[SpectralJulianIsNotDead]

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

[Everyneurotic]

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.

[sonicl]

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.

[Glice]

Originally Posted by Everyneurotic

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.

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

[Glice]

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.

[Savage Clone]

They played Lollapalooza, for god's sake.

[batreleaser]

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"

[Glice]

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?

[atsonicpark]

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!

[atsonicpark]

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.

[DJ Rick]

Originally Posted by sonicl

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.

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.

[Glice]

Originally Posted by SpectralJulianIsNotDead

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

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?

[hat and bread]

Originally Posted by atsonicpark

My cousin lives there. Asian chicks go crazy for American dudes over there.

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.

[Glice]

I totally laughed.

[uhler]

Originally Posted by batreleaser

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 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.

[pbradley]

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

[Everyneurotic]

Originally Posted by Glice

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.

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.

Originally Posted by DJ Rick

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.

that's called a novelty hit.

[pokkeherrie]

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.

[uhler]

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.

[atsonicpark]

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...