2006年 Jan 26日 Thursday, 17:22
Is it wrong for someone who enjoys listening to bands like; Descendents, The Peacocks,Big D and the Kids Table, Against All Authority, the dead pets, Leftöver Crack, Captain Everything!, The World/Inferno Friendship Society, Snuff and Link 80 to enjoy jpop?
I guess I got first introduced to Japanese music and the Japanese culture through videogames. I've grown up with videogames and it's always been a huge interest of mine. I was even going to do a Games Design/Programming course at Uni, even got accepted into two Uni Games courses. I backed out at the last minute to do a more 'practical' course at UWE (Bristol).
As most gamers know; sound is just as important as the graphics. Whether you're playing on an Xbox 360 or a gameboy - sound is always going to be a major aspect during development and to the end product.
Composers like Koji Kondo, Yasunori Mitsuda and Nobuo Uematsu bring videogames to life. Riding on Epona with the Hyrule Field theme blasting out really bought you into the Zelda world. What about American and other composers I hear you say? I'm not going to talk about theme since this journal is about jpop and my introduction to it.
Apart from the films, games, manga and ladies. I also enjoy anime. From animes like FMA to Rurouni Kenshin; I love the music featured in them. Start & End themes especially. My favourites include: Kesenai Tsumi, Sakura Saku, Tank! and Sobakasu.
Like many young boys I got curious and wondered if I'd like other songs from the artists that did my favourite anime themes. Turns out I did. Then I got curious some more and explored 'non-anime' artists. Yep! I enjoy them too.
Now I'm listening to the likes of;
Ayumi Hamasaki, Ai Otsuka, 北出菜奈, 安室奈美恵, 上戸彩, 松浦亜弥, L'Arc~en~Ciel andSowelu
Most of the bands at the beginning are or were 'poor DIY' bands and are "to good to sell-out"1. I've seen most of them live too. I don't expect a band to have video, nor to I expect a live show to cost more than £20 (unless it's a festival).
Now jpop is at the other end of the spectrum. The artist are huge, make lots of money, shows sell out in minutes and they have big budget videos. Very much like the UK and US pop scene (which I hate). The only difference is I like the music (and even some of the videos). I'd also love to attend a Ayumi concert too..
I can't put my finger on my I like jpop so much. Maybe it's because I find the whole Japanese/Asian culture so interesting and intriguing. Don't get me wrong, I don't think it's better than other cultures. Meh, who knows. Guess some might find it odd I like the two. Luckily there are no set rules for music.
Thanks for reading my poorly written first journal, at least it wasn’t a list ‘ay!