Long winded rant about Japanese popular music!
Feeling better today, I must have bipolar etc. etc. Because I'm bored and I don't need an excuse to post I'm going to bitch a bit about my recent dabbling in J-pop. Like most things I only plan on dabbling in though this is probably going to get out of control, I know. The same thing happened when I bought OK Computer for $13 because I liked Paranoid Android and No Surprises and now I own all the Radiohead albums, I have every single non album track from The Bends onwards on either some sort of single or EP and most of the pre-Bends ones. And don't even get me started on that fateful day back in spring 2001 when I ashamedly bought the Can't Get You Out Of My Head single.
Perhaps not though. There's no denying the J-pop world is fascinating, but it's damn frustrating at the same time. For example, it took me a while to become interested in Ayumi Hamasaki at all because she's such a lifeless, annoying bitch. I downloaded almost all of her CDs though and most of them are pretty good. I know she doesn't write most of her own music but I was surprised that she was even associated with music that had that much energy and was so memorable. Jesus though, she's like the real life Derek Zoolander. She must have about ten studio albums and another thirty remix albums and she has the exact same blank facial expression on EVERY SINGLE ONE. Who would fucking bother?
Also, there's the retarded fanboy factor. While I've gotten to the stage where I can mostly ignore the spoiled teenagers who think they have insight who are fans of Radiohead, I have a lot of trouble with almost every single J-pop fan. While even Radiohead would have plenty of "regular" fans, at least 99% of non Asian J-pop fans are complete tools, period.
I was browsing some forums earlier looking for some info about Utada b-sides and the like and saying I was surprised by the stupidity would be a lie, but it was disappointing if nothing else. If I see one more 14 year old from the American mid west say that Exodus was a crap album and she should stick to Japanese I'm going to really feel like doing something that I can't act on due to the distance. It's one thing to dislike an album, I have no problem with that, but they seem to think that it's crap because it's an English album rather than it being actually crap. Exodus is a strange album, I disliked it at first but it's my favourite Utada album now, I really adore the quirky eastern beats and the fact that she's experimenting with vocals and whoring it up in such a cheesy way. That's not for everyone obviously, but you can guarantee that if it was in Japanese they'd be saying it was the best CD of her career. What the fuck would it matter anyway, like they would know more Japanese than "kawaii" and "ne~~" and "irashaimase" and that shit. The only track that everyone unanimously loves is Kremlin Dusk, which is by far the worst track I've heard from the album (haven't heard the whole album though). Half of it is embarrassing Edgar Allan Poe paraphrasing and the other half is big words that make no sense together, I wouldn't be surprised at all if Hikki didn't know what the fuck they meant. Maybe when I'm feeling random I'll join some forums and be a total dick or something.
Wow, hasn't the time just flown by? I have nothing else to say on the issue at the moment. Ta.
Perhaps not though. There's no denying the J-pop world is fascinating, but it's damn frustrating at the same time. For example, it took me a while to become interested in Ayumi Hamasaki at all because she's such a lifeless, annoying bitch. I downloaded almost all of her CDs though and most of them are pretty good. I know she doesn't write most of her own music but I was surprised that she was even associated with music that had that much energy and was so memorable. Jesus though, she's like the real life Derek Zoolander. She must have about ten studio albums and another thirty remix albums and she has the exact same blank facial expression on EVERY SINGLE ONE. Who would fucking bother?
Also, there's the retarded fanboy factor. While I've gotten to the stage where I can mostly ignore the spoiled teenagers who think they have insight who are fans of Radiohead, I have a lot of trouble with almost every single J-pop fan. While even Radiohead would have plenty of "regular" fans, at least 99% of non Asian J-pop fans are complete tools, period.
I was browsing some forums earlier looking for some info about Utada b-sides and the like and saying I was surprised by the stupidity would be a lie, but it was disappointing if nothing else. If I see one more 14 year old from the American mid west say that Exodus was a crap album and she should stick to Japanese I'm going to really feel like doing something that I can't act on due to the distance. It's one thing to dislike an album, I have no problem with that, but they seem to think that it's crap because it's an English album rather than it being actually crap. Exodus is a strange album, I disliked it at first but it's my favourite Utada album now, I really adore the quirky eastern beats and the fact that she's experimenting with vocals and whoring it up in such a cheesy way. That's not for everyone obviously, but you can guarantee that if it was in Japanese they'd be saying it was the best CD of her career. What the fuck would it matter anyway, like they would know more Japanese than "kawaii" and "ne~~" and "irashaimase" and that shit. The only track that everyone unanimously loves is Kremlin Dusk, which is by far the worst track I've heard from the album (haven't heard the whole album though). Half of it is embarrassing Edgar Allan Poe paraphrasing and the other half is big words that make no sense together, I wouldn't be surprised at all if Hikki didn't know what the fuck they meant. Maybe when I'm feeling random I'll join some forums and be a total dick or something.
Wow, hasn't the time just flown by? I have nothing else to say on the issue at the moment. Ta.