Bunshinsaba
先輩
- 27 Dec 2007
- 137
- 2
Being a frequent buyer of visual kei CDs and DTs, I recently came to an earth shattering realization, and stop me if you've noticed this too: the old school stuff from the late 90s and early millennium is quickly disappearing from the shelves of shops in Japan.
It's not actually disappearing as in magic or as in "people are buying it at a rapid rate", but rather shops that stock second-hand VK CDs, DTs, videos, etc, are simply not stocking much of the old stuff anymore.
The reason is obvious; there's no room.
Visual kei has been steadily increasing in popularity in Japan since the millennium; this is no secret to anyone living in Japan and on the scene. There was a time when playing large venues like Shibuya Ax, Akasaka Blitz, or even Shibuya Kokaido (aka CC Lemon Hall) was a really BIG thing. Well, no more. Those "concert hall" venues are now what large livehouses were in 2001. As such, more and more bands are popping up and getting big fast, and with them more and more CDs are being pumped out. There are so many bands now that collector shop shelves just have no room left to keep an adequate stock of the vintage stuff. And I seriously doubt that shops even buy that much of it when fans come in and try to sell it.
From what I can see, the only vintage stuff that stays consistently shelf-active are the CDs/DTs/ and videos for those bands whose members are still producing at a strong level. Examples, Asagi from D, Kamijo of Versailles, Miyavi etc etc. Their older material, Syndrome (Asagi) and Lareine (Kamijo), Due le quartz (Miyavi) remains fairly accessible for the collector; but other vintage stuff is either hard to find or kinda pricey when you do.
I went to Closet Child the other day and the maxi single from Distray featuring Ruiza from D (Matina Music circa 1999) was going for 1400 Yen!! Five years ago that same CD would have been 290 Yen and in the bargain bin. So even when you find the old stuff, it can be pricey. But finding it is the hard part.
At Closet Child in Shinjuku, they have only a small section of their massive shelf space devoted to "older" visual kei, which now includes bands like Madeth gray'll and La Mule. It wasn't long ago that both bands had places in the regular area of the store and with lots of titles to chose from. My last trip to Closet Child turned up only three Madeth Gray'll CDs in the entire shop.
Sadly, sometimes it is not even a matter of cost; but rather availability. Finding stuff on Aliene Ma'riage is tough these days, whereas anything produced by Bergerac is in triplicate. Five years ago I even found an Aliene ma'riage Les Soiree hardcover photobook in Akihabara. Today? Forget it.
So where is all that great stuff if it is not in the used shops? One is scared to imagine.
The reality is that we are reaching a turning point in visual kei history. The new era of visual began roughly in 1997. That was when image and sound began to change from what was formerly the Japanese "glam" rock/metal scene. And as such last year was its 10th anniversary. It seems that we are rapidly approaching a point where the word "vintage" can be used to describe CDs DTs and videos for anything produced prior to 2001. And whenever you tack that word "vintage" onto something, only two things generally happen; things disappear, or prices go up on product that used to been "bargain bin" material five years ago. And I am seeing this more and more.
Material from Key Party bands (Aliene Ma'riage, No'ix, Noir Fleurir) is - when you can find it - generally more expensive now than it was six years ago. Of course there are exceptions, but more and more I am finding the problem of availablity to be more troublesome than the issue of price. And don't even start when it comes to photo sets.
Finding vintage photo sets is next to impossible, and I can only thank my intuition that I bought so many during lives way back then. Fans seeking to buy photo sets from the heyday of Soleil and Matina will be terribly disappointed if they rummage through the Closet Child (Shinjuku, Yokohama) selection. In contrast, there is tons of Ayabie and Wizard.
So where does that leave the serious collector of vintage indies visual kei? Hold on to it if you got it. And that goes doubly for anything on VHS. Vintage material on CD is rare and often pricey enough, but material on VHS, which is barely even a recognized "format" anymore, is becoming as rare as hens teeth. And the worst thing? Unlike theatrical films, all that great VK pre/post millennium stuff on VHS (and there is TONS of it) will never come out on DVD.
As the visual kei world enters its 11th year, much seems to be changing if one is a collector. If you haven't already started, it's time to polish those CDs, store those VHS tapes properly (and keep a clean VHS machine to avoid tape eating), and rewind and fast-forward those old demo tapes to keep the magnetic tape loose and light.
