what happened to Visual Kei??
 

no.. actually i don't think you're too far off the mark >.>''
the real people who are 'unique' get like almost no exposure at all.
bands like candy spooky theater
and the upcoming kanon wakeshima


and what's worse, i believe, are those bands that were once something have now become just like all the others
i believe rentrer en soi is a good example >.>'

Are you supposed to like every band in the genre?

No one likes their "secret" to get out, but poser bands will fade if they really stink.

you do have to admit though
that no one does 'clown' music these days x]

and kanon is the only other person that i've seen rock a cello about as sexy as apocalyptica
>.>'''

I agree with all of you. Visual Kei has gone out of style pretty much, it is more gothloli and pop. Honestly when you think about it, americans ruined the dark look by going to extremes. I'm not saying that in a bad way, like I hate America because I don't but the "American Dark Look" started to get sterotyped like cutting and all about blood and weird piercings and dog chains. I think VK was popular over the freakiness of it all.

Well in my opinion it was always some kind of scene because it's labelled as such. It's just not one that's very popular. I don't care whether things are popular or not, but some people like to jump on the 'I like this because it's underground' bandwagon and think they are different for liking things that not many people have heard of. I dislike a lot of VK/Jrock styled bands, because to be honest theres a load of crap ones who think cool hair will make them a great band, when it won't. There is bands I don't like in every genre, you can't expect someone to like every band in a specific genre.

If you are suggesting that bands are 'selling out,' then I don't really think VK bands are the type to do so. I'm pissed that Dir en grey are releasing all this exclusive shit for America when they don't do anything here and very very rarely ever come here, and when they do it's only at one or two venues. I don't know how Japanese fans feel about the US exclusivity but whatever.

In any case, there are a ton of crap poser bands in every genre going, VK is no different. All you gotta do is ignore the shit and listen to the good stuff :)

Um hello, visual kei have always sounded like turd
That's why its called visual kei

You have obviously been listening to the wrong VK bands. The best ones are visualy AND auditorialy stimulating, i.e. Gazette, Gackt, Miyavi, and Mucc. At least, those are the bands that I like and I like them because they look good and sound good at the same time.

I think you may be right.

(I like Kanon, but am not yet sure about cst)

VK was a genre that definitely caught my attention ..... as it was intended to do. But when the majority of the uniqueness was a departure from the expected visual image of a rock band, its destined to fade quickly. Visual stimulation is far more transitory than audial. Its good for getting press and rebellious fans, but not enough to sustain in any art form beyond purely visual arts.

I regard most of the VK bands that I listen(ed) to as the Japanese equivalent of western "one-hit-wonders".

Now Miyavi ..... well there is enough breadth of style there to prevent lumping in with any one genre or trend. I don't like it all, but the talent is unmistakeable.

I dun think VK lost it's light.

People just keep copying the shizz.

Really, I'm starting to fade away from VK as of lately. Going more into folk, indie, and jazz.

But, I keep up with the ones that remain true.

Dir en grey is, I'm betting, going to be forever changing. As for American exclusivity, I don't know their reasons. Maybe because America is the first place that took them in besides Japan. Or, their inspirations came from American bands. *shrug*

VK is pretty much like the Oricon Top 30 nowadays. :\

Or Cali Gari? By-Sexual?

Yeah. No clue whatsoever. :[

I asked someone about hide and they looked at me like I was from another planet. Irritated me to no end. D:

So sad isn't it? I can name like ten VK bands that I guarantee nobody even thinks about... there is so much under the surface because frankly the fan girlies are more interested in the "gateway drug" bands. Get off the weed start hitting up some coke dammit.

There are still good VK bands out there, but you have to look for them. They're just not going to just in your lap and say, "hey like my music!"

For my opinion I can't stand Gazette, Alice Nine and all those 'tard bands. They're fan girlie bands, I think competing for the most screaming fan girls. You want good VK listen to stuff like Anti Feminism, Deathgaze, or Kuroyume. Get off that common dung. Merry, MUCC, Nightmare, Diru or SID are like borderline fan girl based. They're not really much to ga-ga about either.

I want Malice Mizer to get back together. Yes, its a hopeless dream...

Mana is not untalented, he's just reached the end of his creativity. The older stuff is beautiful but the new stuff... leaves something to be desired.

no, he's just boring xD always was, always will be ;)

This is a really cool discussion, sorry to say i'm a kinda new fan so i guess i don't know much about "older" visual kei. I do know who Hide is though!:) Anyways, i agree that a lot of bands start to sound the same after a while, but i think that there are still a lot of good bands out there. I do love Alice Nine, Ancafe, Gazette, etc. and i would say they are very fangirl-based, but i don't think people like them just for their looks, or at least i know i don't. I think they make good music. Of course, everyone has a different opinion on what that is.:vsign: This thought i had kind of fits in to this discussion, i hate it when people are like, "oh i hate ancafe cause they are all gay trannies, etc" just because it's not "cool" to like them, as opposed to say, either some band no one's heard of, or even like the Gazette or Mucc or something. If you don't really like them cause of their music, whatever, but i hate people who are like anti-something just cause it's cool. Sorry, I'm kinda rambling...:ywave:

Yeah..I agree with you ^^ I do love any Japanese bands. ^^

hey! I like kylie *hides*

But i see what you mean, I've not really listened to vk these days, Gone more poppish. VK is just full of people that try to hard and in a way OVERHYPE it a bit too much. Maybe thats why you're not feeling the uniqueness?

And because a few bands have decided to disband recently. *siiigh*

Beast of Blood introduced a lot of the older fan base into VK. It's not nice to dis it. Although I do understand what you're saying.

I thought ANCafe was JPop? It's VK? O_o No wonder the field has gone to shit.

A lot of the bands have gone Popish. Look at Sadie and D'espairsRay... what the hell happened? and SID went to Pop... our world is falling apart.

Good bands split up too. :\

PIERROT, GHOST, and Aikaryu for example.

Don't forget Rentrer En Soi and Kagerou as well.

OMG U KNOW IT i mean she is smashing!!!! i was like omg!! when the 1st ep of VK came..and she hit me like woahhh.....gothic has a new queen...and the cello...thats even hotter...." cartoonnetwork the skunk"..pepe~lepue~.*lets make beautiful music together...muwah muwah muwah*

A lot of bands are kinda more popish, i guess you could say, but that kinda leads to the question what is VK in the first place? Aren't there subgenres, where bands are more pop/vk or jrock/vk or metal/vk, etc.? It isn't really one style so much anymore it seems to me. It's kind of hard to pinpoint

it's not that she's awesome...
she's more.... eloquent.....
and she makes her cello quite sexy <3

she makes the cello sexy =3
but w/o her, the cello is but a cello~
and she just a simple doll >.>'
put together... she's a sexy doll... on a very very sexy cello x]
well that's my illogical logic xD


and lol
idk, mana is a bit dull, i'll admit
but kanon ... just appeals to me for some reason xD

*in any case, my girlfriend absolutely adores her xD*

yes.... kate has some lovely breasts...

(just googled the name and guess what i got >.>""")

hmm.....

i need more songs from apocolyptica xDD
(my gf also introduced me to them as well >.>" )