Sonic Youth Gossip - Does the language barrier prevent a Japanese Invasion (ala the British invasion?)

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Hasn't Japanese music of the rock/weird etc kind enjoyed some sort of cult status/popularity for over nearly 20 years now? Or even longer than that?

I think Pavarroti sang Nessun Dorma in Italian and that sold a shit load in Britain because the song was catchy (and used to promote a football tournament, of course.) Anyway, I'm sure if a japanese band brought out a really catchy song (and had it used to promote a football tournament, of course) then I see no reason why they couldn't have the same success here as someone like Pavarroti.

Another factor is that Pav's success was also built on how he represented certain notions of 'Italian'-ness to a non-Italian audience. For a Japanese band or artist to achieve a similar level of success they'd somehow need to promote themselves as representing what non-Japanese people would consider 'japanese'-ness.

Quote:

Originally Posted by demonrail666

For a Japanese band or artist to achieve a similar level of success they'd somehow need to promote themselves as representing what non-Japanese people would consider 'japanese'-ness.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wc5TkDXOSxQ

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toilet & Bowels

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wc5TkDXOSxQ

They're gonna be bigger than U2, obviously.

they're one of the most popular japanese bands of all time, no joke.

Quote:

Originally Posted by demonrail666

Pavarotti was an opera singer - a genre popular throughout the world in whichever form - and a bag of shit at that. Same goes, I think, for Andrea fucking Bocelli, all people who bring the sort of ''Romantic/European/Whatever it is that commoners listen to'' which makes the general public feel cosy about some imaginary view of Italy that they might have inherited from the more saccharine scenes of Fellini's ''La Dolce fucking Vita'', or maybe from those ''2-nights in Umbria'' type of pamphlets that you find inbetween the pages of the Sunday papers.

I doubt that someone like Fabrizio De Andre' - to name one who has more of a specifically local and national attire - would ever make it to a foreign top ten, least of all because he is dead and buried.

I think that the British public would be much more racist if it was a Japanese band doing crap pop.

mangajunky echoed my thoughts perfectly but without saying as much.

My girlfriend is a cosplay nerd and there are tens of thousands of people there and they're all into j rock and vis kei and shit... it's only going to get bigger.