I Get Questions: History of Idol Metal

/ Homicidol Maniac

Jaxson in the comments writes:

I have a question for you (perhaps a bit of idol trivia as well). Who did the first idol/metal collaboration you heard of? For me, it occurred ten years ago.

I thought this was really interesting; for the more well-schooled and well-seasoned (read: OLD) among us, to where can we really trace the history of idol metal, including animetal? What was already in the water in 2010 that gave us Babymetal, BiSH and the HKFCapalooza, that made people think that harder sounds and idol could mesh? This question is specifically geared toward the metal side, but any clear point of origin is welcome.

Answer away in the comments! These comments! The ones below!

15 thoughts on “I Get Questions: History of Idol Metal”

  1. Didn’t really understand the point of the question. If he/she knew of something that happened 10 years ago, why wasn’t that group stated? I know it would be convenient to say BabyMetal started it but that’s just not true- If putting females in front of Nu/Mall Metal is the point of the question, then Kittie did it first and did it heavier. The reality is, J-Metal is the evolution of Japanese metal acts becoming more pop focused and not the other way around- As for the Kawaii-Metal flag that’s being raised, well its an artificial flag to help categorize sub-genre and justify the commercialization of the product. All that rant aside, there is less than 5 “listenable” J-Metal acts anyways, so who came first doesn’t really matter.

    Do yourself a favor and go grab 3776, 2&, Bellha, Oyasumi Hologram, Maison Book Girl’s debut or a You’ll Melt More! CD and grasp what’s really going on in the Indie Idol scene- These groups are paving the way to musical inspiration while the “J-Metal” scene is just writing catchy crossover tunes!
    Sorry for the rant, my therapist says I need to be more expressive 🙂

    • Are you sure that you don’t want to take over here? My goodness. Love it.

      So you had me at YMM, because I do in fact melt more when I come into contact, and BRGH is obviously a site fave; Saki, 2%, good to go; the others I’m looking at for a companion alt-idol site. BUT WHAT’S 3776?

      Also btw, thank you so darn much for the note on “kawaii metal.” I can’t think of a more empty term so pointlessly applied. I just feel a need to be more publicly diplomatic about the whole thing.

    • Since I am the one who posed the question, perhaps some clarification would help. In 2007, I came upon 2 interesting animated video clips on Youtube. A collaboration(not a band) between a very well known Japanese idol group, perhaps the most well known of all idol groups,and very well known metal musician(highly regarded in the east and the west), both of whom are very active today. When I first came upon Babymetal in late 2013, my initial thought was, is this the extension of what I had heard in ’06/’07? I posed the question to HOMICIDOL out of curiosity. Wondering if perhaps others would view this as a possible spark to what has become the Idol-Metal genre.Since this site’s primary focus is the Japanese idol/metal genre, why would you cite Kittie? Not Japanese, definitely not idol. The others you noted are quite good, but I don’t believe they would fit the description in the question of idol metal. The question was not meant to be a proclamation of who did what first, only a simple question to see if, perhaps others would see a possible connection. Peace

        • HaHaHa ,One banana sticker for you. But you didn’t answer the question. In YOUR OPINION, was this a possible seed that was planted for the explosion of the “IDOL-METAL” genre we have today. Knowing that the metal community in Japan is quite small, it’s unlikely that this collaboration went unnoticed. Perhaps Koba-Metal recalled this unique concept, and took it to fruition. Even Akira Kawakami may have recalled this collab as he proceeded to re-brand MCZ, with the elements of wrestling, and of course, later collaborating with Friedman as well. Another banana sticker awaits you , for an intelligent reply. (;_;)

          • Sweet !!!! I love nanners. The idiom “nothing exists in a vacuum” would be appropriate. However, my instincts tell me it’s more likely than not that this was the impetus for the genre we have today.

          • To “Tara44DD” : Here is your 2nd banana sticker for your excellent reply, and a 3rd for citing a famous idiom. Enjoy your nanners!!!!(;_;)

          • To Jul (@Jul10ban) : The second clip,”Thylacine”, provides a bit more context. Apparently, this was seen on some TV show. Some say it was interpreted as a sort of PSA(public service announcement)warning of the the dangers of hunting animals into extinction, noting the supposed eradication of the Thylacine in 1936, a “Save the Panda” exercise,so to speak. I looked up the AKB song you suggested and found a couple of live clips, complete with fan chants for the full effect, and found it most entertaining, really enjoyed it. Thank You

    • I would argue that you can’t “grasp what’s really going on in the Indie Idol scene” by listening to CDs alone, as it’s primarily a live scene. These groups perform multiple times a week, and very rarely release CDs, if they do at all. And often those CDs contain songs which they’ve been performing for months to a year or so, and are established songs for the group. For me, also, idol music on CD is really lacking, it feels like only half the song, as it’s missing the crowd chants etc.

      • I agree. Although it’s not restricted to “indie idols”, as I have witnessed many MCZ events were the fan chants become part of the show. Subsequent listening of the songs on their own, there is something missing for sure. I would say Japan has the best fans,perhaps South America(Brazil,Argentina etc.) being a close 2nd. Compare that to the US, where half of the crowd is trying to capture the moment via smartphone, instead of being “in the moment”. Like your screen name, reminds me of one of my favorites. Love the “Masked Girls” (;_;)

        • Oh yeah, I’m an ex-Alice Project fan. My oshimen graduated in Feb 2015 but I still have the same twitter account. I should have changed twitter name years ago as my ex-AP oshimen wasn’t even in 10ban…

          • I won’t even attempt to guess your oshimen, they lost a lot of members at that time.From a different perspective, as a musician, the music comes first for me.As long as the production team stays consistent to my liking, “idols” may come and go but often doesn’t alter the sound as much as in a typical band scenario,where changing vocalists or guitarists sometimes has a major impact on the overall sound. I view it more akin to a favorite sports team, where members change, but you stick with your “team” and continue moving forward. Enjoy your day (;_;)

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