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
Well done, good intro.
One nitpick…the paragraph which mentions Shonen Knife may give readers the impression the group came from the 1990s or later. In fact, they have been around since 1981 making them one of the most enduring groups in rock (perhaps the most enduring for an all-female group).
A valid point. Shonen Knife (and the Pillows) were all formed in the 80’s. However, they did not garner commercial and critical success on par with their Western counterparts until the 90’s, which was the point I was trying to illustrate. You’re right, though. I should have elaborated more. ^^
Another nitpick: “Visual Kei, which has nothing to do with a bands sound, ” – this is not correct. True, today it’s less prevalent, but back in the good ol’ times when the genre was born and in its early stage of evolution (from very late ’80s to mid-late ’90s) visual kei bands had a rather distinct sound, simply because they all were influenced by the same bands, and also by each other. Today the genre has evolved past that and second (or third?) generation visual kei is more defined by being a subculture than how the bands sound or even how they look.
I only mentioned it because I used to air cuts from their first record, Burning Farm, on my college radio station…so even though they hadn’t achieved their current level of popularity, they were still getting some airplay in the 1980s.
@ mochi:
Burning Farm dominates my playlist! What college radio station did you work for? Mine only plays Jazz….
@ Kuromitsu:
I am not so sure thay had a completely distinct sound. In fact, many visual kei bands from the 80’s shocked their fans from abroad who had only heard tracks off of mix-tapes and then later saw their pictures.
@David C Savage
This is going to be ironic. First, I worked for WFSU-FM.
Now, the irony…I still volunteer at the station, but I currently do a jazz show.
Truthfully, when I saw the title, I was a bit cynical. I am an avid fan of j-rock, as I always have music on and the majority of it is J-rock, but I have not done any background research on any of it and I’ve only read a few articles here or there about the actual beginning of noise music, so I cant really criticize. Good intro.
Since I know nothing about J-rock, David S.’s article is a really good start for me, and for other people like me.
I hope newbies and hardcore fans alike can get a better understanding of J-rock from this; I know I did.
Great article David!
Good stuff, Rachel! One nitpick as well, though. Cibo Matto is a New York act, not an import. Kinda like Asobi Seksu. Sorry, my wife and I were big Cibo Matto fans. Miho’s gone solo these days, but I don’t like her sound as much. Oh well. Again, good stuff.
@ Chris:
Cibo Matto is from did form in New York, but they were both originally from Tokyo and have credited Japan for their eccentric and quirky sound.
Nice to meet a fellow fan of Cibo Matto! Do you prefer their more mainstream sound of their more experimental stylings?
I love Cibo Matto! I like all of it but I do perfer their more mainstream sound. I don’t think of them as J-rock either even though they are Japanese.
-Chris, I’m glad you liked the post! This article was written by our Guest Music Writer, David Savage (Narcolepsy), so props to David S. I’m looking forward to posting more of his pieces.
-Zingor, I have no idea what warrants the label of J-rock. Is there some criteria to be met before a band or musician gets slapped with the title of J-rock band? I haven’t the foggiest.
David, any insight on to what particulars make up the J-rock label? A sound, style, place of origin?
@Narcolepsy: Well, I do love Stereo Type A, and Viva! la Woman has a lot of great tracks. I can’t say that Super Relax has received all that much play in our house. So…I guess we like the more recent stuff
Basically, J rock is rock and roll from Japan (J-Pop is also the same thing). However, I consider acts from Japan with Japanese influence J-Rock as well. For instance, as a Radio, TV, and Film major, we’re taught in genre theory that influence can decide the genre label, not so much the location of origin.
I agree that Viva! had a number of good tracks, but if I want a solid listen-through of an entire album, I usually go with Stereotype A.
This is a really great article! I used it in a paper I wrote on how western influences have changed Japanese music, and I’m very glad you used your real name on the post. I don’t think I could cite “Narcolepsy” as an author, y’know?