I work in the Japanese music industry in Japan, have worked for a Japanese entertainment company in LA, and have traveled enough to say that there is no country with a club scene remotely like Japan's, in size or variety. Of course this is subjective, no objective data (whatever that might constite) to back up this opinion. Also an enormous number of bands. For instance, i go to a fest every year for bands that have a female vocalist, about 100 bands scattered over nearly a dozen clubs, about 70% of the bands all-female, and fests and events like that, with different lineups of bands, are fairly routine. If you factor in the huge anime and vocaloid components, and of course take into account the enormous J-Pop, enka, and soft-rock genres, Japan has a truly colossal music industry, nothing like it in variety or size (in per capita, or relative, terms, the US music industry larger in absolute terms I presume, though, again, need objective data to make definitive comparisons). And a very large number of venues--clubs, halls, arenas--to accomodate the bands and groups. Another aspect to keep in mind is the large number of musicians working solo in Japan. In Tokyo, on any given night, probably about 40% of the bands doing club gigs are ad hoc, comprising solo musicians and band members doing side projects. This is not to mention studio recording, which itself employs a vast number of players. You don't need to be a fulltime band member to regularly, or semi-regularly at least, do band music. It’s a very competitive environment, in which band survival can be a struggle. I can remember Band-Maid and Gacharic Spin, to mention two bands you're familiar with, slogging their way thru dozens and dozens and dozens of gigs on the club circuit, week in and week out, month in and month out. But that experience made them better bands (though it might have tired out GS). Survival of the fittest, but the ones that survive are very good. One more thing. The Japanese all-female bands are like a sorority. They will have crossed paths at the many events for all-female bands, and tend to be on friendly terms. As competitive as the club environment is, the all-female bands have often cooperated, helping each other logistically, even financially in some cases, and making gig referrals. That's a great aspect of the Japanese music scene.
Add-on to my comment. I didn’t mention the classical and jazz/jazz-fusion genres, but I should have as Japan is a world leader in both, not only artists but as a tour destination. In fact, in any genre including rock and metal Japan is a major tour destination for international artists, probably 2nd only to the US. If you include domestic artists as well, Japan may have the biggest tour scene in the world. I wouldn’t be surprised if Japan has the biggest music scene globally measured by number of gigs played per year in public venues such as clubs (”live houses”), theaters or halls, and arenas/stadiums/domes. Anyhow, the point is that with such a huge music scene, you’re going to have a great deal of joining and quitting, banding and disbanding.
Have you ever heard of a band named Destrose? Well, they contributed half of the female metal bands over the last decade. From LoveBites, Nemophila, Aldious, Mary's Blood, Mardelas, Albion, and several in between. Outside of Babymetal, Hanabie and Band-maid, respectively. My three favorite J-Metal bands who are f**** machines. These ladies are just unreal how they keep going like they do. Babymetal, as an example, is currently in Brazil and Argentina. They haven't had a break since before Jan 2023, and i seriously dont know what rocket fuel they run on here. 🚀 However, i hope they do get some R&R soon!! 🤘🦊 Destrose's founder, Captain Mina has yet another insane band, Fate Gear. Where the f** Mina finds these people who knows, but i love her for it. She is the G.O.A.T. for a reason!! 🤘🎸🔥
Off topic: Band Maid is one those rare bands, let alone an all-female band, that endures this far because of how they nurture and treat each other. They're more like sisters now more than friends and as band mates.
Amen to that, LB and Hanabie are great right now, I was impressed how fast they replaced their drummer last year, they didn't miss a beat (pun intended).
@@RichZee777 they had to find quick replacement because their previous drummer (sae) quit in the middle of recording, i believe. That's why sae still got credit on few song, Chika gets the rest.
Yeah, Ironbunny was a sad one. Those three girls harmonizing was so impressive. Kobushi Factory was probably the most talented group to be ended. That was a real tragedy. Those girls had done a leap in skill that should have kept them going for years. They should have been the next C-ute. It's as if the studio didn't realize what they had. The Fairies also was another disbanding I didn't understand. They might have been the best at dancing and they had dozens of excellent songs. I don't like thinking about this, haha.
I think this has also a lot to do with the relationship between casted artist and where they are signed. A lot of them get reshuffled in hopes that they are more lukrative, and when that happens they will focus or promote the other group. and rarely will the left=over group recover. The once that last are usually the ones who are not casted, but grew organically.
alot of the disbandment will result in over either members leaving due to some reason or another. the short term ones are the ones that tend to get signed or are formed through a company and don't become popular or can't have a return on investment. the ones that survive for any length of time make it because they have a big fan base either locally or off shore. some bands like lovebytes have survived a member change but where close disbanding due to the amount of time it took to release any music after their original bassist left since they decided to bring in another bassist now they are touring and recording again.
I'm a fifty-year-old metalhead / rocker, and I have been blown away by the bands coming out of Japan over the last decade or so and the talent of the musicians. I don't know if the scene was always this amazing and I missed it, but I started running across them on the internet about ten years ago, and now some of my favourite rock and metal bands are Japanese.
The band we miss the most is BRATS. We just love their music, especially the last song Spiderweb was a masterpiece in our opinion. We really hope that it's really just a longer hiatus and not a breakup of the band, even if Rei has more success with ReiRie than she recently had with BRATS.
One of my favorite performers is Kanano Senritsu. heres her band bio: ZOC, FEMME FATALE, AKUMA, NO KISS, AND THEN WENT SOLO. Just when you're getting into their sound....puff... their gone. It's frustrating.
