| Visual kei | |
|---|---|
 Fanscosplaying as members of visual kei bandMalice Mizer | |
| Stylistic origins | |
| Cultural origins | Early 1980s, Japan |
| Subgenres | |
| Eroguro kei | |
| Local scenes | |
| Nagoya | |
| Other topics | |
Visual kei (Japanese:ヴィジュアル系or ビジュアル系,Hepburn:Vijuaru keior Bijuaru kei,lit. "Visual Style"[1][2]), abbreviatedv-kei (V系,bui kei), is a category of Japanese musicians that have a strong focus on extravagant stage costumes that originated in Japan during the early 1980s. Koji Dejima ofBounce wrote that visual kei is not a specific sound, but rather it "revolves around the creation of a band's unique worldview and/or stylistic beauty through visual expressions in the form of makeup and fashion".[3] While visual kei acts can be of any music genre, it originated with bands influenced byglam rock,heavy metal,punk rock andgothic rock.
Visual kei was pioneered by groups such asX Japan,Dead End,Buck-Tick,D'erlanger, andColor, and gained further notoriety in the 1990s through the success of groups likeLuna Sea,Glay,L'Arc-en-Ciel, andMalice Mizer. The movement's success continued through the 2000s withGackt and more musically broad bands such asDir En Grey,the Gazette,Alice Nine,Girugamesh, andVersailles, a period which some critics term "neo-visual kei" (ネオ・ヴィジュアル系). Many acts tone-down their appearance upon achieving mainstream success, calling into question whether they are still to be considered visual kei.
The term "visual kei" was derived from one ofX Japan's slogans, "Psychedelic Violence Crime of Visual Shock", seen on the cover of their second studio albumBlue Blood (1989).[4][3][5] This derivation is credited as being coined by Seiichi Hoshiko, the founding editor ofShoxx magazine, which was founded in 1990 as the first publication devoted to the subject. However, he explained in a 2018 interview withJRock News that visual kei was technically coined, or at least inspired by, X Japan's lead guitaristhide. Hoshiko also said that at the time they were called 'Okeshou Kei' (お化粧系,Okeshō Kei, "Makeup Style"), "but it simply felt... too cheap... Even though X Japan was a big band and people used the term 'Okeshou kei' to describe them, the term was still lacking substance, I didn't like the term at all! Because of this, I tried to remind all the writers to not use this term as 'They are not okeshou kei, they are visual-shock kei'. From there, it went from 'Visual-shock kei' to 'Visual-kei' to 'V-kei'. After we spread the word, fans naturally abbreviated it to 'V-kei'. The Japanese love to abbreviate everything as a matter of fact." Hoshiko considers visual kei a distinctive Japanese music genre and defined it "as the music itself along with all the visual aspects of it."[6][7]
Visual kei emerged in the 1980s Japanese underground music scene,[8] pioneered by bands such asX Japan,Dead End,Buck-Tick,D'erlanger, andColor.[3][9][10] Music journalist Taiyo Sawada noted the musical diversity of the scene's early acts; some had strongmetal influence, some were influenced by 1980sgoth andnew wave, while others evolved fromhardcore punk.[11] Japanese pop culture websiteReal Sound wrote that similarities between the appearances and behavior of the founders of visual kei and members of theyankī delinquent subculture are often noted.[12] The movement designated a new form of Japanese rock music influenced by Western hard rock andglam metal acts likeKiss,Twisted Sister,Hanoi Rocks,Mötley Crüe.[4] InThe George Mason Review, Megan Pfeifle described the movement as being roughly divided into two generations, with the first in three transitional eras,[13] of which the first era lasted just over a decade.[14]
In the late 1980s and until the mid-1990s, visual kei received increasing popularity throughout Japan, when album sales from such bands started to reach record numbers.[8][15] The first band with recordings that achieved notable success was Dead End, whose independent albumDead Line (1986) sold over 20,000 copies,[16] and whose major label debut albumGhost of Romance (1987) released byVictor Entertainment reached No. 14 on theOricon Albums Chart.[17] That same year, Buck-Tick released their major debutSexual XXXXX! through the same record label.[18] Dead End even had albumsGhost of Romance andShámbara (1988) released by American labelMetal Blade Records, with radio station and MTV exposure in the United States. In 1990, D'erlanger's major debut albumBasilisk reached No. 5 on the Oricon chart,[19] but they and Dead End both disbanded that same year.
