Ai-rainaa o onegaishimasu

Now you know the Japanese for "Can I borrow your eyeliner?" Trust me, you're going to need it. Yes indeed, boys and girls, stock up on your eyeliner, mascara, crimping torques and handcuffs, because tonight we're going into the thorn-draped, labyrinthine world of Visual Kei. Yes, my fine friends, tonight we finally shed some light on the dark question: What IS Visual Kei.
  You may want to pack some extra black nail varnish, too, just in case you chip a nail on the way-- the term "Visual Kei" is so integrated into the Jrock scene at large that we're going to have to take the plunge and go all the way. :-) This means thoroughly investigating all of the various "kei"s out there, so what I mean by answering the question of what is Visual Kei, is that let's wade in a bit and test the waters. This topic could take years to fully cover... But the world of Visual Kei being populated by 400 year old Vampires and their immortal angel counterparts, we have all the time in the world (until the apocalypse, but that keeps getting put off).  

    Visual kei, contracted to "Vis Kei" by those of us who are really put-off by that extra syllable or two... literally translates to "Visual Type". This could encompass any type of performance rock, you may think, but it doesn't. Although its name is quite loose, its genre is quite specific.
 
   First, let's backtrack to that term, "performance rock". Pretty self-explanatory, really. From that term, we can branch into "rock-opera"....and from the two descriptive terms, performance rock and rock-opera, we can begin to grasp the term "Visual type" (from hereon referred to as "vis kei"). From the world of classical opera we learned that music has the potential to not only be an aural pleasure, but a visual one as well. Through lyrical theme, musical composition, costume and props, a greater theme or story can be expressed through music.

  Now, it is important to note that performance rock and rock-opera are not the same as Vis Kei.
"Performance rock" can be loosely categorized as a type of [live] performance that is highly produced, often with dancers, costumes, and elaborate lighting/set design/effects (rain, fire, etc). A perfect example of performance rock would be the all-time god of Jrock in general, Gackt. Sorry about the subs and wonky quality.
  With the concept of opera-rock, the line between opera-rock and Vis Kei becomes kind of vague. Although many people will contest that Malice Mizer is the god-father of Vis Kei, I would classify at least their Gackt era as VERY opera-rock, and much less Visual Kei. Note the heavy emphasis on the historical-fantasy costumes, the themed set stage, etc. Although historical themes can be found in Vis Kei as well, the Vis Kei inspiration is Vampiric- cyber-punk/Victorian; opera-rock is rennaisance. After Gackt and Klaha, Mana led them more toward Visual Kei, but during their early days they were opera-rock.
  You can, of course, classify these sub-genres as Vis Kei, but it is important to note the distinctive qualities of each, and to understand that Vis Kei has its own distinctions and differences, and is less a massive pool than a sub-genre of its own. Also, within this whole area of [J]rock, there are plenty of other sub-genres that could and should be mentioned here. While I am not as certain about their technical terms, there are genres like "theme rock", and, yes, "Lolita rock". Briefly- a few bands that sketch out "theme" rock would be groups like BLOOD and Onmyouza. BLOOD has a Vampire story theme-- each album tells a different story through the songs, about specific characters etc. Onmyouza writes about Japanese historical figures and events/themes. These are *not* performance rock because performance rock is often abstract (lacking a direct lyric and performance connection), and they are *not* opera-rock because opera-rock is much more stylized and produced.
  Again, you *can* say that these are Vis Kei-- but they are NOT Vis Kei. Vis Kei is a specific genre-- just because there is something to see doesn't make it Vis Kei. 
  Now that we have our foundational sub-genres clear, we can begin that towering climb toward understanding Visual Type, Vis Kei.

  Vis Kei began somewhere in the late 80s and early 90s; the way paved by the band X Japan. There was a stream of great bands that sprang up from a glorious well of talent and wonder, all around the same time: between 1982-1987. This was the well-spring of Jrock-- X Japan, Luna:Sea, Buck-Tick... it began in the 80s-- it was rock, just appearing in Japan. These bands set the precedent for Visual Kei-- theatrical hair and makeup and eccentric clothing paired with bold music, but I don't believe they really guided and shaped it. They started it as a natural thing, and then it became what it is today. By the mid to late 90s, the image had changed dramatically. What X Japan and Luna:Sea were doing kind of branched off and shaped punk and hard-rock, but I think it was Buck-Tick that really honed Vis Kei into the gothic melodrama on stage that we see today. Let's take a look at contemporary Visual Kei, breaking it down a bit.

