This post courtesy of Guest Writer David Savage (Narcolepsy).
J-rock seems like a fairly new trend within the music industry. For those of us in the western hemisphere it may seem that there is a new brand of Japanese rock and roll popping up from Japan. However, the history of rock in Japan is quite similar to the American version of the history.
It can be hard to grasp the true nature of J-rock because it is, by definition, rock and roll. No other musical genre has maintained its fluidity and evolutionary nature over the decades as rock.
In the 1960’s rock and roll was quickly gaining momentum as a pillar of the counterculture movement. In an era of unsure politics, casual sex, and rampant drug use, people were looking to rock and roll as a way of expressing themselves in an unsure time. Japan was no different. While the bands focus on the rock and roll and neglected the sex and drugs, they helped forge the new identity of a generation that seemed trapped between the precipice of pre-war Japan and the more western modern Japan.
It wasn’t until the late 60’s and early 70’s that Japanese rock began to take off. Many acts embraced the wailing guitars and tripped-out experience established by acts such as Hendrix or the Velvet Underground. However, it wasn’t just emulation of an established genre. Japanese acts such as the Jacks, Hadaka no Rallizes, Lost Aaraaff, and the Flower Traveling Band created a whole new sector of acid/hard-rock that is not only comparable to the scenes in the US and UK, but that they all had a charming merit of their own.
The later 70’s saw a progressive-rock movement uprising throughout the industry in Japan. Many acts were taking cues from bands like Led Zeppelin. It was a serious shift from the original psychedelic-rock movement to a more focused art form based around carefully crafted rifts and well placed melodies.
However, the 80’s totally subverted the progressive movement with one of the most fascinating trends in Japanese music history: noise-rock. Bands like the Boredoms (and Melt-Banana in the mid-90’s) embraced an almost Dadaist vision of what music should be. Instruments of every variety would be incorporated, along with guttural yelling and primal chants. What is even more interesting about noise-rock is the fact that while it was gaining momentum, another (and completely different) brand of music was bursting forth: Visual Kei.
Visual Kei, which has nothing to do with a bands sound, but mostly in their manner of presentation, created a face of rock for Japan that wasn’t wholly indicative of the music scene. While noise-rock carried an attitude of ambivalence, Visual Kei was a packaged branding of acts used to generate more buzz for bands.
Both gave way to what has been a very eclectic 90’s and 00’s. Japanese rock now spans all genres, from heavy metal to more radio-friendly versions. Thanks to acts such as Cibo Matto, Shonen Knife (one of Kurt Cobain’s favorite musical acts), and The Thrill, Japan has been exporting musical acts to America almost as fast as the UK! It doesn’t hurt that anime and video games have become so influential over the last decade, inspiring many fans to pick up the soundtracks for the shows and CD’s from bands like the Pillows, Beat Crusaders, and L’Arc~en~Ciel.
This is just a very brief introduction to a genre that is deep and robust with eclectic stylings and artists. Whole books could be written on any one of the few movements mentioned, but I hope this serves as a good jump-off point for those interested in J-rock.
Until next time, ã¾ã£ãŸãï¼
