Because of American values and belief, (God Bless America for example. As if God, if you believe in him, would only bless the single most gluttonous and underhanded country in the world) people in general are restricted in their way of thinking. Technology is an example. Compare American game shows to Japanese game shows. We can seriously go on and on about this. But i'd much rather gouge my eyes out with an ice cream scoop.

Just cuz. It's like terra said, they could have been American or some other nationality. I just like it. Furthermore, there hasn't been any American band lately that has capture my interest. Of course, it's not like I'm activily looking for new American bands.

[quote="skoolyardpuck"]
Kids and rock bands alike are so eager to rebel against the goverment and "rock against bush", but when you think about it, does it really matter who's running this country? If God himself was president, people would still rebel and complain about the shitty government....CAUSE IT'S THE "IN" THING TO DO. Cool people aren't supposed to like the government. [/quote]

I definitely disagree with you here. Although it's easy to assume that many teenagers/"rock bands" will try to "rock against the government", it's obviously just not a blind idea. Rage Against the Machine doesn't say "Fuck the police" just because the police are figures of authority. There's actually some grounds do it.

The same way you see many teenagers now with anti-bush pins, stickers, etc. They're informed, they know how the Bush administration is running America, and they're forming their own opinions based on it.

Oh I'm sure there are at least some people who just do it because it's increasingly common, but you have to give the others credit for actually intelligently evaluating the situation.

When Clinton was president, was there much anti-Clinton stuff going around. ASIDE from Lewinski - I'm talking about politically. Nah.

[quote="skoolyardpuck"]I think it depends mainly on the difference of culture. In America, everyone is required to act a certain way, speak a certain way, and dress a certain way to be cool. So the American people are getting dumber and dumber everyday because they refuse to challenge themselves. This is even more so with the hip hop/rap culture; as long as it's new, everyone will like it(which is unbelievably ignorant and stupid). NO MATTER HOW BAD IT SOUNDS.
There's a certain moral code in this country. Since there are a lot of countries that "set their watches" to america in terms of culture and economy so to speak, Americans are too proud of their own country, and therefore think they are superior to others. So being different, or standing out from the crowd had become something that is frowned upon. (There is some shit that's just plain silly though. For example, punks in the early 80swearing Nazi signs on clothing and tattoos specifically for shock value)
Kids and rock bands alike are so eager to rebel against the goverment and "rock against bush", but when you think about it, does it really matter who's running this country? If God himself was president, people would still rebel and complain about the shitty government....CAUSE IT'S THE "IN" THING TO DO. Cool people aren't supposed to like the government. That's reserved for war veterans and high school kids in ROTC.(Another stupid notion)
American Pop Rock is almost never influenced by any culture (other than maybe the British) in terms of music.
But on the other hand, many other countries allow themselves to be influenced by other countries and their cultures, and this is even more so in Japan.
Since the culture in Japan is much more accepting, and more innovative, it changes the way people think, act, and communicate with each other. (Why do you think Japan is so much more technologically advanced than the US?) So this changes the way they make music. But Japanese music is getting up there when you look at all the glam rock bands and Visual Krap they come up with. But since the indie scene there is smaller and inspired by american music, it ends up sounding better because it's styled like music we are familiar with, but with a interesting twist inspired by their own way of thinking and expressing themselves.
Japanese bands are just better period. They're less jaded and hard working. Simple as that.
.......... I'm very sorry about that. I've......probably just made everyone in the entire forum dumber after posting that.
Gonna go get a microwavable burrito from the gas station.[/quote]

This sounds like an opinion coming from a radio DJ.

[quote="thejedipunk"]Just cuz. It's like terra said, they could have been American or some other nationality. I just like it. Furthermore, there hasn't been any American band lately that has capture my interest. Of course, it's not like I'm actively looking for new American bands. [/quote]

Yeah, that's pretty much it.

[quote="GoldenRhino"][quote="skoolyardpuck"]
Kids and rock bands alike are so eager to rebel against the goverment and "rock against bush", but when you think about it, does it really matter who's running this country? If God himself was president, people would still rebel and complain about the shitty government....CAUSE IT'S THE "IN" THING TO DO. Cool people aren't supposed to like the government. [/quote]

I definitely disagree with you here. Although it's easy to assume that many teenagers/"rock bands" will try to "rock against the government", it's obviously just not a blind idea. Rage Against the Machine doesn't say "Fuck the police" just because the police are figures of authority. There's actually some grounds do it.

The same way you see many teenagers now with anti-bush pins, stickers, etc. They're informed, they know how the Bush administration is running America, and they're forming their own opinions based on it.

Oh I'm sure there are at least some people who just do it because it's increasingly common, but you have to give the others credit for actually intelligently evaluating the situation.