In 1988 and 1989, Buck-Tick and X Japan started to gain mainstream success that continues to present-day. Buck Tick's single "Just One More Kiss" entered No. 6 and "Aku no Hana" is first visual kei No. 1 single on theOricon Singles Chart, while their studio albumsSeventh Heaven (1988) andTaboo (1989) charted at No. 3 and 1 respectively and were the first Japanese rock band to hold a concert at theTokyo Dome.[18] They continued to have success, with nearly all of their subsequent albums topping the charts until 1995 and later reaching the top ten on the charts. X Japan's first album, the independently releasedVanishing Vision, reached No. 19 in 1988, making them the first indie band to appear on the main Oricon Albums Chart.[20][21] Their second and major debut albumBlue Blood (1989) reached number 6 and has since sold 712,000 copies.[22] Their third and best-selling albumJealousy was released in 1991, topped the charts and sold over 1 million copies.[22] They went on to release two more number one studio albums,Art of Life (1993) andDahlia (1996). In 1992, X Japan tried to launch an attempt to enter the American market, even signing withAtlantic Records for a US album, but this ultimately did not happen.[23]
Two record labels formed in 1986,Extasy Records (Tokyo) andFree-Will (Osaka), were instrumental in promoting the visual kei scene.[3] Extasy was created by X Japan drummer and leaderYoshiki and signed bands, not limited to visual kei acts, that would go on to make marks on the Japanese music scene, includingZi:Kill,[24]Tokyo Yankees and Ladies Room.Luna Sea andGlay, who both went on to sell millions of records, with Glay being one of Japan's best-selling musical acts, had their first albums released by Extasy in 1991 and 1994 respectively.[25][24] Free-Will was founded by Color vocalist and leaderDynamite Tommy, and while at the time not as popular as Extasy, it had many moderately successful acts, such asBy-Sexual andKamaitachi.[3]
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Pfeifle described the second transition era as beginning in 1993 with bands such asL'Arc-en-Ciel, Glay (although formed in 1988, their first album was released in 1994) andMalice Mizer. They gained mainstream awareness, although they were not as commercially successful, except for L'Arc-en-Ciel and Glay whose later huge success was accompanied by a drastic change in their appearance and are often not associated with visual kei.[25][14] Around 1995, visual kei bands experienced a booming success in the general population, which lasted for four years.[14] According to Pfeifle, the third transition era began by bands such asLa'cryma Christi,Penicillin andRouage achieving moderate success.[14] At the time, "the big four of visual kei" were Malice Mizer, La'cryma Christi,Shazna andFanatic Crisis.[26][27][28]
Around the early 1990s, a visual kei scene that placed more emphasize on music rather than fashion arouse in the city ofNagoya, and as such was later dubbedNagoya kei.[29] Silver-Rose (formed in 1989) andKuroyume (formed in 1991) were described as the "Nagoya big two" in the underground scene,[29] and withLaputa (formed in 1993[30]),[31] are credited with "creating the early Nagoya kei style."[32] Kuroyume's albumsFeminism (1995) andFake Star (1996) both topped the Oricon chart.[33] During the 1990s, several other conceptual subgenres likeEroguro kei (notably represented byCali Gari), Angura kei (underground style, wearing traditionalkimono or Japanese uniforms) and Ouji kei or Kodona kei (prince style or boy style, notablyPlastic Tree) emerged.[14] In 1998,Pierrot released their major debut single,[34] andDir En Grey's first three major singles were released with the help of Yoshiki the following year.[35] They were called "the big two" in the scene at that time.[36]
