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Oct. 14th, 2013 01:02 pmIt looks like we kindasorta have another Gaze wank on Tumblr again. Somebody apparently posted something to one of those secret/confession communities accusing Ruki of being "too mainstream" and saying the person "missed the old Ruki." This led to a few long, angry rants being posted that amounted to "Don't blame Ruki for everything GazettE does! He's not the whole band!" (This was a bit educational for me, because I learned there had been a big wank about Shiver being used as an anime opening - the release of that song predated my entry into the fandom. Seriously - why is a band doing an anime theme a BAD thing? That's how the fandom grows - I wouldn't be into any J-rock at all, period, had not Alice Nine done the season 2 opening for Meine Liebe).
I'm just kind of baffled as to where they got "too mainstream" from. Visual kei, by its very nature, isn't mainstream - it's a niche culture, same as punk and Goth are here. Is it because GazettE toured South America and Europe? (International appeal doesn't equal mainstream. Anime is still considered niche despite having devotees all over the world). Does it have something to do with Black Moral? (Definitely not mainstream. Far as I know, you can't buy Black Moral in Hot Topic - dammit. It's still marketed just among the fans). Is this just the latest, veiled version of "OMG GAZETTE'S NEW MUSIC IZ TEH SUXXORS WHYYY CAN'T THEY GO BACK TO HOW THEY WERE!!111!!!1!!!!???"
Whatever it is, I hope it blows over quickly, because it's a pretty pointless wank. Come on - Ruki, who's an independent thinker and iconoclast, is about as far away from "mainstream" - especially the Japanese concept of the term - as you can get.
I'm just kind of baffled as to where they got "too mainstream" from. Visual kei, by its very nature, isn't mainstream - it's a niche culture, same as punk and Goth are here. Is it because GazettE toured South America and Europe? (International appeal doesn't equal mainstream. Anime is still considered niche despite having devotees all over the world). Does it have something to do with Black Moral? (Definitely not mainstream. Far as I know, you can't buy Black Moral in Hot Topic - dammit. It's still marketed just among the fans). Is this just the latest, veiled version of "OMG GAZETTE'S NEW MUSIC IZ TEH SUXXORS WHYYY CAN'T THEY GO BACK TO HOW THEY WERE!!111!!!1!!!!???"
Whatever it is, I hope it blows over quickly, because it's a pretty pointless wank. Come on - Ruki, who's an independent thinker and iconoclast, is about as far away from "mainstream" - especially the Japanese concept of the term - as you can get.
