122-444: Isshi ( 一志 , December 7, 1978 – July 18, 2011) was a Japanese musician and vocalist of Japanese visual kei rock band Kagrra, . In 1998, along with musicians Izumi and Nao, he founded a Visual Kei rock band called Crow. Two years later, they signed to PS Company and changed the band's name to Kagrra,. He wrote most of the lyrics for the band, often using ancient kanji characters not used in modern Japanese writing. In 2011, after
244-558: A staccato attack created by using a palm-muted technique on the rhythm guitar. Brief, abrupt and detached rhythmic cells are joined into rhythmic phrases with a distinctive, often jerky texture. These phrases are used to create rhythmic accompaniment and melodic figures called riffs , which help to establish thematic hooks . Heavy metal songs also use longer rhythmic figures such as whole note - or dotted quarter note-length chords in slow-tempo power ballads . The tempos in early heavy metal music tended to be "slow, even ponderous". By
366-489: A drummer, a bassist, a rhythm guitarist, a lead guitarist and a singer, who may or may not be an instrumentalist. Keyboard instruments are sometimes used to enhance the fullness of the sound. Deep Purple 's Jon Lord played an overdriven Hammond organ . In 1970, John Paul Jones used a Moog synthesizer on Led Zeppelin III ; by the 1990s, synthesizers were used in "almost every subgenre of heavy metal". The electric guitar and
488-473: A heavy metal direction. A few commentators – mainly American – argue for other groups, including Iron Butterfly , Steppenwolf , Blue Cheer , or Vanilla Fudge , as the first to play heavy metal. In 1968, the sound that would become known as heavy metal began to coalesce. That January, San Francisco band Blue Cheer released a cover of Eddie Cochran 's classic " Summertime Blues " as a part of their debut album, Vincebus Eruptum , and many consider it to be
610-517: A heavy-metals blues sound". In January 1970, Lucian K. Truscott IV , reviewing Led Zeppelin II for the Village Voice , described the sound as "heavy" and made comparisons with Blue Cheer and Vanilla Fudge . Other early documented uses of the phrase are from reviews by critic Metal Mike Saunders . In the 12 November 1970 issue of Rolling Stone , he commented on an album put out the previous year by
732-872: A lot of bands doing that at the time in Japan and people thought it was cool. But not anymore, ha ha." and added "the music was so unique, too – bands like X Japan. At that time, there weren't any two bands that sounded alike; these days everyone sounds exactly the same." Kenzi (Kamaitachi, The Dead Pop Stars , Anti Feminism ) commented in 2009 that "back in the day, there were bands, but people would try to do things differently. Nowadays, there's one band and everyone copies off of them," with Free-Will founder and Color frontman Tommy concluding with "I don't think our breed of visual kei exists anymore." In 2013, Kiyoharu (Kuroyume, Sads) said that although he, Ryuichi (Luna Sea) and Hyde (L'Arc-en-Ciel) were influenced by Morrie (Dead End), they "sublimated each other" inventing something new, but
854-428: A major influence on heavy metal since the genre's earliest days, and that metal's "most influential musicians have been guitar players who have also studied classical music. Their appropriation and adaptation of classical models sparked the development of a new kind of guitar virtuosity [and] changes in the harmonic and melodic language of heavy metal." In an article written for Grove Music Online , Walser stated that
976-491: A massive, heavy sound from unison riffing between guitarist Eric Clapton and bassist Jack Bruce , as well as Ginger Baker 's double bass drumming. Their first two LPs – Fresh Cream (1966) and Disraeli Gears (1967) – are regarded as essential prototypes for the future style of heavy metal. The Jimi Hendrix Experience 's debut album, Are You Experienced (1967), was also highly influential. Hendrix 's virtuosic technique would be emulated by many metal guitarists, and
1098-615: A matter of fact." Hoshiko considers visual kei a distinctive Japanese music genre and defined it "as the music itself along with all the visual aspects of it." Visual kei emerged in the 1980s Japanese underground music scene, pioneered by bands such as X Japan , Dead End , Buck-Tick , D'erlanger , and Color . Music journalist Taiyo Sawada noted the musical diversity of the scene's early acts; some had strong metal influence, some were influenced by 1980s goth and new wave , while others evolved from hardcore punk . Japanese pop culture website Real Sound wrote that similarities between
1220-491: A one-off performance and X Japan officially reunited with a new single and a world tour. With these developments, visual kei bands enjoyed a boost in public awareness, with acts formed around 2004 having been described by some media as "neo-visual kei". From this generation the subgenre "oshare kei" ( オサレ系 ) emerged, where the musicians produce upbeat pop rock and wear bright colorful attire. Pioneers of this style include Baroque , Kra , Charlotte and An Cafe . Although
1342-659: A party without limits ... [T]he bulk of the music is stylized and formulaic." Music critics have often deemed metal lyrics juvenile and banal, and others have objected to what they see as advocacy of misogyny and the occult. During the 1980s, the Parents Music Resource Center petitioned the U.S. Congress to regulate the popular music industry due to what the group asserted were objectionable lyrics, particularly those in heavy metal songs. Andrew Cope stated that claims that heavy metal lyrics are misogynistic are "clearly misguided" as these critics have "overlook[ed]
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#17328478602001464-417: A period which some critics term "neo-visual kei" ( ネオ・ヴィジュアル系 ) . Many acts tone-down their appearance upon achieving mainstream success, calling into question whether they are still to be considered visual kei. The term "visual kei" was derived from one of X Japan 's slogans, "Psychedelic Violence Crime of Visual Shock", seen on the cover of their second studio album Blue Blood (1989). This derivation
1586-419: A spirit of "affectionate rivalry". Heavy metal "demands the subordination of the voice" to the overall sound of the band. Reflecting metal's roots in the 1960s counterculture, an "explicit display of emotion" is required from the vocals as a sign of authenticity. Critic Simon Frith claims that the metal singer's "tone of voice" is more important than the lyrics. The prominent role of the bass is also key to
1708-413: A toned down appearance became one of the most popular and successful visual kei acts, and L'Arc-en-Ciel publicly distanced themselves from the movement (although, in 2012 they were partly promoted internationally as a visual kei band ). In 1998, Billboard ' s Steve McClure commented that "To a certain extent, hide's death means the end of an era, X were the first generation of visual kei bands, but