When Clinton was president, was there much anti-Clinton stuff going around. ASIDE from Lewinski - I'm talking about politically. Nah.[/quote]

Good point, good point. But do you actually believe most teenagers are informed as to why Bush's presidency is so bad? Yes, there are many people who do realize how much he's corrupted our society and image, but there are a lot of people who just "follow the crowd", you know the kind. And we were all like that at one time or another, whether we wanted to dress like our favorite musician, or athlete, or even talk and act like them as well. But the general public is just eating this stuff up. And the pressure of the media on the government is mounting. Let's just hope this doesn't happen in the next presidency, or else things could really get out of hand.
By no means am i implying that i like the state the government is in now, but all we're doing is attracting unwanted attention to ourselves. which in turn will mean more government control and restrictions. which in turn gives the "informed public" more to complain about. vicious cycle we go goin there.

I think we're getting off subject here though.

Great topic, BlazingSage.

[quote="Kaze no Mirai"][quote="terra"]the pillows speak to my heart. they could have been american, they could have been swedish. but it just happened that they were japanese. people are people, and music is music no matter the language.[/quote]

terra, that was beautiful... [/quote]
Actually . . . it was . . .

[quote="terra"]i think the feelings can be conveyed even if you don't understand the exact meaning of the lyrics. there are plenty of songs in english i couldn't honestly say i truly understand.[/quote]
Yeah. We had a discussion about this and things similar to what we're talking about now in another thread, which was off-topic . . . I can't remember which one it was now, but my opinion's in there. Basically, terra, you summed it up with "music is music".

[quote="Josher"]Lyrics aren't as important to me as they used to. When I loved the Pillows pop/rock era to death I was off and on about [i]Please, Mr. Lostman[/i] in terms of sound. Until I actually took the time to look at "Strange Chameleon's" and "Swanky Street's" lyrics, that was the first time a song like that actually had a good moral meaning to it and made sense to me. Eventually, as I obsessed over PML, I payed attention to the guitars, melody of the vocals and harmonies, and drums and understand how it works with the lyrics.

To tell you guys the truth, the Pillows were my first ever band that I really liked.[/quote]
I loved this post, too, because I can relate to parts of it . . . and the pillows were also the first band that I ever truly liked. I mean, I always liked music in general (for one thing, I play the alto saxophone), and I certainly liked some types over others, but, the pillows were the first band that I ever cared enough to want to listen to more and more and over and over again, because it was just so enjoyable. I had never owned a CD before. I [i]never[/i] just listened to music in my spare time on my own. I happily listened to music that other people played when they played it and often when it was played on the radio (and my dad's a DJ, so I grew up hearing tons of stuff, whether I liked it or not). In things like movies, I appreciated just how important music was. But, until the pillows, I never really cared. I swear, no matter how much I enjoyed hearing something, I was never touched by it enough to go out of my way to get it and listen to it. Now, I'm pretty much listening to music whenever I get the chance. They've gotten me to love music more than I ever thought I would and also to explore music. Like I said before, I never looked much into it, just heard it when it was on, as if it was a soundtrack to life, like in one of those movies.

But now I do explore. I've found numerous bands that I enjoy a lot (some of those thanks to you fellow pillows fans and this forum ), and I've been thinking about American music and any music in general and . . . well . . . I think you get my point . . . I need to get some sleep . . .

[quote="Joyeuse"][quote="skoolyardpuck"]Since the culture in Japan is much more lax, accepting, and more innovative...[/quote]

Huh?[/quote]


hahahahahahahahahaha

Japan is the single most fad-following trend-making place on the planet. Look at the ganguro fashion.
Japan is a nation of business. Even indie music is business.

There's some kind of answer to all this. I'm working on it. It's like an underlying message beneath all the music we ingest.

[quote="clouds drive monster"]It's like an underlying message beneath all the music we ingest.[/quote]

Yvan Eht Nioj?

Drink ovaltine?

on a completely different side note to what you all were saying, i told a guy that i work with that my favorite band was a a japanese rock band, The Pillows. He immediately exclaimed "You listen to J-pop?!" and started going on about his love of ayumi hamasaki and chinese and korean pop singers. I was depressed.

/side note over.

i remember i was doing a math project with a kid I know named jacob, and he was just like " how can you listen to all those crazy japanese bands" and i said, "they're not that crazy, you know". He asked me how I could like them if I didn't know what they are saying, and i was like "the music is just really good". I don't think that he could comprehend that and just said, "you're so weird ", and then shut up. The reason i listen to japanese bands is just cuz they're really good. if they were'nt really good i probably wouldn't go broke buying all the albums like I do. it doesn't really have anything to do with that they are from japan.