Do You Listen To Jpop/Jrock?

[afiqys]

Hi there. I was wondering if you guys ever listen to jpop or jrock music?
Me being a fan of a lot of anime, has started to like listening to anime opening theme song and game theme songs. Right now my favourite jpop is "Asterisk" (TV size version) from the anime Bleach.
If you have a favourite, please share it with us.

[Inochi 命]

deuce said:

Rap is the biggest aural atrocity to ever be recorded.

Fixed...? well, that's what I would say. I've heard some people call J-rap pretty scary stuff, though.

I don't go looking for J-pop/J-rock... I tried to listen to some Ayumi Hamasaki but it bored me to death. I only tried it cuz I kinda liked one of her songs, Evolution (i think)... I heard it in an AMV a friend showed me. It was an unbelievably fast song, unlike the rest of the stuff I've heard from her. Most Japanese music i've heard either bores me or pisses me off (most likely if it's pop)... everything vocal i've heard from recent Final Fantasy games just bores me to tears (right from that scene in FFVI, actually, that so many find nostalgic... I was just thinking "wtf?"...ok, well I guess that wasn't "J-pop" anyways).

Otherwise, sometimes I hear something I like from a game (usually an intro or something) and like it... but I wouldn't consider most of that pop, although probably rock in some cases. It's never for the singing or vocals though, cuz since I can't understand I almost tune it out in most cases... or more like, the vocals just become part of the instruments. I heard a Rina Aiuchi song from Rockman X7's intro (Code Crush) and liked it enough to search out more of her music... most of it ended up sounding popish but the other stuff kept me listening (most of that stuff sounding more rockish, like Code Crush). Other than that, there's stuff like Zone of The Ender's intro theme or the Japanese version of a vocal song from the anime Noir... I don't classify either of those as either rock or pop.

First music I ever heard with japanese singing in it were from Mystical Ninja starring Goemon, Marvel vs Capcom (Roll's theme), and Night of Fire... no idea, I think it was from Initial D. The only one out of those I still enjoy is from Mystical Ninja... only for the nostalgic value. I can't believe I used to like that Night of Fire crap though... I guess it's just cuz it sounded so fast.

The last I listned to was Janne da Arc - WILD FANG from Mega Man X8 (...most Mega Man vocal music actually sucks, imo... but I really liked 2 or 3 of them).

[Haven]

I listen to Jpop a lot but mostly from ones in the 80s to 90s as I found the ones today a little too Western influenced (that means you Koda "Britney" Kumi!!!)

Notable ones (for me) are

80s
>Mari Iiijima (forever)
>Akina Nakamori (sings>jumps off apartment>lives>sings again)
>Anri (of Cat's Eye fame)
>MIO/MIQ
>Hiroko Moriguchi
>Noriko Sakai
>Yuki Saito
>Onyanko CLub (50+ member girl group behemoth - take that Morning Musume)
>Anzen Chitai (Misc)

90s
>Maaya Sakamoto
>Megumi Hayashibara (was she 80s or 90s?)
> JAM Project (AWESOME!!!)
> Do As Infinity (disbanded T_T)

I'm not really sure if I like today's jpop but if I have to mention any it would be
> Puffy AmiYumi (I like their voice at least)
> Utada Hikaru (well she's been around since the 90s but what the heck)
> Gackt (yes today's Jpop is that bad)

EDIT: Oh and no Ayumi Hamasaki/Hamasucky for me

[Incog Neato]

deuce said:

J-pop is the biggest aural atrocity to ever be recorded.

Are you not just over-generalizing here? D: Surely there must be ONE song you like? :/

And to answer the topic~~~~

Indeed I do! I like LUNA SEA, early L'Arc~en~Ciel stuff, mid 90's trf/TRF, really like globe's Love Again album and a lot of stuff various songs here and there from different artists like all the songs off the Osu! Tatake! Ouendan "soundtrack" though if the slow song stage didn't piss me off so much, I'd like the song more. And that's the original songs not the covers in the game. Well, except the Cleopatra stage. That song NEEDED a cover.

Edit: Because I felt like it! Here be Winamp list! I doubt anyone would be bored enough to go through it all though.

[Inochi 命]

haven9270 said:

(that means you Koda "Britney" Kumi!!!)

So, I guess this is the only good thing she's had any part of then?