1830-789: A trippy, distorted haze". During the late 1960s, many psychedelic singers, such as Arthur Brown , began to create outlandish, theatrical, and often macabre performances that influenced many metal acts. The American psychedelic rock band Coven , who opened for early heavy metal influencers such as Vanilla Fudge and the Yardbirds, portrayed themselves as practitioners of witchcraft or black magic , using dark – Satanic or occult – imagery in their lyrics, album art and live performances, which consisted of elaborate, theatrical " Satanic rites ". Coven's 1969 debut album, Witchcraft Destroys Minds & Reaps Souls , featured imagery of skulls, black masses , inverted crosses , and Satan worship, and both
1952-456: Is a "uniquely Japanese" phenomenon. Visual kei musicians often have elaborate, dyed hair, extravagant costumes, frequently with leather, PVC or lace, or based on traditional Japanese clothing pieces, and excessive jewelry. Many musicians make use of androgynous and gender bending aesthetics, with some of its male musicians cross-dressing in a manner similar to traditional Japanese onnagata performers. This rose to prominence through
2074-533: Is a category of Japanese musicians that have a strong focus on extravagant stage costumes that originated in Japan during the early 1980s. Koji Dejima of Bounce wrote that visual kei is not a specific sound, but rather it "revolves around the creation of a band's unique worldview and/or stylistic beauty through visual expressions in the form of makeup and fashion". While visual kei acts can be of any music genre, it originated with bands influenced by glam rock , heavy metal , punk rock and gothic rock . Visual kei
2196-503: Is considered vital. In his book, Metalheads , psychologist Jeffrey Arnett refers to heavy metal concerts as "the sensory equivalent of war". Following the lead set by Jimi Hendrix , Cream and the Who , early heavy metal acts such as Blue Cheer set new benchmarks for volume. As Blue Cheer's Dick Peterson put it, "All we knew was we wanted more power." A 1977 review of a Motörhead concert noted how "excessive volume in particular figured into
2318-490: Is credited as being coined by Seiichi Hoshiko, the founding editor of Shoxx magazine, which was founded in 1990 as the first publication devoted to the subject. However, he explained in a 2018 interview with JRock News that visual kei was technically coined, or at least inspired by, X Japan's lead guitarist hide . Hoshiko also said that at the time they were called 'Okeshou Kei' ( お化粧系 , Okeshō Kei , "Makeup Style") , "but it simply felt... too cheap... Even though X Japan
2440-448: Is defined by an act's emphasis on aesthetics, particularly their fashion and use of makeup, with a number of visual kei artists and critics describing it as a freedom of expression and experimental fashion. Koji Dejima of Bounce wrote that visual kei "revolves around the creation of a band's unique worldview and/or stylistic beauty through visual expressions in the form of makeup and fashion". Sources have also noted that visual kei
2562-426: Is emphatic, with deliberate stresses. Weinstein observes that the wide array of sonic effects available to metal drummers enables the "rhythmic pattern to take on a complexity within its elemental drive and insistency". In many heavy metal songs, the main groove is characterized by short, two- or three-note rhythmic figures – generally made up of eighth or 16th notes . These rhythmic figures are usually performed with
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#17328478602002684-538: Is first visual kei No. 1 single on the Oricon Singles Chart , while their studio albums Seventh Heaven (1988) and Taboo (1989) charted at No. 3 and 1 respectively and were the first Japanese rock band to hold a concert at the Tokyo Dome . They continued to have success, with nearly all of their subsequent albums topping the charts until 1995 and later reaching the top ten on the charts. X Japan's first album,
2806-435: Is obviously very different from when we started out more than ten years ago," while Sugizo (Luna Sea) stated in 2010 that "they cannot make good sounds and music is more like a hobby for them. I cannot feel their soul in the music." Although almost from the newer generation himself, Dir En Grey bassist Toshiya said in 2010 "to be honest, when we first started and we were wearing a lot of makeup on stage and stuff, there were
2928-557: Is speculation as to who started the phenomenon. Attendees of metal concerts do not dance in the usual sense. It has been argued that this is due to the music's largely male audience and "extreme heterosexualist ideology". Two primary body movements used are headbanging and an arm thrust that is both a sign of appreciation and a rhythmic gesture. The performance of air guitar is popular among metal fans both at concerts and listening to records at home. According to Deena Weinstein , thrash metal concerts have two elements that are not part of
3050-485: Is traditionally characterized by loud distorted guitars, emphatic rhythms, dense bass-and-drum sound and vigorous vocals. Heavy metal subgenres variously emphasize, alter or omit one or more of these attributes. In a 1988 article, The New York Times critic Jon Pareles wrote, "In the taxonomy of popular music, heavy metal is a major subspecies of hard-rock—the breed with less syncopation , less blues, more showmanship and more brute force." The typical band lineup includes
3172-439: The 13th Floor Elevators epitomized the frenetic, heavier, darker, and more psychotic psychedelic rock sound known as acid rock, a sound characterized by droning guitar riffs, amplified feedback, and guitar distortion, while the 13th Floor Elevators' sound in particular featured yelping vocals and "occasionally demented" lyrics. Frank Hoffman noted that "[Psychedelic rock] was sometimes referred to as 'acid rock'. The latter label
3294-714: The Aeolian and Phrygian modes . Harmonically speaking, this means the genre typically incorporates modal chord progressions such as the Aeolian progressions I-♭VI-♭VII, I-♭VII-(♭VI), or I-♭VI-IV-♭VII and Phrygian progressions implying the relation between I and ♭II (I-♭II-I, I-♭II-III, or I-♭II-VII for example). Tense-sounding chromatic or tritone relationships are used in a number of metal chord progressions. In addition to using modal harmonic relationships, heavy metal also uses " pentatonic and blues-derived features". The tritone, an interval spanning three whole tones – such as C to F# –
3416-796: The Oricon Albums Chart . That same year, Buck-Tick released their major debut Sexual XXXXX! through the same record label. Dead End even had albums Ghost of Romance and Shámbara (1988) released by American label Metal Blade Records , with radio station and MTV exposure in the United States. In 1990, D'erlanger's major debut album Basilisk reached No. 5 on the Oricon chart, but they and Dead End both disbanded that same year. In 1988 and 1989, Buck-Tick and X Japan started to gain mainstream success that continues to present-day. Buck Tick's single " Just One More Kiss " entered No. 6 and " Aku no Hana "
3538-458: The minor third , major third , perfect fourth , diminished fifth or minor sixth . Most power chords are also played with a consistent finger arrangement that can be slid easily up and down the fretboard . Heavy metal is usually based on riffs created with three main harmonic traits: modal scale progressions, tritone and chromatic progressions, and the use of pedal points . Traditional heavy metal tends to employ modal scales, in particular