On a positive note, Mutant Monster and Cyntia seem to be coming out of dormancy. In Cyntia's case, it's just one gig, but who knows where that will lead.
As a casual fan of Japanese music but a big Japanese popculture fan I feel (and this is just my hypothesis) there are 2 main reasons for this. 1. The insane prevalence of Idol bands. They generally have a very short shelf life before members 'graduate' because they are considered too old to be able to pull off the squeaky clean image those bands try to pull off (since they must provide this sort of parasocial 'girlfriend experience'). 2. Japanese popculture is very much hype based. And Marketing reflects that. Whenever a band gains some local traction and the bigwigs catch on, they push the hell out of it for a while and then drop it for the next best thing when that comes along.
A lot of the corporate kawaii girl groups have a 5 yr contract. After that time the girls are too old and get "retired". Usually at age 25. There are a lot of these types of groups in Japan compared to other countries. Also, a lot of female idols are on "love bans" in their contract to stay single and pure so the male fans will buy their merchandise and follow them. The girls can't take that for very long.
Not even a Japanese thing, I used to joke with my wife that women can’t get along like guys. I used to say to her “this is why there are no girl bands.” And then along came Band-Maid. They broke the stereotype I had. Long live Band-Maid! It’s difficult, no? Music business is tough. Band-Maid has nurtured a rabid fan base. Do they get views and subscribers like less talented pop stars? No. Far less. It’s an injustice perhaps. But this band stayed true to the core of what they do and found a niche where rock is dying and they are thriving. There are MANY excellent bands I wish the same for.
I'm Japanese, but bands that have a direction and can create their own music survive. Bands where a commercial producer brings together other talented band members for a specific member, such as a singer, often end up with conflicts and break up. Recently, the guitarist of a band with a flower name quit.
I agree, bands that gather through management/producer audition often end up with drama or break up. I discovered japanese band called STMLT few months ago, love their music, but ended with the same fate. While "organic" bands like Gacharic Spin still survive because they're friends from beginning.
As someone who has followed UK bands since the 1960s, you get used to there being churn in group memberships and bands disbanding. The important I've learnt is not to get too obsessive about any band or even genre. I wouldn't say the scene (as far as I know it) in Japan is any different. The story will vary from one band to another : the common "musical differences" can split a band up; being dropped by the record company and being unable to continue as an independent outfit is another. Less common (but it happens) is the death or withdrawal from the music industry for health reasons if that person is the main song-writer ; disagreements with management can cause a band to disband (but sometimes reappear under a different name.) Simply getting to an age when the original members are settling down, getting married, having children or needing to spend more time on their day job can cause a band to split - but there are many exceptions to that these days. Or simply band members getting bored with working the same people and wanting a new musical challenge.
We sometimes forget that the Japanese music industry is huge. So many bands and so many female bands have to compete against each other. Yes many gain World Wide recognition. Some have the freedom that they have fought for to play what they want and have the talent and expertise to do so. But there are plenty of others that don't. Ot have an unhappy member who then goes off leaving a band to fall or continue. The famous 'hiatus' that many Japanese bands talk about may last a few months or last forever. Record companies, management agents all dome into it. Fact is there are a lot of great bands. There are a lot of great female bands. Sometimes life just gets in the way and so they move on.........What is more astonishing is how many stick together through the tough times.
Yeah, like you and several reddit commenters apparently said, I don't think it's any more true of Japan than other countries. At least for rock bands. I don't know about idol groups or their western equivalents because they don't interest me. It does seem much more common for Japanese rock musicians to be part of multiple projects at the same time, which is also common in the jazz scene both in Japan and elsewhere. To me, that's a good thing.
I'm Brazilian and these separations are extremely common here. It's difficult for a band to break up, but member turnover is frequent. An example that ended well was Fernanda Lima leaving the band Nervosa to create Crypta. I think that in Japan bands even last longer than here in the West. Something that seems different to me here is that in Japan it is common for them to participate in 2 or 3 bands simultaneously.
@@JayDavisAtHomeThat’s true though,they said it themselves.If it weren’t for Thrill,Platinum was already starting to plan to make Miku and Saiki form an alt idol group and no idea what plan they had for the instrumental team.
BAND-MAID was almost disbanded. Miku had parlayed her winning of an idol contest into a contract with a label, though she was done with being an idol. She wanted to pursue her idea of a band of hard rocking maids, and so she formed BAND-MAID, which was rough going at first. And they may have ended without really getting started. Had their very first Music Video, 'Thrill', not gone viral, the label was going to pull the plug, fire the musicians, and keep the singers Miku and Saiki as DANCE-MAID. They both cried, "We did not come to Tokyo for this". Fortunately that didn't happen, but if it had, they were under contract, and they would just be another footnote in music history.
Idol group members often change when they reach old age if you know what I mean and they are controlled by their producer. The example of the case of the idol who was fired of her group is symptomatic. In the case of rock bands (very numerous in Japan) it's not the same thing. They disappear or change members for very variable reasons and it is not always definitive. Competition is very high in Japan and the best stay. But success is a random variable and luck is sometimes necessary. Band-Maid could have disappeared without it. And you need the support of a good producer who believes in you. Another factor is that foreign fans can have a very positive influence on your career and young bands have understood this by following in the footsteps of bands who have gone to meet their new fans. Also, women have more difficulty continuing their artistic career, while being wives and mothers, but some manage to reconcile their family life and their profession.
