Forum - View topicINTEREST: L'Arc en Ciel's Hyde Expresses Frustration at the State of Japan's Hit Music Charts
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nhat
Posts: 922 |
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Eh the grass isn't much better other side. What we have here isn't much better
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Loveless100
 Posts: 82 |
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I have mixed feelings about his statement. It's fascinating to see more anisong and idol music (I'm including Johnnys and Hello Project/AKB-esque groups in this mix for the record, not sure if Hyde included them but I assumed so) but I'm also seeing a lack of new talent. I suppose when an industry is thriving (and anisong and idol music is BIG $$$ from the looks of it) there is more content, which includes both good and not so good. But then we're also seeing an influx of Korean acts in the Oricon which pushes Japanese acts out too. Japan does have some major non idol groups like SEKAI NO OWARI and Nishino Kana, but I feel like it's harder and harder for me to find some good Japanese acts nowadays. That and sales based numbers don't adjust for CDs/DVDs that include tickets to events and other prize based promotions added on.
In general, the Japanese music industry is thriving, which is good, but it's more evolving to adapt to the new demands of consumers. It might be unfortunate for some of the old guard but I'm excited to see what this new direction of "Jpop" is headed. |
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John Thacker
Posts: 1006 |
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ReLIFE is a weird one to include, because every ending song was different and was just chosen as popular songs from the main character's original high school years that might be on his Minidiscs. Several of their other songs have been used as anime openings and endings (DNA^2 Blurry Eyes, for example) but there's differences among a popular song being used in an anime, a song written for an anime, and an image song. No one would say that Radiohead or Franz Ferdinand wrote anisongs just because Ergo Proxy and Paradise Kiss used their songs as endings.
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relyat08
 Posts: 4125 Location: Northern Virginia |
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Just goes to show how much variety there is within music used for anime. I think their statement is kind of dumb, to be honest. Literally any sort of music can be in anime. The fact that a lot of popular music in Japan happens to be in anime is no different than popular music from other cultures being used in their media. |
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NormanS
 Posts: 167 |
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I would listen to more japanese music, but apart from Electronic dance music from comiket (, or M3 such as Zytokine and Diverse System... Theres not much music that caters to my taste. Alot of my favorite japanese artists/group arent even classified as mainstream japanese music An example of one of my Japanese groups is I've Sound (formerly in the group: MELL,Mami Kawada, Kotoko, Lia, Eiko Shimamiya, Kaori Utatsuki), and i couldn't find many japanese groups/artists that are in the same genre as them (Japanese vocal trance/techno/jpop hybrid).
Whenever i think of "Jpop" i think of boy rock bands, girl groups, or the well known artist that sings rap/hip hop and pop like Namie Amuro or Utada Hikaru |
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Agent355
 Posts: 5113 Location: Crackberry in hand, thumbs at the ready... |
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What does he think the rest of the world's hit music charts look like?
Let's look at this week's Billboard Hot 100. In the top 20 there are: Seven songs featuring Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, Selena Gomez or Drake. Grande, Gomez and Drake all got their starts as teen TV show stars (Drake started on the Canadian teen soap opera Degrassi). Justin Bieber is pretty much a teen idol. There are 2 songs that are Hollywood movie tie-ins: "Heathens" by twenty one pilots from the Suicide Squad soundtrack, and "Can't Stop The Feeling" by Justin Timberlake from the upcoming 3D animated feature Trolls (featuring Justin Timberlake!) That's just a straight-up "anisong" right there! 
I can pretty much bet that every song on the list has had multiple songwriters and producers involved in its production, even Adele's. I'm *not* arguing that American popular music is bad, but it's definitely just as commercial as other places'. That's just what sells the most. There are artists all over the world producing independent, artistic expressions of beauty and genius. Doesn't always chart. That's pretty much been true since the mid 20th century. |
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kiminobokuwa
Posts: 547 |
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I feel like this dude is whining that his song is no better than anime songs. Besides, who cares? If anime songs r making the top stop he just has to try harder. And if the fact that anime music is making the top spot even if we know that not everyone even likes anime then that means that there's something for everyone to enjoy within the genre. So, in all he has to suck it up.
