The heavy-metal magazine “Revolver” has an article titled: “Six Totally Insane Japanese Metal Bands.
Man With A Mission
I have already written a blog post last year about one of the bands they mention: BabyMetal. (Click here to read my post about them.)
Do you know the Japanese band Baby Metal ?
They are a unique “heavy metal” meets J-pop band that consists of three junior high school girls!
The girls are ages 13, 14, and 15…and they’re not even actually heavy-metal fans. They prefer pop music (as most girls their age do).
Not your typical metal band. And, to be honest, I’m not really a big fan.
But, it is an interesting concept for a band, I have to admit.
If these girls aren’t really “metal heads”, then why are they in a band called “Baby Metal”?
They were in a pop band together but their producer, who is a metal-head had an idea to fuse their music with thrashing guitars and metal growls!
Unsurprisingly, the girls weren’t keen to becoming a heavy-metal band at first. In fact, the youngest member asked “What’s ‘heavy metal’?“. But they say that they’ve warmed up to it and enjoy being a totally unique act…and also being able to act “wild” on stage.
The even do a unique spin on the “metal horns” hand gesture that they call “kitsune” (which means “fox” in Japanese).
The reason, actually, is because on their debut photo-shoot, their producer told them to do the “metal horns” (which they had never seen before)…and they mistook the hand gesture for the one that became their signature hand gesture.
They have songs with titles such as 「イジメ・ダメ・ゼッタイ！」, which means “Absolutely no bullying!” (which, although has a good message, I don’t enjoy much), and 「ヘドバンギャー!!」 (“Headbanger!!”) which is a lot better.
Their newest song, titled 「メギツネ」 (“Female Fox”), is their best so far.
Here is the video for Baby Metal 「メギツネ」 (“Female Fox”):
What type of music do you like to listen to? Do you go to concerts often?
As for me, I like heavy metal music. Actually I don’t understand why anyone would listen to anything else. 😉
There are a number of great bands scheduled to play shows in Japan soon.
For example:
● Linkin Park
– 2011 September 10, 11: Chiba, Japan
– 2011 September 13: Yokohama, Japan
– 2011 September 14: Nagoya, Japan
– 2011 September 16: Osaka, Japan
Also, on 2011 August 31, Linkin Park will play a show in Los Angeles, California to help raise money for the victims of the March 11 earthquake in Japan.
The Japanese hard rock band B’z will be the opening act.
● Anthem
The Japanese metal band Anthem are currently on a tour of Japan until the end of July (2011).
● Anthrax
In support of their new album, “Worship Music“, Anthrax will play four dates in Japan this December:
– 2011 December 12: Osaka, Japan
– 2011 December 13, 14: Tokyo, Japan
– 2011 December 16: Nagoya, Japan
The band “Hellyeah” will be the opening act for the Anthrax shows.
● Aerosmith
Hard rock icons Aerosmith will play shows across Japan in (2011) November and December:
– 2011 November 22: Kanazawa, Japan
– 2011 November 25: Hiroshima, Japan
– 2011 November 28, 30: Tokyo, Japan
– 2011 December 2: Fukuoka, Japan
– 2011 December 6: Osaka, Japan
– 2011 December 8: Nagoya, Japan
– 2011 December 10: Sapporo, Japan
● Loudpark Heavy Metal Festival 2011
– 2011 October 15: Saitama, Japan
At this year’s Loudpark, Whitesnake, The Darkness, Stryper and many other acts are scheduled to perform.
● Whitesnake
In addition to headlining this year’s Loudpark festival, Whitesnake will play four additional shows in Japan:
– 2011 October 17: Osaka, Japan
– 2011 October 18: Okayama, Japan
– 2011 October 20: Miyazaki, Japan
– 2011 October 22: Nagoya, Japan
● Mötley Crüe
– 2011 September 28: Nagoya, Japan
– 2011 September 29, 30: Osaka, Japan
– 2011 October 3, 4, 5: Tokyo, Japan
● Def Leppard
– 2011 November 5: Osaka, Japan
– 2011 November 7: Tokyo, Japan
I wrote a post about the Japanese heavy metal band X-Japan (they were simply called “X” when I first came to Japan).
I was surprised by the negative comments that post I wrote received from a number of X-Japan fans overseas! The post is here, by the way.
Well, X-Japan has released a new English-language song via i-tunes.
It’s currently available to for download in America and Europe.
The price is £0.79 (which equals about US$1.27 (or ¥102)).
(Click here if you want to download it from i-tunes.)
It will be available for download in Japan and Asia on 2011 July 13.
The song is titled “Jade“.
Here’s the video for the song:
Also, X-Japan is currently on a short world tour.
They just played a concert in London on Tuesday (July 28) and then they play a few more shows around Europe.
Then on August 13 they’ll be in Osaka, Japan and on August 14th they’ll play in Tokyo.
From there, they’ll play some shows in Central America.
(News and images are from the official X-Japan website).
When I came to Japan, I heard a Japanese heavy metal band called “X” play.
I thought they sounded good and looked quite different from American metal bands with their giant hairstyles.
They were called simply "X" when I first heard them.
They are considered by many to be the pioneers of the Japanese “Visual Kei” type heavy metal.
The way I’d described the “Visual Kei” genre of music is a uniquely Japanese cross between ‘shock rock’ and ‘glam metal’.
In 1991, X released their album titled “Jealousy” that includes the song “Say Anything”.
X "Jealousy" album cover
Here’s the official music video for the X song “Say Anything“.
This was the first music video of their that I ever saw. It’s kinda long, but it show many concert venues around Japan…including the “Tokyo Dome”.
(The person who uploaded it wrote the band’s name as “X Japan”, but they were still called “X” when the released this song):
This album was very successful in Japan. It’s the first album of theirs that I bought.
Due to the immense domestic success of this album, it was believed that their dream of international stardom would be realized soon.
So to prepare for their international debut, the band decided to change their name to prevent any potential confusion with an American band that was also called “X“.
So, they became “X Japan“.
Logo for the band "X Japan"
Unfortunately, international success managed to elude them. (Probably because their entire catalog of music is sung in Japanese).
In the late ’90s, X Japan broke up.
The lead guitarist, hide, had a semi-successful solo music career after the band break-up. But he died soon after (official cause-of-death was listed as “suicide”, but the other band members insist his death was caused by a drunken accident).
The feminine-acting drummer / pianist, Yoshiki, recorded an instrumental version of the KISS song “Black Diamond” for the KISS tribute album “KISS My A$$“.
The lead vocalist, Toshi, left the music industry for awhile (some say he temporarily joined a religious cult. But he denies that.)
But in 2007, X Japan reunited. They have a new guitarist…but the late hide is still officially considered a member of the band. His guitar and often images of him are always displayed on stage when the band performs.
For their reunion, they updated their image. Gone is the giant hair.
Also, in 2007, the American horror movie “Saw IV” was released and X Japan was asked to record a song for the soundtrack.
They recorded the song “I.V.” for the soundtrack.
The international exposure from that song, plus the current “Japan boom” overseas seems to be providing X Japan with a chance to finally realize their dream of international stardom.
Because X Japan has been invited to perform at the popular “Lollapalooza” music festival in Chicago, USA in 2010 August 6-8!
Tokyo Five 
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