3660-443: The perfect fifth , though an octave may be added as a doubling of the root . When power chords are played on the lower strings at high volumes and with distortion, additional low-frequency sounds are created, which add to the "weight of the sound" and create an effect of "overwhelming power". Although the perfect fifth interval is the most common basis for the power chord, power chords are also based on different intervals such as
3782-485: The "1980s brought on ... the widespread adaptation of chord progressions and virtuosic practices from 18th-century European models, especially Bach and Antonio Vivaldi , by influential guitarists such as Ritchie Blackmore , Marty Friedman , Jason Becker , Uli Jon Roth , Eddie Van Halen , Randy Rhoads and Yngwie Malmsteen ." Kurt Bachmann of Believer has stated that "if done correctly, metal and classical fit quite well together. Classical and metal are probably
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3904-410: The "heavy crunch sound in heavy metal ... [is created by] palm muting " the strings with the picking hand and using distortion. Palm muting creates a tighter, more precise sound and it emphasizes the low end. The lead role of the guitar in heavy metal often collides with the traditional "frontman" or bandleader role of the vocalist, creating a musical tension as the two "contend for dominance" in
4026-434: The "holiest of heavy metal communions". The metal scene has been characterized as a "subculture of alienation" with its own code of authenticity. This code puts several demands on performers: they must appear both completely devoted to their music and loyal to the subculture that supports it; they must appear uninterested in mainstream appeal and radio hits; and they must never " sell out ". Deena Weinstein stated that for
4148-555: The "punch and grind" characteristic. Thrash metal guitar tone has scooped mid-frequencies and tightly compressed sound with multiple bass frequencies. Guitar solos are "an essential element of the heavy metal code ... that underscores the significance of the guitar" to the genre. Most heavy metal songs "feature at least one guitar solo", which is "a primary means through which the heavy metal performer expresses virtuosity". Some exceptions are nu metal and grindcore bands, which tend to omit guitar solos. With rhythm guitar parts,
4270-486: The (predominantly female) fans to the groups on an international scale. The female fans ( bangyaru ( バンギャル ) ) show a behavioral pattern while attending the concerts, and there are several furi (movements) like tesensu (arm fan), gyakudai (reversed dive), hedoban (headbang), saku (spread hands in the air). The explicit fan fiction and homoerotic acts on the stage by some musicians, called fan service (a sexual term borrowed from manga culture), are related to
4392-400: The 1970s: the raw, sleazy sound and shock rock of Alice Cooper and Kiss ; the blues-rooted rock of Aerosmith ; and the flashy guitar leads and party rock of Van Halen . During the mid-1970s, Judas Priest helped spur the genre's evolution by discarding much of its blues influence, while Motörhead introduced a punk rock sensibility and an increasing emphasis on speed. Beginning in
4514-510: The 1980s and 1990s, heavy metal hair "symbolised the hate, angst and disenchantment of a generation that seemingly never felt at home", according to journalist Nader Rahman. Long hair gave members of the metal community "the power they needed to rebel against nothing in general". The classic uniform of heavy metal fans consists of light-colored, ripped, frayed or torn blue jeans, black T-shirts, boots, and black leather or denim jackets. Deena Weinstein wrote, "T-shirts are generally emblazoned with
4636-792: The American market, even signing with Atlantic Records for a US album, but this ultimately did not happen. Two record labels formed in 1986, Extasy Records ( Tokyo ) and Free-Will ( Osaka ), were instrumental in promoting the visual kei scene. Extasy was created by X Japan drummer and leader Yoshiki and signed bands, not limited to visual kei acts, that would go on to make marks on the Japanese music scene, including Zi:Kill , Tokyo Yankees and Ladies Room. Luna Sea and Glay , who both went on to sell millions of records, with Glay being one of Japan's best-selling musical acts, had their first albums released by Extasy in 1991 and 1994 respectively. Free-Will
4758-461: The British band Humble Pie : " Safe as Yesterday Is , their first American release, proved that Humble Pie could be boring in lots of different ways. Here they were a noisy, unmelodic, heavy metal-leaden shit-rock band with the loud and noisy parts beyond doubt. There were a couple of nice songs ... and one monumental pile of refuse." He described the band's latest, self-titled release as "more of
4880-416: The British bands Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath , with American commentators tending to favour Led Zeppelin and British commentators tending to favour Black Sabbath, though many give equal credit to both. Deep Purple , the third band in what is sometimes considered the "unholy trinity" of heavy metal along with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, fluctuated between many rock styles until late 1969 when they took
5002-697: The British record label Earache Records , in an "unsuccessful attempt to prosecute the label for obscenity". In some predominantly Muslim countries, heavy metal has been officially denounced as a threat to traditional values, and in countries such as Morocco, Egypt, Lebanon and Malaysia, there have been incidents of heavy metal musicians and fans being arrested and incarcerated. In 1997, the Egyptian police jailed many young metal fans, and they were accused of "devil worship" and blasphemy after police found metal recordings during searches of their homes. In 2013, Malaysia banned Lamb of God from performing in their country, on
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5124-457: The Gazette , Alice Nine , D'espairsRay and Girugamesh , as well as solo performer Miyavi , who have all performed overseas. Veterans of the scene also established new acts, such as Malice Mizer's Mana with his band Moi dix Mois and three members of Pierrot forming Angelo . In 2007, visual kei was revitalized as Yoshiki, Gackt, Sugizo and Miyavi formed supergroup Skin , Luna Sea performed
5246-654: The Jrock Revolution event was held in Los Angeles and featured visual kei bands. Although some bands like the Gazette have played at Tokyo Dome (not at full capacity), the majority of acts play in much smaller venues like Shibuya O-East . In 2009 the V-Rock Festival at Makuhari Messe was reported as the "world's largest Visual Kei music festival" gathering over 50 "visual artists," although this included some Western acts like Marilyn Manson . A second V-Rock Festival
5368-462: The Lacanian man's type of desire (to be recognized by the other, desire of the other), i.e. the female fans do not desire the musician himself, but his desire; a kind of cultural social training ground for the inescapable process of learning how to desire. Heavy metal music Heavy metal (or simply metal ) is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in
5490-419: The Oricon chart. During the 1990s, several other conceptual subgenres like Eroguro kei (notably represented by Cali Gari ), Angura kei (underground style, wearing traditional kimono or Japanese uniforms) and Ouji kei or Kodona kei (prince style or boy style, notably Plastic Tree ) emerged. In 1998, Pierrot released their major debut single, and Dir En Grey 's first three major singles were released with
