When the opportunity arises, I host panels about visual kei at Japanese anime conventions in the United States — that is, gatherings of (sometimes tens of) thousands of fans of Japanese culture, animation, and entertainment.
At my most recent panel on the topic, my co-host and I opened with a discussion question for attendees: “What is visual kei?”
We took answers from avid, long-time fans of the music genre, and from passers-by whose main motivator in attending the panel in the first place was to find out. Not surprisingly, their answers were as varied as the attendees themselves were.
This was, of course, a trick question. There is no easy answer: not only has the definition evolved over the years, but fans of the genre both within and beyond Japan have disputed exactly what that definition is for almost as long.
In the simplest terms , visual kei is Japan’s version of glam rock. If visions of big hair, tight pants, and eyeliner begin to dance in your head, then you’re on the track. If names like X JAPAN or L’Arc~en~Ciel have made even the faintest blip on your radar, then you’re getting closer. So what is this obscure music genre all about?
“Visual kei” (pronounced “kay”) translates to “visual-type,” which in and of itself doesn’t speak volumes for what it means.
X JAPAN, one of the founding fathers of the modern genre, is often credited as the source of the term. Their 1989 major debut album, “Blue Blood,” featured on its cover the phrase “Psychedelic violence / Crime of visual shock.” The details are a bit fuzzy after this, perhaps lost in the shuffle of this genre’s largely undocumented history.
But in 1993, after X JAPAN and the legendary bands that followed in their wake struck success, the first periodical dedicated to this new breed of glam rock emerged: SHOXX magazine. Rumor has it that SHOXX coined the term “visual kei,” or at least made it popular.
The 1993 definition of visual kei, therefore, was very simple; an artist need only appear in the magazine to be considered a part of the genre.
Given that the musical, fashion, and performance styles of these bands were inconsistent, this was an understandably problematic and loose definition.
In the late ’90s the visual kei movement positively exploded with all manner of creative, colorful rock, prog, punk, and even pop bands which brought with them something new and exciting to offer to the masses. Not only were the musical styles of bands under the visual kei banner beginning to diversify, but so were their looks. Bands like GLAY sported a “Soft-V” style with relaxed stage wear akin to rockers in the West, while bands like LUNA SEA styled their hair high and donned thick makeup for their every stage appearance.
These patterns have continued through to present day, leaving fans and industry members without a means to firmly pin down a way to describe the genre. Nowadays, there are bands that dress like doctors performing screamo, bands that wear ponchos recording electronica, bands in kabuki makeup playing air instruments, and every niche in between that you can (or can’t!) imagine.
Commonalities are few, and rarely genre-wide, which has led to different interpretations for different people. To some, visual kei represents a performance genre only. To others, it’s a way to categorize a unique musical style. And to many, it’s a combination of both: a musical genre with certain, but often inexplicable, elements of composition and arrangement, which comes hand in hand with showy live performances and costume-like stage wear.
This is, of course, all to one degree or another, depending on who you ask.
In a recent interview, X JAPAN’s own drummer, Yoshiki, who also happens to be the most iconic figure in visual kei, offered words of wisdom on the subject:
“People say, ‘Rock needs to be like that, punk needs to be that,’ and we’re like, ‘F — that, you know? We just want to express our feelings, and then music.’”
He does have a point. There may not be much sense in trying to define a genre which was born and raised on creative freedom. Whatever it is, it is; whatever it will become, it will become; and however onlookers will describe it, is how they will describe it.
Perhaps that’s part of the freedom of visual kei as well — existing as a genre free of definition.