Japan has many idol groups like AKB48. Those 3 girls from Babymetal are from an idol group called Sakura Gakuin. Sakura Gakuin was a conceptual school with low to upper-mid teenagers idol wannabes engaged in club activities. Babymetal from Heavy Music Club was the predecessor of Babymetal as we know of now. AKB48 is like a club activity, too. "STUDENTS" are all girls, and there's age limit and once they hit certain age, they GRADUATE. They do graduation ceremonies too, and just like schools, they welcome new members. Most bands who disband after a couple of years are girl bands, usually when member starts thinking of getting married or have kids, or heading towards their 30s, and their carrier isn't getting anywhere, they retire. Of course there also a situation of using a band as a stepping stone to more fitting band.
@@Miguel_Gutierrez666 can't wait to see them in APRIL! They're my all time favorite band. I haven't seen them in almost 10 years. I was working last time they were here.
It's a bloody miracle that band stayed together through the Withering to Death and Dun Spiro Spero eras, but I am happy they did! Looking into what each member was up to before Dir en grey also really hammers home this video's point about resume building.
Hi, i miss them too,but i have a little hope of ever seeing them again ,but who knows ! About having a family ,children etc , not touring a lot overseas etc + management decisions etc it's also true ,when you love a band , it's disappointing all those members who left ,back and forth etc 😅.this days l'm listening to Mary's blood ,i'm nostalgic ,Eye voice , Saki's guitar etc seems so far away now ,and it is .🎸👍
you do not know she was fired for having her own meaning how the band should go Nemophila would never be what they are without Saki and frankly she is better off next year Mary's Blood will return
@@notwokevikingrules401 Nemophila seems to be doing very well without Saki because Hazuki is very good at playing guitar and it allows Haragushi-san to have more responsibilities and presence. Which she assumes perfectly. To say that Nemophila only existed at this level thanks to Saki is grotesque because with Tamu, Haragushi-san, Hazuki and Mayu there is enough to compete with any group!
it's sad that the band I like disbanded or never get bigger audience so the rarely produce new music like stereopony, girlfreind, the winking owl, specialthanks
It is a cultural thing. If she did not get caught it would have been fine. They sell "Dreams" the illusion they are untouched and pure is the selling point. The fact she had to shave her head to appease her fans was probably a management move to show her sincerity in asking for forgiveness.
@@usagi3919 It wasn't. Management didn't want the noise this shaving head thing generated for AKB48. Other members of AKB48 were caught with boyfriends, but brushed it off.
Sometimes I do wonder why some bands disband. I discovered Ironbunny and The Winking Owl and they are really good but no longer around. I am glad Nemophila stuck together after Saki left.
Ironbunny has specific factors that led you to their current situation. Hina, the anchor vocalist, developed a condition and could no longer perform. Then hit just as Covid began so the band ‘ended’. Someone asked Eddie recently about the band and he says they are trying to revive the band. They have new songs and are aiming for 2025. They do need to find a replace for Hina. Kotono was recently hanging out with Minami so we’ll see.
Nemophila has fallen? Where? Because I see the 4 remaining members in great shape and especially Hazuki shows that she was not just Saki's foil (who I love).
Not sure why you have Hanabie on that list, yeah they are on their 4th drummer but the other 3 members are all original founding members and they were already on their 3rd drummer when they broke big internationally.
Show Ya are the Japanese champions of staying together. They've been around since the 1980's. Great news for punk/pop fans is that almost after 5 years hiatus since Covid, the ladies from Mutant Monster are back. Best news of the year so far. They are a great band and deserved more attention. Hopefully the world wide music scene now, thanks to reactor channels, is better for them to get more recognition.
How much money do these bands make in this era when there are no more 10 million selling records. Yeah, a few bands play arenas and some even stadiums but how many are slogging in small clubs where it barely pays expenses? Bands now depend more on live show gates and merch sales and everybody has their hands in the bands pockets.
Unlike in the west Japanese fans still tend to buy physical media - CD's etc of their favourite bands. They also tend to buy more merch than Western fans. Japanese fans love to collect merch from whatever interests them, be it sport, anime, music or even trains. The sales of CD's is way higher than the west, couple that with higher merch sales means quite small bands in Japan can do quite well and earn a living. Unless you are massive NO bands earns much (if anything) from touring. (I'm an ex tour manager myself). Tours sells merch.
it may make sense but leaves sadness in fan's hearts as there clearly are unexploited potentials every time, and bands limiting themselves to their own bands and not making temporary supergroups also a missed opportunity...Just oe example, limiting Saki's creative abilities in Nemo, really ? Japan, please reward those dedicated artists a bit more please, having such talented artists sometimes on long hiatus is not rewarding at all !!! The members that still get to play of course are very good, but let's try to maximise the potential and give artists more freedom please !!
In the Japonese culture Women when they get married, they quite their job. Sometimes when the most invested members quite for marriage, the band had no interest to continue. This particularity is changing in the Japonese society a lot bit, step by step women continue their music carrer after marriage and children but not all of them. Lovebites had two babies during the hiatus due to the departure of Miho ( Miyako & Asami are mothers).
@@venusgaijin when you watch Set the world of fire live performance. You see her belly hide by the Razorback Dean Guitar. During the same show when she had her blue fender guitar in front and goes to the piano during frozen Serenade. I will see her baby bump.
Beside the members to try and error in their career, do you think the managements take role too? In Band-Maid case, they would disbanded the band, put the vocalists as a group while the musicians join another band under the same management. Thank god it didn't happen.