  Visual Kei-- a sketch on theme

    "Somewhere along the way, Vampires entered into the situation. That was when everything changed."
Visual Kei is a wide range of musical types-- rock, punk, cyber-punk, goth, screamo, metal, electronica, instrumental, hardcore and balladry are all present. The range of musical styles gives rise to the importance of image and theme. Visual Kei is not happy. There is a time and a place for joy and sunbeams, but this is not it. Vis Kei is about a dark aesthetic. It is not necessarily always gothic and morbid-- but usually. There are different aesthetic groupings in Vis Kei-- Lolita (Gothic Lolita), Dark Aristocrat (very Victorian), Vampires, Gothic/Bondage, and Various Gothic Other. Notice no sunflowers mentioned here. There is often a heavy religious theme (crosses, thematice material, vampires and vaticans) Follow the links to get a better idea of each one and how it differs from the others. :-)

[The bands featured in the links are (respectively) Ali Project, Buck-Tick, BLOOD, Malice Mizer, and Gazette. Kind of scary, aren't they?!]

  Continuing on this topic of theme, and the importance of image, let's discuss what makes bands NOT Visual Kei. I often see any screamo/gothic/emo/or punk Jrock band labelled Visual Kei. That's fine, I'm not the VK police or anything. It's open for debate, whatever. But to say that these bands are all Visual Kei is like saying that ANY Jrock paired with mascara and black nailpolish is Visual Kei. There is plenty of Jrock that is goth, metal, screamo, emo, heavy metal and just plain punk and rock...and not Visual Kei. Wikipedia spends 2/3 of their Visual Kei write-up talking about L'arc~En~Ciel. Laruku is punk-rock. Yes, that's allowed even though they're Japanese, lol. Here are some bands that are NOT Visual Kei, but are often mistaken for BEING Visual Kei I mixed one band that IS Visual Kei into the mix...see if you can find them :-). 
    Angry metal: Sadie, Rock: Alice Nine, Gothic: D, Theme rock: Onmyouza.  They are all incredible bands, but just because they dress awesome and play crazy music doesn't immediately make them Visual Kei.

There are also the various bands that blurr the line between what is Vis Kei and what is not. This is getting link-heavy, so I'll stop with the videos now, but a few names that come to mind are Abingdon Boy School, Girugamesh, Nightmare, etc. Just because ABS isn't gothic, for example, does not immediately exclude them from the Vis Kei scene, but the line does blurr here. I don't think they represent themselves as Visual Kei or want to be labelled Visual Kei, and I would never call them Visual Kei-- but if you think they are Vis Kei and want to call them that, please do. It is a distinct genre, and yet...kind of indistinct at the same time.

  Another point where I must draw the line is at the songstress, Kana. Supermodel-gone-vocalist, Kana is often labelled as "Girl Vis Kei". Kana is not Visual Kei. There is a small sub-genre of Jrock/Vis Kei that is what I think of as Lolita rock. Kana is very much Lolita rock, and not at all Vis Kei. She sings about cupcakes and strawberries and wanders around aimlessly in woodland glades with stuffies. Lolita-rock is different from Lolita-type Visual Kei. Compare Kana to Ali Project, featured above. 
  
On this note-- why are they all men, you may ask. There are several less famous Visual Kei bands that are all-female bands. They are terrifying to behold, and I am too afraid to watch their videos. If you are interested, search for Exist Trace and follow the links. O__O 

  There you go! A quick skip through the dark world of Vis Kei. We can pick this topic apart for years, but really I just wanted to sketch out a rough run-through of this important genre. We'll pick up on more later, because there are still important aspects of theme and aesthetic, image etc that I would prefer to go into detail with and not just gloss over.

Thanks for reading Secret Garden. See you next time! ^__~