The visual system is ubiquitous in the Japanese music scene, and few male singers do not appear in bold and androgynous visual system costumes.
The reason is that, first of all, there has been a "demon worship" mentality and a "geisha" in Japan since ancient times, and the long-standing Nenglue art has inspired visual rock in Japan to be gorgeous and seductive, which has its historical roots in acceptance; Second, young people in Japan pursue novelty and excitement, especially young women, who pursue competing goods. The seductive visual artists are self-evident. Imitating visual artists can make them the most dazzling and cool focus in Harajuku and Shibuya. Thirdly, the pressure of the Japanese ranks first in the world, and the pressure of the younger generation comes from schools, families, society and other aspects. Rock music is an ideal tool for them to escape and vent. In the early days of Japan's development, the visual system was divided into "evil school" and "aestheticism school". At present, the orientation of visual rock Orchestra in Japan tends to be diversified.
Nowadays, Japanese rock bands, especially visual rock, are very popular. They express their views on music with exaggerated makeup models and wild and intense stage performances. Concert is the best occasion for those visual rock bands to interpret their music world.
at the end of 197s, "gorgeous rock" represented by DAVIDBOWIE appeared in Europe and America. Gorgeous rock and roll introduces visual elements into rock and roll, which is characterized by gorgeous dress and live performance. In the early 198s, a band named X (renamed X-Japan in X(92) appeared in Chiba, Japan. They inherited the style of heavy metals in Europe and America in 198s, and at the same time borrowed from the heavy makeup of European and American rock and roll, and developed it into a unique plastic aesthetics along with the nationality of Japan-from then on, the "visual system" was born. After that, the visual system gradually developed and expanded in Japan, and the genre became more and more diversified. The unique aesthetics and unconventional visual effects of the visual system became a bright color in the Japanese music industry, which won the favor of countless fans with great impact on the Japanese rock industry.
LunaSea, MaliceMizer, DirEnGrey…… ... The emerging visual bands not only reach a high level in musicality, but also integrate their own personalities into modeling and dressing, showing deep ideas beyond the musical category. This makes the visual system occupy an unshakable position in the Japanese music industry. Similarly, in the early 198s, Europe and the United States also led the visual dress in "gorgeous rock" to another aspect, appearing in absurd, weird and even horrible and disgusting shapes. Visual rock represented by KISS, ALICECOOPER, MARILYNMANSON, SLIPKNOT, etc. was developed one after another, and later it was also called shock rock.
at present, the music orientation of visual rock Orchestra in Japan is that X-JAPAN and LUNA SEA are representatives of heavy metals, and GLAY's music style is more POP. They can be said to have learned the essence of big brothers in Europe and America, and their makeup paintings are not only bolder, more gorgeous, more charming and more enchanting, but also their music quality is by no means the level of picking up people's teeth and wisdom. Compared with some domestic ROCK, Japan is superior in orchestration, arrangement, creative spirit and commercial operation. Generally speaking, during the underground indies period in visual rock, the band's dress was bold and the music paid more attention to ideas. After entering the mainstream, their clothes and music generally tend to be popular.
visual rock is not like "R&; Music nouns such as "b" and "Punk" refer to a musical form, and its musical forms are diverse. Therefore, according to the main music forms of a band, for example:
wave sugar music: Shazna
pop rock: Glay
industrial rock: Zlich, MACHINE
heavy metal rock: X/X Japan, sex MACHINEGUNS, the GazettE.