A 20 year old had SEX???!!!! OMG! Stop the presses! More like WTH, who cares? Seriously, how many people, by the time they are 20, have NOT had sex, and what does it matter, either way? That is one silly ass culture, in some respects. Shaving her head, as an apology, is pretty funny, too. Plenty of gals do that, because they LIKE the look. Weird. I realize that this is going to get me into hot water, but from what I have seen, by and large, Japanese musicians tend to be VERY capable, and not very creative, more the case previously than recently, with some very notable exceptions, obviously. Hiromi is one that comes immediately to mind. There are scads of others, but I'm talking in general, compared to some other areas of the world. I think that has a lot to do with the mindset of their culture, too. In Hiromi's case, she was educated in the States, which is not necessarily the reason, but just something to point out. This seems to be changing over time, and it may have something to do with the Japanese moving out into a lot of genres they didn't previously inhabit, to as great an extent. Just a growth thing, maybe? Their jazz scene, for example, is definitely evolving into one that is far more creative. I don't follow metal and the like, so the same may be true there. I realize that this is generalizing, and generalizations are just that, a statistical thing that never applies individually, but just something I have perceived, right or wrong.
Mary's Blood is still my favorite and I was sad to see them go, but they did last much longer than most Western rock groups. - Another problem that, AFAIK, has not been mentioned yet: the companies. Most K-pop groups go under because of terrible management. Is this a problem in Japan as well or not?
Stereopony is complicated. Aimi did have vocal problems at that time. But their last album was not that successful and then there was the Evan Taubefeld factor. Some blame him for the breakup. Aimi and Nohana performed together for the first time since the breakup last summer at a gig in Okinawa. There’s always hope for a reunion.
In this world, anything has changed. Make or join a band like make a new family. If all members of band have good relationship and have same goal, a band will life for along time.
Interesante tema de hoy! Llego a la conclusión que los japoneses son más superficiales y el músico occidental más apasionado. Pregúntele a Saki , una experta golondrina,la adoro! 🎸❤️
@@panterarufo9734 pero el que muchas agrupaciones se separen no es exclusivo de Japón, pasa en todo el mundo, no todas se separan pero podrías contar casi de memoria a las bandas que siguen con sus integrantes originales, en cualquier país.
Some bands are doggedly led by a complete ass, so they churn through members until eventually said ass gives up. Some of these “start-up” bands realize they don’t have enough to be an instant success and give up. Some keep slogging along and succeed.
Bands have a really hard time staying together everywhere. It isn't Japan. I used to be in a lots of American rock bands, and six months was considered a miracle.
Baby Metal have had plenty of changes, even recently, including a stand in singer who was never going to stay. Band-Maid are the only band with the same members over their 11 years. Baby Metal are not a band- they play no instruments, in spite of a few deceiving photos of them holding guitars. They are a vocal group with a backing band.
I'm not sure where you get your information from. BABYMETAL has had one change. Yuimetal left do to health issues. Momoka Okazaki took her place recently. Suzuka Nakamoto has always been the singer, no one has stood in for her. The one thing your right about, is they are a vocal group. This vocal group sells out concerts all over the world. Bands like Metallica, Slipknot, Judas Priest are big fans, so I think they are doing O.K.
First of all, it's called Babymetal, not Baby Metal and as also mentioned there was only one change. Secondly, Band-Maid is not the only group without a replacement of musicians, there are a lot of bands, for example Maximum The Hormone. Thirdly, yes, Babymetal don't usually play instruments, but that doesn't mean they never did, as an example, check out their performance with Rob Halford where Yui and Moa played guitar live. Moa also later played song intros on the guitar at regular Babymetal concerts.
Most of the bands you have highlighted did not disband just lost a member like Saki left Nemophila and Hazuki is still active in the band or are you also a hater of Nemophila and wish they didband
I work in the Japanese music industry in Japan, have worked for a Japanese entertainment company in LA, and have traveled enough to say that there is no country with a club scene remotely like Japan's, in size or variety. Of course this is subjective, no objective data (whatever that might constite) to back up this opinion. Also an enormous number of bands. For instance, i go to a fest every year for bands that have a female vocalist, about 100 bands scattered over nearly a dozen clubs, about 70% of the bands all-female, and fests and events like that, with different lineups of bands, are fairly routine. If you factor in the huge anime and vocaloid components, and of course take into account the enormous J-Pop, enka, and soft-rock genres, Japan has a truly colossal music industry, nothing like it in variety or size (in per capita, or relative, terms, the US music industry larger in absolute terms I presume, though, again, need objective data to make definitive comparisons). And a very large number of venues--clubs, halls, arenas--to accomodate the bands and groups.
Another aspect to keep in mind is the large number of musicians working solo in Japan. In Tokyo, on any given night, probably about 40% of the bands doing club gigs are ad hoc, comprising solo musicians and band members doing side projects. This is not to mention studio recording, which itself employs a vast number of players. You don't need to be a fulltime band member to regularly, or semi-regularly at least, do band music.
It’s a very competitive environment, in which band survival can be a struggle. I can remember Band-Maid and Gacharic Spin, to mention two bands you're familiar with, slogging their way thru dozens and dozens and dozens of gigs on the club circuit, week in and week out, month in and month out. But that experience made them better bands (though it might have tired out GS). Survival of the fittest, but the ones that survive are very good.
One more thing. The Japanese all-female bands are like a sorority. They will have crossed paths at the many events for all-female bands, and tend to be on friendly terms. As competitive as the club environment is, the all-female bands have often cooperated, helping each other logistically, even financially in some cases, and making gig referrals. That's a great aspect of the Japanese music scene.
