What is Visual Kei? Short description and history

Visual Kei

    Visual Kei is a movement among Japanese musicians, which is mostly defined by make-up, hair styles, costumes, and usually androgynous looks. In Japanese, "ヴィジュアル系" means "Visual Group" or "Visual System". Although some people consider that it is a music genre similar to rock or heavy metal, Visual Kei has also been represented by pop or electronic songs, which shows that the term can also refer to fashion, freedom, and expression.

From left to right, top to bottom: Malice Mizer, Versailles, The Gazette, Lareine, Moi dix Mois, Dir En Grey

    Visual Kei began as an underground scene in the 1980s and it slowly became more popular as it was part of mainstream Japanese music while having overseas fans as well, who turned their attention to a country that was not as very well known for its music before. That being said, I will divide the history of Visual Kei in 2 eras: 1980-2000 and 2001-present.

    The first era, also known as "The era of origins and success" was the time when Visual Kei emerged and the first bands were formed, such as X Japan, Dead End, Buck-Tick, D'erlanger, and Color. During late 1980s-mid 1990s, Visual Kei's popularity increased throughout Japan, the most notable bands being X Japan, Buck-Tick, and Luna Sea, followed by Dead End. However, Dead End and D'erlanger disbanded in 1990. Later on, a transition era began with L'arc en Ciel, Glay, Kuroyume, Siam Shade, and Malice Mizer. In 1995 Visual Kei was even more successful, their success lasting 4 years before another transition era began, represented by La'cryma Christi, Penicillin, Shazna, and Dir en Grey. Sadly, the popularity of Visual Kei started declining by the late 1990s.

    

X Japan

    The second era, the "Neo-Visual Kei" era, is represented by newer bands, such as The Gazette, Nightmare, Alice Nine, An Cafe, Sug, Mucc, Moi dix Mois and D'espairsRay, who have performed overseas. Unfortunately, some of the newer bands are being criticized for not being original anymore and looks becoming more important than music and people are worried about the future and the influence of this movement.

Nightmare

    For us, the non-Japanese fans of Visual Kei, most of our activities take place online and that is one of the reasons why I have decided to create this blog. I will make posts about my favorite bands and try to share as much information about them as possible.