Out of my insane love for the GazettE’s new single DISTRESS AND COMA, I decided to check YouTube to see if I could pilfer any videos that might be of a higher quality than mine, when I stumbled upon a comment discussion that highly disturbed me. It started with this comment:
“XxgothicvoodoodollxX (1 day ago)
the song is stuck in my head now….wow it’s really good…
i’m just a bit bothered though…ruki got a plain gold ring on his ring finger the past months…i heard rumors he is married…and now he is singing about brides….could it be??”
This was immediately followed by a flurry of comments along the lines of “he can’t get married because I’m getting married to him lolololol.” And of course the ever popular, “I won’t like Ruki anymore if he gets married.”
Just off the bat, I’d like to point out how incredibly frightening that concept is. Because of an artists marital status, you’re going to refuse to listen to them? I thought it was about the music. Not about an artists appearance or personal-life. Aoi could be a gay, transsexual, baby-eating alien, and I still wouldn’t care. (Assuming that he’s not eating my babies, of course. If he is, well, then it’s personal).
Besides, Atsushi Sakurai of BUCK-TICK is married for the second time. Neither marriage prohibited him from his work, and to this day his band continues to produce quality music that appeals to a wide audience.
I’m thrilled by XxgothicvodoodollxX’s extensive research as she cites the appearance of a gold band on his finger “in the past months.” In Japan, wearing a wedding ring has become an acceptable custom since the 1960′s but it is still not a completely wide-spread practice. Many women choose to not wear wedding rings, and men just flat out don’t wear them. On top of that, some stars wear rings and pretend they’re married to avoid un-wanted attention.
What still baffles me is the outright objection to their favorite J-Rock star getting married. It’s like they still haven’t grasped the concept of straight men, or relationships. The idea that Ruki’s going to be gay with Reita until he meets the love of his life, which is of course you, a 15-pound overweight teenager wearing ill-fitting clothing and reveling in your lack of make-up. He’s not gay. In fact, I picture him as one of the least questionable men on that wretched machine, PSC.
Besides, I don’t want to imagine them having buttsex. I’ve seen buttsex before, and it is NOT a pretty sight. All the “members” and “tight caverns” read about in perverse FanFictions have somehow created this romantic image of the deed. In reality, it is pretty disgusting and not all “aww-worthy”. ‘
In short, XxgothicvodoodollxX and other like-idiots represent exactly why I avoid any discussion, post, thread, or mention of the GazettE. I’ve grown, changed, evolved into a better fan, it’s about time they grew up too.
I think the problem that’s often introduced with Visual Kei is that it’s more than a sonic experience; it’s an aesthetic one as well. We aren’t stimulated only by the sounds, but by the images of these men who seem to defy trends and stereotypes and have outrageous personalities. The glamorous image makes people see them almost as demi-gods, and to many people that becomes more important than the sound. It’s no longer about being the fan of a band, but being the fan of the individuals in the band. This is why Visual Kei is sometimes described as some strange heavy metal boy band scene.
It’s like my sister’s persistent obsessions with various teen idols in her youth except far more perverse because of well…all of the anal sex fantasies.
I do find it extremely disrespectful, though, that these fans think they have the right to invade on the personal lives of the artists as they so heavily do in their discussions. Visual Kei masks the personal lives of its musicians to make the focus their work, not themselves. Perhaps the fans of these bands should stick to the real goals of Visual Kei.
The inability for them to separate the work and the person however is disturbing. It may be safe to conclude that these people clinically have psychological issues.
Echoing what Lemon says about the psychological issues in not being able to separate the musician from the music. That’s a concept I’m seeing really, really frequently lately, and have long grown tired of tolerating.
And I find it increasingly sad how… hung up fans get on things that shouldn’t matter. Did I ever show you this? It’s funny to laugh at at first, but the more you start wondering if the person is being serious the more worried you get…
But, every scene has its nutters – it’s not just visual kei. Twilight fans get into fistfights, teenage girls are convinced that they’re saving themselves for Johnny Depp to come marry them. Some people grow out of it, some just don’t, I guess. It’s an unfortunate truth?
Comments and conflicts like this oftentimes make me want to pull out of the internet portion of the fandom altogether – even my favorite forums and hangouts I once deemed as “safe” from all this ridiculousness are starting to lose my faith.
Hmm that’s a good point. I remember a few years back they were talking on the big news stations about an actual diagnosed psychological condition where the patient thinks they have a personal relationship with a specific celebrity. Most strange.
The style of writing is quite familiar . Have you written guest posts for other bloggers?
I have never written any guest posts! In fact, this is the first blog entry I’ve done since I was in sixth grade loafing around on LiveJournal!
i agree with most of you on here. it seems people like that should’tn deserve to even call themselves a fan.
I know I’m probably a little late in commenting, but I’ve never seen a person over react on something their not so sure about and like anthrodraco said, we should all be happy for them. They’re people like us.
Bwahaha, you can’t really ever be too late in commenting–I get email updates. Thanks for the comment
Whoa…stumbled on this pretty late.
The fact that people are deciding to abandon their favorite members due to their marital is pretty extreme. The picture that “Harpie” showed….I have no words as to what that person was thinking. I am pretty concerned for their psychological well-being.
I agree with all of you: on livejournal there are excessive memberxmember stories on fan communities, it’s pretty disgusting.
And then there are of course the people only “listening” for the GazettE’s looks. The fact that people can’t separate the GazettE’s work and personal lives is saddening; they need to grow up. Sure you can have fantasies, but that’s excessive and unrealistic.
i agree alot of miayvi hate him now that hes married but i am truly happy for him! and still love his music! gazette are beautiful men with beautiful music who deserve to have a lucky lady in their lives.
same, plus he has such cute children! :3 im happy he’s found love. I dont really listen to his music much, it’s usually every few weeks, ill go through a “i want to listen to miyavi” mood that last’s about 2 weeks then its back to Gazette and just goes in this circle haha.
I will admit that the Gazette members really are beautiful but to me it’s just a perk of their job. they create such beautiful music that even if i listen to their upsetting song’s, they can cheer me up
personally i feel that Visual kei helps the musican’s be something different to their normal life if you understand me. it’s like im sure that Ruki is completely different off stage ( like i know he wont go around rubbing himself on poles like he does on stage and that).
i’m confident that at some point they will all find love and be really happy
not long ago i looked at a post where people were discussing his ” wedding ring” and in the comments, they said they were convinced he was gay or atleast bi and that he secretly was getting it on with Reita or Uruha and then went on to say if ruki was married, he’d stop focusing on his work…i found it incredibly sad :/ they are so into their career that i highly doubt they’d let marriage get in the way of their work.
some “fan’s” need a BIG reality shock >.>
THANK YOU!! it really annoys me when i watch videos and the comments are spammed with ” OMG IS HE MARRIED?! D:”. like someone said, they’re people just like us. they have the right to marry who ever they want without asking for the “fans” permisson.
Anyone remember what happened with Miyavi? it disgusted me when i went on his myspace page and found people saying things like” how could you?! i cant look at you ever again” just because he’s married, it’s not like them comments are gunna make him think” oh, this girl has a point, I SHALL MARRY THEM INSTEAD >:D” he was actually really upset that people said them things :/
it’s rather sad knowing some people really can’t separate their work from their personal lives. if Ruki did get married then i’d be really happy for him and wish him luck and to have a long, loving marriage, along with all the other members for when they get married
and for those who fantasise that ” ruki will come along on a white stallion in shinging armour and marry them , an overweight teenage girl on the other side of the world”…its just a dream and it’s most likely ( well definitly) never gunna happen,ever.