5612-603: The United Kingdom and United States. With roots in blues rock , psychedelic rock and acid rock , heavy metal bands developed a thick, monumental sound characterized by distorted guitars, extended guitar solos , emphatic beats and loudness . In 1968, three of the genre's most famous pioneers – British bands Led Zeppelin , Black Sabbath and Deep Purple – were founded. Though they came to attract wide audiences, they were often derided by critics. Several American bands modified heavy metal into more accessible forms during
5734-526: The album A Long Time Comin' by U.S. band Electric Flag : "Nobody who's been listening to Mike Bloomfield —either talking or playing—in the last few years could have expected this. This is the new soul music, the synthesis of white blues and heavy metal rock." In the 7 September 1968 edition of the Seattle Daily Times , reviewer Susan Schwartz wrote that the Jimi Hendrix Experience "has
5856-418: The album artwork and the band's live performances marked the first appearances in rock music of the sign of the horns , which would later become an important gesture in heavy metal culture. Coven's lyrical and thematic influences on heavy metal were quickly overshadowed by the darker and heavier sounds of Black Sabbath . Critics disagree over who can be thought of as the first heavy metal band. Most credit
5978-526: The album's most successful single, " Purple Haze ", is identified by some as the first heavy metal hit. Vanilla Fudge , whose first album also came out in 1967, has been called "one of the few American links between psychedelia and what soon became heavy metal," and the band has been cited as an early American heavy metal group. On their self-titled debut album, Vanilla Fudge created "loud, heavy, slowed-down arrangements" of contemporary hit songs, blowing these songs up to "epic proportions" and "bathing them in
6100-682: The androgynous sensibilities of the New Romantic movement and Los Angeles metal scene, or the goth subculture, and topped off with elements from "strange" and "taboo" interests such as Lolita , psychopathy , and the occult . Many subsects of visual kei exist to describe separate styles. Eroguro kei is one such subsect which is influenced by BDSM and horror imagery, while angura kei makes use of traditional Japanese clothing styles like kimonos . Many acts tone-down their appearance upon achieving mainstream success, calling into question whether they are still to be considered visual kei. In addition to
6222-422: The appearances and behavior of the founders of visual kei and members of the yankī delinquent subculture are often noted. The movement designated a new form of Japanese rock music influenced by Western hard rock and glam metal acts like Kiss , Twisted Sister , Hanoi Rocks , Mötley Crüe . In The George Mason Review , Megan Pfeifle described the movement as being roughly divided into two generations, with
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#17328478602006344-434: The audience for whom they're playing – engage in headbanging , which involves rhythmically beating time with the head, often emphasized by long hair. The il cornuto , or "devil horns", hand gesture was popularized by vocalist Ronnie James Dio during his time with the bands Black Sabbath and Dio . Although Gene Simmons of Kiss claims to have been the first to make the gesture on the 1977 Love Gun album cover, there
6466-412: The band's "demise," Isshi began working solo on shiki∞project. He was found dead in his Tokyo apartment at age 32. This article about a Japanese musician is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Visual kei Visual kei ( Japanese : ヴィジュアル系 or ビジュアル系 , Hepburn : Vijuaru kei or Bijuaru kei , lit. "Visual Style" ) , abbreviated v-kei ( V系 , bui kei ) ,
6588-426: The band's impact". Weinstein makes the case that in the same way that melody is the main element of pop and rhythm is the main focus of house music , powerful sound, timbre and volume are the key elements of metal. She argues that the loudness is designed to "sweep the listener into the sound" and to provide a "shot of youthful vitality". Heavy metal performers tended to be almost exclusively male until at least
6710-572: The bass as a lead instrument, an approach popularized by Metallica 's Cliff Burton with his heavy emphasis on bass solos and use of chords while playing the bass in the early 1980s. Lemmy of Motörhead often played overdriven power chords in his bass lines. The essence of heavy metal drumming is creating a loud, constant beat for the band using the "trifecta of speed, power, and precision". Heavy metal drumming "requires an exceptional amount of endurance", and drummers have to develop "considerable speed, coordination, and dexterity ... to play
6832-466: The blues rock drumming style started out largely as simple shuffle beats on small kits, drummers began using a more muscular, complex and amplified approach to match and be heard against the increasingly loud guitar. Vocalists similarly modified their technique and increased their reliance on amplification, often becoming more stylized and dramatic. In terms of sheer volume, especially in live performance, The Who's "bigger-louder-wall-of- Marshalls " approach
6954-429: The components of the term mean in " hippiespeak ": "heavy" is roughly synonymous with "potent" or "profound", and "metal" designates a certain type of mood, grinding and weighted as with metal. The word "heavy" in this sense was a basic element of beatnik and later countercultural hippie slang , and references to "heavy music" – typically slower, more amplified variations of standard pop fare – were already common by
7076-463: The early 1990s, a visual kei scene that placed more emphasize on music rather than fashion arouse in the city of Nagoya , and as such was later dubbed Nagoya kei . Silver-Rose (formed in 1989) and Kuroyume (formed in 1991) were described as the "Nagoya big two" in the underground scene, and with Laputa (formed in 1993 ), are credited with "creating the early Nagoya kei style." Kuroyume's albums Feminism (1995) and Fake Star (1996) both topped
7198-536: The emergence of an intense, exclusionary and strongly masculine subculture. While the metal fan base is largely young, white, male and blue-collar, the group is "tolerant of those outside its core demographic base who follow its codes of dress, appearance, and behavior". Identification with the subculture is strengthened not only by the group experience of concert-going and shared elements of fashion, but also by contributing to metal magazines and, more recently, websites. Attending live concerts in particular has been called
7320-651: The era. Bands like The Rolling Stones and The Yardbirds developed blues rock by recording covers of classic blues songs, often speeding up the tempos . As they experimented with the music, the U.K. blues-based bands – and in turn the U.S. acts they influenced – developed what would become the hallmarks of heavy metal (in particular, the loud, distorted guitar sound). The Kinks played a major role in popularising this sound with their 1964 hit " You Really Got Me ". In addition to The Kinks' Dave Davies , other guitarists such as The Who 's Pete Townshend and The Yardbirds' Jeff Beck were experimenting with feedback. Where
