[LMB] AKICOTL: goth, emo and jrock

[Azalais Aranxta]

On Sun, 16 Dec 2007, Becca Price wrote:

> I've just been informed (rather scornfully) that my daughter
> isn't goth, but that her personal style is more accurately
> called jrock.

ARGH.  I cannot tell you how much I hate the term "jrock".  It's
a horrible Americanism.  Kids who use it betray the fact that
they know next to nothing about Japanese music.

First of all, the proper term is "visual-kei" or "visual style".
Japanese rock music (yes this all has to do with music styles and
the way bands dress) comes in many flavours, most of which are
not in any way gothic.  I listen to many Japanese rock musicians
whom the J-rock fangirls have never, ever heard of and would
never consider listening to.

"J-rock" is supposed to mean "Japanese rock" but it is actually
an awful Americanism, brought to you by the same people who think
it's cool to call yourself an "otaku" (a horrible insult in
Japanese--means the kind of geek/nerd who forgets to wash and
prefers anime girls to real ones), for the "visual kei" style of
music.  The style of dress worn by visual-kei musicians is
referred to in Japan as "visual style", or in some cases "elegant
gothic aristocrat", often abbreviated to EGA.

EGA or visual-style fashionistas typically wear dark coloured
clothing occasionally with white shirts.  Skirts are long,
accessories of both punk and Victorian styles are worn, and
jackets are commonly worn.  The EGA style can often be visually
stark.

If your daughter is wearing very frilly clothing, she's wearing
EGL, or "elegant gothic lolita", often just called "loli".  Loli
clothing is extremely frilly, can be in many different styles and
colours, and the skirts are often at the knee or above (though
they don't have to be; obviously when I wear loli, the skirt is
no shorter than mid-calf).

> Another friend told me that she sometimes comes across as emo,
> but that friend had never heard of jrock, and so couldn't
> really comment. I suspect that, here in the staid midwest of
> the USA, the distinction passes unnoticed, but it may be
> something that means more on the west coast.

Emo isn't even related to goth.  Emo is a punk subtype I *think*.
I know more about the Japanese style distinctions than the
American ones because 10 years ago when loli and visual style and
fruitsy style and gal style were becoming popular I was in on
that.

> I did some google image searching, and yeah, I can sorta see
> the difference, but I can't articulate it. Can someone who is
> more in touch with teen culture tell me what the difference is
> between goth, emo and jrock? (I can't really tell the
> difference between all the hundreds of varieties of metal music
> either, although Wikipedia assures me that it is there.)

Emo and goth are different styles of music.

Generally people who dress emo wear glasses with thick rims,
grandpa sweaters, hoodies, loose-fitting pants, chucks and that
sort of thing, but I don't know the style very well.

Visual style and loli are both subsets of Goth that come to us
from Japan.  So you're not wrong.  Your daughter's just been
getting her information from other kids her age who don't know
anything about the history of either the music or the fashions.

~malfoy :)
****************************************************************
Azalais Aranxta (~malfoy)
ataniell93 on LiveJournal and Vox
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/malfoymadness

"I know the true world, and you know I do. But we needn't let it
think we all bow down." --Christopher Fry