How long has everyone been a fan of vkei? Even if you weren't in any communities

General Discussion Colorful Hell
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Joined 2004 with VULGAR

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I Think I started around 2004 or 2005 through X JAPAN, hide and such. Then I discovered bands such as Nightmare, an cafe, MUCC went through the rabbit hole. Nightmare became my favorite band almost instantly though Anima. It was kinda hard for me to keep up/understand what was what and when was it released or how to get it since the blogspot-verse/Livejournal side of vksharing didn’t explode (or wasn’t discovered by me) until a bit later. That made discovery so much easier and I really got deep thanks to that.

Sometimes I think It’s weird how I kept listening and following this scene for the majority of my life since I only listen to a handful of non vk bands.

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This year or the next it’s a quarter of century I’m actively listening to vk.

I’m one of those old 1900’s people.

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Me too! Obviously I was not even alive then, but my favorite bands were all formed post 2013

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for me its complicated. I knew some songs because of anime but I actually got into it fully because my friend (a year older than me) introduced me to it last year

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almost reaching 20+ years, my goodness how time flies :face_exhaling::face_exhaling: first bands i was exposed to at that time were D, Phantasmagoria, An Cafe and UnsraW

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I kind of dropped out of it for quite some time - for about 15 years, I only listened from time to time to the old stuff I liked when I first discovered the scene but was otherwise not involved at all.

But I was never interested in K-Pop and I’m surprised that listening to both is a thing as to me both genres are quite different.

I care very much about the music prior the mid 2000s as I discovered VK around the early 2000s so I will always have a soft spot for my favourite bands/songs from back in the day.

I can only assume I got into the scene because of animes and mangas, tbh: I don’t even remember :sweat_smile: But there was a TV channel that used to show animes late at night and between the different shows they also showed japanese music videos. Maybe that’s where I discovered it? :thinking:

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The connection to kpop really is just that they’re both “foreign asian music” tbh. If you like one, then the other is more palatable. Growing up, my mom was a kpop stan, so listening to “weird asian music” was the norm.

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You’re probably right. But it’s feels strange to me. I mean, norwegian black metal and french chansons are also both “foreign european music” for non-europeans but I doubt you would find many people who listen to both :sweat_smile:

Aside from not really a pop music listener I already felt too old for it when the K-Pop Hype started in Europe. I assume the target audience are teenagers, similar to the boygroup hype in the mid 90’s.

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Me, never really cared much about manga/anime (though followed some), I was more into Japan cinema, but u dont really much VK in Miike, Shunji Iwai, Sabu or Toshiaki Toyoda :sweat_smile:, though thanks to Toyoda and Blue Spring, discovered Thee Michelle Gun Elephant

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I remember flipping the channels while looking for Inuyasha’s airtime block the summer of 2004 and came across a Japanese music highlight channel. On standard cable it was channel 74 or 72, I can’t remember. Anyway, the feature was L’arc~en~Ciel. I distinctly remember they had cute little drawings of the band members to introduce the highlight which is what made me pause on the channel in the first place hahaha.

But, I selected 11-20 years as I don’t think I internalized what vkei was until ~2008 when I discovered Versailles at an anime convention in DC.

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I never liked Pop. Never. I might like certain songs, I think that goes for almost every type of music, but in general I really never liked Pop music (I also never listened to J-Pop).
So, nope, that never had a chance. Just for that reason.

The connecting thing is not Asian music but liking both genres (even though VK is varied itself but I think we all know what is meant by this).

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I first heard Gazette over 20 years ago, maybe 2005. But I wasn’t sure about listening to a band when I didn’t know the lyrics. Then my girlfriend at the time, wife now, introduced me to 9goats Blackout, Dir En Grey, and Buck-Tick in 2010 and I’ve been hooked ever since.

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Never stopped listening to it, although my music taste has expanded.

:woman_raising_hand: Not my cup of tea

Kotekei is my favorite genre, so…

I did… Rurouni Kenshin led me to Laruku, Laruku led me to VK websites which, in turn, led me to MALICE MIZER.

Nostalgia? Favorite VK era? Both are the answers for me.

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Why is everyone so old?:sob::pray:

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Way to make a first impression :sweat_smile:

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To scare young people like you. :grin:

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Because this has been coded in our beings for eternity.

  • 2000, discovered anime. DBZ, the Guyver, and Fatal Fury all of note. Zi:Kill did the theme for Fatal Fury 2 OST.
  • 2001, Heard X Japan for the first time.
  • 2003, WinMX directed me to Dir en grey, Lareine, Luna Sea songs while looking for X.
  • 2004, heard VULGAR for the first time.
  • 2005, joined Batsu.
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the older i get, the less catcalls i get. it’s really a blessing :joy:

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I’ve only been into vkei for 4 years but I’m also just a teenager so maybe my excuse is that I’m still getting there :pensive:

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