7442-574: The existence of visually similar music acts in the West such as Marilyn Manson , Tokio Hotel and Lady Gaga , Pfeifle writes that the androgynous look of visual kei bands often has a repulsive effect on Westerners. According to the musicologists, the Lacanist psychoanalysis of the subculture indicates that the fascination with the singer's voice (the lack of understanding amplifies the effect), as well ineffable and unfulfillable desire, are what attracts most of
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#17328478602007564-418: The fans themselves, the code promotes "opposition to established authority, and separateness from the rest of society". Musician and filmmaker Rob Zombie observed, "Most of the kids who come to my shows seem like really imaginative kids with a lot of creative energy they don't know what to do with" and that metal is "outsider music for outsiders. Nobody wants to be the weird kid; you just somehow end up being
7686-429: The first and second generation is that the second; has no straightforward music style, ranging from metal to pop, but still seemingly focused on heavy rock genres; the fashion and gender ambiguities are of central importance. Although economically not very significant in the Japanese music market, it became the first Japanese music to succeed on an international scale. Notable newer visual kei bands include Dir En Grey ,
7808-519: The first in three transitional eras, of which the first era lasted just over a decade. In the late 1980s and until the mid-1990s, visual kei received increasing popularity throughout Japan, when album sales from such bands started to reach record numbers. The first band with recordings that achieved notable success was Dead End, whose independent album Dead Line (1986) sold over 20,000 copies, and whose major label debut album Ghost of Romance (1987) released by Victor Entertainment reached No. 14 on
7930-606: The first international concert by a visual kei act was held in Taiwan by Luna Sea in 1999, it was not until 2002 that many visual kei bands started to perform worldwide (United States, in Europe from 2004), with the initial interest coming from Japanese-themed conventions like A-Konwhere bands like Psycho le Cemu performed. In the first five years Dir En Grey was especially well received having performed in Korn's Family Values Tour in 2006. In 2007,
8052-425: The first night, and Aion , Buck-Tick, D'erlanger, Glay and Mucc the second night. A large three-day visual kei rock festival titled Visual Japan Summit was held at Makuhari Messe between October 14–16, 2016. Luna Sea hosted another two-day Lunatic Fest at Makuhari Messe on June 23 and 24, 2018. According to sales figures from online music store CDJapan, some of the internationally popular visual kei acts on
8174-864: The first true heavy metal recording. The same month, Steppenwolf released their self-titled debut album , on which the track " Born to Be Wild " refers to "heavy metal thunder" in describing a motorcycle. In July, the Jeff Beck Group , whose leader had preceded Page as The Yardbirds' guitarist, released its debut record, Truth , which featured some of the "most molten, barbed, downright funny noises of all time", breaking ground for generations of metal ax-slingers. In September, Page's new band, Led Zeppelin , made its live debut in Denmark (but were billed as The New Yardbirds). The Beatles ' self-titled double album , released in November, included " Helter Skelter ", then one of
8296-408: The four-date Japanese Visual Metal tour in late 2023 and released a collaborative single. Sources have variously referred to visual kei as a movement , scene , subculture , and music genre . It is not associated with any one musical style, as visual kei artists play a variety of genres including punk rock , heavy metal , pop , electronica , classical , and industrial . Instead, it
8418-413: The general population. For many artists and bands, visual imagery plays a large role in heavy metal. In addition to its sound and lyrics, a heavy metal band's image is expressed in album cover art, logos, stage sets, clothing, design of instruments and music videos . Down-the-back long hair is the "most crucial distinguishing feature of metal fashion". Originally adopted from the hippie subculture, by
8540-517: The ground opening up and little dwarves coming out riding dragons! You know, like bad Dio records." Heavy metal's quintessential guitar style, which is built around distortion-heavy riffs and power chords, traces its roots to early 1950s Memphis blues guitarists such as Joe Hill Louis , Willie Johnson and particularly Pat Hare , who captured a "grittier, nastier, more ferocious electric guitar sound" on records such as James Cotton 's " Cotton Crop Blues " (1954). Other early influences include
8662-429: The grounds that the "band's lyrics could be interpreted as being religiously insensitive" and blasphemous. Some people consider heavy metal music to be a leading factor for mental health disorders, and that heavy metal fans are more likely to suffer poor mental health, but a study from 2009 suggests that this is not true and that fans of heavy metal music suffer from poor mental health at a similar or lower rate compared to
8784-413: The harmonic analysis done by metal players and teachers is "often very sophisticated". In the study of heavy metal chord structures, it has been concluded that "heavy metal music has proved to be far more complicated" than other music researchers had realized. Robert Walser stated that, alongside blues and R&B, the "assemblage of disparate musical styles known ... as ' classical music '" has been
8906-605: The heaviest-sounding songs ever released by a major band. The Pretty Things ' rock opera S.F. Sorrow , released in December, featured "proto heavy metal" songs such as "Old Man Going" and "I See You". Iron Butterfly 's 1968 song " In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida " is sometimes described as an example of the transition between acid rock and heavy metal or the turning point in which acid rock became "heavy metal", and both Iron Butterfly's 1968 album In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida and Blue Cheer's 1968 album Vincebus Eruptum have been described as laying
9028-428: The help of Yoshiki the following year. They were called "the big two" in the scene at that time. By the late 1990s, the mainstream popularity of visual kei was declining; Luna Sea went on a year-long hiatus in 1997 before disbanding in 2000, X Japan disbanded at the end of 1997 and one year later their lead guitarist hide died. In 1999, Malice Mizer's drummer Kami died after the departure of singer Gackt , who with
9150-601: The independently released Vanishing Vision , reached No. 19 in 1988, making them the first indie band to appear on the main Oricon Albums Chart. Their second and major debut album Blue Blood (1989) reached number 6 and has since sold 712,000 copies. Their third and best-selling album Jealousy was released in 1991, topped the charts and sold over 1 million copies. They went on to release two more number one studio albums, Art of Life (1993) and Dahlia (1996). In 1992, X Japan tried to launch an attempt to enter
