J Rock and what it means to me

There was a time when rock music ruled the airwaves. There was a time when the term “ruled the airwaves” made sense.

Growing up, there were zero asian male role models in popular music. The guitarist from Smashing Pumpkins doesn’t count, he barely talks. This was the MTV era. You were more likely to see Jessie Camp accepting a grammy than you were to see an asian face on TRL’s top 10 countdown.

I’ve always loved music, but the piano/violin route wasn’t for me. I needed something a little more rebellious. Electric guitar was the ultimate tool to express teenage angst. The moment I plugged in and turned up, I knew it would be a lifelong addiction. The disgusting roar of a too loud electric guitar is like the guttural scream from a young teenager when coming face to face with one’s existence in contemporary society. It was beautiful. Armed with a few power chords and the minor pentatonic scale in one position, I was ready to take over the world as a rockstar.

There was just one problem: Rock stars don’t look like me.

Don’t play dumb. You already know the asian male stereotypes in your head, and words like “rebellious” or even “creative” aren’t some of them. If I appeared on stage looking like Kurt Cobain, you would assume I was part of the lighting crew before you thought I was part of the band.

This was the state of Asian American representation in western music during my high school years.

The state of western rock

Thursday. Groundbreaking band, yes. But fashion icons, they were not.

Moreover, the state of rock music in the west was stuck in a rut. I craved technical shred guitar solos, and rockstar bravado. I couldn’t find any of this in the mop tops, bootcut jeans, white belts, and tight band t shirts of the emo core scene. Stage costumes were considered lame, technical guitar solos “Had no feeling”, and simply signing to a major label was considered selling out to the man.

Enter Japanese Rock (Visual Kei)

I still love this song and music video

I don’t remember how I first stumbled across Visual Kei music, but it most likely someone else’s Myspace page. Now THIS is what I was looking for. It had style, panache, and actual guitar solos! It had more in common with 80’s hard rock bands like Whitesnake or Def Leppard than Thursday or Taking Back Sunday.

Japanese rockstars acting in ways that Asians aren’t supposed to act in western eyes. A dream come true.

Taking a look at the comments section in their videos, I was surprised yet again. Most of the comments were in English from gushing female fans. Another dream come true to teenage me!

L’arc en Ciel, probably the biggest band to come out of the V Kei scene. They filled up Madison Square Garden in 2012 without singing a word of English.

What’s more is, Visual Kei is unapologetically Japanese. For as much as I appreciate K-Pop, most of it sounds like any US top 40 hit to me. V Kei uses a deeper style of singing, unconventional song structures, orchestral arrangements, and the songs are rarely sung in English.

Immensely popular manga and anime Death Note, which featured opening and closing songs from somewhat obscure V Kei band Nightmare. This was possibly the peak of the V Kei scene.

Does anyone remember this show? I had spiky hair at the time and was compared to “L” on many occasions.

V Kei is an interesting genre in that it’s not defined by a single musical style.

V Kei is an interesting genre in that it’s not defined by a single musical style. As times changed, V Kei adapted with it. Here, Nocturnal Bloodlust incorporated deathcore style riffs and breakdowns into their music.

The beginning of the end

While living in Tokyo and playing in some V Kei bands myself, I noticed the trend waning after a very successful run. V Kei was getting stale, with bands going to more and more extreme lengths with their visual style. This was parodied in the popular manga and movie “Beck” where the bad guys are the corporate rock V Kei band, while the under dog heroes are the indie rockers.

I completely forgot about this movie. What was that overused phrase about living long enough to see yourself become the villain?

New Japanese rock bands such as One Ok Rock and Radwimps shunned V Kei aesthetics in favor of a more straightforward pop rock approach. Gone were the guitar solos, gone were the stage costumes, and that special sense of rockstar rebelliousness went with it.

Besides, rock music in general was decreasing in popularity. With the rise of EDM and Hip Hop in the west, it’s uncommon to even hear a distorted electric guitar in the top 100 anymore.

V Kei’s success overseas was also hindered by having all the songs in Japanese. Most westerners I talk to find the concept of listening to music in a foreign language bizarre, even though they expect non english speaking countries to readily listen to their music.

Most westerners I talk to find the concept of listening to music in a foreign language bizarre, even though they expect non english speaking countries to readily listen to their music.

The point

I never became a rockstar. A mysterious hand injury has ironically left me with worse guitar skills than someone who’s picked up the guitar for the first time in their life. Once a Berklee contender, I am unable to finger a D chord now.

The work I do now has nothing to do with music, and I enjoy my current career. Perhaps it was time to grow up. I doubt current me could fit into the leather pants and jacket of my V Kei days anyways.

However I want to give a special thanks to the V Kei bands of my youth. They helped a young asian american teenager not feel so alone.

Besides, it’s only Rock and Roll.