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Visual kei is a phenomenon, usually related to Japanese rock music, referring to a band to which one of its primary focuses of interest is the dressing and appearance of the members. Inside Japan, their fans are almost exclusively teenage girls, and as such they can be somewhat considered a uniquely Japanese version of a boy band. In other countries, the small quantity of Japanese visual kei followers is equally comprised by male and female adolescents, and some young adults. A notable difference between visual kei and boy bands is that boy bands usually start prefabricated and with a strong marketing campaign, while there are a lot of cash-less indie visual that won't get promotioned unless they sign with a major label.
Members of visual kei bands often wear striking makeup, style their hair with disparate but meticulously done dyes, and wear elaborate costumes, sometimes reflective of 17th century styles. A look that recently has became popular within this trend is called Gothic Lolita. Although the whole appearance can appear feminine, almost all band members are male. visual kei, being based upon visual style, is a genre of band but not a genre of music, and the bands may play standard J-Rock (this is the most common kind) (i.e. Dir En Grey), or synth-pop, or American-style heavy metal (i.e. Sex Machine Guns).
Western observers sometimes confuse visual kei bands with goth bands because of the makeup and clothing, but most Japanese goths do not consider visual kei to be gothic, and there is very little cultural crossover between Japanese visual kei fans and Japanese goths.
This trend was almost single-handedly started by X Japan in the 1980s and became popularized by 1990s bands like Malice Mizer and Dir En Grey.
Some Visual Kei Bands
- Aliene Ma'riage
- Baiser
- Blam Honey
- Blood
- Dir En Grey
- hide
- Kuroyume
- Lareine
- Luna Sea
- Madeth Gray'll
- Malice Mizer
- Moi Dix Mois
- Pierrot
- Plastic Tree
- Schwarz Stein
- Velvet Eden
- X Japan
External links
- Midi:Nette - record company started by Mana that produces visual kei bands.