Visual kei Visual kei (ヴィジュアル系, lit. "visual type") is a term usually related to Japanese rock music, referring to bands which have as one of their primary focuses of interest the costume and appearance of the members. Inside Japan, their fans are almost exclusively teenage girls, and as such they can be somewhat considered a uniquely Japanese version of a boy band. In other countries, the small quantity of Japanese visual kei followers is equally comprised by male and female adolescents and young adults. A notable difference between visual kei and boy bands is that boy bands are usually prefabricated by an external music producer and start with a strong marketing campaign, while there are a lot of indie visual kei bands that won't get promoted unless they first gain popularity and sign with a major label. Members of visual kei bands often wear striking makeup, style their hair in dramatic shapes with meticulously done colour dyes, and wear elaborate costumes. A look that recently has became popular within this trend is called Gothic Lolita. Although the whole appearance can appear feminine, almost all band members are male. Visual kei, being based upon visual style, is a genre of band but not a genre of music, and the bands may play standard J-Rock (this is the most common kind, e.g. Luna Sea) or heavy metal (e.g. Sex Machineguns) although Punk or Industrial (e.g. Blam Honey) influences may also be incorporated. Western observers sometimes confuse visual kei bands with Goth bands because of the makeup and clothing, but most Japanese goths do not consider visual kei to be gothic, and there is very little cultural crossover between Japanese visual kei fans and Japanese goths beyond the outer fringes of the "Gothic Lolita" fashion, which was influenced by elements of gothic style. Largely this movement is credited to have been started "almost single handedly" by X Japan, however a rising trend of utilizing visual shock to gain membership in the independent scene was well in effect by the time X went major: they may be seen in this sense not as a catalyst for the movement, but a mechanism to involve dominant Japanese popular culture with it. Bands in the early '90's such as Die in Cries, Luna Sea, , and By-Sexual along with previous bands Buck-Tick and X Japan encouraged a "boom" of this media culture. Some Visual Kei Artists Aliene Ma'riage Baiser Blam Honey Blood Dir En Grey Dué le Quartz Duel Jewel hide Kagrra Kuroyume Lareine L'Arc~en~Ciel Luna Sea Madeth Gray'll Malice Mizer Noir Fleurir Ove Pierrot Plastic Tree Psycho le Cému Schwarz Stein Sex Machineguns Velvet Eden X Japan External links Midi:Nette - record company started by Mana that produces visual kei bands. Most Popular Articles: Music    Musical Instruments    Guitar    Classical Music    History    Music Definition    Country Music    Rock Music    Pop Music    Hip Hop    Rap    DJ    Video Games    Casino Games    Poker    Blackjack    Casinos    Real Estate    Loan    Auction    eBay    Marketing    Search Engine Optimization    File Sharing    MP3    Music Industry    Kazaa    Internet    Supermodel    Fashion    Fashion Designers    Erotica    Modeling    Clothing    Boots    Shoes    Diamond Engagement Rings    Diamond    Rugs    Gospel Music    Affiliate    E-Commerce    Radio This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License at http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html You may copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license. You must provide a link to http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html To view or edit this article at Wikipedia go to http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_kei