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Lemonchest
Posts: 1771 |
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What's the context of that quote? Because it looks like it's been plucked out the middle of something.
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Shiflan
 Posts: 418 |
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I find this rather confusing to be honest. Justin has mentioned in a previous column that the majority of Japanese DON'T listen to anime music, and that the Oricon charts were consistently dominated by boy bands and highly promoted acts--the equivalents of Justin Bieber or Britney Spears in the US.
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Color2413
Posts: 49 |
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Of all of the J-Rock artists, I find Gackt the most interesting--it's as if David Bowie and Madonna had an Asian love child
 It is worthwhile seeking out DVDs of Gackt's spectacularly-mounted live shows, particularly those from 2000-2005. While Gackt has done a few anime theme songs (and has also done a bit of voice acting), his main focus has been on what he calls his "Visualives," which include things like making it rain on-stage (real water, not FX), creating elaborate CGI short films to open the shows, and making a spectacular entrance with his band on horseback, galloping through the audience to the stage.
Gackt's songwriting is strong and is mostly free from J-Rock cliches and harmonic progressions. He is one of the few J-Rock artists who has the self-confidence to sing acapella to a crowd of 10,000, and to bring occasional pure classical-style chamber music into the shows. I've been a fan for 16 years. (Hyde connection: Hyde and Gackt starred in "Moonchild," a 2003 feature film, which Gackt also helped script.) |
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H. Guderian
Posts: 1255 |
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Here's the thing, among Otaku it is part of the culture to support artists. The Mainstream is falling back to...not do so. From international to domestic otaku buying discs still that gives them a major staying power. Most of these charts are based off Sales. As to blending, he has blended with the anison scene before. I think he is merely feeling a little trapped, but it isn't like the anison/idol singers and writers aren't trying hard too. I think his feeling is that he wants to be able to add variety, but is feels at a loss when he currently can't compete as well as he used to. With the upcoming Olympics how often had you seen Normies in Japan vocalize foreign opinion when it comes to Idols and Anime? Last edited by H. Guderian on Tue Sep 13, 2016 5:23 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Saku-dono
Posts: 801 |
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Yeah, Hyde! You nailed it!
Idol song sucks as hell and I will forever love L~arc songs! |
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H. Guderian
Posts: 1255 |
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Do they have to suck? Or have you just not listened to many and are jumping to conclusions? Every genre can be good, imho.
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Kalessin
 Posts: 931 |
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I find the fact that someone from L'Arc en Ciel is saying this particularly funny, because I've found that the songs that they do for an anime tend to be truly awesome, whereas I don't like most of their other music. There are some artists where I will buy everything they do without even listening to it first, because I know that I'm going to like it (e.g. Kalafina, Minori Chihara, Kotoko, and Lia to name a few), whereas for other artists, I have to be careful to only buy the stuff that I've heard from them, because too much of what they do is not to my taste at all. And I'd have to say that L'Arc en Ciel has the biggest disparity for me out of those in the latter category. Some of their songs are some of the best out there, but most of them, I can't stand.
To be honest though, I don't really care about what's at the top of the charts or whether most of what's coming out is particularly innovative. I just care about how good it sounds to me, and if that's all stuff from anime, oh well. At least with anime, I have a chance to run into some of these artists that I otherwise would never have heard of. That's probably actually a good chunk of the reason that many of the songs that do well are from anime even if folks then buy stuff from those artists that has nothing to do with anime. I've bought a lot of jpop, but most of the artists are folks that I ran into via an anime. |
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H. Guderian
Posts: 1255 |
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Cheers to that, I've met many artists via Anison or game music. The only thing that chart rankings mean to me is that that particular artist is doing well for themselves. Good job on getting a nice paycheck. There are so many horror stories out of the industry I'm just glad some are getting paid decently. |
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