ViSuaL kei,,

Visual Kei has enjoyed popularity among independent underground projects, as well as artists achieving mainstream success, with influences from Western phenomena, such as glam, goth and cyberpunk.^[4][14] The music performed encompasses a large variety of genres, i.e. pop, heavy metal and electronica.^[1][4] Magazines published regularly in Japan with Visual Kei coverage are Arena 37°C, Fool's Mate and Shoxx. Noted bands who at least at some point sported a Visual Kei theme include Dir en grey,^[2] Luna Sea^[15] and Malice Mizer.^[16]

Popularity and awareness of such groups outside of Japan is sparse, but has seen an increase in recent years. While the successful X Japan launched an attempt to enter the international market as early as 1992,^[17] it would still take another decade until live concerts and regular domestic releases by Visual Kei themed bands in Europe and North America came to pass.

Visual Kei emerged in the late 1980s, pioneered by the band X Japan. ^[3], along with others such as D'erlanger and Color, who are regarded as influencing the fashion and music associated with Visual Kei bands.^[18] X Japan's drummer Yoshiki Hayashi used the term to describe the band's slogan "Psychedelic Violence Crime of Visual Shock".

Color vocalist "Dynamite Tommy" formed his record company Free-Will in 1986, which has been a major contributor in spreading modern Visual Kei outside Japan.^[18]

In 1992, X Japan launched an attempt to enter the European and American markets, but it would take another 8 years until popularity and awareness of Visual Kei bands would extend worldwide. ^[4]

In the mid 1990s, Visual Kei received an increase in popularity throughout Japan, when album sales from Visual Kei bands started to reach record numbers. The most notable bands to achieve success during this period included, X Japan, Glay, Luna Sea, and L'Arc-en-Ciel, however a drastic change in their appearance accompanied their success.^[18]

During the same period, bands such as Kuroyume, Malice Mizer, and Penicillin, gained mainstream awareness, although they were not as commercially successful.^[18]

By 1999, mainstream popularity in Visual Kei was declining, X Japan had disbanded, and the death of lead guitarist Hideto Matsumoto in 1998 had denied fans a possible reunion. It wasn't long before Luna Sea decided to disband in the year 2000, and L'Arc-en-Ciel went on a hiatus the same year.^[18]

In 2007 the genre has been revitalized, as Luna Sea announced they would perform a one-off performance, and X Japan announced they would reunite. With these developments, Visual Kei bands enjoyed a boost in public awareness, described by the media as "Neo-Visual Kei".

Visual Kei is associated with Harajuku, especially those who gather on "Jingu Bashi (“Jingu Bridge”), a pedestrian bridge connecting the bustling Harajuku district with Meiji Shrine." ^[20] In attendance one will find Visual Kei cosplayers (those dressed as their favorite bands) and those in the subculture known as Gothic Lolita based on Lolita fashion. ^[13]

Often fans of such bands also will dress up for concerts, meet ups, and other events where they'll see other people who enjoy Visual Kei.

HarD RoCk,,

Hard rock (also referred to as heavy rock) is a variation of rock and roll music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage and psychedelic rock. It is typified by a heavy use of distorted electric guitars, bass guitar, keyboards and drums. The term "hard rock" is often used as an umbrella term for genres such as grunge or metal and in order to distinguish them from pop rock.

Hard rock is strongly influenced by blues music^{[citation needed]}; the most frequently used scale in hard rock is the pentatonic, which is a typical blues scale. Unlike traditional rock and roll (which takes elements of the "old" blues), hard rock incorporates elements of "British blues", a style of blues played with more modern instruments such as electric guitars, drums, keyboards and electric bass. A notable departure from traditional blues forms is that hard rock is seldom restricted to the I, IV, and V chords prevalent in twelve or sixteen bar blues, but includes other chords, typically major chords rooted on tones of the minor scale.

The term "hard rock" is often applied to many styles of rock music, their only common feature being that they deviate from pop rock, though this is generally incorrect. Two such examples are punk rock and grunge. Punk rock uses a faster tempo, less melody, fewer riffs (often using power chords), more aggression and anti-establishment lyrics.

The predominant instruments in hard rock are the electric guitar, bass guitar, and drums. The role of the guitarist is very prevalent in hard rock. Most hard rock bands comprise two different types of guitarist: lead guitarist and rhythm guitarist. The lead guitarist plays the solos, riffs and fills. Speed-enhancing techniques such as alternate picking, sweep picking and tapping, are used by hard rock lead guitarists to maximize the speed of their solos and riffs. The role of the rhythm guitarist is to complement the lead guitarist and provide rhythmic and harmonic accompaniment to the other instruments in the band. The bass guitarist and drummer's role are important to the structure of hard rock music; the bassline outlines the harmony of the music while the drums sustain the rhythm of the music.

The early 1990s were at first dominated by Guns N' Roses and Metallica. The multi-platinum releases of Metallica's "Metallica" (often referred to as "The Black Album") and Guns N' Roses' Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II in 1991 showcased this popularity. But the popularity of such bands waned, as their music and attitudes became more decadent and self-indulgent. In 1991 a new form of hard rock broke into the mainstream.