9272-403: The influence of 'art traditions.' An example is Walser's linkage of heavy metal music with the ideologies and even some of the performance practices of nineteenth-century Romanticism . However, it would be clearly wrong to claim that traditions such as blues, rock, heavy metal, rap or dance music derive primarily from "art music.'" According to David Hatch and Stephen Millward, Black Sabbath and
9394-605: The intricate patterns" used in heavy metal. A characteristic metal drumming technique is the cymbal choke , which consists of striking a cymbal and then immediately silencing it by grabbing it with the other hand (or, in some cases, the same striking hand), producing a burst of sound. The metal drum setup is generally much larger than those employed in other forms of rock music. Black metal, death metal and some "mainstream metal" bands "all depend upon double-kicks and blast beats ". In live performance, loudness – an "onslaught of sound", in sociologist Deena Weinstein 's description –
9516-423: The late 1950s instrumentals of Link Wray , particularly " Rumble " (1958); the early 1960s surf rock of Dick Dale , including " Let's Go Trippin' " (1961) and " Misirlou " (1962); and The Kingsmen 's version of " Louie Louie " (1963), which became a garage rock standard. However, the genre's direct lineage begins in the mid-1960s. American blues music was a major influence on the early British rockers of
9638-580: The late 1970s, bands in the new wave of British heavy metal such as Iron Maiden and Saxon followed in a similar vein. By the end of the decade, heavy metal fans became known as " metalheads " or " headbangers ". The lyrics of some metal genres became associated with aggression and machismo , an issue that has at times led to accusations of misogyny. During the 1980s, glam metal became popular with groups such as Bon Jovi , Mötley Crüe and Poison . Meanwhile, however, underground scenes produced an array of more aggressive styles: thrash metal broke into
9760-438: The late 1970s, however, metal bands were employing a wide variety of tempos, and as recently as the 2000s, metal tempos range from slow ballad tempos (quarter note = 60 beats per minute ) to extremely fast blast beat tempos (quarter note = 350 beats per minute). One of the signatures of the genre is the guitar power chord. In technical terms, the power chord is relatively simple: it involves just one main interval , generally
9882-473: The late 2010s include the Gazette, Kamijo , Nocturnal Bloodlust , Versailles, Jupiter , Mejibray , lynch. , Dimlim , Matenrou Opera , Miyavi, D , Diaura , Dadaroma, Initial'L, A9 , Buck-Tick , Yoshiki , Hyde , Luna Sea, Mucc , Hizaki and Gackt . In 2021, visual kei journalist Chiaki Fujitani noted how newer acts were combining visual kei with other elements to create originality. She cited Nocturnal Bloodlust's muscular vocalist Hiro for defying
10004-471: The logos or other visual representations of favorite metal bands." In the 1980s, a range of sources – from punk rock and goth music to horror films – influenced metal fashion. Many metal performers of the 1970s and 1980s used radically shaped and brightly colored instruments to enhance their stage appearance. Fashion and personal style was especially important for glam metal bands of the era. Performers typically wore long, dyed, hairspray-teased hair (hence
10126-414: The mainstream with bands such as Metallica , Slayer , Megadeth and Anthrax , while other extreme subgenres such as death metal and black metal became – and remain – subcultural phenomena. Since the mid-1990s, popular styles have expanded the definition of the genre. These include groove metal and nu metal , the latter of which often incorporates elements of grunge and hip-hop . Heavy metal
10248-432: The metal sound, and the interplay of bass and guitar is a central element. The bass provides the low-end sound crucial to making the music "heavy". The bass plays a "more important role in heavy metal than in any other genre of rock". Metal basslines vary widely in complexity, from holding down a low pedal point as a foundation to doubling complex riffs and licks along with the lead or rhythm guitars. Some bands feature
10370-485: The mid-1960s, such as in reference to Vanilla Fudge . Iron Butterfly 's debut album, which was released in early 1968, was titled Heavy . The first use of "heavy metal" in a song lyric is in reference to a motorcycle in the Steppenwolf song " Born to Be Wild ", also released that year: "I like smoke and lightning / Heavy metal thunder / Racin' with the wind / And the feelin' that I'm under". An early documented use of
10492-462: The mid-1980s, with some exceptions such as Girlschool . However, by the 2010s, women were making more of an impact, and PopMatters' Craig Hayes argues that metal "clearly empowers women". In the power metal and symphonic metal subgenres, there has been a sizable number of bands that have had women as the lead singers, such as Nightwish , Delain and Within Temptation . The rhythm in metal songs
10614-452: The mid-Seventies". "The term 'heavy metal' is self-defeating," remarked Kiss bassist Gene Simmons . "When I think of heavy metal, I've always thought of elves and evil dwarves and evil princes and princesses. A lot of the Maiden and Priest records were real metal records. I sure as hell don't think Metallica 's metal, or Guns N' Roses is metal, or Kiss is metal. It just doesn't deal with
10736-502: The more extreme side of the psychedelic rock genre, frequently containing a loud, improvised, and heavily distorted, guitar-centered sound. Acid rock has been described as psychedelic rock at its "rawest and most intense", emphasizing the heavier qualities associated with both the positive and negative extremes of the psychedelic experience rather than only the idyllic side of psychedelia. In contrast to more idyllic or whimsical pop psychedelic rock, American acid rock garage bands such as
10858-479: The nickname "hair metal"); makeup such as lipstick and eyeliner; gaudy clothing, including leopard-skin-printed shirts or vests and tight denim, leather or spandex pants; and accessories such as headbands and jewelry. Pioneered by the heavy metal act X Japan in the late 1980s, bands in the Japanese movement known as visual kei , which includes many non-metal groups, emphasize elaborate costumes, hair and makeup. When performing live, many metal musicians – as well as
10980-519: The novelty has worn off. For the next generation of bands, it's like: That's it. The torch has been passed to us ". As other bands could not meet financial expectations, most major companies backed out of the movement, and it became an underground style often associated with the rebellious generation, non-conforming to proper society. A second generation emerged in small visual kei-specific live houses managed by record companies like PS Company (Free-Will) and Maverick DC Group . The difference between
11102-456: The numerous heavy metal bands that they inspired have concentrated lyrically "on dark and depressing subject matter to an extent hitherto unprecedented in any form of pop music." They take as an example Black Sabbath's second album, Paranoid (1970), which "included songs dealing with personal trauma—' Paranoid ' and ' Fairies Wear Boots ' (which described the unsavoury side effects of drug-taking)—as well as those confronting wider issues, such as