Add-on to my comment. I didn’t mention the classical and jazz/jazz-fusion genres, but I should have as Japan is a world leader in both, not only artists but as a tour destination. In fact, in any genre including rock and metal Japan is a major tour destination for international artists, probably 2nd only to the US. If you include domestic artists as well, Japan may have the biggest tour scene in the world. I wouldn’t be surprised if Japan has the biggest music scene globally measured by number of gigs played per year in public venues such as clubs (”live houses”), theaters or halls, and arenas/stadiums/domes. Anyhow, the point is that with such a huge music scene, you’re going to have a great deal of joining and quitting, banding and disbanding.
Awesome comments. Thank you.
.. and Scandal says hold my Sapporo... for 18 years.
Have you ever heard of a band named Destrose? Well, they contributed half of the female metal bands over the last decade. From LoveBites, Nemophila, Aldious, Mary's Blood, Mardelas, Albion, and several in between.
Outside of Babymetal, Hanabie and Band-maid, respectively. My three favorite J-Metal bands who are f**** machines. These ladies are just unreal how they keep going like they do.
Babymetal, as an example, is currently in Brazil and Argentina. They haven't had a break since before Jan 2023, and i seriously dont know what rocket fuel they run on here. 🚀
However, i hope they do get some R&R soon!! 🤘🦊 Destrose's founder, Captain Mina has yet another insane band, Fate Gear. Where the f** Mina finds these people who knows, but i love her for it. She is the G.O.A.T. for a reason!! 🤘🎸🔥
Off topic: Band Maid is one those rare bands, let alone an all-female band, that endures this far because of how they nurture and treat each other. They're more like sisters now more than friends and as band mates.
SCANDAL too
FYI they got world record as band with all female member from the beginning until now without any member change
@@iichikun8189They are together since when they were around 15 weren't they?
@@lurkmerchant yes, since 2006
I hope this doesn't happen to Lovebites and Hanabie,
Amen to that, LB and Hanabie are great right now, I was impressed how fast they replaced their drummer last year, they didn't miss a beat (pun intended).
@@RichZee777 they had to find quick replacement because their previous drummer (sae) quit in the middle of recording, i believe. That's why sae still got credit on few song, Chika gets the rest.
Yeah, Ironbunny was a sad one. Those three girls harmonizing was so impressive. Kobushi Factory was probably the most talented group to be ended. That was a real tragedy. Those girls had done a leap in skill that should have kept them going for years. They should have been the next C-ute. It's as if the studio didn't realize what they had. The Fairies also was another disbanding I didn't understand. They might have been the best at dancing and they had dozens of excellent songs. I don't like thinking about this, haha.
A career in music is sometimes down to 'I have bills to pay so I'll go where the work is.'
I heard Girlfriend, a great band, was shutdown by their management. Too bad, Girlfriend is such a talented band.
@@GaryAa56 agreed!
@@GaryAa56 It's sad. Probably the same thing happened to She9 before they got anywhere near Girlfriend's status.
@@6MDV6 I have to Hear She9. I love Girlfriend, Bandmaid, Atarashii Gakko, Baby Metal
@@GaryAa56 You'll like She9 if you enjoyed Girlfriend. Who knows, we might see their former members in a new project sometime.
COVID did them in I think. So many bands could not afford that much downtime.
useless information, actually no information ,just conjecture
Thoughts of your own? Instead of reading other peoples comments.
I think this has also a lot to do with the relationship between casted artist and where they are signed. A lot of them get reshuffled in hopes that they are more lukrative, and when that happens they will focus or promote the other group. and rarely will the left=over group recover. The once that last are usually the ones who are not casted, but grew organically.
alot of the disbandment will result in over either members leaving due to some reason or another. the short term ones are the ones that tend to get signed or are formed through a company and don't become popular or can't have a return on investment. the ones that survive for any length of time make it because they have a big fan base either locally or off shore. some bands like lovebytes have survived a member change but where close disbanding due to the amount of time it took to release any music after their original bassist left since they decided to bring in another bassist now they are touring and recording again.
Some of the best guitarist and music are coming out of japan now
I'm a fifty-year-old metalhead / rocker, and I have been blown away by the bands coming out of Japan over the last decade or so and the talent of the musicians. I don't know if the scene was always this amazing and I missed it, but I started running across them on the internet about ten years ago, and now some of my favourite rock and metal bands are Japanese.
The band we miss the most is BRATS. We just love their music, especially the last song Spiderweb was a masterpiece in our opinion. We really hope that it's really just a longer hiatus and not a breakup of the band, even if Rei has more success with ReiRie than she recently had with BRATS.
One of my favorite performers is Kanano Senritsu. heres her band bio: ZOC, FEMME FATALE, AKUMA, NO KISS, AND THEN WENT SOLO. Just when you're getting into their sound....puff... their gone. It's frustrating.
On a positive note, Mutant Monster and Cyntia seem to be coming out of dormancy. In Cyntia's case, it's just one gig, but who knows where that will lead.
As a casual fan of Japanese music but a big Japanese popculture fan I feel (and this is just my hypothesis) there are 2 main reasons for this.
1. The insane prevalence of Idol bands. They generally have a very short shelf life before members 'graduate' because they are considered too old to be able to pull off the squeaky clean image those bands try to pull off (since they must provide this sort of parasocial 'girlfriend experience').
2. Japanese popculture is very much hype based. And Marketing reflects that. Whenever a band gains some local traction and the bigwigs catch on, they push the hell out of it for a while and then drop it for the next best thing when that comes along.
A lot of the corporate kawaii girl groups have a 5 yr contract. After that time the girls are too old and get "retired". Usually at age 25. There are a lot of these types of groups in Japan compared to other countries. Also, a lot of female idols are on "love bans" in their contract to stay single and pure so the male fans will buy their merchandise and follow them. The girls can't take that for very long.