Grunge combined elements of hardcore punk and heavy metal into a dirty sound that made use of heavy guitar distortion, fuzz and feedback. Although most grunge bands had a sound that sharply contrasted mainstream hard rock (for example Nirvana, Mudhoney and L7), a minority (for example Pearl Jam, Mother Love Bone, Temple of the Dog and even Soundgarden) were more strongly influenced by much 1970s and 1980s rock and metal. However, all grunge bands shunned the macho, anthemic and fashion-focused style of hard rock at that time.

In the UK, bands like Swervedriver, Catherine Wheel and Ride demonstrated that guitar heroics could be incorporated into songs that lacked the often-misogynistic content of 1970s and 1980s hard rock bands. As the popularity of artists such as Metallica continued from the 1980s into the 1990s, some other bands had begun to fuse metal with a range of eclectic influences. These bands came to be known as alternative metal artists, a subset of alternative rock. Some, such as Primus, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rage Against the Machine, Living Colour and White Zombie fused funk with metal styles, though most of these bands actually formed in the '80s. Faith No More/Mr. Bungle fused many genres with hard rock, ranging from rap music to soul. Helmet and The Afghan Whigs were also successful experimental hard rock bands. The Darkness's retro glam-metal influences helped propel them to the upper realms of the charts in the early 2000s, with the likes of Wolfmother. Towards the mid 2000s with new bands started to become mainstream, Jet, Wolfmother, White Stripes, The Answer, Glitterati, The Datsuns, Nineteenth Century and Punk influence Towers of London are some of the new rock bands which followed up from the Garage rock revival.

The biggest major hard rock bands of recent years however, have been supergroups Velvet Revolver and Audioslave. Audioslave consisted of Rage Against the Machine instrumentalists and former Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell and was disbanded in 2007. Velvet Revolver is made up of ex-members of Guns N' Roses primarily,with vocalist Scott Weiland formerly of the Stone Temple Pilots, and the musicians have updated the sound of hard rock.^{[citation needed]} This has helped revive the glam metal scene (e.g. bands like Buckcherry, which Guns N' Roses Appetite for Destruction album is often credited with influencing).

TeCHnO

Techno is a form of electronic dance music originally developed in Detroit, Michigan, U.S. during the mid to late 1980s. Many styles of techno now exist, but Detroit techno, a genre in its own right, is seen as the foundation upon which many other subgenres have been built.^[1]

The initial take on techno arose from the melding of various African American styles such as Chicago house, funk, electro, and electric jazz with Eurocentric synthesizer-based music. Added to this was an interest in futuristic and fictional themes that were relevant to life in American late capitalist society: most particularly the novel Future Shock by Alvin Toffler. Techno music pioneer Juan Atkins cites Toffler's phrase "techno rebels" as inspiring him to use the word "techno" to describe the musical style he helped to create. This unique blend of influences aligns techno with the aesthetic referred to as AfroDiasporic Futurism.^[2] To producers such as Derrick May, the transference of spirit from the machine to the body is often a central preoccupation; essentially an expression of technological spirituality. In this manner "techno dance music defeats what Adorno saw as the alienating effect of mechanisation on the modern consciousness."^[3]

Music journalists and fans of techno are generally selective in their use of the term; so a clear distinction can be made between sometimes related but often qualitatively different styles, such as tech house and trance. "Techno" is also sometimes confused with generalized descriptors, such as electronic music and dance music.

In general, techno is very DJ-friendly, being mainly instrumental (commercial varieties being an exception), and is produced with the intention of it being heard in the context a continuous DJ set, wherein the DJ progresses from one record to the next via a synchronized segue or "mix". Much of the instrumentation in techno emphasizes the role of rhythm over other musical parameters but the design of synthetic timbres, and the creative use of music production technology in general, are important aspects of the overall aesthetic practice.

The main drum part is almost universally in common time (4/4); meaning 4 quarter note pulses per bar. In its simplest form, time is marked with kicks (bass drum beats) on each quarter note pulse, a snare or clap on the second and fourth pulse of the bar, with an open hi-hat sound every second eight note. This is essentially a disco (or even polka) drum pattern and is common throughout house music and its derivatives (of which techno is one). The tempo tends to vary between approximately 120 bpm (quarter note equals 120 pulses per bar) and 150 bpm depending on the style of techno. Much of the drum programming employed in the original Detroit based techno made use of syncopation and polyrhythm, yet in many cases the basic disco type pattern was used as a foundation; with polyrthythmic elaborations added using other drum machine voices. It is this syncopated feel (funkiness) that initially differentiated the Detroit strain of techno from other variants; indeed this is a feature that many DJs and producers still use to distinguish their music from commercial forms of techno, the majority of which are devoid of syncopation.

Much of this electronic dance music tends to be produced with the aid of interfaces (synthesizer keyboards) that are designed with the Western musical tradition in mind. However, techno does not always adhere to conventional harmonic practice, and such strictures are often ignored in favor of timbral manipulation alone. The use of motivic development (though relatively limited), and the employment of conventional musical frameworks, is more widely found in commercial techno styles, for example Euro-trance; where the template is often an AABA song structure.

