Favorite J-Rock Bands?

[Contra Fates]

Out of all of the super glamorous J-Rock groups out there, which ones are your favorites?

For me, my top favorites are Kaya, Schwarz Stein, Gazette, Malice Mizer, Dir en grey, Psycho le Cemu, and D.

Hopefully with the help of Dimestore hod I can have some more favorites. xD

So, who do you guys rock out to?

[dimestore hod]

Hrmm... lessee.
For me these are the top played atm:
ScReW
Kaya
Ｓｃｈｗａｒｚ Ｓｔｅｉｎ
GPKISM
LM.C
イロクイ。: IROKUI
サディ : Sadie
Art School
少女-ロリヰタ-２３区 : Lolita２３q
Byakura
DOLLY
Dazzle Vision
the GazettE
since 1889
Siva
RENTRER EN SOI
Born
Monkey Majik
Deadman
新興宗教楽団NoGoD : Shinkou Shuukyou Gakudan NoGoD
exist†trace
-OZ-
ｊｕｌｉｕｓ
Black:List
ネガ : Nega
OLIVIA
lynch.
Ｄｉｏ

[Recycled Human]

Wow! I guess me and Kendra are gonna have to get to downloading! That's one hell of a list! XD

My favorites are probably Dir en Grey and Gazette.

[Neytiri]

A few of my favorites are Kaya and Gazette, thanks to Kenny for introducing it to me not too long ago. I don't know if it would count (and I'll probably get shot at for saying this) but I really like Gackt. His style just fits any of my days. I can listen to him any time.

[dimestore hod]

I don't know if it would count (and I'll probably get shot at for saying this) but I really like Gackt. His style just fits any of my days. I can listen to him any time.

I used to be obsessed with Gackt around Moon era and after awhile he just kinda... lost me. However this new stuff he has been coming out with?
LOVE it.
Esp the Jesus and Ghost singles.
Probably because those remind me of his older eras than the terrible stuff he came out with from 2007 and on x_X.

[Casanova]

I only ever really got into The Pillows and Maximum the Hormone. To me J-Rock has always been either too upbeat or too random. There's also something about a lot of the singer's voices that grates on me. They seem to... force a lot of stuff. I dunno, I'm just on the fence with this genre. xD

[VxM Edgeworth]

Well, as much as they are slightly archaic, I like L'arc en Ciel..If that holds water or not, I'd be glad to offer some great songs by them.

[dimestore hod]

There's also something about a lot of the singer's voices that grates on me. They seem to... force a lot of stuff.

That is one of the reasons why I couldn't get into MtH, they have both of those problems imo.
You do have to sort through a LOT of crap to get good bands out of such a genre, totally agreed. I think last time I checked I have over 300 jbands in my itunes music folder and I only listen to about 20-30% of them. However, once you find a good one you are usually hooked :3.

Can I also just say that I have been on a non-stop SADIE, Siva and Matenrou Opera kick? To think I used to HATE Matenrou and now I am rocking out to their last release... yay for bands not sucking anymore!

[misosoup]

Although Dir en Grey has been around for forever, their stuff has always sounded good to me.

The Pillows and Zigzo will forever be at the top of my list.

I used to get into J-Rock/Pop easily, but it's gotten a lot harder for me. Don't really know why, but. XD Some bands still just get me goin!

[Captain Garlock]

I dunno, I'll be perfectly honest with you guys, I'm sort of with The Vulture on this one. The only J-Rock band that stands out to me as genuinely, extraordinarily good would be The Pillows, who, to be fair, do rank among my all-time favorite bands. I SORTA like Asian Kung-Fu Generation, but I think that might be mainly nostalgia from back when I was first discovering anime and its culture (read: my Japanophile days). Not that I mind upbeat music, of course, it just tends to come across as kind of obnoxious when it's not set to some kind of anime OP. The first DeathNote OP is probably the best example of this I can think of- the singer just seems to be whining his way through the song. But really, I don't want to be one of those guys who comes into a thread just to complain about the subject. On the contrary, I think J-Rock works perfectly...when it has an anime attached to it. There's nothing better to use for background music, an OP or the ending credits, etc., I just...wouldn't listen to it just to listen to it, you know?