Gothic rock: Madeth Gray''ll, Dir en grey. Moi-dix-mois, MEJIBRAY
Classical/Baroque Rock: Malice Mizer, LAREINE
There are also breezy bands, such as Raphael, Kagrra, Jilong, Andromeda (wind and heavy metal)
At the same time, a band will be compatible with several music forms, even rock and classical coexist (typical example: X Japan). There is also the coexistence of METAL and goth (such as moi-dix-mois)
The characteristics of many bands are not only manifested in music, but also cover dressing, behavior, lyrics, playing methods and so on; Therefore, Japan distinguishes them by xx series: such as basement department, dark department (Dark Visual department) and soft department (Soft Visual department). Take the basement department as an example. This kind of visual rock band has thick makeup and is mostly black and white. The songs have a nursery rhyme flavor, and the lyrics mainly show feelings, death and loneliness; Musical skills vary from band to band. There are also regional classifications, such as Osaka School, Sendai School, Nagoya School and Kyushu School. But unexpectedly, although there are many bands established in Tokyo, few of them are all local bands in Tokyo. Moreover, speaking of bands, many bands were born in Okinawa and other places, but most of them developed to Tokyo. X-JAPAN visual department, and their modeling and music were deeply influenced by KISS. As early as 1978, TOSHI and YOSHIKI, a pair of good friends, had formed the band NOISE, and performed at the school cultural festival and LIVE HOUSE. In the summer of 82, when HEAVY METAL and HARD ROCK just flowed into Japan, they formed the first HM/HD band in Japan, which was the predecessor of X-JAPAN. In fact, the full name of X Band is "Psychological Violence Crime of Visual Shock". It is said that it was Toshi's idea, and Yoshiki didn't like it very much at first. TOSHI is the lead singer (Vocal) and YOSHIKI is the drummer.
After graduating from middle school, Yoshiki and Toshi left their hometown for Tokyo and began to work hard for their musical ideals. When the development of X was just established, the players were extremely unstable. YOJI(Guitar), TOMO(Guitar) and TOKUO(Bass) came and went, but only TOSHI and YOSHIKI struggled. Until February 1985, they finally released their first single (Single) I'll Kill You (Dada Records) (India). In April, 1986, X published the second Single or Grams (Extasy Records) (Indie).
In February, 1987, TAIJI(BASS), PATA(GUITAR) and HIDE(GUITAR) were added, which made X, who had been in a state of changing players for a long time, finally establish Toshi, Taiji, Pata, Hide &; Yoshiki's regular lineup.
In February, p>85, they finally released their first single (Single) I'll kill you (Dada Records) (Indie). In February, 1987, TAIJI(BASS), PATA(GUITAR) and HIDE(GUITAR) joined in, which finally established Toshi, Taiji, Pata, Hide &; Yoshiki's regular lineup. On April 14th, 1988, X's debut album "Vanishing Vision" was released, which was at the top of the Indie record sales list.
On January 5th, 6th and 7th, 1992, it became the first band to perform in Tokyo Dome for three consecutive days. On January 31st, just as X was soaring, TAIJI, a BASS player, left the team to join LOUDNESS, and quit because of his different musical ideas. On August 25th, X switched to Warner Records, and new bassist Heath joined. At the same time, because there is already a band with the same name in the United States, it was officially renamed X-Japan. As a result, the members of X-JAPAN have stabilized as follows: Vocal)TOSHI, piano and drummer (Drums &; Piano)YOSHIKI, Guitar)PATA, Guitar)HIDE, Bass)HEATH.
Just when X-JAPAN reached its peak, on April 22nd, 1997, lead singer TOSHI proposed to quit because of his different musical orientation, and officially left X-JAPAN on September 22nd, 17-year-old X-Japan was dissolved.
at 8: 52am on May 2nd, p>98, HIDE, whose original name was Hideto Matsumoto, died unexpectedly at home at the age of 34. The last hope of X-JAPAN's legendary reorganization plan in 2 was thus dashed. His death is still a mystery. Suicides due to following hide occurred in a few days. In the funeral held in Honganji on May 7, 5, fans from all over the country gathered. The funeral procession was more than two kilometers long, and 197 people were taken to the hospital due to anemia on the hottest day of the year. The Tokyo Fire Department said, "Except for accidents, As early as 1997, when X Japan was dissolved, there were signs that the pattern of visual rock in Japan was unstable: members of Luna sea were temporarily flying solo, and members of Rainbow Team were temporarily suspended in the case of awakening agent. However, with the climax of Luna sea and Rainbow, Glay became a big hit, and emerging forces emerged one after another, and the prosperity of visual rock continued to the end of the century. However, in the 21st century, with R&; B craze swept the world, old and new bands broke up one after another, and the scenery in visual rock was gone.
