Clearly the US since if Yoshiki never saw that KISS Alive album, vkei would’ve never existed. Semi-joking on this.
Some bands take from the hair/glam metal bands of the 80 like X-Japan, Deadend,COLOR, Loudness so the US had a bigger influence there. While bands like Buck-Tick, BOOWY, Kuroyume, Luna Sea have more of the UK post-punk influence. Especially Buck-Tick you can just hear the Bauhaus oozing out of them.
More modern vkei, you can hear the Slipknot and Korn influences along with the industrial rock of Manson and NIN. although now metalcore is the main genre so that sound comes from anywhere really.
I’ll echo the sentiment that UK was the initial thrust for VK. Both the glam aspects and post-punk/goth music like The Cure, Bauhaus, Siouxie & The Banshees were important in shaping the sound and styles of VK. Influence from the USA came later, with the more br00tal stuff pushing away the campness of Bowie, leaning more heavily into dark, edgy costumes like Marilyn Manson along with a heavier sound and extreme vocals.
Despite the importance of the UK in VK’s formative years, I would say that their inspiration on VK waned considerably over time, and right now is practically zero (unless it’s a new VK band emulating an early VK band).
An example I haven’t seen mentioned is the Western European influences from French aristocratic fashion (particularly the Renaissance period), Baroque and Classical music. Also worth mentioning is the Gothic aesthetic in general, especially if it has Christian funereal overtones.
And this also brings the following to mind: is the eyepatch aesthetic in vkei thing a US or a UK thing, or somewhere else completely? I want to point at Pete Burns but open to hear if anyone can confirm where the eyepatch thing came from.
This reminded me of Visual-kei, which seems to have become extremely popular in Europe since the turn of the century. Its origins lie in the British music scene of the 70s and 80s, but for today’s young people it seems to be “cool Japanese subculture”. As a Japanese person (of the generation that knows Japan when it was still worshipping the West), I find this twisted translation relationship (?) interesting, as it has forgotten its “origin” that is so close to home and instead relies on the Far Eastern country of Japan.
I think either argument is compelling especially since many VK musicians have been open about who they’ve been influenced by, but I’m giving the edge to the US for one major reason: Los Angeles
Because sure, VK bands drew a ton of influence from UK bands, but it was the visual style of American Glam and Hair metal that was just as crucial. Most importantly, it was in Los Angeles where tons of huge bands got their start and made it big – and those bands put a huge emphasis on visual aesthetic.
Not only that, but Los Angeles was THE musical destination in the late 70’s and all throughout the 80’s as bands who didn’t get their start in LA transplanted there to make it big. UK and European bands dreamed of playing in LA as well because they knew it was the key to success. The famed “Sunset Strip”.
The music scene in California and LA was RED HOT in the 70’s and 80’s with bands like Van Halen, Motley Crue, WASP, Metallica, Ratt, Quiet Riot, Guns n Roses – all of which boasted a visual style.
Now remember, this was the 70’s and 80’s. Think of how difficult it would have been to get imports from the UK vs. California. And think of all the VK musicians who wanted to go to LA and record in LA. Hell, even Yoshiki opened a studio in LA he loved it there so much.
And not only was his studio in LA – it was a quick 20 minute drive from the Sunset Strip.
LA was the place to be. And have you noticed there is another American band I haven’t mentioned yet that had a massive impact on VK? They’re a little New York band called KISS whose crazy outfits inspired kids throughout the 70’s. People like Yoshiki and countless others.
Probably the OBSCURE video? He blatantly copied Manson’s different-coloured contacts in each eye.
Manson took this look from Bowie who had one eye with a permanently dilated pupil.
It always goes back to Bowie, somehow.
FILTH is another one where he tried to go for a darker look. Sorta MM-like if you ignore the dreads and other band members.
The more “metal” fringe of VK may have been influcences by American hard rock a la KISS, but early visual was overwhelmingly more about the punk / goth / new wave influence. Just ask anyone in LUNA SEA.
If you look at old issues of FOOL’S MATE from the late 80s, it was a straight goth/rock/new wave magazine before it embraced the unstoppable VK wave.
Luna Sea’s SUGIZO has always worshipped JAPAN…Huge fan (and friend, as it happens) of theirs. Pretty sure some of them played or featured on his solo albums. Definitely an influence for many VK musicians of that generation.
EDIT: Now I remember - Mick Karn played bass on Sugizo’s first solo album “TRUTH?” in 1997. Pretty sure this photo is from these sessions, as IIRC it was recorded in the UK.
If you will read old fanzine from the end of 80s and early 90s, bands like X was inspired by metal and wrote about American bands, bands like b-t or whatever you may call vkei fathers were inspired by England scene. It’s easy to notice if you understand the difference between scenes in general and nobody need to fight for “no way vkei was inspired by POP MUSIC MY FATHER USED TO LIKE:sob:”. You can’t imagine how monstrous was Bowie’s influence
I’m dying every time when gothy goths are getting wild and happy when they are listen to marc almond. Inspiration is cool. I love to see people realises that borders are not good for creativity and picking here and there to write their own masterpiece.
Here is the thing ( hopefully it doesn’t disgress too much from the main subject but I think my question got its place in this topic ) :
I’ve been a fan of Visual Kei since i was 11/12 so pretty much more than half of my life, and it was the first genre that I got into by myself ( you know, “mania”-wise ). I personally think that after that i developped my musical knowledge quite well, and got into a looooot of other music genres, but I always wondered what kind of " western " bands bands like Bergerac, Irokui ( and co. , to cite a few ) got inspired from. I personally call this niche of Visual Kei " Nostalgic-Kei " because it’s not done this way anymore in VK but I can’t imagine any other veterans western bands having the same kind of music ( in those pvs in particular ) or visuals as those ?
( few exemples to illustrate my thoughts ) :