There are numerous ways to create techno, but they all depend upon the use of loop based step sequencing as a compositional method . Many techno musicians, or "producers", rather than employing traditional compositional techniques, will work in an improvisatory fashion; often treating the electronic music studio as one large instrument. This assemblage of devices will include units that are capable of producing unique timbres but technical proficiency is required if the technology is to be successfully exploited. The equipment will be synchronised using a hardware or a computer based MIDI sequencer; this enables the producer to combine, in one arrangement, the sequenced output of many devices . A typical approach is to create successive layers of material until a suitable cacophony is achieved. Once a usable palette of material has been generated, a producer may then focus on developing a temporal framework; a process of dictating how the work will unfold in time. Some producers achieve this by adding or removing layers of material at appropriate points in the mix. Quite often this is achieved by physically manipulating a mixer, sequencer, effects, dynamic processing, equalisation, and filtering, while recording to a multi-track device. Other producers achieve similar results by using the automation features of computer based digital audio workstations.

In recent years, as computer technology has become more accessible, and music software has advanced, interacting with music technology is now possible using means that bear no relationship to traditional musical performance practice. Some techno music consists of little more than cleverly programmed rhythmic sequences and looped motifs, combined with signal processing of one variety or another; frequency filtering being a commonly used process.

Instruments utilized by the original techno producers based in Detroit included classic drum machines like the Roland TR-808 and TR-909, devices such as the Roland TB-303 bass line generator,^[21] with synthesizers such as the Roland SH-101, Kawai KC10, Yamaha DX7, and Yamaha DX100. Much of the early music sequencing was executed via MIDI using hardware sequencers such as the Korg SQD1, and Roland MC-50 and the limited amount of sampling that was featured in this early style was accomplished using an Akai S900.

JaZZ,,

Jazz is an original American musical art form which originated around the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States out of a confluence of African and European music traditions. The use of blue notes, call-and-response, improvisation, polyrhythms, syncopation and the swung note of ragtime are characteristics traceable back to jazz's West African pedigree.^[1] During its early development, jazz also incorporated music from from 19th and 20th century American popular music based on European music traditions.^[2] The origins of the word "jazz," which was first used to refer to music in about 1915, are uncertain; for the origin and history, see Jazz (word).

Jazz has, from its early 20th century inception, spawned a variety of subgenres, from New Orleans Dixieland dating from the early 1910s, big band-style swing from the 1930s and 1940s, bebop from the mid-1940s, a variety of Latin-jazz fusions such as Afro-Cuban and Brazilian jazz from the 1950s and 1960s, jazz-rock fusion from the 1970s and later developments such as acid jazz.

As the term "jazz" has long been used for a wide variety of styles, a comprehensive definition including all varieties is elusive. While some enthusiasts of certain types of jazz have argued for narrower definitions which exclude many other types of music also commonly known as "jazz", jazz musicians themselves are often reluctant to define the music they play. Duke Ellington summed it up by saying, "It's all music." Some critics have even stated that Ellington's music was not in fact jazz, as by its very definition, according to them, jazz cannot be orchestrated. On the other hand Ellington's friend Earl Hines' s 20 solo "transformative versions" of Ellington compositions (on Earl Hines Plays Duke Ellington recorded in the 1970s) were described by Ben Ratliff, the New York Times jazz critic, as "as good an example of the jazz process as anything out there."^[29]

There have long been debates in the jazz community over the definition and the boundaries of “jazz.” In the mid-1930s, New Orleans jazz lovers criticized the "innovations" of the swing era as being contrary to the collective improvisation they saw as essential to "true" jazz. Through the 1940s, '50s and '60s, traditional jazz enthusiasts and Bop enthusiasts criticized each other, often arguing that the other style was somehow not "real" jazz. Although alteration or transformation of jazz by new influences has often been initially criticized as a “debasement,” Andrew Gilbert argues that jazz has the “ability to absorb and transform influences” from diverse musical styles^[30].

Commercially-oriented or 'popular' music-influenced forms of jazz have both long been criticized, at least since the emergence of Bop. Traditional jazz enthusiasts have dismissed Bop, the 1970s jazz fusion era [and much else] as a period of commercial debasement of the music. However, according to Bruce Johnson, jazz music has always had a "tension between jazz as a commercial music and an art form" ^[31].

Gilbert notes that as the notion of a canon of jazz is developing, the “achievements of the past” may be become "…privileged over the idiosyncratic creativity...” and innovation of current artists. Village Voice jazz critic Gary Giddins argues that as the creation and dissemination of jazz is becoming increasingly institutionalized and dominated by major entertainment firms, jazz is facing a "...perilous future of respectability and disinterested acceptance." David Ake warns that the creation of “norms” in jazz and the establishment of a “jazz tradition” may exclude or sideline other newer, avant-garde forms of jazz^[31].

One way to get around the definitional problems is to define the term “jazz” more broadly. According to Krin Gabbard “jazz is a construct” or category that, while artificial, still is useful to designate “a number of musics with enough in common part of a coherent tradition”. Travis Jackson also defines jazz in a broader way by stating that it is music that includes qualities such as “ 'swinging', improvising, group interaction, developing an 'individual voice', and being 'open' to different musical possibilities

In the 1980s, the jazz community shrank dramatically and split. A mainly older audience retained an interest in traditional and "straight-ahead" jazz styles. Wynton Marsalis strove to create music within what he believed was the tradition, creating extensions of small and large forms initially pioneered by such artists as Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington.

