Visual kei: Guide to its history

If you came to this blog, it's because you've probably heard about "Visual kei" (or it just caught your attention lol), but do you really know what it is?

 Hello! I'm Luciel. How have you been this year? Well, in this blog I will talk about visual kei, its history and the way it became one of the most appreciated subcultures for many =)

First, what is visual kei? Visual kei, abbreviated as v-kei, is a subculture originating in Japan that comes from Harajuku fashion which is originally based on, as its name suggests, visual aesthetics. This subculture arises from Japanese metal and rock, although its aesthetics are mostly inspired by Glam Metal with influence from rock bands from the 70's.

 Although many think that this subculture is relatively new, it was born in the early 80's under the terms "Visual shock" and "Visual Violence" with the band Visual Scandal, which debuted in 1980 and is considered by many as the first Visual kei band, in addition, this subculture became closer to what is currently known during the middle of this same decade with the arrival of great and important bands such as Buck-Tick, X Japan, etc.

 But even with various popular bands, the aesthetics of bands formed in the 90's are probably more familiar to the idea you probably have about visual kei, such as Malice Mizer, Plastic Tree, Lareine, L'Arc~en~ Ciel, Due'le Quartz, Shazna and many more iconic bands of this subculture.

 The greatest international boom of Visual Kei was with the arrival of the 2000s and early 2010s, a decade in which most subcultures became known internationally, including v-kei. In addition to a strong wave of heyday of various subcultures, it was during the aforementioned time period in which many of the most relevant bands emerged such as The Gazette, An Cafe, Mejibray, Nightmare, Diaura, Versailles, The Gallo, among others.

 Let's go back to a little more current times, specifically after 2015. After the heyday of various subcultures, the popularity of Visual kei decreased, but this does not mean that great bands have not debuted during this time. If you know about this subculture, you probably know bands like Dadaroma, Kaneto-Juusei, Xaaxaa, Gulu gulu, Dazzlingbad, etc.

 Currently, Visual Kei is no longer as relevant as it was in its golden age during the 1990's when bands considered legends were active, nor as in its heyday in the 2000's when you could see artists like Miyavi or The Gazette giving concerts in your country, but it still has many fans around the world who are slowly increasing, thus creating a possible resurgence along with other fashions from the beginning of this millennium.

 Thiz iz my first blog, I'm really sorry for the mistakez =( I hope you liked it, thankz for reading everyone! :3