstream popularity: | Mostly within Japanese independent scene, smaller followings across the globe. |
| Subgenres | |
| Angura kei, ero guro, nagoya kei, oshare kei | |
Visual kei (ヴィジュアル系 vijuaru kei?, literally "visual style") refers to a movement in Japanese rock which started in the 1980s and became widely popular in Japanese indies scene by the 1990s.
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[edit] Origins
Some fans believe that the visual kei movement was started "almost single handedly"[citation needed] by X Japan. However, a rising trend of utilizing visual shock to gain membership in the independent scene was well in effect by the time X went major. In this sense, X Japan may be seen not as a catalyst for the movement but a mechanism to involve dominant Japanese popular culture with it.
However, many of the magazines that later became visual kei magazines, most notably Fool's Mate, had been published since the early 80's, but had a focus on UK new wave artists, some aspects of which are visible in the look of visual bands.
Bands in the early 1990s such as Luna Sea, Kuroyume, Zi:Kill, Shazna, and Baiser along with previous bands Buck-Tick and X Japan encouraged a "boom" of this media culture.
[edit] Characteristics
Visual kei is characterized by bands using dramatic costumes and visual imagery to enhance the band's performance. Within Japan, the fan-base almost solely consists of girls and young women and is marketed strongly to that audience with items such as tradeable stickers, glossy photo-books, picture-postcards of band members and so on. In other countries, the comparatively small quantity of visual kei followers is roughly an equal division between male and female youth. In the West, visual kei is often seen as a uniquely Japanese part of the Rock music scene.[citation needed]
Members of visual kei bands often wear striking makeup, style their hair in dramatic shapes (reminiscent of "glam metal" bands from the '80s) and wear elaborate costumes. Although the vast majority of the musicians are male, band members will often wear makeup and clothing which would be considered 'feminine' or 'androgynous'. Recently, some bands are returning to the more colourful and "fantastic" image popular 5 or 6 years ago, taking inspiration from computer roleplaying games and anime. The appeal of the costumes to fans is so great that large numbers of girls will cosplay as members of their favourite bands, particularly in Harajuku, at live concerts in Japan, or in England, Poland, North America, Chile, Israel, Spain and Australia at anime conventions.
Because the visual kei genre remains at the edges of Japanese mainstream sensibility, as bands rise in popularity and sign to major labels, they may tone down their wild, colorful image, as well as extreme musical flourishs like screaming or audience-chanted lyrics that often characterize visual kei. For example, Kagrra,'s early years were characterized by eye-catching kimono-style costumes, but in their 2006 PV "Sakebi" the band appeared in suits. The loss of fashion and musical style may alienate fans who have followed bands from their inception. However, not all artists lose their visual kei image as they go major. Malice Mizer and Psycho le Cemu are examples of bands whose stage costumes became only more fantastic during their major label eras.
[edit] Bands
Visual kei bands, being defined primarily by visual style, do not necessarily play a specific type of music. However, there are bands playing or influenced by Heavy Metal (Onmyo-Za), Darkwave (Velvet Eden, Schwarz Stein), Industrial rock, Punk rock and various other genres can be found. Taking the genre in a wide sense, most of the bands would be considered to play some kind of "rock" music. Particularly popular in recent years are the projects of Mana: Malice Mizer (currently on an indefinite hiatus) and Moi dix Mois.
Visual kei is closely linked with other fashion styles like Gothic Lolita and musical subgenres such as Ero guro and Angura kei, which also have their own fashion styles.
A newer style of visual kei that showed up in the 2000's is Koi Kei X. Miyavi, formerly from Dué le quartz, now a solo artist, is said to be one of the few that exemplifies this style.[citation needed]
[edit] Current status
Visual kei remains a diverse, ever expanding genre. Many of the bands are beginning to play outside of Japan. Bands such as Dir en grey, MUCC, D'espairs Ray, Ayabie, Gazette, and others have toured Europe and North America.
