In fact, some J-pop musicians like Glay often tour around Asia, especially China, Taiwan, Thailand and South Korea. Along with the expansion of Japanese music industry, J-pop has been getting popular in some countries in Asia, Europe and U.S., since internet makes it easier to access any information at home. Music industry in Japan is now one of the biggest industries in the world and affecting the music scene in other countries. J-POP word began to be known all over the world since Japanese music industry became big enough to influence Japanese pop culture and young people. and Europe, the punk scene has gone through various reincarnations with different styles and tones emerging, disappearing, and re-emerging. The punk scene has existed in Japan about as long as it has in the U.S., dating back to the late 1970’s. J-PunkĪnother less-mainstream genre, Japanese punk, has a significant underground following (as does punk music in the United States). The Determinations, The Side Burns, and Blue Beat Players are Japanase ska bands popular among fans of the genre. However, many Japanese ska bands continue to persist despite a lack of mainstream support. Emerging about a decade ago with forerunner bands Ska-Flames and Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra, the Japanese ska scene saw a huge popular surge in 1997 (mirroring the burst of popularity in the Unitd States) which quickly died out. J-SkaĪlthough far less popular than J-pop, J-rock, or J-Synth (Electronica), ska music has a definite presence in Japan. Japanese artists such as Takako Minekawa, Fantastic Plastic Machine (aka Tomoyuki Tanaka), and Kahimi Karie are creating some of the most ground-breaking beats in the world today. Often blending with the other genres (particularly j-pop and j-rock), Japanese electronic music (sometimes referred to as J-Synth) has flourished both in Japan and abroad in recent years. The past decade has seen a huge revolution in electronic music around the globe. The line between being Visual Rock or just a part of the larger category of J-Rock is often sketchy, with the categorization of popular bands such as GLAY and L’Arc-en-Ciel up for debate (e.g., as one fan told me, “Well Glay sorta was Visual, but now they’re sorta not.”) J-Synth (Electronica) Dir En Grey and Malice Mizer are popular Visual Rock bands. Some of the male Visual Rock artists dress androgynously or in drag. Visual Rock artists often wear vibrant costumes and sport bright, flamboyant hair and makeup, using their appearances and movements to play a role just as important as the music they create. Visual Rock is a sub-genre of J-Rock that is as much about visuals as it is about sound. If they gain a strong popularity among Japanese youth they are likely to get signed to a major label.
and Europe, many rock bands work their way up through the ranks of the “indies,” or lesser-known bands signed to Independent labels. Similar to the music industry of the U.S. Most of the bands are guitar and/or drum driven. J-Rock is another fairly broad genre encompassing a sound similar to the alternative/rock sound of the West. Many music icons become the trend-setters for fashion with Japanese girls in particular attempting to emulate their particular styles. Not surprisingly, a band or artist’s image is often even more important than the music itself. The love for these icons is so great that the death of certain Japanese pop and rock stars in recent years reportedly devestated some young fans so much that they took their own lives out of despair. The members of bands such as Morning Musume, Tanpopo, Luna Sea, and Da Pump are worshiped as pop culture icons. The teen idols of Japan are just as big (if not bigger) as the Britney Spears and Nsync’s of the U.S. A lot of the bands tend to have a cutesy, “bubble-gum” pop sound while others tend to exhibit a more edgy dance, r&b, or funk sound. As is the case for “pop music” in the United States, a great deal of different sounds tend to fall under this label. J-pop is probably the hardest genre of Japanese music to categorize or describe. However, this website deals exclusively with those genres of music that pertain to bands and artists with Japanese roots. This mix is evident by looking at a current Japanese Top 40 Chart. A glimpse at any current Japanese top 40 music chart reveals a mix of Western (and some European) and native Japanese artists. Thank you!Īs is the case in many non-Western countries, Western artists tend to maintain a constant position in the popular music of Japan. The Music Genres List site covers many of the most popular styles of j-pop music – also known as Japanese Pop, we hope this becomes the definitive list of any j-pop music genres on the Internet, send an email to add musicgenreslist dot com if you feel any popular j-pop music genres are missing and we’ll add to complete the genre list.