It dawned on me a long time ago that most J-pop is dreadful. This corporate bullshit - created to conform to carefully crafted tropes such as the teen idol or the girl group - is designed specifically to bring in cash for the various corporations that fund its creation. Whilst it's true that there is independent J-pop, this isn't the focus of this article and I've found that it tends to be a little more experimental and subject to the whims of the original artist (see Hazel Nuts Chocolate).
Musically, it is absolute trite. Lacking in any talent, it is reminiscent in many ways of the bubblegum bands of the 60s. The main features tend to merely be synthy backing tracks with generic female vocals on top. It focuses on following a formula - how can we appeal to the highest number of people possible? It's easily accessible thematically and sonically to the majority of the population, and it ends up with a musically simple, catchy, track that's in 4/4, has a verse-chorus-verse form, and is rarely longer than four or five minutes.
As I see it, the main point of J-pop is not the music, but the brand associated with the act - get a pretty girl who can sing a OK, publicise the shit out of her, make her an idol. People will jump at the opportunity for limited-edition CDs, calendars, posters, they'll queue for hours to go to shows, and this makes a load of money. Why would we give our individuality up to this cash cow!?
So, what alternatives are there? If you want to listen to poppy music, look no further than the shibuya-kei scene. Starting off as an independent movement, it fused 60s Beach Boys-esque pop with elements of jazz, bossa-nova and electropop. Prominent artists from the early scene include Flipper's Guitar, Pizzicato Five, and Fantastic Plastic Machine. It too started to take a more mainstream sounding path as it became more popular, but there's a very strong independent streak that's close to its roots. Other artists of interest include Cornelius and Plus-Tech Squeeze Box.
If you want to turn away from the pop scene in its entirety, then Japan has plenty of innovative music in most genres. For jazz, try The Soil & Pimp Sessions, or if you're feeling adventurous, Midori (they play a fusion of avant-jazz and punk, with vocals that mainly consist of a girl screaming at the top of her lungs). Jazz fusion wise, stray no further than Wha-ha-ha. If you like a bit of punk, turn your eyes to Shonen Knife (1, 2, 3). They play Ramones-esque pop-punk that often borders on indie pop, with songs about collecting insects and jellyfish and magical glasses.
There's a lovely amount of shoegaze floating about, as well. Try some dreamy stuff by Clams, or for something a bit more noisy go no further than Mass Of The Fermenting Dregs. There's also a pretty good amount of post-rock on the go, too (see Mono, jizue), instrumental piano stuff (Pia-no-Jac), or how about some experimental folk (Shugo Tokumaru)?
I hope I've illustrated my point here. There's so much wonderful, innovative and interesting Japanese music out there, so why do we get hung up on the generic J-pop that is an anathema to good music? We as otaku would do a lot better than to be caught up with it when there are many other facets of the Japanese music scene in which we could partake.
Wednesday 18 May 2011
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9 comments:
Thought-provoking, to be sure, but is J-Pop really any different from popular music in the West? What distinguishes Japanese idols from, say, Britney Spears in her heyday? Is their music somehow more commercial or more insipid? There's very little ground to attack J-Pop in particular, and I think that blunts your criticisms somewhat.
I do approve of elitism in general, though I think it's misplaced in this case.
I did have those thoughts in mind when I wrote this post. I think the difference between J-pop and Western pop (W-pop?) is the difference in sound and a difference in target audience. J-pop doesn't seem to be targeted mainly at girls (unlike Britney or Girls Aloud etc), but seems to have a large following of otaku-type men (I'm thinking Konata's dad style here). It's often sold on the image of young innocent girls, which I think is a cultural difference between the west and the east.
Also, this actually makes me want to shoot myself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebWsTKtTHzs
I have my own opinions on how popular music is portrayed by the media. While some pop music in the east is aimed at otaku, and otaku are often teh most vocal and the most portrayed group, but the otaku section are a minority. It's the same as how my uncle finding all Christina Aguilera music appealing or any guy who fell for girls aloud. There is going to be some section of music which will be played as pop and will have creepy followers who are outside the targeted demographic. And music is an industry, it's always going to choose the safe money making choice.
It's just that in the east, they have a far more lenient mindset towards exploiting young girls for all their worth.
I didn't really have a point but there
Well, if we're talking actual artistic merit, then I would say the target audience doesn't really matter. You're probably very right about Japanese male audiences though. The whole kawaisa mentality is everywhere in Japan, and music is kind of fouled up by it. It's a much bigger issue than that though, and the general attitude behind it isn't endemic to J-Pop by a long shot.
Here's a picture of Britney you'll probably recognize:
http://dc-cdn.virtacore.com/2011/02/main.jpg
What were you saying about young innocent girls? Somehow, I don't think the target audience for this was supposed to be exclusively female. Her youth was pretty deliberately emphasized there; the difference is that since Japanese men want their idols to be "pure," she probably wouldn't have been slutted up quite as much in over there. I'm surprised she wasn't dressed as a cheerleader.
I was afraid I'd follow your link and find a song I'd end up liking - but no. That's just genuinely HIDEOUS and puts your argument into perspective.
On a related subject, have you seen Paranoia Agent? I know Dan isn't a fan of it, but I suspect you might like it. It's by the same director as Paprika, something of a mindfuck (which seems to be an eloquent shorthand for "confusing but thought-provoking") aaaaand it's all about condemning Japan's cultural obsession with vacuously cute icons.
I guess cherleaders are over rated
They do too much when slutty school girls could be doing other thing?
I dunno
the high school attitude is lost on me
There will always be slutty teenagers
Paranoia Agent sounds pretty damn interesting. I'm going to have to get my hands on it.
I have it, actually. Dual audio.
Do want
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