Except for The Pillows, obviously.

[dimestore hod]

The Pillows and Zigzo will forever be at the top of my list.

About time someoone liked some Zigzo haha. Everyone hates Tetsu's voice but I think the band has some groovy tunes :3.

[dimestore hod]

I can see what you guys are saying, totally. However I think you are coming at it from a completely different perspective than the one started by Seraphim? The Pillows are an amazing band, no argument there. Same thing with AKFG. But they aren't Jrock bands. They are, well... bands. She can correct me if I am wrong but I think Kendra was referring to more visual/oshare/indie bands seeing as they are really the only kind of japanese bands signed to labels that deal with jrock.

The first DeathNote OP is probably the best example of this I can think of- the singer just seems to be whining his way through the song. But really, I don't want to be one of those guys who comes into a thread just to complain about the subject. On the contrary, I think J-Rock works perfectly...when it has an anime attached to it. There's nothing better to use for background music, an OP or the ending credits, etc., I just...wouldn't listen to it just to listen to it, you know?

As for Nighmare "whining" their way through the OP of Death Note, um... have you heard any old school Naito when they were true VK? They weren't musical geniuses but they sounded so much better than the junk they make now.

In my opnion once a visual band signs their name to a label that slaps them onto things such as anime just to make a profit... they might as well just disband. At that point decent music production died in order to make mediocre tunes in turn for money.

[Captain Garlock]

Huh...Well, whaddaya know? You were right- they weren't always so godawful. It seems I was mistaken. I'll have to look into some of their older stuff, in light of this recent development. I mean, yeah, it doesn't sound like exactly my cup of tea, but definitely not bad by any stretch of the imagination. Certainly a welcome change from the DeathNote OP, to say the very least.

As for The Pillows and AKFG not being actual "J-Rock"...I dunno, perhaps we just have conflicting definitions of what J-Rock is...or, on the other hand, maybe there are just multiple definitions. >> Personally, when I think of J-Rock, I simply think "Rock that happens to be Japanese". I'd imagine indie J-Rock would simply be one subgenre of the bigger picture, you know? Much like how indie rock is classified over here. But that's just how I look at things.

[xshedevilx]

I like Malice Mizer ( a lot), The GazettE, Dir En Grey (whom I have seen live btw...AMAZING performance), Gackt (<3333), Access, T.M. Revolution, Abingdon Boys School, SuG, and a few others.

Phantasmagoria isn't bad either, I just keep remembering songs rather than names right now, ugh. Aural Vampire is a good up and coming as well along with Kanon Wakeshima, whom Mana is producing. Oh and as well. Tsukiko Amano; she did so well on the Fatal Frame soundtracks.

[Daesy]

AKFG!! Love them.
Orange Range
Thats really it.

A little offtopic:
There is this group called Far East Movement. I believe they are Chinese but they rap very well, in english. They are the group in my signature.

[Fuyumine]

The Pillows. Probably the only J-Rock band I've listened to. I have to thank FLCL for that.

[Mellusia]

I don't really know a lot of bands or artist, let alone J-Rock specific, but I do like UVERworld a lot. I don't think I've yet to hear a song I didn't like from them.

I'll probably edit this post later when I've done more research. There are a lot of bands I've just read here I never heard of O.O

[Fuyumine]

I'll probably edit this post later when I've done more research. There are a lot of bands I've just read here I never heard of O.O

*Pat, pat* It's okay. LOL.

[Cavallone]

(^__^) GIRUGAMESSSH.

Seriously, though. The only bands I like are Maximum the Hormone and D'espairsRay.

[VxM Edgeworth]

The Pillows. Probably the only J-Rock band I've listened to. I have to thank FLCL for that.

"The Pillows" were an awesome band. I used to listen to the a lot. Got to love that Crazy Sunshine single they came out with. That was definitely quite the interesting melody they did.