Forum - View topicINTEREST: L'Arc en Ciel's Hyde Expresses Frustration at the State of Japan's Hit Music Charts
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ryanvamp
Posts: 416 |
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As someone who's favorite group of all time IS L'Arc~en~Ciel, I will not only agree with his statement but ironically extend it to the band's own music: I like it a lot up until 2012's release of their latest album (Butterfly) which confirmed (this is all my opinion, of course) a downward spiral of quality for them. And this is not the infamous "I like the old stuff because I subconciously connect it to my chilhood or fav series"...because when I started listening to them I was arleady an adult.
Actually, I don't believe it's even this particular group or the abundance of anime-themed music (which coincidentally started to suck a few years ago, with notable exceptions such as Kalafina or Nana Mizuki...who at the same time started getting tiresome after composing the same song over and over)... I'd say the music scene itself changed and just like you can identify the US rock scene with "grunge" in the mid 90s, mainstream japanese music has been getting simpler and worse each year: specifically in the rock scene, once groups like bump of chicken or AKFG got popular, dozens of copycat acts started to show up from nowhere, diminishing their identities. More well-thought compositions such as the ones you could hear from laruku itself and others (B'z, Siam Shade, etc) became uncool for young people and therefore unnecessary. Anyways it's a complex subject so I feel like I left a lot of what I truly wanted to convey but there's a limited amount of time in a day to type in a forum. |
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Hoppy800
 Posts: 3331 |
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I respect his opinion but I'm not too bugged at how the charts are, the only thing that bugs is the manufactured idol groups are almost always on top over smaller groups, it's one of the reasons why I'll never even consider buying a single CD from AKB48 or any other of the other manufactured groups with large numbers of members in my collection, I can't support the terrible business practices that often occurs in those groups.
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omiya
 Posts: 1825 Location: Adelaide, South Australia |
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With attending shows like Animelo Summer Live some of the variety gets shown - e.g. in recent years ZAQ and MICHI (more jazz influenced) and Fhana. Kanon Wakeshima must also rank in the variety stakes - who else sings and plays cello in the one song? It is also worth agreeing with the quote above in that the anison artists work very hard to get a song that enhances both the anime and their own appeal as artists separate from the anime. |
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Katsukasu
Posts: 28 |
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crosswithyou
 Posts: 2892 Location: California |
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Methinks adding in an advanced lottery ticket applications for concerts in CDs should give the non-anisong music industry the boost it needs.
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Topgunguy
 Posts: 258 |
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Anime or not, Japan produces nice music. The West on the other hand, at least with regards to the mainstream, music made now is disposable vulgar trash not worthy of being called 'art'. I have to go back to the 80's and before to find things I like, I cannot tolerate late-90's and after.
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Yuunmei
Posts: 4 |
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Gotta say he isnt wrong about the idol music, IMO it all sounds pretty much the same in a monotonous tone. Although I also see a lot of music that is filled with english lyrics that dont sound right... Either way though each to their own
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gabuhaha
 Posts: 136 |
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I didn't even realize they actually had come to iTunes. I gave up searching since there would be CD's of Japanese artists actually released by US companies that still wouldn't make it onto iTunes. So, thanks. Maybe I'll pick up some of the singles that I haven't picked up yet. |
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Alabaster Spectrum
Posts: 528 |
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Yeah I find myself not liking a lot of modern anisong much either. Some of the acts that people seem really into nowadays (mostly from Sony Music I've noticed which I wonder if that has more to do with their aggressive promotion and marketing methods than the acts themselves) just kind of sound "loud and shrieky" to me and not all that catchy and in a similar situation to you I got into most of it in my early 20's. It's mainly in the past decade I've noticed I started listening to less and less anime theme songs and now I've virtually stopped watching TV anime altogether. There are some decent recent combo breakers like some of Jam Projects stuff getting good again as well as the theme song to Rakugo by Megumi Hayashibara but I think that's more a case of old versus new artists. I do like some of the Walkure stuff though I'll admit which sounds like a fusion of modern and 80's J-Pop sensibilities backed by a teen powerhouse vocalist in Junna. Just not into the rotation of Sony Music's shrill J-Rock personalities or Lantis Pop idols that we seem to get for most stuff exclusively now since they sponsor the most music. |
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vision33r
Posts: 90 |
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Idol music is for guys that can't get laid or girls that likes cheerleading culture. I can't even tell who is who is an idol group, they all sound alike and they perform the same moves. They are not artists, just another pretty face low talent idol singers. Who knows how many men they have to bed just to get the shot. Atleast I know Hyde writes his stuff and performs it, he's like Prince.