"Subarashiki Shin Sekai" ("Brave New World": Literal trans. subarashi = Wonderful/excellent/amazing, etc. - shin/atarashi = "New", sekai = "world") original theme by Yuzo Koshiro, lyrics koda kumi, sung by flair.

I can't say if the lyrics are any good (nothing english or engrish in it, as far as I know)... but the credit for any amazingness in it does and should go to Yuzo anyways. The song is from Namco X Capcom, btw.

And i've always wonder what is considered J-pop? Is it just what's popular in Japan? Like what Brittany Spears is in America? Cuz sometimes it sounds like US pop, other times it's not even close... other times it's more rock (thus, J-rock, I guess) or techno (so is the stuff you hear while playing Initial D considered pop?). Sometimes you find all those different things come from one artist... which is why I usually can't find more songs I like from one artist after hearing something that I really like from them.

anyways, I'm sure almost everything I listen to isn't exactly popular in even Japan. And so far as i've heard, I doubt I'd like any of the currently popular stuff in Japan.

[FM-77AV]

No. No I do not. I have very limited taste in music (yet it is one of my biggest interests), and this is not part of what I like. Frankly, I don't even think I could stand it.

[Varion]

Generally, no. Not anymore, anyway. I never really liked Jpop (as in, what gets in the charts), but that basically goes for pop music in general - most of it's bad, just in different ways. This goes for most anime openings/endings too - though occasionally the short versions are catchy the full versions are almost universally the sample version, then it sung again with lyrics that don't fit the music at all, then a terrible, unfitting guitar solo, then back to the same lyrics again, end. But hey, sometimes something surprises me.

Jrock I used to listen to a lot, but most of the bands I enjoyed have since turned horribly bad, or at least repetitive and samey, or broken up. For example, the screamy mess that is Dir en grey's last few albums, or Gackt and Pierrot's last few formulaic CDs (which is a shame, as Pierrot's Private Enemy is still one of my favourite albums ever). There's still a few groups whose new releases I like (Gilgamesh, DespairsRay, Jam Project) but they're few and far between.

Nope, mostly listen to instrumental stuff these days - anime OSTs, game OSTs, whatever. Mostly game though. Falcom have been dominating my Last.fm for a few weeks now.

[FM-77AV]

How come everybody who likes this stuff listens to the same five bands? I've never listened to this myself, and yet I'm VERY familiar with these band names. Are there only five bands in Japan, or are they so utterly mainstream that they make all other bands obsolete?

[Gamemusicfreak]

If it's vocals based on game music, I'll listen to it. I like Rie Sugimoto, and the JDK Band. Those are about the only ones I listen to.

[Varion]

admin said:

How come everybody who likes this stuff listens to the same five bands? I've never listened to this myself, and yet I'm VERY familiar with these band names. Are there only five bands in Japan, or are they so utterly mainstream that they make all other bands obsolete?

They're just the more popular ones that pop to people's heads first when listing the bands they like - I wasn't really going for a complete list. Gackt practically has a legacy all of his own so you'd be hard pressed not to know about him. Dir en grey... somehow ended up really popular. I don't know how it happened, but you still hear about them simply because their fandom is so overdramatic - you either love their new stuff and hate their old, or hate their new stuff and love their old. And in most cases one side will persecute the other. It's pathetic.

Anyway, I won't bother listening all the ones you're probably familiar with. Basically, they're the popular ones, possibly (probably?) because they had the stupid 'dress up like girls' thing going, getting them fangirls by the dozen, while having decent music (imo, anyway). Then you have some that make decent music that you don't hear that much about because they don't have the fangirls. Then you have the ones who dress up and don't have decent music (I'm looking at you Miyavi) which you may hear about but probably won't. That's how it worked, anyway. I don't really follow it much anymore, just check out new releases from my small list of 'haven't gone bad yet' bands from back when I did.

I hope that sort of answered the question. If not just go with your more mainstream option, at least outside Japan.

[Gamemusicfreak]

deuce said:

The closest I've come is the trance (I want to say it was Green Court) remix of Ayumi Hamasaki's "M." She's also atypical of most Japanese singers, in that she doesn't do that robotic one-note-per-syllable thing that 98% of them do. It is almost universally garbage.

Have you ever heard Yuzo Koshiro's Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 2 OST? It's the best trance ever! It's also the only trance CDs I'll probably ever listen to.