In the early 1980s, a lighter commercial form of jazz fusion called pop fusion or "smooth jazz" became successful and garnered significant radio airplay. Smooth jazz saxophonists include Grover Washington, Jr., Kenny G and Najee. Smooth jazz received frequent airplay with more straight-ahead jazz in quiet storm time slots at radio stations in urban markets across the U.S., helping to establish or bolster the careers of vocalists including Al Jarreau, Anita Baker, Chaka Khan, and Sade.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, several subgenres fused jazz with popular music, such as Acid jazz, nu jazz, and jazz rap. Acid jazz and nu jazz combined elements of jazz and modern forms of electronic dance music. While nu jazz is influenced by jazz harmony and melodies, there are usually no improvisational aspects. Jazz rap fused jazz and hip-hop. Gang Starr recorded "Words I Manifest," "Jazz Music," and "Jazz Thing", sampling Charlie Parker and Ramsey Lewis, and collaborating with Branford Marsalis and Terence Blanchard. Beginning in 1993, rapper Guru's Jazzmatazz series used jazz musicians during the studio recordings.

The more experimental and improvisational end of the spectrum includes Norwegian pianist Bugge Wesseltoft and American bassist Christian McBride. Toward the more pop or dance music end of the spectrum are St Germain who incorporates some live jazz playing with house beats. Radiohead, Björk, and Portishead have also incorporated jazz influences into their music.

In the 2000s, straight-ahead jazz continues to appeal to a core of listeners. Well-established jazz musicians whose careers span decades, such as Chick Corea, Jack DeJohnette, Bill Frisell, Charlie Haden, Herbie Hancock, Roy Haynes, Keith Jarrett, Wynton Marsalis, John McLaughlin, Pat Metheny, Paquito D'Rivera, Sonny Rollins, John Scofield, Wayne Shorter, John Surman, Stan Tracey and Jessica Williams continue to perform and record. Some innovative jazz artists to emerge in the 1990s and 2000s with a wide following include Brad Mehldau, Jason Moran, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Robert Glasper, Brian Blade, Stefon Harris, Roy Hargrove, Aaron Goldberg, Vijay Iyer, Chris Potter, Joshua Redman, and Terence Blanchard.

J-pOp

J-pop is an abbreviation of Japanese pop. It refers to Japanese popular musicians, and was coined by the Japanese media, to distinguish Japanese musicians from foreign musicians.

J-pop can be traced to jazz music which became popular during the early Shōwa period (i.e., 1926-1988). Jazz introduced many musical instruments, previously used only to perform classical music and military marches, to bars and clubs. It also added an element of "fun" to the Japanese music scene. As a result "Ongaku Kissa" (音楽喫茶 – lit. "music cafe") became a very popular venue for live jazz music.

Under pressure from the Imperial Army during World War II, the performance of jazz music was temporarily halted. After the war ended the United States soldiers—who were occupying Japan at the time—and the Far East Network introduced a number of new musical styles to the country. Boogie-woogie, Mambo, Blues, and Country music were performed by Japanese musicians for the American troops. Songs like Shizuko Kasagi's "Tokyo Boogie-Woogie" (1948), Chiemi Eri's "Tennessee Waltz" (1951), Hibari Misora's "Omatsuri Mambo", and Izumi Yukimura's "Omoide no Waltz" became popular. Foreign musicians and groups including JATP and Louis Armstrong visited Japan to perform. 1952 was declared the "Year of the Jazz Boom" but the genre itself demanded a high level of technical proficiency and was difficult to play. As a result many amateur Japanese musicians turned to country music, which was far easier to learn and perform.^{[citation needed]} This in turn led to a proliferation of country-based music.

In 1956, the rock-and-roll craze began thanks to a country music group known as Kosaka Kazuya and the Wagon Masters and their rendition of Elvis Presley's Heartbreak Hotel. The rock-and-roll movement would reach its peak in 1959 with the release of a movie featuring performances by a number of Japanese rock-and-roll bands. Some performers attempted to merge traditional Japanese pop music with rock-and-roll. One of few musicians to be successful in this effort was Kyu Sakamoto with the song "Ue wo Muite Arukō" (lit. "Let's Look Up and Walk"), known in other parts of the world as "Sukiyaki". The song was the first Japanese song to reach #1 in the United States (four weeks in Cashbox Magazine and three weeks in Billboard magazine) in its native language in America and also to receive a "Gold Record" for selling one million copies.[1] Other performers learned to play the music and translate the lyrics of popular American songs, resulting in the birth of "cover pop." However, the popularity of these acts faded as radio and television gave every household the opportunity to watch the original musicians perform. The concept of karaoke and its subsequent popularity can arguably be attributed to the cover pop phenomenon.^{[citation needed]}

From the early 1970s to the mid-1980s, the emphasis shifted from simple songs with a single guitar accompaniment (known originally as "folk") to more complex musical arrangements known as New Music. Instead of social messages, the songs focused on more personal messages, such as love. Takuro Yoshida and Yosui Inoue are two notable New Music artists.

