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Is Jun Maeda a punk rocker?


Okarin

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First off, I've been following the world of punk rock since high school, in 1999-2000.

With that said, any fan can tell that Key's compositions (like the ones in Angel Beats by Girls Dead Monster and a lot of openings, like Philosophyz) sometimes feature heavily melodic, bludgeoning yet simple, blistering guitar punk rock with superb singers and great melodies.

Not that I'd say that punk rock is anybody's model culture, but I guess in Japan they understand it differently (well, a lot of Japanese are really fed up with these choking traditions and the conservativeness of the country, so there's that).

As a side note, it's worth considering Asian Kung Fu Federation, if you watch a video you can tell they're pretty much geek types with glasses and all, but they came to be one of the most recognised melodic hardcore bands in the world. They definitely had their moment.

I guess Japanese focus on the free, wild side of punk (its aspect worth considering) and leave aside the alcohol chugging, the drug doing and all that. Or maybe not.

The post is over and no mention of Maeda inside... I guess it's just clickbait :illya: Or maybe he's the one at Key that likes punk rock.

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I can't believe the one day I decide to play outside with my friends, is the very day Flutterz steals the perfect KiraKira shitpost-window I had been waiting for so long... 

3 hours ago, Okarin said:

I guess Japanese focus on the free, wild side of punk (its aspect worth considering) and leave aside the alcohol chugging, the drug doing and all that. Or maybe not.

For what it's worth, there's a lot of alcohol in KiraKira and Deardrops. And those mushrooms the protag had growing in his shabby room, but we don't talk about those.

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Yeah, that sound is coming from the bands, not from someone at the top like Jun Maeda. It's also not very punk, IMO. I'm by no means an expert on musical genre, but the lead guitars especially are much more rock than punk, I think.

Incidentally, if you listen to Hikarisyuyo's solo work (he recorded some/all of the music for GlDeMo, and some other Key tracks, though not Philosophyz), you'll find it sounds basically exactly like GlDeMo, except with vocaloids instead of actual singers (unfortunate... which is why I tend to really like the one instrumental track he puts on each album), and with a little more variety: https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_srch_drd_B003U3LEJU?ie=UTF8&field-keywords=Hikarisyuyo&index=digital-music&search-type=ss

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Another Japanese reference to punk rock: I'll remember all my life how I skimmed throught that Bleach tome, and found out that Ichigo's "image song" (term used to refer to a song that describes the character or is associated with it in some way) was Bad Religion's "News from the front":

Tite Kubo is much more alternative than Key, but this is amusing.

Also in this song you can tell a lot of similarities with GirlsDeMo, the girlies are more melodic but it's almost there. Punk is not only ass-sounding bands.

By the way, "News from the front" is a song about AIDS.

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5 hours ago, Okarin said:

Also in this song you can tell a lot of similarities with GirlsDeMo, the girlies are more melodic but it's almost there. Punk is not only ass-sounding bands.

But I own that Bad Religion album and I think two more, and I rather like Husker Du, and I think The Clash's London Calling is fantastic and Sandinista is fascinating. I actually like (good) punk music. It just doesn't sound much like the music you're talking about, IMO.

Edited by Fred the Barber
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Punk is based in a four chords composition, and GirlsDeMo is just that, granted, their chords are better quality and sound better, but it's just that. Also the arrangements are top quality.

This coming from someone who has only a bare grasp of guitar.

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