Heck... if we don't do it, who will?
It's not actually disappearing as in magic or as in "people are buying it at a rapid rate", but rather shops that stock second-hand VK CDs, DTs, videos, etc, are simply not stocking much of the old stuff anymore.
The reason is obvious; there's no room.
Visual kei has been steadily increasing in popularity in Japan since the millennium; this is no secret to anyone living in Japan and on the scene. There was a time when playing large venues like Shibuya Ax, Akasaka Blitz, or even Shibuya Kokaido (aka CC Lemon Hall) was a really BIG thing. Well, no more. Those "concert hall" venues are now what large livehouses were in 2001. As such, more and more bands are popping up and getting big fast, and with them more and more CDs are being pumped out. There are so many bands now that collector shop shelves just have no room left to keep an adequate stock of the vintage stuff. And I seriously doubt that shops even buy that much of it when fans come in and try to sell it.
From what I can see, the only vintage stuff that stays consistently shelf-active are the CDs/DTs/ and videos for those bands whose members are still producing at a strong level. Examples, Asagi from D, Kamijo of Versailles, Miyavi etc etc. Their older material, Syndrome (Asagi) and Lareine (Kamijo), Due le quartz (Miyavi) remains fairly accessible for the collector; but other vintage stuff is either hard to find or kinda pricey when you do.
I went to Closet Child the other day and the maxi single from Distray featuring Ruiza from D (Matina Music circa 1999) was going for 1400 Yen!! Five years ago that same CD would have been 290 Yen and in the bargain bin. So even when you find the old stuff, it can be pricey. But finding it is the hard part.
At Closet Child in Shinjuku, they have only a small section of their massive shelf space devoted to "older" visual kei, which now includes bands like Madeth gray'll and La Mule. It wasn't long ago that both bands had places in the regular area of the store and with lots of titles to chose from. My last trip to Closet Child turned up only three Madeth Gray'll CDs in the entire shop.
Sadly, sometimes it is not even a matter of cost; but rather availability. Finding stuff on Aliene Ma'riage is tough these days, whereas anything produced by Bergerac is in triplicate. Five years ago I even found an Aliene ma'riage Les Soiree hardcover photobook in Akihabara. Today? Forget it.
So where is all that great stuff if it is not in the used shops? One is scared to imagine.
The reality is that we are reaching a turning point in visual kei history. The new era of visual began roughly in 1997. That was when image and sound began to change from what was formerly the Japanese "glam" rock/metal scene. And as such last year was its 10th anniversary. It seems that we are rapidly approaching a point where the word "vintage" can be used to describe CDs DTs and videos for anything produced prior to 2001. And whenever you tack that word "vintage" onto something, only two things generally happen; things disappear, or prices go up on product that used to been "bargain bin" material five years ago. And I am seeing this more and more.
Material from Key Party bands (Aliene Ma'riage, No'ix, Noir Fleurir) is - when you can find it - generally more expensive now than it was six years ago. Of course there are exceptions, but more and more I am finding the problem of availablity to be more troublesome than the issue of price. And don't even start when it comes to photo sets.
Finding vintage photo sets is next to impossible, and I can only thank my intuition that I bought so many during lives way back then. Fans seeking to buy photo sets from the heyday of Soleil and Matina will be terribly disappointed if they rummage through the Closet Child (Shinjuku, Yokohama) selection. In contrast, there is tons of Ayabie and Wizard.
So where does that leave the serious collector of vintage indies visual kei? Hold on to it if you got it. And that goes doubly for anything on VHS. Vintage material on CD is rare and often pricey enough, but material on VHS, which is barely even a recognized "format" anymore, is becoming as rare as hens teeth. And the worst thing? Unlike theatrical films, all that great VK pre/post millennium stuff on VHS (and there is TONS of it) will never come out on DVD.
As the visual kei world enters its 11th year, much seems to be changing if one is a collector. If you haven't already started, it's time to polish those CDs, store those VHS tapes properly (and keep a clean VHS machine to avoid tape eating), and rewind and fast-forward those old demo tapes to keep the magnetic tape loose and light.
Heck... if we don't do it, who will?