In the 1980s, the term City Pop was used to describe a type of popular music that had a big city theme. Tokyo in particular inspired many songs of this form. It is difficult to draw a distinction between City Pop and New Music and many songs fall under both categories. Wasei Pop (lit. Japan-made pop) quickly became a common word to describe both City Pop and New Music. By the 1990s, J-pop became the common term to describe most popular songs. Rockers like Eikichi Yazawa, a singer who remained popular for decades with a rabidly loyal fan following, loosely fell into this category, along with more mainstream female pop idols such as the "Dance Queens" Yoko Oginome and her successor, singer/songwriter Chisato Moritaka. Hikaru Genji, the highly influential rollerskating boy band, also became popular during this time, with some of its members growing up to fame on their own. In 1980, Eikichi Yazawa, seeking worldwide success, signed a contract with the Warner Pioneer record company and moved to the West Coast of the United States. He recorded the albums "Yazawa," "It's Just Rock n' Roll," and "Flash in Japan," all of which were released worldwide, but were not very commercially successful. Mega-idol Seiko Matsuda, extremely popular through the 1980s, saw a bit more success with English-only songs released on her 1991 album "Eternal", and was hounded by U.S. tabloids for having a relationship with then red-hot Donnie Wahlberg of New Kids on the Block, who sang the duet "The Right Combination" with Seiko Matsuda. Seiko used to hold the record for most consecutive number 1 singles for a female artist in Japan(currently 25). That record was recently shattered by the singer Ayumi Hamasaki (currently 29). Along with Seiko Matsuda, the latter 1980s were dominated by idol singers such as Miho Nakayama, Akina Nakamori, Chisato Moritaka, Minako Honda and Shizuka Kudo.

The late 1980s, saw the emergence of Chage and Aska, a male singer/songwriter duo consisting of Chage (Shuji Shibata) and Ryo Aska (Shigeaki Miyazaki). They released a string of consecutive hits throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Their "Asian Tour II / Mission Impossible" tour was the single largest concert tour ever put on by a Japanese group – the tickets for all 61 concerts in Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan sold out on the first day. However, with the advent of the Japanese dance-pop music pioneered by Namie Amuro and Tetsuya Komuro in the mid- to late-1990s, the popularity of rock groups like Chage & Aska has declined. This period also saw the rise of the female duo Wink. Wink debuted in 1988, surpassing the popularity of the then most popular female duo, BaBe. Also the Famous J-POP IDOL CoCo made there debut hit with the 1989 single EQUALロマンス（Equal Romansu, Equal Romance）　for the hit anime series らんま1/2（Ranma 1/2 ）

In the early 1990s, the music scene can be split up into different parts. 1990-1993 was dominated by the Being artists (Zard, Wands, Deen), B'z, and the Southern All Stars. 1994-1997 was dominated by the TK (Tetsuya Komuro) family. 1996 is known as a year where the Okinawan Actors School became dominant, with Namie Amuro, MAX (The Super Monkeys) and Speed leading the charge. Every Little Thing also rose to success in the late 90's after their debut album sold over 2,000,000 copies. 1997 saw the introduction of Morning Musume.

The boy band SMAP hit the J-pop scene in a major way in the 1990s through a combination of TV "Talent" shows and singles, with one of its singers, Takuya Kimura, becoming a popular actor in later years known commonly as "Kimutaku". By the late 1990s an all-female band, Morning Musume, became wildly popular, with a string of releases that were sales hits before even being released. Female pop groups like Speed, Zone and Morning Musume sold millions of records with their pop-techno sounds. Following the pattern set a decade before by the 1980s all-female Onyanko Club, Morning Musume spawned several splinter bands whose members continue to be popular.

R&B became popular in Japan in the late 1990s, when young singer-songwriter Utada Hikaru debuted with her first single Automatic / Time Will Tell. Her first album, First Love, sold 7,650,000 copies (10,650,000), making it the best-selling debut album and best-selling album ever in Oricon history.^[1] B'z 'The Best Pleasure' became second best selling album at 5,129,000 million copies,^[1] Glay's 'Review -The Best of Glay' the third best selling album at 4,876,000 million copies. Pop music was still popular in Japan during the late 90s and early 21st century with solo female singers such as Ayumi Hamasaki, Mai Kuraki, and Ami Suzuki enjoying either brief or long term success. In 2000, Southern All Stars's Single CD Tsunami recorded 2,934,965 million sales.^[2]

During the mid-2000s, Rhythm and blues and Hip hop music influences in Japanese music became started to gain attention in popular mainstream music. J-Hiphop/rock bands such as Orange Range and Ketsumeishi have been at the top of the Oricon charts, with more established artists such as Spitz, Mr. Children, B'z, Southern All Stars, Glay and L'Arc-en-Ciel. There are production groups specialized for music talents as Johnny & Associates with female pop slowly declining since the 1990s, but artists such as Ayumi Hamasaki, Utada Hikaru and Every Little Thing during the late 90s and early 21st century able to reach the number 1 sales slots with most of their releases.^{[citation needed]}

In 2005 the Oricon charts were briefly ruled by hip-hop group Orange Range, Ketsumeishi, and R&B solo male singer Ken Hirai, with the Orange Range's 'Musiq' album selling over 2.5 million copies, making it the number one album for the year followed by Ketsumeishi's 'Ketsunopolis 4' album, and Ken Hirai's 'Sentimental Lovers' album.^[3] Shuji to Akira's 'Seishun Amigo' topped the annual singles release at 945,315 copies. The second and third best selling singles went to Ketsumeishi's 'Sakura' single at 942,675 copies, and Mr. Children's 'Yojiken -Four Dimensions-' at 924,379 million copies.^[4].

