This Is a Cool Article on How Indie Makes the Mainstream

/ Homicidol Maniac

It’s a little difficult to sum up this neat Japan Times article on the underground’s influence on modern J-pop and J-rock, but: Look no further than Perfume, basically.

It’s a little different than how we usually think about the genesis of a lot of our music, whereupon it’s indie idols adopting moves from contemporary rock etc. We also usually think of it as a primarily underground phenomenon, but, as the article points out, there are big-ass names (including our own Babymetal) who managed to make the leap to the big-time by adopting sounds and innovations from the small-time.

What I’m really interested in here, though, is how (mumbling) thinking about using idol performance in popular Western music (/mumbling) would probably do the same thing; if you’re going to be a popular musician nowadays, it’s going to be either because you’re eminently well-connected, extremely lucky and a standout that’s attractive to otherwise bored audiences. I don’t see big Western producers adopting idol anytime soon, and luck’s usually in pretty short supply, but to do something that people haven’t experienced before?

Like, to do hardcore with multiple dancing vocalists?

Anyway, though I know it’ll never happen (unless a few of you guys happen to be interested in sending me large packets of cash), I like to think about how idol might be something to make work in my country and elsewhere. The elements themselves wouldn’t be unique, but how they fit together, and how to market it, that would be the challenge.

Oh, and absolute piles of cash. That’d be helpful, too.

2 thoughts on “This Is a Cool Article on How Indie Makes the Mainstream”

  1. I hope the sillyness doesn’t go away. But maybe a new age is coming and we see the last glory days of this. Every cool scene went away after a while. Let’s hope it is not gonna end.

  2. Pingback: Start Thursday Dancing with DEVIL NO ID | Homicidols

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