11224-431: The other metal genres: moshing and stage diving , which "were imported from the punk/hardcore subculture ". Weinstein states that moshing participants bump and jostle each other as they move in a circle in an area called the "pit" near the stage. Stage divers climb onto the stage with the band and then jump "back into the audience". It has been argued that heavy metal has outlasted many other rock genres largely due to
11346-430: The overwhelming evidence that suggests otherwise". Music critic Robert Christgau called metal "an expressive mode [that] it sometimes seems will be with us for as long as ordinary white boys fear girls, pity themselves, and are permitted to rage against a world they'll never beat". Heavy metal artists have had to defend their lyrics in front of the U.S. Senate and in court. In 1985, Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider
11468-720: The periodic table organizes elements of both light and heavy metals (e.g., uranium). An early use of the term in modern popular culture was by countercultural writer William S. Burroughs . His 1961 novel The Soft Machine includes a character known as "Uranian Willy, the Heavy Metal Kid". Burroughs' next novel, Nova Express (1964), develops the theme, using "heavy metal" as a metaphor for addictive drugs: "With their diseases and orgasm drugs and their sexless parasite life forms—Heavy Metal People of Uranus wrapped in cool blue mist of vaporized bank notes—And The Insect People of Minraud with metal music." Inspired by Burroughs' novels,
11590-574: The phrase in rock criticism appears in Sandy Pearlman's February 1967 Crawdaddy review of the Rolling Stones ' Got Live If You Want It (1966), albeit as a description of the sound rather than as a genre: "On this album the Stones go metal. Technology is in the saddle—as an ideal and as a method." Another appears in the 11 May 1968 issue of Rolling Stone , in which Barry Gifford wrote about
11712-470: The same 27th-rate heavy metal crap". In a review of Sir Lord Baltimore 's Kingdom Come in the May 1971 edition of Creem , Saunders wrote, "Sir Lord Baltimore seems to have down pat most all the best heavy metal tricks in the book." Creem critic Lester Bangs is credited with popularizing the term via his early 1970s essays on bands such as Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath. Through the decade, "heavy metal"
11834-441: The same. As far back as 1998, Neil Strauss reported that to visual kei bands "after X" makeup and outrageous looks became "more important than music." Several musicians have expressed their discontent; in 2008, Kirito (Pierrot, Angelo) said "now it's more like people are dressing up a certain way because they want to be visual kei or look visual kei. They are doing it to look like others instead of doing it to look different. This
11956-499: The self-explanatory ' War Pigs ' and ' Hand of Doom .'" Deriving from the genre's roots in blues music, sex is another important topic – a thread running from Led Zeppelin's suggestive lyrics to the more explicit references of glam metal and nu metal bands. The thematic content of heavy metal has long been a target of criticism. According to Jon Pareles , "Heavy metal's main subject matter is simple and virtually universal. With grunts, moans and subliterary lyrics, it celebrates ...
12078-421: The sonic power that it projects through amplification has historically been the key element in heavy metal. The heavy metal guitar sound comes from a combined use of high volumes and heavy fuzz . For classic heavy metal guitar tone, guitarists maintain gain at moderate levels, without excessive preamp or pedal distortion, to retain open spaces and air in the music; the guitar amplifier is turned up loud to produce
12200-399: The success of Malice Mizer , whose guitarist Mana performed dressed as a woman and singer Gackt was a "living specimen of bishōnen ". Such aesthetics are reminiscent of those seen in shōjo manga . Different artists have taken aesthetic influence from various fashion styles including glam , metalhead , punk , goth and cyberpunk . Dejima generalized visual kei as being based on
12322-689: The term was used in the title of the 1967 album Featuring the Human Host and the Heavy Metal Kids by Hapshash and the Coloured Coat , which has been claimed to be its first use in the context of music. The phrase was later lifted by Sandy Pearlman , who used the term to describe the Byrds for their supposed "aluminium style of context and effect", particularly on their album The Notorious Byrd Brothers (1968). Metal historian Ian Christe describes what
12444-467: The terms "heavy metal" and "hard rock" have often been used interchangeably, particularly in discussing bands of the 1970s, a period when the terms were largely synonymous. For example, the 1983 edition of the Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll includes the following passage: "Known for its aggressive blues-based hard-rock style, Aerosmith was the top American heavy-metal band of
12566-434: The two genres that have the most in common when it comes to feel, texture, creativity." Although a number of metal musicians cite classical composers as inspiration, classical and metal are rooted in different cultural traditions and practices – classical in the art music tradition, metal in the popular music tradition. As musicologists Nicolas Cook and Nicola Dibben note: "Analyses of popular music also sometimes reveal
12688-448: The usual delicate appearance of visual kei musicians, 0.1g no Gosan for utilizing tropes of underground idols , such as playing tug of war with fans during concerts, Choke for their avant-garde form of rap metal , and former D'espairsRay drummer Tsukasa Mogamigawa for being the first visual kei enka singer. Mai Yajima 's singing style has been referred to as " enka rock". Moi dix Mois, Versailles, D and Matenrou Opera teamed up for
12810-511: The visual aspects, visual kei artists often have a wider "decorative fantasy" concept or context and their on-stage performances are "overwhelming, multisensory experiences whose constructed nature is made apparent to audiences" (e.g. observed in Gackt's career claim about being a vampire). There has been criticism directed at newer visual kei bands for having lost the spirit of their forefathers by copying each other in design and sound, and becoming all
12932-461: The visual kei route or not, it's something fundamental." Time Out Tokyo ' s Bunny Bissoux concluded in 2015 that the movement "today is basically a parallel of the J-pop idol system" and "that originally prided itself on being different, it now attracts those who want to 'look' visual kei. Genuine originality (in the music, at least) seems to be dying out." In 2018, Seiichi Hoshiko said that he
13054-475: The weird kid. It's kind of like that, but with metal you have all the weird kids in one place." Scholars of metal have noted the tendency of fans to classify and reject some performers (and some other fans) as " poseurs " "who pretended to be part of the subculture, but who were deemed to lack authenticity and sincerity". The origin of the term "heavy metal" in a musical context is uncertain. The phrase has been used for centuries in chemistry and metallurgy, where
