Does the language barrier prevent a Japanese Invasion (ala the British invasion?)
 

Because that would breath some fresh air into music if Japan invaded.

:cool:

who cares? as long as i can listen to the music.

matter of fact is, japanese music is too weird for the masses, the closest japanese bands to achieve crossover success are boris and mono and they are still not that well know. japanese musicians are also more extreme than western ones.

Japanese music has already crossed over into the underground, but you will never get Japanese artists in the commercial Top 40 because people who buy that sort of music like to be able to sing along to it.

The nearest you're ever likely to get to a Japanese invasion is bands with Westernised Japanese, playing music with a tiny bit of Japanese influence, with English lyrics. And those artists will effectively be novelty acts.

I like how Boredoms' MASSIVE record sales and MASSIVE record label rarely figure in people's estimations of their MASSIVENESS, i.e., very.

That wasn't a dig at Mr Neurotic or anyone, I just think Bore are probably on the Cave/ SY level of 'underground-ness', i.e., not very.

They played Lollapalooza, for god's sake.

boredoms have definitley followed in the wake of sonic youth, the bad seeds, husker du, royal trux, and to a lesser extent, nirvana, of selling a good chunk of records and acheiving fame but doing so with utmost integrity, never EVER giving anyone even the slightest thought of them being "sell outs"

I remember seeing Melt Banana in a room about this big. That was nearly 10 years ago. Now they're playing one that big. It's crazy, isn't it?

Hmm.. Melt Banana played here with Tool on a tour. Boredoms 77 Boadrum was a huge deal, and they were on a major record label. Polysics are on Myspace Records. Etc... I'm not sure how weird Japan is, though obviously their culture IS very extreme. Miike said that all recent Japanese art is in response to World War II. That makes sense. Japan is pretty much the best place for movies, music, porn, video games, etc. I wouldn't want to live there (too many people, too much competition, the rooms are too small), but yeah. My cousin lives there. Asian chicks go crazy for American dudes over there. Also, nearly every Japanese "rock" band there is what we call "math rock" here. They're all just insanely talented. It's ridiculous. Also, bukakke rules. Japan!

Oh, and I don't think there's a huge language barrier from them to us, at least. I'd say a good 75-80% of Japan understand English pretty well. They have to learn it over there. Which is great. It's nice that the Japanese don't look down on us much.................................

Yeah, not too much. Heh.

Case in point: That "Woo-Hoo" song by the 5.6.7.8's....It's appearance in a major movie and ubiquitous TV commercials has made that song famous even if people like my middle-aged parents have no recognition for the name 5.6.7.8's.

I'll go for another point -Loads of Japanese music is very well known in UK/ America - ok, Fushitsusha aren't selling out the Albert Hall, but Otomo can do a nationwide tour of the UK. There's obviously loads of stuff that we don't know about, but Japanese music does have some currency overseas - I can only imagine that there's something exciting going on, whether current or folk, that's exciting in pretty much all countries. I downloaded an album of, mostly, amazing Azerbaijani music the other day, but I have absolutely no way of finding out much about it, or plenty of exciting music from elsewhere. My housemate has recently got into West African music, and there's such a daunting amount of amazing stuff from there, and, I suspect, everywhere. Japanese music, if anything, is fairly well known in the West.

Innit?

Oh puh-fucking-leeeze! What a complete utter fucking crock of shit.
Get over yourselves 22 year old pock marked basement dwelling white males! Japanese women don't love you as much as you think they do!












































Racist.

I totally laughed.

i didn't know the boredoms sold that many record over here. most people i talk to don't even know who they are, but they have heard of nick cave and sonic youth and husker du. even people of "the underground" are not really familar with them, that i know of, but florida is backwards, so maybe that's why.