For 2006, Ken Hirai managed to come out on top with the release of '10th Anniversary Complete Single Collection '95-'05 Utabaka' selling over 2,000,000 million copies and becoming the number one album for 2006^[5] followed by new popular Japanese pop artist Kumi Koda's 'Best ~Second Session' album at 1,768,658 million copies,^[6] and Kobukuro's 'All Singles Best' album selling 1,748,682 million copies.^[6]

A shift took place in 2007 in regard to the music scene with the top 3 selling albums for the first half of the Oricon year going to Mr. Children's album 'Home' with 1,125,017 in sales,^[7] Koda Kumi's 'Black Cherry' with 998,230 in sales,^[7] and Ayumi Hamasaki's best of album A Best 2 -White- selling 720,120 copies.^[7] The top 3 singles for the first half of the year went to Japanese tenor singer Masafumi Akikawa's 'Sen no kaze ni natte' single which became a smash hit, managing to eventually sell over one million copies^[8], with Utada Hikaru's single 'Flavor of Life' selling 629,904 copies,^[9] and Arashi's 'Love so sweet' single selling 420,894 copies.^[9] Celebrating 15 years on the music scene, Japanese rock group Mr. Children passed 50 million sales in albums and singles sold, making them the second highest selling artist of all time in Japan,^[10] and Japanese pop singer Utada Hikaru sold 10 million digital ringtones and songs, making her the first artist ever to have this many digital sales in one year.^[11] In regard to concerts and tours, Mr. Children's 'Home' arena and stadium tour managed to have the most attended at 550,000 fans^[12], with Jpop singer Namie Amuro having the longest lasting tour for the year at 65 dates.

HiP hOp

Hip hop music is a genre of music typically consisting of a rhythmic style of speaking called rap over backing beats performed on a turntable by a DJ. Hip hop music is part of hip hop culture, which began in New York City in the 1970s, predominantly among African Americans and Latinos (the other two elements are breakdancing and graffiti art). ^[1] The term rap is sometimes used synonymously with hip hop music, though it originally referred only to rapping itself.

Rapping, also referred to as MCing or emceeing, is a vocal style in which the performer speaks rhythmically and in rhyme, generally to a beat. Beats are traditionally sampled from portions of other songs by a DJ, though synthesizers, drum machines, and live bands are also used, especially in newer music. Rappers may perform poetry which they have written ahead of time, or improvise rhymes on the spot. Though rap is usually an integral component of hip hop music, DJs sometimes perform and record alone, and many instrumental acts are also defined as hip hop.

Hip hop arose in New York City when DJs began isolating the percussion break from funk or disco songs for audiences to dance to. The role of the MC was originally to introduce the DJ and the music, and to keep the audience excited. The MC would speak between songs, giving exhortations to dance, greetings to audience members, jokes and anecdotes. Eventually, this practice became more stylized, and came to be known as rapping. By 1979, hip hop had become a commercially recorded music genre, and began to enter the American mainstream. It also began its spread across the world. In the 1990s, a form called gangsta rap became a major part of American music, causing significant controversy over lyrics which were perceived by some as promoting violence, promiscuity, drug use and misogyny. Nevertheless, by the beginning of the 2000s, hip hop became a staple of popular music charts and is now performed in widely varying styles around the world.

In the year 2000, The Marshall Mathers LP by Eminem sold over nine million copies in the United States, and Nelly's debut LP, Country Grammar, sold over six million copies. In the next several years, a wave of increasingly pop-oriented crossover acts such as Ja Rule dominated^{[citation needed]} American popular music. It was not until the sudden breakthrough success of the hard-edged 50 Cent that hardcore hip hop returned to the pop charts. The United States also saw the rise of alternative hip hop in the form of moderately popular performers like The Roots, Dilated Peoples and Mos Def, who achieved unheard-of success for their field.

As the decade progressed, hip hop has transformed from the more or less "old school" rhythmic rap to a more melodic hip hop that has the elements of jazz, classical, pop, reggae, and many other genres. Hip hop also gave birth to subgenres such as snap music and crunk. Hip hop influences also found their way into mainstream pop during this period as well.

Some countries, like Tanzania, maintained popular acts of their own in the early 2000s, though many others produced few homegrown stars, instead following American trends. Scandinavian, especially Danish and Swedish, performers became well known outside of their country, while hip hop continued its spread into new lands, including Russia, Japan, Philippines, Canada and China.

Primarily in Germany, gangsta rap has become popular among youths who like the violent and aggressive lyrics.^[10] Some rappers openly or comically flirt with nazism, Bushido (born Anis Mohamed Youssef Ferchichi) raps "Salutiert, steht stramm, Ich bin der Leader wie A" (Salute, stand to attention, I am the leader like 'A') and Fler had a hit with the record Neue Deutsche Welle (New German Wave) complete with the title written in Third Reich style gothic print and advertised with an Adolf Hitler quote.

