“Hougaku Rock” as Anti-J-Pop : A Musical Genre Formed by Alternative Media in Japan since 1985

アンチ　J　POP　トシテ　ノ　ホウガク　ロック　1985ネン　イコウ　ノ　ニホン　ニ　オケル　オルタナティヴ　ナ　メディア　ニ　ヨル　オンガク　ジャンル　ノ　ケイセイ

キクチ, コタロウ

Kikuchi, Kotaro

Osaka University (=HANDAI), Musicology Division

In Japan, around 1985, the predominant music genre among the youth shifted from new music to rock, with major rock bands such as BOØWY, HOUND DOG, and Rebecca producing hit songs. Concurrently, in the indie scene, the regional punk/new wave movement was organized into an “indie boom” following the establishment of a group of labels and coverage by “Treasure Island,” published by JICC Publishing Bureau. This trend in both the major and indie scenes received support from fan-oriented rock magazines published by CBS/Sony and the proliferation of magazines for amateur musicians. By the end of the 1980s, this support had contributed to the rapid popularization known as the “band boom.” Although the band boom waned in the early 1990s, the mainstreaming of rock music, spurred by these developments and coupled with the economic boom in the music industry and the “return to Japan” trend, played a significant role in the full-scale popularization of J-POP. J-POP nearly dominated the Japanese popular music market by adapting to the postwar “longing for Western music,” significantly reducing the size of the domestic Western music market. Consequently, traditional rock journalism, which had depended on a Western supremacist ideology, lost its central appeal. Music magazines that either provided dense, comprehensive information on new releases or featured striking photogravures of “visual-kei” bands saw a growth in sales. In this environment, magazines such as “Rocking on Japan,” searching for a new direction in Japanese rock music after the band boom, began to emphasize and appreciate regional scenes, such as Shibuya-kei and Shimokita-kei, which were the result of quoting and editing without being bound to specific roots. These scenes, helped define “Japanese rock” as a genre distinctly opposed to J-POP.