Japanese Music - Part 1

Japanese music. From the weird apparently atonal warblings of traditional instruments, to the cat-yowling racket of enka, Japanese music feels like it comes from a completely different world. This is largely because it does. Let's start with the obvious stuff...

J-pop

All pop music is a commercial consideration as much as it is a musical venture. That said, the money making device of J-pop is a very finely honed tool. The "idol" system that exists largely around Tokyo is the main source for J-Pop stars. "Idols" are ubiquitous stars, that are vaguely reminiscent of the Hollywood system stars of yester-year. These "idols" turn up on every second television show, star in movies, endorse endless arrays of products and "make" pop music. Whilst not being stunningly good looking most of the time, none of them are hideously ugly. Whilst not being particularly talented, they have a wide range of talents. "Singing," "dancing," and "acting" are all secondary to their ability to smile blithely, appear on endless variety shows, and keep their noses clean.

Among the idol performers are people such as SMAP, Ayumi Hamazaki and Kumi Koda. None of these people mean anything to me, and when students ask me for opinions of such people, I find myself hard pressed to boil up anything except IDON'TCARE.

Outside of the idol system, there are some bands that seem to have had a more normal ascendency from obsucre pop musician to J-pop star. Amongst these artists are Mr. Children (urrghh, what a name!), Kinki Kids (again! The name!), or Exile. They are slightly more tuneful than the average idol, but by no means virtuosos.

The actual music made by J-pop stars is incredibly bland. One theory that I have heard (and would not be at all surprised if this is completely accurate), is that karaoke has influenced J-pop due to the ongoing revenue generated by karaoke royalties. For older pop music, more revenue is generated by karaoke plays than by record sales, and it comes second only to radio for creating a lasting income source for older music. Most karaoke pundits have, at best, a limited vocal range, and so, easy to sing melodies are a major consideration when penning a potential J-pop hit. The operatic divas of American pop music are far too difficult for an average singer to perform comfortably at karaoke, and so, most J-pop is medium-paced, middle-registered, and sounds almost exactly like every other J-pop song anyone has ever heard. I have heard hundreds of hours of J-pop, but I would be hard pressed to hum you a tune, or tell you the title of anything because it's just all so damn same-ish.