By the late 1990s, the mainstream popularity of visual kei was declining;[37] Luna Sea went on a year-long hiatus in 1997 before disbanding in 2000, X Japan disbanded at the end of 1997 and one year later their lead guitarist hide died. In 1999, Malice Mizer's drummerKami died after the departure of singerGackt,[38] who with a toned down appearance became one of the most popular and successful visual kei acts,[39][40] and L'Arc-en-Ciel publicly distanced themselves from the movement (although, in 2012 they were partly promoted internationally as a visual kei band[41]).[4] In 1998,Billboard's Steve McClure commented that "To a certain extent, hide's death means the end of an era, X were the first generation of visual kei bands, but the novelty has worn off. For the next generation of bands, it's like:That's it. The torch has been passed to us".[42] As other bands could not meet financial expectations, most major companies backed out of the movement,[4] and it became an underground style often associated with the rebellious generation, non-conforming to proper society.[14]
A second generation emerged in small visual kei-specificlive houses managed by record companies like PS Company (Free-Will) andMaverick DC Group.[4] The difference between the first and second generation is that the second; has no straightforward music style, ranging from metal to pop, but still seemingly focused on heavy rock genres; the fashion and gender ambiguities are of central importance. Although economically not very significant in the Japanese music market, it became the first Japanese music to succeed on an international scale.[43]
Notable newer visual kei bands includeDir En Grey,the Gazette,Alice Nine,D'espairsRay andGirugamesh, as well as solo performerMiyavi,[44][45] who have all performed overseas.[3] Veterans of the scene also established new acts, such as Malice Mizer'sMana with his bandMoi dix Mois and three members of Pierrot formingAngelo.[3] In 2007, visual kei was revitalized as Yoshiki, Gackt, Sugizo and Miyavi formed supergroupSkin,[46] Luna Sea performed a one-off performance and X Japan officially reunited with a new single and a world tour. With these developments, visual kei bands enjoyed a boost in public awareness, with acts formed around 2004 having been described by some media as "neo-visual kei".[14][15] From this generation the subgenre "oshare kei" (オサレ系) emerged, where the musicians produce upbeatpop rock and wear bright colorful attire.[14] Pioneers of this style includeBaroque,Kra,Charlotte andAn Cafe.[47]
Although the first international concert by a visual kei act was held inTaiwan by Luna Sea in 1999, it was not until 2002 that many visual kei bands started to perform worldwide (United States, in Europe from 2004), with the initial interest coming from Japanese-themed conventions likeA-Konwhere bands like Psycho le Cemu performed.[13] In the first five years Dir En Grey was especially well received having performed in Korn's Family Values Tour in 2006.[48] In 2007, the Jrock Revolution event was held inLos Angeles and featured visual kei bands.[49] Although some bands like the Gazette have played atTokyo Dome (not at full capacity), the majority of acts play in much smaller venues likeShibuya O-East.[50] In 2009 the V-Rock Festival atMakuhari Messe was reported as the "world's largest Visual Kei music festival" gathering over 50 "visual artists," although this included some Western acts likeMarilyn Manson.[51] A second V-Rock Festival was held in 2011 atSaitama Super Arena.[52][53]
Dead End officially reunited in 2009 and La'cryma Christi (which disbanded in 2007) reunited for an anniversary tour in 2010.[54][55]Kiyoharu announced the reformations of both Kuroyume andSads,[56] and Luna Sea reunited and began a world tour.[57]
As an epilogue to their 25th anniversary, Luna Sea hosted a rock festival titled Lunatic Fest on 27 and 28 June 2015, with an estimated 60,000 fans attending.[58] Held at Makuhari Messe, there were three stages and 12 artists,[59] most visual kei acts including X Japan, Dead End, Dir En Grey,Siam Shade and Tokyo Yankees the first night,[60][61][62] andAion, Buck-Tick, D'erlanger, Glay andMucc the second night.[63]
A large three-day visual kei rock festival titled Visual Japan Summit was held at Makuhari Messe between October 14–16, 2016.[64][65] Luna Sea hosted another two-day Lunatic Fest at Makuhari Messe on June 23 and 24, 2018.[66]
According to sales figures from online music store CDJapan, some of the internationally popular visual kei acts on the late 2010s include the Gazette,Kamijo,Nocturnal Bloodlust, Versailles,Jupiter,Mejibray,lynch.,Dimlim,Matenrou Opera, Miyavi,D,Diaura, Dadaroma, Initial'L,A9,Buck-Tick,Yoshiki,Hyde, Luna Sea,Mucc,Hizaki andGackt.[67][68][69][70]