EmO,,

Emo (pronounced /ˈiːmoʊ/) is a style of rock music which describes several independent variations of music with common stylistic roots. As such, use of the term has been the subject of much debate. In the mid-1980s, the term emo described a subgenre of hardcore punk which originated in the Washington, D.C. music scene. In later years, the term emocore, short for "emotive hardcore", was also used to describe the emotional performances of bands in the Washington, D.C. scene and some of the offshoot regional scenes such as Rites of Spring, Embrace, One Last Wish, Beefeater, Gray Matter, Fire Party, and later, Moss Icon. (In more recent years, the term "emotive hardcore" entered the lexicon to describe the period.)

Starting in the mid-1990s, the term emo began to refer to the indie scene that followed the influences of Fugazi, which itself was an offshoot of the first wave of emo. Bands including Sunny Day Real Estate and Texas Is the Reason had a more indie rock style of emo, more melodic and less chaotic. The so-called "indie emo" scene survived until the late 1990s, as many of the bands either disbanded or shifted to mainstream styles. As the remaining indie emo bands entered the mainstream, newer bands began to emulate the mainstream style. As a result, the term "emo" became a vaguely defined identifier rather than a specific genre of music.

At the end of the 1990s, the underground emo scene had almost entirely disappeared. However, the term emo was still being bandied about in mainstream media, almost always attached to the few remaining 90s emo acts, including Jimmy Eat World.

However, towards the end of the 1990s, Jimmy Eat World had begun to shift in a more mainstream direction. Where Jimmy Eat World had played emocore-style music early in their career, by the time of the release of their 2001 album Bleed American, the band had downplayed its emo influences, releasing more pop-oriented singles such as "The Middle" and "Sweetness". As the public had become aware of the word emo and knew that Jimmy Eat World was associated with it, the band continued to be referred to as an "emo" band, despite their objections. Newer bands that sounded like Jimmy Eat World (and, in some cases, like the more melodic emo bands of the late 90s) were soon included in the genre.^[8]

2003 saw the success of Chris Carrabba, the former singer of emo band Further Seems Forever, and his project Dashboard Confessional. Despite musically being more aligned to the singer songwriter school, Carraba found himself part of the emerging "popular" emo scene. Carrabba's music featured lyrics founded in deep diary-like outpourings of emotion. While certainly emotional, the new "emo" had a far greater appeal amongst adolescents than its earlier incarnations.^[9]

With Dashboard Confessional and Jimmy Eat World's success, major labels began seeking out similar sounding bands. Just as many bands of the early-to-mid 1990s were unwillingly lumped under the umbrella of "grunge", some record labels wanted to be able to market a new sound under the word emo.

At the same time, use of the term "emo" expanded beyond the musical genre, which added to the confusion surrounding the term. The word "emo" became associated with open displays of strong emotion. Common fashion styles and attitudes that were becoming idiomatic of fans of similar "emo" bands also began to be referred to as "emo". As a result, bands that were loosely associated with "emo" trends or simply demonstrated emotion began to be referred to as emo.^[10]

In an even more expanded way than in the 90s, emo has come to encompass an extremely wide variety of bands, many of whom have very little in common. The term has become so broad that it has become nearly impossible to describe what exactly qualifies as "emo".

The classification of bands as "emo" is often controversial. Fans of several of the listed bands have recoiled at the use of the "emo" tag, and have gone to great lengths to explain why they don't qualify as "emo". In many cases, the term has simply been attached to them because of musical similarities, a common fashion sense, or because of the band's popularity within the "emo" scene, not because the band adheres to emo as a music genre.

As a result of the continuing shift of "emo" over the years, a serious schism has emerged between those who relate to particular eras of "emo". Those who were closely attached to the hardcore origins recoil when another type of music is called "emo". Many involved in the independent nature of both 80s and 90s emo are upset at the perceived hijacking of the word emo to sell a new generation of major label music. Regardless, popular culture appears to have embraced the terms of "emo" far beyond its original intentions.

In a strange twist, screamo, a sub-genre of the new emo, has found greater popularity in recent years through bands such as Thrice and Glassjaw.^[11] The term screamo, however, was used to describe an entirely different genre in the early 1990s, and the new screamo bands more resemble the emo of the early 1990s. Complicating matters further is that several small scenes devoted to original screamo still exist in the underground. However, the new use of "screamo" demonstrates how the shift in terms connected to "emo" has made the varying genres difficult to categorize.

The difficulty in defining "emo" as a genre may have started at the very beginning. In a 2003 interview by Mark Prindle,^[12] Guy Picciotto of Fugazi and Rites of Spring was asked how he felt about "being the creator of the emo genre". He responded: "I don't recognize that attribution. I've never recognized 'emo' as a genre of music. I always thought it was the most retarded term ever. I know there is this generic commonplace that every band that gets labeled with that term hates it. They feel scandalized by it. But honestly, I just thought that all the bands I played in were punk rock bands. The reason I think it's so stupid is that - what, like the Bad Brains weren't emotional? What - they were robots or something? It just doesn't make any sense to me."

