Back when I first started watching anime regularly–during my early college years (I’m getting old)–I would sometimes get hooked on opening and ending themes. Two later favorites were Ichirinnohana by High and Mighty Color and Natsumi Kiyoura’s Tabi no Tochuu from the original Spice and Wolf. While I would find other opening and ending themes I liked, I never got into them as much as others in the anime community. It seems most fans go through a stage where they mix their own music videos using these tunes. While I’ve added several Japanese bands to my music list, they comprise a small portion of that list. That said, as a metal and rock lover, Japanese bands stand among the best. They combine modern with classic. Many singles by Nemophila and Band-Maid could sit in the 1980s and 1990s with their sound, yet other singles also cut new paths.
Enter the Maids
Maid cafes have become synonymous with Japan, which is interesting considering the design is a cute, anachronistic and sometimes erotic riff of Victorian French maid uniforms. Band-Maid takes this schtick and bring it into the realm of metal and rock. This band is one of reasons why I developed an interest in Japanese female metal groups. YouTube randomly slid a few of their singles into my grunge playlist many years ago. While I found their maid outfit idea a bit gimmicky, their sound certainly wasn’t. They combine a classic 1980s rock vibe with a modern take. Many of their songs made me think of hair-metal bands like Dio, Whitesnake, and Led Zepplin. Their song secret MAIKO lips hooked me with its mix of rock with traditional Japanese sounds. They remain mingled with my various playlists. Unlike many bands, Band-Maid doesn’t fall into the “sameyness” that defines popular groups: if you hear one song, you hear them all. While I enjoy Disturbed, most of their work tends to fall into this problem, for example. Band-Maid, however, continues to offer variety–sometimes slipping traditional shamisan-like elements to other-times adding hip-hop style rhythms. While they are not longer unknown, they continue to experiment.
Enter Variety
Nemophilia has many cover videos on YouTube, covering Iron Maiden, Kiss, and other greats that I enjoy. Their musical variety hooked me as soon as YouTube slipped them alongside Band-Maid. I’m not one for screaming usually, but Nemophila made me appreciate a good screaming-lyrics. While the group focuses more on classic rock and metal, they weave in fluffy, Japanese-pop punctuated by occasional raging lyrics. Whiplash contrast appears in many different Japanese bands, most famously Babymetal. Nemophila has a maturity. The rage that sometimes appears in their songs feels more genuine. Because they are older women–older relative to the usual teen and 20-something artists–the anger feels more genuine. Their covers of past songs feel fresh while their original songs. like Zen offer interesting sound punctuation. Whenever I need energy, I queue Nemophila.
Enter the Bubblegum Rage
Hanabie comes closer to Japanese pop than Band-Maid and Nemophila. Hanabie features just as much anger as Nemophila, but there’s a wink to their anger. They are more modern and younger than Nemophila and Band-Maid with their songs. They address problems like modern dating and hookup culture and poke at Japan’s corporate culture. Their songs, while poppy and sometimes bouncy, cut at various problems with Japanese society. They combine lyrical sections with metal-screams in a satirical take on Japanese pop music. Satire is my favorite type of humor and commentary. Most Japanese pop stands as too saccharine and cutesy for me. Hanabie toes that line for me. Some of their songs cross over in places, but I enjoy how they take on societal problems in a fun, elbow-nudging way.
Preserving the Classics
Japanese rock preserves the elements of classic American rock and metal. While hip-hop and country have infected most American music, Japanese rock and metal, at least with Band-maid and Nemophila as examples, appears to resist this trend. While Japanese pop has slipped into some of these groups, it hasn’t become as endemic as what I’ve heard in American music. If you like pop, that’s great! But variety is better than uniformity, giving everyone something to enjoy. But then again, I might also be listening to the wrong groups. Lately, I prefer non-American music, including “Scandinavian symphonic metal.” Country music dominates my area. All the women sound alike; all the men sound alike. They all sing about the same things too. Nemophila and Band-Maid, while sharing the same genre, sound unique. Even modern American metal tends to sound similar to each other nowadays. This might, of course, be part of my fading hearing. It might also be a factor of universality. American media exports around the world. In order to maximize its widest appeal across cultures, Hollywood and the music industry has watered down their stories and uniqueness. Whereas, Hanabie features a song focused on bowing at work like a chicken pecking at the dirt.
I find the work of YouTubers more interesting than corporate music because their songs aren’t trying to maximize appeal in the endless chase for profit. Instead, these musicians make their profit through their unique takes, even when they cover popular songs. People outside the US may find American music as unique and interesting as I do these Japanese metal groups. People inside Japan may find these Japanese metal groups ho-hum. But consider how unique, even blessed, our situation is. We can encounter music from all over the world. Cultures mix to create new perspectives, commentary, and vocabulary. Nemophila covers American songs in both Japanese and English. Band-Maid interjects English to create interesting melodies of contrasting and complementing sounds. We have the neurological habit of getting used to things and taking unique, historically-unprecedented blessings for granted. The fact I can listen to music from around the world gets lost in the course of my daily life. It falls into the background–quite literally. But if you go back even just a few decades–I remember the world before the Internet–such a thing wouldn’t be easy or, in some cases, possible. We often don’t appreciate what we have until it’s gone. And that theme appears in some of the songs Band-Maid, Nemophila, and Hanabie perform.
I also listen to a variety of other Japanese groups, such as Scandal. I’ve listened to visual kei bands, but beyond a few singles, they aren’t the types of songs I prefer. But then my playlists also include Heilung, Dio, Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, Brass Against, video game covers, opera, Wardruma, Mongolian throat singing, jazz, traditional shamisen, and other genres. Just no bluegrass please!
Japanese rock isn’t the best in the world; there’s no best anything. But Japanese rock can be quite good for my musical taste. It’s quirky, a bit weird (especially the ever-hilarious Ladybeard), sometimes culturally disconnected in its commentary, but overall enjoyable. These three groups lend me energy when I’m tired. Although I’m generally calmer than when I was younger (and I was pretty calm back then too), metal offers a great release valve for frustration and irritation or provides an external energy source.
What Japanese groups do you enjoy? Please list a few favorites to help each other discover something new!