In 2021, visual kei journalist Chiaki Fujitani noted how newer acts were combining visual kei with other elements to create originality. She cited Nocturnal Bloodlust's muscular vocalist Hiro for defying the usual delicate appearance of visual kei musicians, 0.1g no Gosan for utilizing tropes ofunderground idols, such as playingtug of war with fans during concerts, Choke for their avant-garde form ofrap metal, and former D'espairsRay drummer Tsukasa Mogamigawa for being the first visual keienka singer.[71]Mai Yajima's singing style has been referred to as "enka rock".[72] Moi dix Mois, Versailles, D and Matenrou Opera teamed up for the four-date Japanese Visual Metal tour in late 2023 and released a collaborative single.[73][74]
Sources have variously referred to visual kei as amovement,[75]scene,[75]subculture,[38] andmusic genre.[38] It is not associated with any one musical style,[75][76][77] as visual kei artists play a variety of genres includingpunk rock,heavy metal,pop,electronica,classical, andindustrial.[3][78][79] Instead, it is defined by an act's emphasis on aesthetics, particularly their fashion and use of makeup,[2][38][80] with a number of visual kei artists and critics describing it as a freedom of expression and experimental fashion.[81][82][83] Koji Dejima ofBounce wrote that visual kei "revolves around the creation of a band's unique worldview and/or stylistic beauty through visual expressions in the form of makeup and fashion".[3] Sources have also noted that visual kei is a "uniquely Japanese" phenomenon.[2][75]
Visual kei musicians often have elaborate, dyed hair, extravagant costumes, frequently with leather, PVC or lace, or based on traditional Japanese clothing pieces, and excessive jewelry.[42][79][8] Many musicians make use ofandrogynous andgender bending aesthetics,[84][85] with some of its male musicianscross-dressing in a manner similar to traditional Japaneseonnagata performers. This rose to prominence through the success ofMalice Mizer, whose guitaristMana performed dressed as a woman and singerGackt was a "living specimen ofbishōnen".[85][86] Such aesthetics are reminiscent of those seen inshōjo manga.[85] Different artists have taken aesthetic influence from various fashion styles includingglam,metalhead,punk,goth andcyberpunk.[79][87] Dejima generalized visual kei as being based on the androgynous sensibilities of theNew Romantic movement and Los Angeles metal scene, or the goth subculture, and topped off with elements from "strange" and "taboo" interests such asLolita,psychopathy, and theoccult.[3] Many subsects of visual kei exist to describe separate styles.Eroguro kei is one such subsect which is influenced byBDSM andhorror imagery, while angura kei makes use of traditional Japanese clothing styles likekimonos.[38] Many acts tone-down their appearance upon achieving mainstream success, calling into question whether they are still to be considered visual kei.[88]
In addition to the visual aspects, visual kei artists often have a wider "decorative fantasy" concept or context and their on-stage performances are "overwhelming, multisensory experiences whose constructed nature is made apparent to audiences" (e.g. observed in Gackt's career claim about being a vampire).[89]
There has been criticism directed at newer visual kei bands for having lost the spirit of their forefathers by copying each other in design and sound, and becoming all the same.[14] As far back as 1998,Neil Strauss reported that to visual kei bands "after X" makeup and outrageous looks became "more important than music."[42] Several musicians have expressed their discontent; in 2008,Kirito (Pierrot, Angelo) said "now it's more like people are dressing up a certain way because they want to be visual kei or look visual kei. They are doing it to look like others instead of doing it to look different. This is obviously very different from when we started out more than ten years ago,"[82] whileSugizo (Luna Sea) stated in 2010 that "they cannot make good sounds and music is more like a hobby for them. I cannot feel their soul in the music."[90]