Not even a Japanese thing, I used to joke with my wife that women can’t get along like guys. I used to say to her “this is why there are no girl bands.” And then along came Band-Maid. They broke the stereotype I had. Long live Band-Maid! It’s difficult, no? Music business is tough. Band-Maid has nurtured a rabid fan base. Do they get views and subscribers like less talented pop stars? No. Far less. It’s an injustice perhaps. But this band stayed true to the core of what they do and found a niche where rock is dying and they are thriving. There are MANY excellent bands I wish the same for.
Supposedly, the longest female band with all the same members is from Japan.
@@autohmae Scandal😎🤘🔥
@@venusgaijin I guess they never had any ? 🙂
@@autohmae No changes, the same 5 since the band's creation
I heard a band called Exist Trace have been together longer but the award went to Scandal
@@45banshee if they can proof if, they should be able to get it...
I'm Japanese, but bands that have a direction and can create their own music survive. Bands where a commercial producer brings together other talented band members for a specific member, such as a singer, often end up with conflicts and break up. Recently, the guitarist of a band with a flower name quit.
Wish Saki would return, but I get your point. A rumour is that she was forced out.
I agree, bands that gather through management/producer audition often end up with drama or break up. I discovered japanese band called STMLT few months ago, love their music, but ended with the same fate. While "organic" bands like Gacharic Spin still survive because they're friends from beginning.
Atarashii Gakko comes to mind, they've been together since 2015.
As someone who has followed UK bands since the 1960s, you get used to there being churn in group memberships and bands disbanding. The important I've learnt is not to get too obsessive about any band or even genre. I wouldn't say the scene (as far as I know it) in Japan is any different. The story will vary from one band to another : the common "musical differences" can split a band up; being dropped by the record company and being unable to continue as an independent outfit is another. Less common (but it happens) is the death or withdrawal from the music industry for health reasons if that person is the main song-writer ; disagreements with management can cause a band to disband (but sometimes reappear under a different name.) Simply getting to an age when the original members are settling down, getting married, having children or needing to spend more time on their day job can cause a band to split - but there are many exceptions to that these days. Or simply band members getting bored with working the same people and wanting a new musical challenge.
We sometimes forget that the Japanese music industry is huge. So many bands and so many female bands have to compete against each other. Yes many gain World Wide recognition. Some have the freedom that they have fought for to play what they want and have the talent and expertise to do so. But there are plenty of others that don't. Ot have an unhappy member who then goes off leaving a band to fall or continue. The famous 'hiatus' that many Japanese bands talk about may last a few months or last forever. Record companies, management agents all dome into it. Fact is there are a lot of great bands. There are a lot of great female bands. Sometimes life just gets in the way and so they move on.........What is more astonishing is how many stick together through the tough times.
Yeah, like you and several reddit commenters apparently said, I don't think it's any more true of Japan than other countries. At least for rock bands. I don't know about idol groups or their western equivalents because they don't interest me.
It does seem much more common for Japanese rock musicians to be part of multiple projects at the same time, which is also common in the jazz scene both in Japan and elsewhere. To me, that's a good thing.
I'm Brazilian and these separations are extremely common here. It's difficult for a band to break up, but member turnover is frequent. An example that ended well was Fernanda Lima leaving the band Nervosa to create Crypta.
I think that in Japan bands even last longer than here in the West. Something that seems different to me here is that in Japan it is common for them to participate in 2 or 3 bands simultaneously.
Sim, eu concordo com você😅
@@venusgaijin Opa! Brasileiro mesmo?😃
@@andreesteves2 sim😁👊
@@venusgaijin Maneiro! Parabens pelo trabalho!
this video is based off Reddit comments?
Band Maid. Nuf said. When you have the best of the best in your band why leave it?
True dat!
Eso mismo me gustaría preguntar a Saki! Porque dejar lo mejor, porque dejar Nemophila? No sé disolvió la banda, pero perdió la mitad de su carisma.
Well, if Thrill had not been a hit, Band Maid probably would have broken up.
@@rickychau7687 take that back. 😫
@@JayDavisAtHomeThat’s true though,they said it themselves.If it weren’t for Thrill,Platinum was already starting to plan to make Miku and Saiki form an alt idol group and no idea what plan they had for the instrumental team.
BAND-MAID was almost disbanded. Miku had parlayed her winning of an idol contest into a contract with a label, though she was done with being an idol. She wanted to pursue her idea of a band of hard rocking maids, and so she formed BAND-MAID, which was rough going at first. And they may have ended without really getting started. Had their very first Music Video, 'Thrill', not gone viral, the label was going to pull the plug, fire the musicians, and keep the singers Miku and Saiki as DANCE-MAID. They both cried, "We did not come to Tokyo for this". Fortunately that didn't happen, but if it had, they were under contract, and they would just be another footnote in music history.
👍Interesting video. 🖖❤
Thanks 👊😁
Idol group members often change when they reach old age if you know what I mean and they are controlled by their producer. The example of the case of the idol who was fired of her group is symptomatic. In the case of rock bands (very numerous in Japan) it's not the same thing. They disappear or change members for very variable reasons and it is not always definitive. Competition is very high in Japan and the best stay. But success is a random variable and luck is sometimes necessary. Band-Maid could have disappeared without it. And you need the support of a good producer who believes in you. Another factor is that foreign fans can have a very positive influence on your career and young bands have understood this by following in the footsteps of bands who have gone to meet their new fans. Also, women have more difficulty continuing their artistic career, while being wives and mothers, but some manage to reconcile their family life and their profession.