[Falcom Director of Fanservice]

I don't know. =[

I'm rather in GMF's court here, the vast exposure I get to it is from gaming; as I don't really seek out stuff when I can't read the glyphs. Games and flash movies, really. And some anime themes, but I dunno if those count either.

So essentially, I hardly ever listen to stand alone J-musics.

[Lumi]

I second The Captain's statement. I've very rarely sought out J-pop/rock for its own sake, so it's usually coming out of theme songs from anime or games I like or happen to hear. Barring one or two artists I find myself liking more than one or two songs from, anyway. I've had a long time fondness for Akino Arai, for example. And KOKIA. But I don't know how close to 'pop' that is. =P

J-pop/rock (or any other "Letter+ pop") seems like any other mainstream scene to me, if not even MORE manufactured and overproduced... which is frightening. -_-; It's like a freakin' factory pumps out these nigh-identical little singer-dolls of oft-questionable talent. I'm not knocking on J music exclusively, nor am I saying this applies to ALL of it.... but it seems as common there as any other country where media is king.

[Incog Neato]

admin said:

No. No I do not. I have very limited taste in music (yet it is one of my biggest interests), and this is not part of what I like. Frankly, I don't even think I could stand it.

BE MORE OPENMINDED! :(!

My own motto is that I always judge by song, not by artist or genre. I mean, I generally don't like rap or hip hop but there are some tunes that I do like out of those genres. I'd probably like some authentic country music too and not the Shania Twain stuff if I ever got exposed to it.

And people listen to the same five bands cuz they're bandwagon hoppers and that's pretty much the only stuff they know or hear about. :B

lumineux said:

J-pop/rock (or any other "Letter+ pop") seems like any other mainstream scene to me

But isn't "pop" derived from popular in the first place? ^^;

[FM-77AV]

Believe me, I've tried. Many, many times but I just can't listen to anything outside various metal genres and some video game music (mainly chip-based), I just can't stand it. I don't listen to metal music because it is "metal", I listen to it because it just happens to be what I like, and that's not going to change as I've listened to metal since I was seven years old (before that I didn't listen to anything).

[Incog Neato]

admin said:

I don't listen to metal music because it is "metal", I listen to it because it just happens to be what I like, and that's not going to change as I've listened to metal since I was seven years old (before that I didn't listen to anything).

Dragonforce? :D

[Lumi]

nunuu said:

But isn't "pop" derived from popular in the first place? ^^;

Okay, true. Duh-huh on me... I shouldn't be allowed to post until I've properly recuped. @_@

What I was TRYING to get across (er, I think.. hehe...) is that it seems like labels have devised this formula for what they expect will sell for the year/decade/whatever, and summarily make sure every artist adheres to this rigid little mold. Doesn't make all pop bad. I like some songs here and there, and plenty of it (Japanese or otherwise) makes for decent radio/podcast/etc play. It's just not the stuff I'll normally veer toward first when it comes to spending money on my music collection.

[FM-77AV]

nunuu said:

admin said:

I don't listen to metal music because it is "metal", I listen to it because it just happens to be what I like, and that's not going to change as I've listened to metal since I was seven years old (before that I didn't listen to anything).

Dragonforce?

Sorry, but no! I can't stand power/speed metal, sorry!

[Inochi 命]

I liked one song from dragonforce.... forgot the name exactly, Firesomething, I think. Once again, I tried the rest of their music and couldn't find something at the same level. Music is probably 2nd to video games for me, so I can't miss up an opportunity to find some good stuff... that stuff is usually vocal 1/10 times. Actually, the best vocal stuff I've heard come out of Japan is from anime and a lot of that doesn't even have any Japanese in it (nor do I watch much anime), like music from Yuki Kajiura or sometimes Yoko Kanno... now that I think about it I've never had a favorite singer (I don't even search for lyrics to find translations or anything), only composers... all that's important to me is the composition. The single best vocal thing I've come out of Japan is Inner Universe from GitS:SAC's intro, that was composed by Yoko Kanno and sung in Russian, I think.

[Varion]

Yeah, pretty sure it's Russian. Kajiura's probably one of my favourite composers too, though she seems to be having a well earned rest at the moment after taking on too many projects recently. Favourite's prooobably the Mai HiME OST. Always hear people raving about Kanno but hardly heard any of her stuff.

Why was Dragonforce the first band that came to mind anyway?