first of all, even when kyo is screaming in english most of us don't understand ;..not to say dir en grey isn't highly pretty! and a awesome band ^-^ I happen to enjoy Gackt's full on english song, Fire.
I never heard their songs but heard people saying one of them is pretty good at playing the guitar.
How many songs or albums did they release? It seems they did tons.
I'm kind of surprised at this old thread got alive again.
I think that whether they sing in English or Japanese, the music is great. Sometimes you get stuff that you had no clue was supposed to be English and then I just crack up when im listening to the song. Can't help it. But then some people sing very good and I think any language, it's all good. As for when they use half in English and half in Japanese...its still cool. Tears by X-Japan (my favorite song) is like that and the English is great and the Japanese as well. It doesn't confuse you at all. But that's just me...
Hi-Standard does it best. Their lyrics sound completely American, but once they sing, you can definitely notice their Japanese accents. And they don't seem to have fallen under the curse of Engrish.
I love musicians who don't take themselves too seriously.
I've heard Amuro Namie's English isn't good. My American friend said BENNIE K sings in real good English but they both have lived in the US.
The main reason, i think, is that anything that sounds Western is attractive for (most) Japanese.
Thus it's commercially more interesting. Often the pronunciation is pretty bad,
but that wouldn't bother a Japanese audience. It just makes a song sound more sophisticated.
kyos english is so bad that it sounds japanese anyway... xD
i've still yet to hear gackt and ayumi's song... apparently gackt sings in english or something? my friend said it was bad, but i aint heard it yet >_>
Not sure if someone's pointed this out already but a reason they sing in English is for meter, to get what they want to say into the time allotted by the arrangement (since Japanese tend to right music first lyrics later). Certain things can take too long or too short an amount of time to say in Japanese so they put them in English it get it to fit right. Also, English has a different feel then Japanese, it can be rougher at times, so for the purpose of giving a phrase or song an edge they'll put it in English. So it's not all Westernization and just trying to be cool, using English in their lyrics serves a technical and practical purpose. And don't forget, J-Rockers don't just use English, you can find songs that use French and even Spanish as well.
Kyo's English can either be pretty good or pretty BAD depending on the song or the Live but then even J-Rockers JAPANESE sucks Live. Gackt's English has recently gotten good (no more Ws ). Hyde's English is very good, except when he's nervous.
And as I pointed out before, even someone's FIRST language gets mangled Live, so you really shouldn't come down so hard on their English Live...or their English at ALL. Japanese and English are so very different that I think it's mean to judge them for their bad, and sometimes completely adorable, pronunciation.
i've still yet to hear gackt and ayumi's song... apparently gackt sings in english or something?
my friend said it was bad, but i aint heard it yet >_>
HYDE's US version of his Roentgen album is completely in English. His new album FAITH is about 80% English. His English seems to be improving so as long as he isn't shouting too painfully you can understand what he's saying. It might take a few attempts for some parts though...
Other artists I've heard sing a sing completely in English are Bonnie Pink and Shiina Ringo. I think both of their accents are heavy but it sounds worse with Bonnie Pink because Shiina Ringo's style of music sort of covers up the accent.
I haven't heard Rei Fu or Crystal Kay sing a song completely in English but I suppose with their backgrounds, they'd be damn good if not perfect.
Gackt's Chinese is terrible. The only way I could understand his Chinese version of "12月 の LOVE SONG (十二月的情歌）" was because he had that Chinese singer Wong Lee Hom helping him out.
Ah... I guess the mere fact that he can speak Chinese is impressive in itself, right guys? yuki and ken from L'Arc~en~Ciel suck at English too. They can't even pronounce their own band name in fluent English. I'm not sure about tetsu since I haven't heard him try. hyde was good, it actually sounded ENGLISH, ken and yuki's was "Raruku en shieru."
I love the engrish it's really cute. So I can understand how some may think it's atrractive and stylish. I remember some people going over how Miyavi (in pop is dead) spelled pop wrong or said it wrong or something. It sounded like he said Poop is dead. It was cute.
also a lot of J-rock bands are heavily influenced by bands from the west and like to emulate their heroes. Electric eel shock for example sing in a mixture of broken up english and japanese and grew up listening to bands like Black Sabbath and The Ramones.