Episode 2 will be another topic or the same? Because I already said everything.😂
@@Kissthetoad321😂I still don't know, I have to check Reddit👊😁
@@Kissthetoad321What do you recommend?
Japan has many idol groups like AKB48. Those 3 girls from Babymetal are from an idol group called Sakura Gakuin. Sakura Gakuin was a conceptual school with low to upper-mid teenagers idol wannabes engaged in club activities. Babymetal from Heavy Music Club was the predecessor of Babymetal as we know of now. AKB48 is like a club activity, too.
"STUDENTS" are all girls, and there's age limit and once they hit certain age, they GRADUATE.
They do graduation ceremonies too, and just like schools, they welcome new members.
Most bands who disband after a couple of years are girl bands, usually when member starts thinking of getting married or have kids, or heading towards their 30s, and their carrier isn't getting anywhere, they retire. Of course there also a situation of using a band as a stepping stone to more fitting band.
@@venusgaijin No idea. Sorry.
Dir en grey still going strong.
@@Miguel_Gutierrez666 can't wait to see them in APRIL! They're my all time favorite band. I haven't seen them in almost 10 years. I was working last time they were here.
It's a bloody miracle that band stayed together through the Withering to Death and Dun Spiro Spero eras, but I am happy they did!
Looking into what each member was up to before Dir en grey also really hammers home this video's point about resume building.
@@jfreakzach I bet it'll be awesome!
2:05 I love how Saki goes full "Free Bird" on that "Ready To Go" song!
I miss Mary's blood a lot.
Hi, i miss them too,but i have a little hope of ever seeing them again ,but who knows ! About having a family ,children etc , not touring a lot overseas etc + management decisions etc it's also true ,when you love a band , it's disappointing all those members who left ,back and forth etc 😅.this days l'm listening to Mary's blood ,i'm nostalgic ,Eye voice , Saki's guitar etc seems so far away now ,and it is .🎸👍
Imo Saki left Nemo because of her ego...
you do not know she was fired for having her own meaning how the band should go Nemophila would never be what they are without Saki and frankly she is better off next year Mary's Blood will return
@@notwokevikingrules401 where did you see she was fired?
@@notwokevikingrules401 Nemophila seems to be doing very well without Saki because Hazuki is very good at playing guitar and it allows Haragushi-san to have more responsibilities and presence. Which she assumes perfectly. To say that Nemophila only existed at this level thanks to Saki is grotesque because with Tamu, Haragushi-san, Hazuki and Mayu there is enough to compete with any group!
An informational video without any information...
it's sad that the band I like disbanded or never get bigger audience so the rarely produce new music like stereopony, girlfreind, the winking owl, specialthanks
Girlfriend was a great band😢
That singer shaving her head to appease fans seems messed up. She visited her boyfriend and had to apologize for it? I don't get it.
It is a cultural thing. If she did not get caught it would have been fine. They sell "Dreams" the illusion they are untouched and pure is the selling point. The fact she had to shave her head to appease her fans was probably a management move to show her sincerity in asking for forgiveness.
@@usagi3919 It wasn't. Management didn't want the noise this shaving head thing generated for AKB48. Other members of AKB48 were caught with boyfriends, but brushed it off.
Sometimes I do wonder why some bands disband. I discovered Ironbunny and The Winking Owl and they are really good but no longer around. I am glad Nemophila stuck together after Saki left.
Ironbunny has specific factors that led you to their current situation. Hina, the anchor vocalist, developed a condition and could no longer perform. Then hit just as Covid began so the band ‘ended’. Someone asked Eddie recently about the band and he says they are trying to revive the band. They have new songs and are aiming for 2025. They do need to find a replace for Hina. Kotono was recently hanging out with Minami so we’ll see.
@@rickychau7687 This is nice. I hope something comes out of this.
@@rickychau7687Kotono seems pretty happy as the singer for KOIAI.
Babymetal, Hanabie and Lovebites have managed to recover from their founding member departutre. Nemophila has fallen. Hope Band-maid sticks together
Nemophila has fallen? Where? Because I see the 4 remaining members in great shape and especially Hazuki shows that she was not just Saki's foil (who I love).
Not sure why you have Hanabie on that list, yeah they are on their 4th drummer but the other 3 members are all original founding members and they were already on their 3rd drummer when they broke big internationally.
Show Ya are the Japanese champions of staying together. They've been around since the 1980's. Great news for punk/pop fans is that almost after 5 years hiatus since Covid, the ladies from Mutant Monster are back. Best news of the year so far. They are a great band and deserved more attention. Hopefully the world wide music scene now, thanks to reactor channels, is better for them to get more recognition.
How much money do these bands make in this era when there are no more 10 million selling records. Yeah, a few bands play arenas and some even stadiums but how many are slogging in small clubs where it barely pays expenses? Bands now depend more on live show gates and merch sales and everybody has their hands in the bands pockets.
Unlike in the west Japanese fans still tend to buy physical media - CD's etc of their favourite bands. They also tend to buy more merch than Western fans. Japanese fans love to collect merch from whatever interests them, be it sport, anime, music or even trains. The sales of CD's is way higher than the west, couple that with higher merch sales means quite small bands in Japan can do quite well and earn a living. Unless you are massive NO bands earns much (if anything) from touring. (I'm an ex tour manager myself). Tours sells merch.
it may make sense but leaves sadness in fan's hearts as there clearly are unexploited potentials every time, and bands limiting themselves to their own bands and not making temporary supergroups also a missed opportunity...Just oe example, limiting Saki's creative abilities in Nemo, really ? Japan, please reward those dedicated artists a bit more please, having such talented artists sometimes on long hiatus is not rewarding at all !!! The members that still get to play of course are very good, but let's try to maximise the potential and give artists more freedom please !!