So you aren't really aware of wapanese culture, are you.

people with perspective from the underground get this impression that the boredoms are massive, but they are definitely not, especially if you talk about people into sonic youth, et al. fans. most sonic youth fans are only fans of the goo-dirty-no star-washing machine period (sister at it's most underground), meaning the just want to hear verse-chorus-verse songs, the stigma of alternative as mainstream underground music is still a large one, with most people still considering nirvana the epitome of underground/indie rock.

two years ago, i knew of no one in real life who had listened to the boredoms, now, i know some but most are just paying lip service to them (like if you ask them what their favorite album is, you get a blank stare in response or the occasional "they are just WEIRD, man!!!).

same with melt-banana, a cult band that's more like a novelty to most people ("they sound like the punk chipmunks dood!") and perhaps have a song or two in their ipods.

these bands, on the larger scale of things, don't have many real fans; the ones that are real fans are very vocal and dedicated (and also writing about them in many magazines and periodicals), that's why it seems larger.

remember, up until like two months ago, the boredoms still didn't have u.s. distribution of their recent releases.


that's called a novelty hit.

boredoms are big enough to be on warner japan, but not really "massive". they're big more in name than actual album sales/concert attendance. in a way sonic youth are like that too, but when each of them tours here, nick cave plays for 4000-5000 people, sonic youth for 1500 and boredoms for less than 200... although to be fair most bands i go see don't even get a turnout of 50 people.

i think melt banana are bigger here than the boredoms. well i won't say they are in the whole united states, but since they did that split with the locust, all the fans of the locust and bands like pg.99 love them. the people i talk that like melt banana don't like or heard of the boredoms.

Nah, Japanese chicks do go crazy for American dudes over there. This was confirmed to me by my cousin and by a guy I worked with who lived in Japan for 2 months. Of course, we're talking about bar-hopping Asian chicks. So, there might be a difference. Of course, my Japanese friend Atsu who currently lives in Japan confirmed that a lot of his girl friends there always talk about American guys, because the general accepted theory is that Japanese guys treat their Japanese girls like shit. It's all stereotypical and silly, and I was kind of kidding, but I just figured I'd throw all that out there. There's no point to be made really.

I'd still venture to say Boredoms are a pretty "big" band, period. Almost everyone I know in real life has heard them (and not just because of me) -- half of them LIKE them. And a few, including me, actually own a lot of their records. I mean, they're certainly more well-known here in American in 2008 than.. um.. Throwing Muses or something.. That's a completely off-the-wall example... ignore that. I'll think of a better one. um... One of Matt Groening's favorite bands is Boredoms! (he also wrote an essay about his love of Trout Mask Replica -- he's a cool guy) Also, Boredoms have been covered in every single major U.S. publication multiple times. And etc etc etc. I think they're mainly well-known for Eye's museum art and 77 Boadrum, but they're certainly just as big in America as a lot of the "indie" bands we talk about on here. If you get bored sometimed, go to last.fm and see how many plays Boredoms have.. it may shock you.

And, Melt-Banana, I mean, the touring with Tool and the appearance of Perfect Hair Forever has cemented them as a pretty large band as well. Not large enough where they don't play house shows, but EVERYONE who is into music that's below the "mainstream" barrier a bit knows who they are.

At least that's how it is in Indiana... can't speak for the rest of the U.S....

But certainly there's a huge scene for "Japanese music" over here. At that Polysics show I went to a few months back in Ohio, GO!GO!7188 was mentioned by a middle-aged MOM that was there. This mom accompanying her daughter. And we got into this in-depth discussion and like 3 or 4 random people came up and started talking about them. It just blew my mind. "Jet ninjin!" Either she's the coolest mom ever or there are people who aren't just super-hip underground assholes like us who, y'know, appreciate good music from other places.

On the other hand, will this music ever be big enough to get super-mainstream-success? Not likely, but look at Dir En Grey. They're fucking HUGE (in America!) and have very few words -- except "fuck" -- in English. Someone did make a point a few posts ago that a lot of Japanese musicians don't purely sing in English which probably equals mainstream failure, and I tend to agree with that. Most people, for some reason, don't like music with lyrics they can't understand. I guess that's understandable. I typically hate all lyrics so it's never bothered me much, but yeah. I can see that.