Fashion and stereotype

Emo caricature

Long fringe (bangs) brushed to one side

Emo is also often associated with a certain fashion. The term "emo" is sometimes stereotyped with tight jeans on males and females alike, long fringe (bangs) brushed to one side of the face or over one or both eyes, dyed black, straight hair, tight t-shirts (sometimes with short-sleves) which often bear the names of rock bands (or other designed shirts), studded belts, belt buckles, canvas sneakers or skate shoes or other black shoes (often old and beaten up) and thick, black horn-rimmed glasses.^[13][14][15] Emo fashion has changed with time. Early trends included straight, unparted hair (similar to that of Romulans and Vulcans in Star Trek), tightly fitting sweaters, button-down shirts, and work jackets.^{[citation needed]} This fashion has at times been characterized as a fad.^[16]

Another example of hair characteristic of emo

In recent years the popular media has associated emo with a stereotype that includes being emotional, sensitive, shy, introverted, or angsty.^[17][18][19] It is also associated with depression, self-injury, and suicide.^[20][21]

Criticism

As certain fashion trends and attitudes began to be associated with "emo", stereotypes emerged that created a specific target for criticism. In the early 2000s, the criticism was relatively light-hearted and self-effacing. In ensuing years, the derision increased dramatically. Male fans of emo found themselves hit with homosexual slurs, largely a reflection of the style of dress popular within the "emo scene" and the purported displays of emotion common in the scene. Complaints pointed to the histrionic manner in which the emotions were expressed.^[22]

In October of 2003, Punk Planet contributor Jessica Hopper leveled the charge that the current era of emo was sexist. Hopper argued that where bands such as Jawbox, Jawbreaker and Sunny Day Real Estate had characterized women in such a way that they were not "exclusively defined by their absence or lensed through romantic-specter",^[23] contemporary bands approached relationship issues by "damning the girl on the other side ... its woman-induced misery has gone from being descriptive to being prescriptive". Regarding the position of women listening to emo, Hopper went on to note that the music had become "just another forum where women were locked in a stasis of outside observation, observing ourselves through the eyes of others".

Critics of modern emo have argued that there is a tendency toward increasingly generic and homogenized style.^[24] Many popular bands have attempted to disassociate themselves with the "emo" tag; some have adopted the genre designation post-hardcore. Despite the criticism, the modern version of emo has maintained mainstream popularity. However, given the disfavor of the term "emo", the future of the genre remains unclear.

In September 2006, emo music was criticised by Tom Meighan lead singer of rock band Kasabian, who complained about the depressing nature of the lyrics and its lack of positives.

aLteRnaTivE MeTaL,,

Alternative metal is an eclectic form of heavy metal music that gained popularity in the early 1990s alongside grunge. It is characterized by some heavy metal trappings (most notably heavy riffs), but usually with a pronounced experimental edge, including unconventional lyrics, odd time signatures, unusual technique, a resistance to conventional approaches to heavy music and an incorporation of a wide range of influences outside of the metal music scene.

The term is used as a very loose categorization, but is usually used to describe artists playing a style of rock music which is considered either a unique approach to heavy music, normally not based in heavy metal, or difficult to define as strictly metal .

Heavy metal is an essential component of the music, but it was very different from the thrash underground of the 1980s. Initially alternative metal appealed mainly to alternative rock fans since virtually all 80s alt-metal bands had their roots in the American Rock underground scene. Alt-metal bands commonly emerged from hardcore punk (Corrosion of Conformity), post-punk/noise rock such as Big Black and Sonic Youth along with others such as Helmet and White Zombie, grunge (Alice in Chains, Soundgarden), industrial (Ministry, Nine Inch Nails). These bands never formed a distinct movement or scene; rather they were bound by their incorporation of traditional metal influences and openness to experimenting with the form, usually by way of their eclectic influences and uncommon approaches. For example, Jane's Addiction utilized performance art and a bohemian aesthetic, Corrosion of Conformity, The Melvins and the now defunct grunge band Soundgarden had a fondness for subverting '70s metal, and Faith No More injected funk and rap music into their brand of alternative metal,^[2] while Primus incorporates an obscure Residents-esque touch in their form of the genre.

The grunge movement of the early 1990s helped increase the audience for such bands, and these artists were as comfortable playing to alternative rock fans on various Lollapalooza line-ups (itself founded by Jane's Addiction frontman Perry Farrell) as they were opening for metal bands like Metallica. With the changing of the musical landscape by the popular breakthrough of alternative rock, "alternative metal" became a new phrase used to describe bands in the early 1990s who managed to make relevant era music that was "heavy without necessarily being metal".^[3] Newer bands emerged in this era with their distinctive takes on metal: Nine Inch Nails and Ministry started the industrial wave, combining punk-influenced electronic music and heavy guitars, Tool immersed itself in progressive rock influences, Rage Against the Machine was as informed by hip hop and post-punk agitprop such as Gang of Four as it was by metal, and Helmet molded a background in jazz and noise-rock/post-hardcore influences into a highly influential strand of intense rock music.

As the 90s progressed, alternative metal's sound became more standardized as newer bands drew inspiration for the same collective set of influences that included Rage Against the Machine, Korn, Nine Inch Nails, and Helmet. Korn in particular, with its downtuned riffs and aggressive dissonance, created the sonic template for this new movement, which became known as nu metal.

Beginning in the mid-nineties, bands such as Papa Roach, Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park, P.O.D. and Korn took influences from the more popular alternative metal artists as well as grunge, groove metal and hip hop and derived a genre known as nu metal, a distinct rock genre itself with much more uniformity within the sound and its own distinct scene . In the late nineties and early 2000s Nu Metal became extremely popular, with bands like Korn, Limp Bizkit, Slipknot, and Linkin Park becoming especially popular.