13176-495: The younger generation is more imitative. He proposed that from Morrie's perspective this probably appears to be a "copy of his copy's copy". In the same interview, Morrie added that the problem with new visual kei bands is that "they're established as a genre... well, there's probably a part of it that's business-wise, but it wouldn't be fun if it got stiff. I would like to see people who are trying to break through that area. It doesn't matter how good you are, whether you're doing it on
13298-456: Was a big band and people used the term 'Okeshou kei' to describe them, the term was still lacking substance, I didn't like the term at all! Because of this, I tried to remind all the writers to not use this term as 'They are not okeshou kei, they are visual-shock kei'. From there, it went from 'Visual-shock kei' to 'Visual-kei' to 'V-kei'. After we spread the word, fans naturally abbreviated it to 'V-kei'. The Japanese love to abbreviate everything as
13420-487: Was accompanied by a drastic change in their appearance and are often not associated with visual kei. Around 1995, visual kei bands experienced a booming success in the general population, which lasted for four years. According to Pfeifle, the third transition era began by bands such as La'cryma Christi , Penicillin and Rouage achieving moderate success. At the time, "the big four of visual kei" were Malice Mizer, La'cryma Christi, Shazna and Fanatic Crisis . Around
13542-406: Was applied to a pounding, hard rock variant that evolved out of the mid-1960s garage-punk movement. ... When rock began turning back to softer, roots-oriented sounds in late 1968, acid-rock bands mutated into heavy metal acts." One of the most influential bands in forging the merger of psychedelic rock and acid rock with the blues rock genre was the British power trio Cream , who derived
13664-578: Was asked to defend his song " Under the Blade " at a U.S. Senate hearing. At the hearing, the PMRC alleged that the song was about sadomasochism and rape ; Snider stated that the song was about his bandmate's throat surgery. In 1986, Ozzy Osbourne was sued over the lyrics of his song " Suicide Solution ". A lawsuit against Osbourne was filed by the parents of John McCollum, a depressed teenager who committed suicide allegedly after listening to Osbourne's song. Osbourne
13786-493: Was considered extremely dissonant and unstable by medieval and Renaissance music theorists. It was nicknamed the diabolus in musica – "the devil in music". Heavy metal songs often make extensive use of pedal point as a harmonic basis. A pedal point is a sustained tone, typically in the bass range, during which at least one foreign (i.e., dissonant) harmony is sounded in the other parts. According to Robert Walser, heavy metal harmonic relationships are "often quite complex" and
13908-523: Was founded by Color vocalist and leader Dynamite Tommy , and while at the time not as popular as Extasy, it had many moderately successful acts, such as By-Sexual and Kamaitachi . Pfeifle described the second transition era as beginning in 1993 with bands such as L'Arc-en-Ciel , Glay (although formed in 1988, their first album was released in 1994) and Malice Mizer . They gained mainstream awareness, although they were not as commercially successful, except for L'Arc-en-Ciel and Glay whose later huge success
14030-610: Was held in 2011 at Saitama Super Arena . Dead End officially reunited in 2009 and La'cryma Christi (which disbanded in 2007) reunited for an anniversary tour in 2010. Kiyoharu announced the reformations of both Kuroyume and Sads , and Luna Sea reunited and began a world tour. As an epilogue to their 25th anniversary, Luna Sea hosted a rock festival titled Lunatic Fest on 27 and 28 June 2015, with an estimated 60,000 fans attending. Held at Makuhari Messe, there were three stages and 12 artists, most visual kei acts including X Japan, Dead End, Dir En Grey, Siam Shade and Tokyo Yankees
14152-445: Was not found to be responsible for the teen's death. In 1990, Judas Priest was sued in American court by the parents of two young men who had shot themselves five years earlier, allegedly after hearing the subliminal statement "do it" in the band's cover of the song " Better by You, Better than Me ". While the case attracted a great deal of media attention, it was ultimately dismissed. In 1991, U.K. police seized death metal records from
14274-410: Was often used interchangeably with "heavy metal" and " hard rock ". "Acid rock" generally describes heavy, hard or raw psychedelic rock. Musicologist Steve Waksman stated that "the distinction between acid rock, hard rock, and heavy metal can at some point never be more than tenuous", while percussionist John Beck defined "acid rock" as synonymous with hard rock and heavy metal. Apart from "acid rock",
14396-419: Was one of the earliest terms used to describe this style of music and was applied to acts such as Sabbath and Bloodrock . Classic Rock magazine described the downer rock culture revolving around the use of Quaaludes and the drinking of wine. The term would later be replaced by "heavy metal". Earlier on, as "heavy metal" emerged partially from heavy psychedelic rock, also known as acid rock , "acid rock"
14518-407: Was pioneered by groups such as X Japan , Dead End , Buck-Tick , D'erlanger , and Color , and gained further notoriety in the 1990s through the success of groups like Luna Sea , Glay , L'Arc-en-Ciel , and Malice Mizer . The movement's success continued through the 2000s with Gackt and more musically broad bands such as Dir En Grey , the Gazette , Alice Nine , Girugamesh , and Versailles ,
14640-435: Was seminal to the development of the later heavy metal sound. The combination of this loud and heavy blues rock with psychedelic rock and acid rock formed much of the original basis for heavy metal. The variant or subgenre of psychedelic rock often known as "acid rock" was particularly influential on heavy metal and its development; acid rock is often defined as a heavier, louder, or harder variant of psychedelic rock, or
14762-413: Was used by certain critics as a virtually automatic putdown. In 1979, lead New York Times popular music critic John Rockwell described what he called "heavy-metal rock" as "brutally aggressive music played mostly for minds clouded by drugs" and, in a different article, as "a crude exaggeration of rock basics that appeals to white teenagers". Coined by Black Sabbath drummer Bill Ward , "downer rock"
14884-863: Was worried about this trend's effect on the movement's future. Magazines published regularly in Japan with visual kei coverage are Arena 37 °C , Cure , Fool's Mate Express , Shoxx , Shock Wave , Rock and Read among others. The popularity and awareness of visual kei groups outside Japan has seen an increase in recent years, mostly through internet and Japanese anime , shown for example by German magazines Peach (discontinued in 2011 ) and Koneko , as well European record label Gan-Shin . The biggest fan communities are found in United States, Germany, Poland, Russia, France and Brazil and to some extent Finland, Chile and Sweden. From this influence on international youth subcultures, bands like Cinema Bizarre emerged, but they hesitate to consider themselves visual kei because they are not ethnically Japanese. Despite
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