I'm going down to a convention in Florida next week and they always have tons of Japanese CD's and shit that sell like hot cakes. Even if most of that shit is visual kei shit... but yeah.. that whole scene is bigger than most of you think...

The grand total of bands mentioned on this thread made a great contribution to how rock music is played, but of rock music solely we are still talking about, not exactly tradional Japanese music, which happens to be music too and ranges from the folk of minyo to shakuhachi, all with their own interesting variations that in the right hands have the potential to cross-pollinate western scales and non in good ways. Also, what about the use of instruments and influences from continents such as India etc in pop and rock music? Are they any inferior to what happens in Japanese rock music? I think not.

when i saw the boredoms play in london 4 years ago people were queuing around the block to get tickets.

and there's no way in hell 75 or 80% of people in japan can speak english. and the japanese girls who are into westerers are a small minority who go and hang out in certain touristy bars. average japanese girls have 0 interest in white guys. also, mathrock is not mainstream in japan at all, mainstream music in japan is some of the most horrible saccharine crap you'll ever hear in your life.
maybe you should go there before you start acting like you know the place?

Japanese singing in English are the best with the exception, maybe, of Fela Kuti's use of the language.

you're talking about a band that's incredibly closely associated with a label that's considered to be defined and over by the end of the 80's (early 90's tops) compared to a band that's not only still contemporary but also ahead of it's time in a way.


he also wrote a fake residents biography.


i insist, boredoms fans tend to be rock writers/critics, so of course they are going to find a way to get to write about them.

the thing, you hardly meet somebody who knows onanie bomb meets the sex pistols or can recognize between songs or know one of their side projects other than OOIOO, yet they can tell you they love chocolate synthetizer and eye and yoshimi. i mean, i think what i'm trying to say it's that there's a difference between being very well known and actually being big (at least sonic youth like big). like i said before, they have their fans, lots of them, but the bulk aren't that much of fans as much as casual approving listeners.


also, keep in mind they have albums that have a lot of short songs, go see how many plays anal cunt have.


masonna opened for slipknot, he is still not a household name outside people who listen to noise.

and i really doubt people who are into, say, clap your hands say yeah know who melt-banana are.

then again, they are playing here and they are playing in a huge cabaret-like venue. what i said before, from my observations, is that people who love noise, noise rock and avant garde shit love them, and the punks and metalheads who know them love them, even if not all of them know them, so i can see a good size crowd in there.


indiana seems to be pretty enlightened, more than, say, spain from what i've seen.


my mom loves later boredoms, fushitsusha, boris, bambi's dilemma, OOIOO, mono, otomo yoshihide, kousokuya, acid mothers temple, ruins and omoide hatoba, out of japanese rock music.


dir en grey's success is with anime/manga comicbook types and hot topic metal and goths who are into them because they are japanese and weird but not as weird as, say, the boredoms. it's like the 5, 6, 7, 8's song, a novelty for them to be into such a band. still, they are big with a few people and not a majority.

and people into anime and manga don't like underground stuff, they are into idoru, visua kei and all the mainstream shit that's big in japan. you know what band these people (and the japanese) consider an underground band? puffy amiyumi.


i think it's that lots of isolated pockets of people like them, and when a concert or a convention occurs, these people get together and realize there's more than you think. but how many are really fanatical about these bands and how many are just there because it's something to do is what's being debated here.

reminds me, last year when otomo yoshihide came here and played with fred frith, gael garcia bernal came to see them, acting like a big shot; by the end of the show, people were flocking to him for autographs and crap while otomo was packing his pedals and guitar by himself.

