Day 4: The Most Underrated J-Rock Group

For me this was extremely hard, but I’d have to say a band called Grand Slam. O__o 

I guess someone could easily argue that Grand Slam aren’t all that “special” in the first place - being a pretty standard 80’s/90’s hard rock/glam band - but their songs are so damn catchy and memorable I’m surprised they don’t have more listeners outside Japan. Junya Kato’s voice is simply golden too! I only managed to hear of them through some people on an LJ community that were really into older Japanese rock/metal and to this day I can still only count on one hand how many people I’ve seen around teh internets who actually say they like them (not just have heard of them).

Their albums were fucking hard to find too (at least for me) - but I managed to get four of them. It is really hard picking a favorite album - it would have to be a close tie between Rhythmic Noise or Inside or Outside. My top favorite songs are “I Wanna Touch You,” “Feels Good,” “Hello,” and “Can’t Stop Believin’.” 

Oh yeah, and Rudy is somewhat cute. >.< 

Day 3: The Most Overrated J-Rock Group

Honestly, it would have to be X Japan. Don’t get me wrong, I totally respect them for their various accomplishments in J-Rock history or whatever, but their music is really not that good when compared to other Japanese heavy metal artists - including contemporaries both past and present. Besides the memorable power ballads and the pretty boys involved, I never could quite grasp what was so special about them as a metal band. I think nowadays they’ve become more overrated than ever, especially with Yoshiki actively trying to shove them down everyone in America’s throat. I don’t know … they’ve gotten pretty washed up nowadays and they make me feel really sorry for the long-standing metal bands in Japan that still have a lot of their talent and creativity in tact but are sadly eclipsed by X Japan’s so-called greatness and popularity. 

I haven’t heard Andy’s new album yet due to not having money ;___;. Did any other andy fangirls like it? I heard the title song and thought it was alright.