|
I've been told that the Japanese music industry is the second largest in the
world. Yet, though American media regularly includes the music of the
English pop charts, and lately has included bands and djs from various
European countries, Canada, and Australia, representing many different
musical styles from rock, to club, to country, when was the last time you
heard a Japanese artist represented? It's been a while, and it's not because
they're not there. All forms of music are represented in Japan, from rock,
to rap, to country, to salsa, and some things like ska are much more popular
over there than they are here.
I can't think of any musical form that isn't represented in the Japanese
musical world. Sometimes various musical forms are combined together in odd
ways that no Western bands have mixed them. Bleach (a.k.a Bleachmobile here
in the U.S.) regularly combine hard-core, with jazz, and pop. The Japanese
mainstream is as large and diverse as ours, and their underground is
regularly coming up with acts whose ideas and approaches, frankly, put our
underground and alternative bands to shame for their lack of initiative.
Yet, for some reason, the U.S. media seems to have decided that American
youth won't be able to appreciate Japanese artists who play Western music.
Perhaps it's true. If so, it's a prejudice, because Japan, in spite of its
location and traditions, is basically a Western-style country. The Japanese
youth grows up listening to Western-style popular music, and they're doing
things with it that should be heard. There's still a lot of resistance to it
here, but I believe it's a strong enough tide that eventually it will find a
way to break through, and Japanese popular music will be accepted here.
|