after visual rock's soul X-Japan was dissolved on September 22nd, 1997, Hide, the first guitar in Japan, died mysteriously at home on May 2nd, 1998. Since then, the visual rock camp has been in constant turmoil, and Rainbow Band publicly announced its refusal to be called the visual department. At the end of 2, Luna sea in Luna Sea ended, and the three major visual departments have ceased to exist. Even Glay, the rest of visual rock's main force, claimed in Beijing that "the neutral dress is really close to the visual system, but this dress is not to be close to a certain group", and the implication is self-evident. Other bands are also in a bad situation: in 1999, Gackt, the lead singer of Malice Mizer, retired from the group, and Kami, the drummer, died of a sudden cerebral hemorrhage. Although he once again formed a group, he finally officially went solo in 21; Dark Dream, who debuted at the same time as X Japan, finally announced an indefinite rest after a two-person band period. There are also many accidents in emerging bands: in Raphael's team that just boarded the budokan, Kazuki Watanabe musician died of too much sedative; D-shade was dissolved, Lareine members withdrew one after another, and Due'le qrartz, which was favored by the media, was also dissolved in 22. At this point, visual rock's main band has been incomplete, although Dir-en-grey and others are still active, but the whole visual department is obviously no longer brave.
After entering the 21st century, the sales of visual bands have dropped significantly. In 21, even Glay's One Love sold far less than one million. By 23, the album management of the visual department was even more bleak, with a maximum of 3, (the highest is Glay's selected works, with 24, and 25, respectively), and most of the albums were sold into the top 3 of the year. In the long run, it is estimated that the visual rock market will continue to shrink and the band companies will face difficulties. Now, with the dissolution of bands, official fan clubs have stopped, professional TV programs have stopped broadcasting, and many magazines have stopped publishing. This is the sorrow of the visual system.
There are ups and downs of various music forms in the world. visual rock's decline has its own shortcomings, and it is also influenced by the global music atmosphere, which has a more commercial and economic role. The reasons are complicated. The following are only personal opinions.
◆1) The global music style is not conducive to the development of rock and roll
Looking around the world, all countries in the United States are Rap, and all of Asia are R&; B； Jay Chou and Tao Zhe, the two main players in China music, are also R&; B's singer; The R& is true in Japan, R&; B is prevalent. Young people pursue fashion, and they also change their families and stay away from rock and roll. This is the simplest reason why Japanese visual rock entered the trough: forced by the music trend.
◆2) japanese pop's economic depression
From the perspective of the whole Japanese music industry, it is facing a very depressed situation. Since 1999, the production of records has been declining year by year, which has decreased by more than 1 billion (Japanese yen, 22 data). Young people not only spend less time listening to music, but also spend less. The popularity of online music downloading has dealt a great blow to the global music industry.
In recent years, there has been a sharp decline in the number of new entrants, with 128 in 21 and as many as 51 in 1991. The rock band's debut is even more difficult. In the Indies era, it is possible to attract the attention of mainstream record companies with more than 1, records. This led to dystocia of the new forces in visual rock.
At the same time, the number of creative musicians who can't release albums has also increased, and record companies give priority to releasing albums that sell well for their own safety. Rock bands need more time and money than ordinary singers, and the time to get benefits from them is several times that of idol singers. None of the popular or once brilliant visual rock bands have gone through the underground stage of several years' hardships, and even went hungry for their albums; Even after the debut, there was no example of selling immediately, only the counter example: Glay lasted for 3 years; Rainbow takes at least 2 years; Luna Sea, on the other hand, hovered between commercial interests and musical ideas from beginning to end, with no outstanding achievements. Therefore, on the one hand, record companies are reluctant to release films for rock bands easily; On the other hand, some visual rock bands gave up their musical ideas after they entered the mainstream. As a result, many excellent rock bands have to turn to Indies for help, which affects the output and quality of visual rock albums to some extent.
◆3) Some visual departments are divorced from the essence of music
After the visual departments entered the mainstream stage, it seems that some bands' styles gradually moved closer to the mainstream, giving up the initial visual shock in modeling and taking attracting fans as the main purpose. Over time, the media and the public have a wrong impression that it is the visual department that thinks that dressing is neutral and makeup is amazing, ignoring that dressing is the shape and music is the god of rock bands. The performance of the backward orchestra also makes people feel that their creativity is gradually dying. No matter in music or modeling, they constantly see the shadow of their predecessors and establish themselves and are irreplaceable.