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Originally Posted by thinkingoutloud89
That's a logic that does not apply to japanese idols by any means. SMAP did only bad songs with the worst vocals ever. The production quality of AKB48 is also horrible. The appeal lies soley within the idols themselves - they could sell trash if they wanted to.
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Well, that really is a matter of opinion though. SMAP actually has some very nice songs, especially from the 90s and only Nakai had a laughably bad voice (and he knew it). The rest were average with Kimutaku being above average. Early morning musume had some very, very nice songs as well (it helps that their producer was primarily a musician before all else), they also had personality to spare. They had personality in their looks, their voices, and many of them were genuinely funny. Go even further back to the 80s and idols like Akina Nakamori, Seiko Matsuda, and then further back to the 70s, Yamaguchi Momoe; all excellent with great song writing and voices and they were idols.
I agree, in general, about most idol groups today though. Bland, generic, no personality or creativity imo. Japan DID have a history though of very nice music from idol groups. That's why today is pretty frustrating.
If anyone ever has the opportunity to go back and watch old Music Station Super Lives, I highly recommend it. I've seen a few from the early and mid-90s and the crowds are like night and day compared to today. They felt more "free", if that's the right word. You can literally see the entire crowd head banging (yeah, actually head banging) to groups like Luna Sea and X-Japan, even B'z, and then next have tears in their eyes for a moving ballad by an idol. Compared to watching those shows today, it's like you can literally see Japan regressing back inside itself and shutting off emotionally it feels like. That was also generally my experience living in Japan as well - people in the 40-60 age bracket were actually generally more outgoing, spoke their minds and seemed to have an interest in all things western dating back to the time they were children, compared to most young people these days where it would be like pulling teeth to get them to express their actual thoughts and feelings. That's why I'm not so sure that the "cycle" this time is going to come back around. It's all generalizations, I know, and I can only speak from my own experience.
This is why Ayu is one of the few artists that endures for me; she still has that connection to music and live performance that seems to be lacking these days.
Quote:
Originally Posted by thinkingoutloud89
It's not about the music, as I said, it's about the humans who perform it and it is all very different from someone who makes and produces his own visions like Ayumi for example, who also is an idol at the end of the day.
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So gotta disagree here. Ayumi does not fall into the category of idol. She did back before her Avex career though. Ayu was always referred to as an artist, not an idol post-Avex. Writing your own music, lyrics etc. means you are not an idol usually in Japan. By the western definition of idol, yes, she's an idol.