advigilo said:
good idea!
but too make things slightlly easier i made this:
j pop =
- music of general appeal to teenagers; a bland watered-down version of rock'n'roll with more rhythm and harmony and an emphasis on romantic love
-
J-pop - Wikipedia
If we want to define something, we have to keep in mind to keep a sense of
neutrality. Words like "bland" and "watered down version of rock and roll" are very clear and obvious indicators of bias. Also, if one looks at the age range of J-Rock fans, one would see that it's also made up of mostly teenagers, so age range of the fanbase is not an exclusive feature of either genre.
So let's try to keep the subjective generalizations to a minimum.
Weasel word - Wikipedia
Anyway, I do agree with Gackt being more conventionally classed as JRock, though. Any quick perusal of his albums would find that they are typically more rockish, and only his "novelty" albums (Seventh Night, Love Letter), as well as some of his A-Sides, are really pop. I read a theory that said that his name means something along the lines of "god of rock" or something, but, as virtually every fan has used his name with a "god" thrown in somewhere, it was virtually impossible for me to verify this theory.
....
I have to admit that I would like, though, to see sections that deal with 'general music discussions' and 'trivia/fun stuff' as separate from threads dealing with specific artists. If only for the purpose of keeping the forum 'tidier', and again, making it more difficult for threads to get 'lost'. It would also help keep at least some of the picture-heavy threads (e.g 'prettiest j-rocker' etc.) slightly to one side; I know these threads can be annoying to people with a slower internet connection.
I was wondering if it might be possible to divide as in the way I suggested originally, and yet also sub-divide 'individual artists' into 'rock', 'pop' and 'other'. I've suggested it to the admins and mods; whether they think it warrents so many divisions within this section remains to be seen, but it just struck me as a tidy, more 'user-friendly' way of organising the board. It seems to me that it would make it easier to navigate and would be more welcoming to newcomers. What do you think?
It's a good idea. I find that there has been waaay too many "most beautiful jrocker" threads for some reason. Not only that, but they tend to get a bit of attention in the subforum. They stay on the first page like they're stickies. So a way to separate these trifling discussions from the rest would be VERY beneficial.
I do anticipate, though, not only confusion between rock and pop as we have now, but also pop and other, and rock and other, if we make those three sub(-sub?-)-sections. Perhaps we could have one specific sub-sub-section for rock, and let the rest of the J-Music be in the general-individual bands/artists sub-section? I was thinking it this way more from the proportional post count of rock-related threads. We definitely get more rock threads than anything else. People wouldn't have to
choose between pop and rock, but they would just have the option of putting a thread into a rock section, rather than a more generalized section. It would seem fairer to give them that option instead of making them choose, in light of the confusion we ourselves are having. And if we leave the decision up to the thread starters, then maybe that'd be fine, too. J-Rock fans are generally proud to be J-Rock fans, so they probably wouldn't mind.
One problem of this approach, of course, is if J-Rock bands incorporate more than one style in their music that doesn't stay in the rock genre, but I think the general direction of a band isn't so haphazardly disoriented. Another problem is that I assumed that J-Rock fans are proud to be j-rock fans, and hence would logically like a special designated section. Instinctivelly it makes sense, but logically the assumption seems incomplete (ie- what if the fan is proud of the multi-stylistic approach of a rock band). Another potential problem is harder to judge at present: if the jpop threads would then begin to overrun things in the general artists subsection, diverting attention away from bands neither pop nor rock. I don't know the extent of this possibility, because I haven't seen it occurring, but that doesn't mean it's not possible. So this is only one possible suggestion. I can try to brainstorm another suggestion if this doesn't work. Unfortunately, I'm a bit pressed for time right now, so I can't put as much thinking into it as I'd like.
.....
In the end, I hope what our efforts do is to make the J-Music subforum more inviting to our other members-especially the other members. I noticed some not-J-Music-regulars people voted for the thread, and I know that there are other regular members who listen to Japanese music, and I wish they could get a chance to participate here without the fear of getting overwhelmed.
I for my part can't wait for some new divisions. I don't even bother with threads because I know, for a fact, that any non-jrock/non-trivia post will get pushed to page 2 in a day or so.