Category:Visual-Kei

From Wiki.theppn

Visual Kei is a genre of music, which much like Shibuya Kei, is not based on music style. Visual bands are concept bands that extend their concept not only to their music and lyrics, but also to their stage presentation including makeup, costumes, and sometimes set design. In interviews bands almost never discuss their musical influences and instead focus on their concepts.

When X Japan formed with the concept "Psychedelic Violence Crime Of Visual Shock" the media took the term "Visual" and used it dismissively to describe bands influenced by American and European Glam, Metal, Goth and Industrial. The term was used to imply that the bands only cared about how they looked, but the bands and their fans embrased the term. Rock and roll had only limted sucess at this time, with the exception of BOØWY, and pop and enka was the main form of popular music.

Once the "Visual" scene took off, there were other bands who followed by adding makeup, styled hair, and nice clothing to their acts. These bands were not as concept based and were referred to as "Soft Visual Kei" or sofubi for short. Examples of sofubi include Glay and Janne Da Arc.

In the late 90's the band Malice Mizer exploded with their concept that "that human existence is full of “malice and misery”".[1]. Many of their traits came to be associated with "traditional" visual or Kote kei. During the late 90's Visual Kei was at it's height in the mainstream media.

By early 2000 Visual Kei still had a hardcore cult following but was generally no longer hitting the top 10 of the Oricon charts. Many of the bands with large followings had broken up. By 2002 the first Visual band would play in the United States, with other bands following. Soon bands would be touring internationally through both Europe and North America.

In 2001 Baroque jumped into the dark themed bands with a happy pop-punk influenced sound. They wore stylish street clothing and were labelled "oshare" (stylish) or Baroque kei. Many bands followed suit.

Late 2007 Visual bands started hitting the charts in Japan again. The movement is labelled "Neo Visual Kei" by the media. Many of the Neo Visual bands are considered Koteosa kei - somewhere between kote kei and oshare kei.

Visual Kei is closely associated with Gothic Lolita [2]. Band members often wear striking makeup, stronly styled hair, and wear elaborate costumes. Although the whole appearance can appear feminine, almost all band members are male.

Western observers sometimes confuse visual kei bands with gothic bands because of the makeup and clothing, but most Japanese goths do not consider visual kei to be gothic, and there is very little cultural crossover between visual kei fans and goths.

External links

• Midi:Nette - Record company started by Mana that produces Visual-Kei bands.
• VISUNAVI - A Japanese site that has an extensive list of Visual-Kei bands with other information.
• J-Music Ignited - Your source for information on Visual Kei bands and reviews.