(awesome dude, have fun).

my brother's friends (who like anime and manga) go to those coventions and come back with j-pop cds. they never heard of the boredoms before until i played it for them and they didn't like it, but they sure love their j-pop. i don't think they're big like sonic youth, but i'm sure in other areas of the usa they are bigger than in florida.

those type of people annoy me, they will listen to the worst shit imaginable just because the singing is in japanese, the japanese equivalents to n sync or nickelback or whatever (who are about 1 zillion times worse than n sync or nickelback).

Toilet and Bowels... Their rock bands are more complex than our rock bands here... unless we're talking about garage rock bands or something... When talking about mainstream in general, yeah, j-pop and shit is beyond sugar coated shit but .. uh, I wasn't talking about that.

I probably agree with your point regarding Asian chicks, and that's why I said "the ones frequenting bars." and noting I probably had no idea of what the average Japanese girl was like...

And I am not giving statistical evidence, I was venturing to guess 75-80% because EVERYONE IN JAPANESE SCHOOLS HAS TO LEARN ENGLISH. It's a requirement! That doesn't mean they can speak perfect English, that doesn't mean they understand our slang or whatever, but they HAVE TO learn a great deal of it.

...

Also, regarding those conventions, my girlfriend drags to 'em. I usually play smash brothers the whole time.

yeah, i know japanese people all supposedly study english in school, but try going over there and having a conversation, or even asking for the time or directions

Hahaha.

Oh, and something else I thought of while thinking of conventions...

I think the biggest (or at least most-heard) Japanese musician in America is Noubou Uematsu. (who does all the music for most of the Final Fantasy games, amongst other things)

Near-100% of British schoolkids learn a language other than English. I can say enough to get laid in French (apparently) but I'd be surprised if she thought I could hold down a conversation. I'd wager the same is true of a) our Japenese friends b) our British friends.

Not to be disparaging of either nation, or any nation, but teaching a language doesn't equate comprehension.

I'll add that the Chinese people I've met usually have adequate English to get by, at least, if not better - it's the system, not the fact of learning.

I'd have to disagree about Indiana being enlightened, but maybe I've just lived here too long.

Anyway, seeing as how so many complain when they can't understand the words, I doubt Japanese music will ever be big in America.

Alls you have to do to make a non-English song a hit is rename it after a well known beef dish. Witness "Sukiyaki".

Oh no! It's catching on in Latin America too!
Yellow fever threat cited in Paraguay

Silent Dan Speaks -- Bloomington, Indiana. Very enlightened!

I was searching for something else and this topic came up.

There is currently a huge surge in J-rock and Visual Kei interest.

Pretty much every anime convention these days has a musical guest or two. They are playing to packed auditoriums. There are full-fledged tours of the USA by many J-rock and visual kei bands.

The biggest sign for all of you is the fact that X-Japan is playing Madison Square Garden on September 13, 2008.

http://www.japan-zone.com/news/2008/...e_garden.shtml

The invasion is here. You just run in different circles.

yeah, but the people who go to anime conventions will listen to anything that has japanese singing, like glay or dragon ash

fuck it.. who really gives a shit. if music is good then it will rise to the surface...regardless of its cultural roots..

i agree with people when they say japanese music is "different" to the american/english whatever but so is icelandic music. its their isolation, its their own imploded self centred culture (i dont mean that in a bad way, i mean they hold their culture very very dear) and thats something the western world should take a huge lesson from....

melts. boredoms, acid mothers, ruins, etc etc.... they are huge in ireland.. huge as say the youth and massive as say sebaodh is... massive in the music buyers market but go down to your local bang bang techno club and ask johnny scumbag is the feather float album a worthy successor to the super ae era boredoms and he will probably say "what the fuck are you on about gayboy" so everything is relative.....

we arent fooled into buying music, im speaking for myself but im sure the boot fits with majority of folk here, we are not a sponge to soak up the next crock of nickelback or razorshite muck that the media forces on our ipods, so the japanese invasion has taken over and is here to stay as far as my music world is concerned........

now where is my kiiiiiii album!

yeah, how nuts is that?