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omiya
Posts: 1825 Location: Adelaide, South Australia |
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Pardon the long quotes. I only really started getting into anison after getting the live blu-ray of Joe Hisaishi's music for Hayao Miyazaki's movies (recorded 2008, released 2009) and after watching a blu-ray of the orchestral concert of Haruhi Suzumiya (recorded 2009, I watched it around April 2011) and later seeing a clip from Animelo Summer Live 2008 of Minori Chihara singing Rinbu Revolution (from Revolutionary Girl Utena) with the original singer, Masami Okui. The anime songs themselves need to be good and the performers need to put their soul into their performances for them to make an impression with me. Some of the singers will also be voice actors/actresses, some will also be composers/lyricists. Seeing videos of or attending the live shows like Animelo Summer Live, Animax Musix, Lisani Live, 5pb Live, King Super Live, Lantis Matsuri or specific artists' shows be they Nana Mizuki, Yuki Kajiura (with FictionJunction / Kalafina), Angela or the like with thousands in the audience, or Chiaki Ishikawa in a moderate sized venue or something relatively small like a Lisa Komine show in a venue that wouldn't fit 60 people, you appreciate the really good anime songs - they tend to be concentrated in such live shows, which also include older songs. For all the songs that follow a forumula too much, someone else is looking for a different sound to go with the opening, ending or as an insert for an anime, and there are an abundance of talented composers/lyricists/instrumentalists/singers hoping to be part of it. Unfortunately Youtube Red and anime music labels other than Lantis don't seem to be allowing people much chance to hear anime songs without purchasing them. PS, I agree that in years like 2015 idol acts seemed to be over-represented in anime music, but Animelo Summer Live 2016 was a welcome return of such talented singers as Lia and Suara. |
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ouji
Posts: 4 |
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I understand his frustration when it comes to anisong singers and anime-brand pop idols and I do agree--there has been way too many anime pop idol bands lately and more are coming (and this is coming from someone who loves 2d idol boy bands). But I also have to say that Voice Actors and Actresses work really hard on their music and this roles and I hate when people discredit them for the hardwork that they do.
Nakamura Yuichi is a perfect example: he's tone deaf but when a character song for him was released, he sang again and again and AGAIN until he got it perfectly. A lot of voice actors aren't the best at singing but they will work as hard as any artist whether it come to practicing or nailing their song and recordings or even live concerts (even though they probably aren't the best singers.) OLDCODEX is one of my favorite bands and their lead singer is Tatsuhisa Suzuki, a famous voice actor, and they are under Lantis. I personally saw them live earlier this year and they are amazing, talented, and the whole crowd went wild. Tatsuhisa is hardworking, serious about his band, and has done nothing but work harder to make his band more known in Japan and overseas. They've been topping charts again and again with each album release--whether it be for an anime or singles and albums that aren't. Yorke writes ALL the lyrics and Tatsuhisa helps compose the music. YORKE has said that whenever Tatsuhisa is recording new music, he would record as long as he had to until he was happy with the finish product. He pushes himself hard and is always hard on himself. Mamoru Miyano was the first solo seiyuu artist to perform at Budokan and every single one of his concerts are always SOLD OUT. (He was also a musical actor before pursuing voice acting.) He's getting more and more known for more than just his voice acting roles but for his music and he's been topping Oricon Charts with every album release. He has every right to be frustrated, however I will also like to point out that just because voice actors/anison singers dominate the charts doesn't mean that they don't try to be original and they aren't as hardworking as other artists that are more mainstream and has achieved many things in their career. Oricon Chart is basically nothing but album sales but it MEANS A LOT in the music industry. They basically can't do anything if their fans aren't supporting them by buying physical copies and helping them go up ranks on that chart. I personally support all my favorite artists by importing their physical goods whether it be CD or magazines or DVD. If they worry so much about Oricon, they have to promote and push their fans to help buy the physical copies. |
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iamtooawesome
Posts: 351 Location: Thailand |
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Actually its good if thats what's selling, There's nothing wrong if the Japanese are giving their support to their own culture, but I do say that I feel a little bad about those fictional character idols who are slaying all those real Japanese singers in Oricon lol, but they cant help it if thats what's selling.
It must be the pressure from the other Asian countries, Japan is the leading pioneer when it comes to music industry production but it feels like China or Kpop is more superior than them, specially Hallyu Korea where their music is more influential. Real people obviously have a bigger chance of having sponsors signed from large international companies+higher salary, but with the current situation in Japan where the anime industry rules all, non-anime based Jpop artists just lels |
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