Long live SCANDAL...!!!
In the Japonese culture Women when they get married, they quite their job. Sometimes when the most invested members quite for marriage, the band had no interest to continue. This particularity is changing in the Japonese society a lot bit, step by step women continue their music carrer after marriage and children but not all of them. Lovebites had two babies during the hiatus due to the departure of Miho ( Miyako & Asami are mothers).
😮I didn't know about Miyako's marriage and child
Thanks!😁
@@venusgaijin when you watch Set the world of fire live performance. You see her belly hide by the Razorback Dean Guitar. During the same show when she had her blue fender guitar in front and goes to the piano during frozen Serenade. I will see her baby bump.
Beside the members to try and error in their career, do you think the managements take role too? In Band-Maid case, they would disbanded the band, put the vocalists as a group while the musicians join another band under the same management. Thank god it didn't happen.
For sure! They are part of the problem😢
A 20 year old had SEX???!!!! OMG! Stop the presses!
More like WTH, who cares?
Seriously, how many people, by the time they are 20, have NOT had sex, and what does it matter, either way?
That is one silly ass culture, in some respects.
Shaving her head, as an apology, is pretty funny, too. Plenty of gals do that, because they LIKE the look. Weird.
I realize that this is going to get me into hot water, but from what I have seen, by and large, Japanese musicians tend to be VERY capable, and not very creative, more the case previously than recently, with some very notable exceptions, obviously. Hiromi is one that comes immediately to mind. There are scads of others, but I'm talking in general, compared to some other areas of the world. I think that has a lot to do with the mindset of their culture, too. In Hiromi's case, she was educated in the States, which is not necessarily the reason, but just something to point out.
This seems to be changing over time, and it may have something to do with the Japanese moving out into a lot of genres they didn't previously inhabit, to as great an extent. Just a growth thing, maybe? Their jazz scene, for example, is definitely evolving into one that is far more creative. I don't follow metal and the like, so the same may be true there. I realize that this is generalizing, and generalizations are just that, a statistical thing that never applies individually, but just something I have perceived, right or wrong.
Mary's Blood is still my favorite and I was sad to see them go, but they did last much longer than most Western rock groups. - Another problem that, AFAIK, has not been mentioned yet: the companies. Most K-pop groups go under because of terrible management. Is this a problem in Japan as well or not?
Do you only follow the Japanese music industry?It’s pretty common everywhere,even in the US.
Didn't Stereophony disband because of illness?
Stereopony is complicated. Aimi did have vocal problems at that time. But their last album was not that successful and then there was the Evan Taubefeld factor. Some blame him for the breakup.
Aimi and Nohana performed together for the first time since the breakup last summer at a gig in Okinawa. There’s always hope for a reunion.
In this world, anything has changed. Make or join a band like make a new family. If all members of band have good relationship and have same goal, a band will life for along time.
Interesante tema de hoy! Llego a la conclusión que los japoneses son más superficiales y el músico occidental más apasionado.
Pregúntele a Saki , una experta golondrina,la adoro! 🎸❤️
@@panterarufo9734 pero el que muchas agrupaciones se separen no es exclusivo de Japón, pasa en todo el mundo, no todas se separan pero podrías contar casi de memoria a las bandas que siguen con sus integrantes originales, en cualquier país.
@@IamStrangreen de acuerdo.👍
Some bands are doggedly led by a complete ass, so they churn through members until eventually said ass gives up.
Some of these “start-up” bands realize they don’t have enough to be an instant success and give up. Some keep slogging along and succeed.
Bands have a really hard time staying together everywhere. It isn't Japan. I used to be in a lots of American rock bands, and six months was considered a miracle.
Baby Metal have had plenty of changes, even recently, including a stand in singer who was never going to stay. Band-Maid are the only band with the same members over their 11 years. Baby Metal are not a band- they play no instruments, in spite of a few deceiving photos of them holding guitars. They are a vocal group with a backing band.
I'm not sure where you get your information from. BABYMETAL has had one change. Yuimetal left do to health issues. Momoka Okazaki took her place recently. Suzuka Nakamoto has always been the singer, no one has stood in for her. The one thing your right about, is they are a vocal group. This vocal group sells out concerts all over the world. Bands like Metallica, Slipknot, Judas Priest are big fans, so I think they are doing O.K.
@@stevenadam3658 I tend to ignore people who spell Babymetal as Baby Metal. They usually can't get a single fact straight.
First of all, it's called Babymetal, not Baby Metal and as also mentioned there was only one change. Secondly, Band-Maid is not the only group without a replacement of musicians, there are a lot of bands, for example Maximum The Hormone. Thirdly, yes, Babymetal don't usually play instruments, but that doesn't mean they never did, as an example, check out their performance with Rob Halford where Yui and Moa played guitar live. Moa also later played song intros on the guitar at regular Babymetal concerts.
90% of what you just posted is flat out false.
Band-Maid fan once again giving misinfo about BABYMETAL:D. Maybe you should leave babymetal alone and focus on your own band
It's some of that,but let's just say the local businessmen control that stuff over there.
Most of the bands you have highlighted did not disband just lost a member like Saki left Nemophila and Hazuki is still active in the band or are you also a hater of Nemophila and wish they didband