Although almost from the newer generation himself, Dir En Grey bassist Toshiya said in 2010 "to be honest, when we first started and we were wearing a lot of makeup on stage and stuff, there were a lot of bands doing that at the time in Japan and people thought it was cool. But not anymore, ha ha." and added "the music was so unique, too – bands like X Japan. At that time, there weren't any two bands that sounded alike; these days everyone sounds exactly the same."[91] Kenzi (Kamaitachi,The Dead Pop Stars,Anti Feminism) commented in 2009 that "back in the day, there were bands, but people would try to do things differently. Nowadays, there's one band and everyone copies off of them," with Free-Will founder and Color frontman Tommy concluding with "I don't think our breed of visual kei exists anymore."[92] In 2013, Kiyoharu (Kuroyume, Sads) said that although he,Ryuichi (Luna Sea) andHyde (L'Arc-en-Ciel) were influenced byMorrie (Dead End), they "sublimated each other" inventing something new, but the younger generation is more imitative. He proposed that from Morrie's perspective this probably appears to be a "copy of his copy's copy".[93] In the same interview, Morrie added that the problem with new visual kei bands is that "they're established as a genre... well, there's probably a part of it that's business-wise, but it wouldn't be fun if it got stiff. I would like to see people who are trying to break through that area. It doesn't matter how good you are, whether you're doing it on the visual kei route or not, it's something fundamental."[93]
Time Out Tokyo's Bunny Bissoux concluded in 2015 that the movement "today is basically a parallel of theJ-popidol system" and "that originally prided itself on being different, it now attracts those who want to 'look' visual kei. Genuine originality (in the music, at least) seems to be dying out."[38] In 2018, Seiichi Hoshiko said that he was worried about this trend's effect on the movement's future.[7]
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Magazines published regularly in Japan with visual kei coverage areArena 37 °C,Cure,Fool's Mate Express,Shoxx,Shock Wave,Rock and Read among others. The popularity and awareness of visual kei groups outside Japan has seen an increase in recent years, mostly through internet and Japaneseanime,[94] shown for example by German magazinesPeach (discontinued in 2011[95]) andKoneko, as well European record labelGan-Shin. The biggest fan communities are found in United States, Germany, Poland, Russia, France and Brazil and to some extent Finland, Chile and Sweden.[96]
From this influence on international youth subcultures, bands likeCinema Bizarre emerged, but they hesitate to consider themselves visual kei because they are not ethnically Japanese.[96] Despite the existence of visually similar music acts in the West such asMarilyn Manson,Tokio Hotel andLady Gaga,[97] Pfeifle writes that the androgynous look of visual kei bands often has a repulsive effect on Westerners.[98]
According to the musicologists, theLacanist psychoanalysis of the subculture indicates that the fascination with the singer's voice (the lack of understanding amplifies the effect), as well ineffable and unfulfillable desire, are what attracts most of the (predominantly female) fans to the groups on an international scale.[99] The female fans (bangyaru (バンギャル)) show a behavioral pattern while attending the concerts, and there are severalfuri (movements) liketesensu (arm fan),gyakudai (reversed dive),hedoban (headbang),saku (spread hands in the air).[100] The explicitfan fiction andhomoerotic acts on the stage by some musicians, calledfan service (a sexual term borrowed frommanga culture), are related to the Lacanian man's type ofdesire (to be recognized by the other, desire of the other), i.e. the female fans do not desire the musician himself, but his desire; a kind of cultural social training ground for the inescapable process of learning how to desire.[101]
It's a style of dress, there's a lot of costuming and make up and it's uniquely Japanese because it goes back to ancient Japan. Men would often wear women's clothing...
