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Visual kei (ヴィジュアル系) which means "Visual System" in Japanese , refers to a sub-genre of rock music, originating from Japan in the late 1980's.
Characteristics
Visual Kei musicians are characterised by their unusual hair styles, elaborate costumes, and feminine make-up. While the music itself is often a mix between Pop music, Hard Rock, and Heavy Metal.
History
In the late 1980's, various bands helped form what is now known as "Visual Kei", the band X Japan is credited with inventing the term "Visual Kei", which drummer Yoshiki Hayashi described as "Visual Shock" . The band Colour is often regarded as influencing much of the femininity associated with modern Visual Kei, along with the bands D'erlanger, and Dead End.
In 1992, X Japan launched an attempt to enter the European and American markets, but it would take another 8 years until popularity and awareness of Visual Kei bands would extend worldwide.
Back in 1989, Colour vocalist "Dynamite Tommy" formed his record company Free-Will, which has been a major contributor in spreading Visual Kei outside Japan.
In the mid 1990's, Visual Kei received an increase in popularity throughout Japan, when album sales from Visual Kei bands started to reach record numbers. The most notable bands to achieve success during this period included, X Japan, Glay, Luna Sea, and L'Arc~en~Ciel, however a drastic change in their appearance, accompanied their success.
During the same period, bands such as Kuroyume, Malice Mizer, and Penicillin, gained mainstream awareness, although they were not commercially successful.
By 1999, mainstream popularity in Visual Kei was declining, X Japan had disbanded, and the death of lead guitarist Hideto Matsumoto in 1998 had signaled what many called the end of Visual Kei. It wasn't long before Luna Sea decided to disband in the year 2000, and L'Arc~en~Ciel went on a hiatus the same year.
It was not until 2007, when annoucements that X Japan, and Luna Sea would reunite, that Visual Kei bands would see a boost in popularity again, which has been labeled as "Neo-Visual Kei" .
See also
References
- http://eow.alc.co.jp/系/UTF-8/
- http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D00EFD7103DF93BA25755C0A96E958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all
- http://www.grammylive.com/Latin/News/Default.aspx?newsID=2278
- http://www.oricon.co.jp/news/confidence/23842/
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