An Introduction to Jrock
Jrock is short for Japanese rock and roll music. First it all started with a band named X Japan, who were largely influenced by the American Band KISS. So X Japan had the big hairdo, make up, leather pants and the whole nine yard – they had the rocker image.
And so Visual Kei is born, a sub-genre of Jrock that put emphasis on clothing as much as the music. Again, with the cool hairdo, make-up and out of the world clothing. It kinda looks gay at first, but then the music is pretty cool.
Malice Mizer was the first band to really stand out as a visual kei (started in 1992 and is now disbanded), putting tons of time and effort into their clothing. Unlike KISS who wore the out fit over and over again, Malice Mizer changed their customs every PV (Promotional Video, which is basically a music video).
KISS is a one trick pony with their out fits, okay? American bands dress nowhere near as elegant as Jrock bands. So then many more bands follow the visual kei path like Dir en Grey, DeadMan, NightMare, Ayabie, Psycho Le Cemu, Gazette, Vidoll etc. All the band names are worth a music too, you can listen to their music video by searching it youtube.
My two favorite bands that I recommend is Dir En Grey and Malice Mizer, because there are a lot of good songs from them that I still listen to – after listening to them for 2 years. Danger gang is worthy of a mention because it is an all girl Jrock band where Jrock is male predominant.
As of this writing (2007) Jrock, especially visual kei, is still going strong. Despite with a lot of other people say, visual kei indie bands are still opening up left and right, and major visual kei bands mentioned above still have sold out concerts.