Visual Kei is exactly as it sounds: Rock music that incorporates visual effects and elaborate costumes to heighten the experience of the music and the show. Visual Kei started in the 80s and became so popular by the 90s that the nearly all-female fan base started dressing up as their favorite band members (known as 'cosplay') who were often males that wore make-up, crazy hair and dressed androgynously or as females (usually, the more feminine the rocker, the more fans rush to emulate them).
...while Kiss is a heavy metal band, visual kei bands like X Japan, Color, Dead End and D'erlanger are by and large a cross between metal, punk, goth, cyber and rock. The sounds are hard and the looks are dark and severe.
それは、X JAPANやDEAD ENDのようなメタルの影響の強いものや、BUCK-TICKのような80sのゴス系ニュー・ウェイヴ（第10章参照）のタイプ、ハードコア・パンクからメタルに進化したGastunkに影響されたものまで雑多なものでしたが、それらはやがて外見上の傾向で括られ"ヴィジュアル系"と呼ばれるようになります。
...a fleeting genre known to fans as 'Visual Kei'. Nonetheless, this fusion of metal, punk and gothic aesthetics ignited at least two generations of followers with its shocking visual appeal...; 'Visual Kei' as a genre has more or less expired since the late '90s. The music that derived from the scene has transformed and visual bands have generally subdued their appearance.
For visual kei bands, outrageous, usually androgynous looks – gobs of makeup, hair dyed and sprayed in ways that made Mohawks look conservative and a small fortune spent on leather and jewellery – were as important as music (or, in many cases after X, more important than music).; To a certain extent, Hide's death means the end of an era, said Steve McClure, Tokyo bureau chief for Billboard, the music-industry magazine. X were the first generation of visual kei bands, but the novelty has worn off. For the next generation of bands, it's like:That's it. The torch has been passed to us.
Visual-kei is a uniquely Japanese music scene, but it doesn't have a specific sound – it's more of a movement.
Musically speaking, visual kei can do anything.
Visual kei isn't a genre of music.
Josephine Yun, author of the book Jrock, Ink., explains that visual kei originated in the late 1970s and early 1980s as Japan's rock scene began cultivating its own identity. 'It was rock 'n roll, punk rock, glam and metal with a twist – a twist just as angry and rebellious as what came before it – but a poetic one, artistic, with painstaking attention to detail,' Yun explains. She points out that "visual kei" literally translates as "visual style" and spans a wide range of musical genres.; Musically, it can be anything: American rock, British punk, glam, metal, Euro-pop, techno, new wave, electronica," explains Yun. "Visually, the influences are diverse as well: traditional Japanese dress, S&M outfits, costumes made of vinyl, leather, lace, plastic...you name it."
[…]Visual kei is not a style of music, but the whole physical image of the band.
But visual kei is more like a spirit, it's not a music style or, you know… I think it is a freedom about describing myself, a freedom to express myself, that's what I believe visual kei is.
Well I still don't think "visual kei" is a name for a genre; I see it as a bigger picture, as a part of rock. The visual aspect is something for a band to set themselves apart from others, at least that's what it was ten years ago. Now it's more like people are dressing up a certain way because they want to be "visual kei" or look "visual kei." They are doing it to look like others instead of doing it to look different. This is obviously very different from when we started out more than ten years ago. That's how I see it.
Well, visual kei isn't a genre of music; it's used to categorize the bands that show their unique characteristics with their costumes and makeup, though sometimes the music doesn't necessarily fit the image. Either way, it's used to describe such bands that show their individualism through their appearance.
When we were growing up around [the] late '80s and early '90s, visual kei was influenced by glam music.
...visual-kei, where peacockish fashion far overshadows any definitive sound.; To be honest, when we first started and we were wearing a lot of makeup on stage and stuff, there were a lot of bands doing that at the time in Japan and people thought it was cool. But not anymore, ha ha. The music was so unique, too – bands like X Japan. At that time, there weren't any two bands that sounded alike; these days everyone sounds exactly the same
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