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Okay, this is an opinion thread *grins and sweatdrops* Do you guys find any fundemental differences between American rock and Japanese rock other than language? And one more thing; PLEASE don't be afraid to speak your mind here, please post your opinions and have a good discussion ^^;

of course there's a huge difference.

there are unchangeable differences even in the voices. Japanese men have lower voices than caucasians, with a different.. quality. I'm not an expert on music, so it's hard for me to put it in words. But it's DEFINATELY there.

And just the way the music is written and played. One recognizes sounds from the guitars that americans don't use much [see deadman or baroque, for example] and other sampled sounds that one doesn't hear in american music, and the base is used more.. [i think so.]
like i said, it's hard for me to put my finger on it. but i could tell without even hearing lyrics if it was a jrock song or an american song, i think. 3nodding

[although the majority of the second paragraph refers more to image-kei type rock, which is usually glossier and gothier than non-image-kei, like The Pillows. 3nodding ]

3nodding couldnt of explained it better.

Well, Nihongo Rock talks about almost anything and everything. Plus some made-up-words-on-the-spot inserted (i.e. Scalpatron, Mazohyst).

What I really think is that American Rock isn't into their lyrics as are the Jrockers are. Plus there are some stuff in American Rock that are attacked by the censors and therefore don't make it into the song.(another reason why Jrock is my music of choice)

Plus some of the issues that American Rock talks about is kinda over-played. How many times have I heard "break-up, I hate you, stay away from me" in those songs (aside from some of AFI's songs)?? Sheesh.

Okay I don't know what I was talking about so I'll just stop with the mindless prattle.

~Kazuhide Aeiji

Japanese music not censored? lololol j00 hear the beeped out stuff in dir en grey... den they'res games dey play to get stuff past 'em. dey censor differnt things den wed expect.

well no matter where you go the rock music is gonna be different,personally what drew me to jrock is that it was different americanized rock is going down hill with the pop punk sh!t(i hate blink 128 59387 and good charolet, and all that sh!t), but the thing with jrock is it has depth to it too, because of the kei, i mean they equalize them selves to the level of thier music and it's so much more creative, and most people don't understand creativity, and i enjoy things that are original.

Ah...so true...like...people in this guild think they've met fangirls...they have NO idea..."Meh! Joel and Benji from Good Charlotte are SO HOT!!!!" like a million times worse than J-Rock fangirls...

As for the difference between American and Japanese rock...I've been doing music-related stuff for...10+ years. Singing, drums, and various other percussion for 10+ years, Alto sax for 7, guitar and bass for 3. So I've seen the differences.

Yes, the lyrics are different. While some are not necessarily better, they are different.

I've noticed the way that many Japanese play guitar is different. Usually it's more accented, and they play different sets of chords and arpeggios. The drums have a different rythm, and they use different parts of their drum set together than American drummers do.

The bass is more prominant, and uses a lot of arpeggios compared to American bass. When I first started listening to J-Rock I was blown away at how easily you could pick out the bass.

And of course, what [Vi] said about the vocals too...I listen to a lot of American metal bands and such, and I can tell the way they scream is different. Like when Kyo screams, I think he puts more effort into it, instead of it just being a scream, he actually considers it an important part of the song.

But this is just how I see it anyway...

You mean Japan doesn't do the pop punk s**t, too? FAIL. You do realize you HAVEN'T heard ever Japanese band in existance just because you've heard a lot of VK. Work with things you KNOW, people.