# We're, all of us, superfans of Babymetal, yes? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 20, 2015, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-all-of-us-superfans-of-babymetal-yes/710397 "2015-01-20T18:17:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Satellite\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Satellite\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satellite_Guy)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-all-of-us-superfans-of-babymetal-yes/710397/21 "2015-01-21T02:06:27Z")
Given the choice, I prefer [Doll$Boxx](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mu2z4Uf9Tgc). These girls play their own instruments, and, once you get past the stereotypical “grown women talking like toddlers” thing they do at the start, they actually sing well. Granted, I didn’t check out the link **Edward The Head** posted, yet. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-all-of-us-superfans-of-babymetal-yes/710397/22 "2015-01-21T02:20:41Z")
Babymetal rules! ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-all-of-us-superfans-of-babymetal-yes/710397/23 "2015-01-21T02:22:13Z")
> [@Satellite\_Guy](#): > > Given the choice, I prefer [Doll$Boxx](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mu2z4Uf9Tgc). These girls play their own instruments, and, once you get past the stereotypical “grown women talking like toddlers” thing they do at the start, they actually sing well. > > Granted, I didn’t check out the link **Edward The Head** posted, yet. That’s certainly better than BabyMetal. I think the clothing and baby talk at the beginning may be them mocking that part of Japanese pop culture. It’s a deliberate contrast to the later video of hard rocking adult women. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-all-of-us-superfans-of-babymetal-yes/710397/24 "2015-01-21T02:36:28Z")
Here’s what I wrote in the SDMAS thread a few months back: > [@The SDMB Music Appreciation Society](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-music-appreciation-society/679539/116): > > **Babymeta** l is so weird and manufactured that the metal community is having a hard time dealing with it, except as a humorous novelty act. Frankly, I’m not sure that most of the world is ready for the kind of suppressed pedophilia that passes for a lot of Jpop, and putting it in the metal context is a bold marketing move but little else. The song itself isn’t terrible but the chorus gets old before the 2nd time thru and musically the producer/songwriter has pulled out all the tricks just for this one 5 minute song: siren guitar, loud/soft dynamic, blastbeats, etc. It’s the only way to keep anyone interested I guess: keep throwing stuff at them. As a novelty act, for me, this wears thin about as fast as **Steel Panther**. > > * * * ---
**Author:** ![jovan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/0ea827/32.png) [@jovan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jovan)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-all-of-us-superfans-of-babymetal-yes/710397/25 "2015-01-21T02:45:43Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > For some reason I want to like it. I can’t say why, but I want to. > > But I just don’t. It’s sounds like something done by someone who thinks they understand metal but don’t. Like a slick corporate engineered version of metal by someone following an algorithm or something. Then they took the results and threw in some cutesy j-pop and, for the cherry on top, used auto-tune for the vocals. I almost always _hate_ autotune. > > It’s too fake and overproduced. There’s no heart to it. Are those girls even the ones singing? This is 100% a corporate product. The girls weren’t even familiar with metal before the concept was forced onto them. I’m sorry, it’s shit. It’s the same cookie cutter idol crap song that gets recycled and pasted everywhere in Japan. Ooooh but this one’s pasted on top of a _heavy metal track_. Sorry, not good enough. And, in case you think I might need to lighten up, it’s not just that I’m fed up having to hear variations in this song every day, it’s that I have a daughter. Watching this video reminds me of the sort of society she’s growing up in. You’re a girl, so be cute, look like a dumb child, don’t ask questions, do as you’re told, here, you’re a metal band now just because everything else’s been done to death. Fuck that. Because kids need to get of my lawn, I’m going to add that back in the days you could be cute and heavy because that’s who you were, not because some guy in a suit thought it would sell. [Sentimental Bus](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASunjSeT-LQ) ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-all-of-us-superfans-of-babymetal-yes/710397/26 "2015-01-21T02:48:34Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > To me you’ve described its charm to a T. _shrug_ Some people get it and others don’t. I don’t think even the creators know how cool it is. At least, I hope not, because unintentional irony is ever so much cooler. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Boogly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Boogly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boogly)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-all-of-us-superfans-of-babymetal-yes/710397/27 "2015-01-21T03:50:34Z")
> [@Satellite\_Guy](#): > > Given the choice, I prefer [Doll$Boxx](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mu2z4Uf9Tgc). These girls play their own instruments, and, once you get past the stereotypical “grown women talking like toddlers” thing they do at the start, they actually sing well. > > Granted, I didn’t check out the link **Edward The Head** posted, yet. Wow that took me by surprise. DO NOT SHOW THIS TO MY SON. He will run away and it will be ALL YOUR FAULT. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-all-of-us-superfans-of-babymetal-yes/710397/28 "2015-01-21T04:23:07Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > Like a slick corporate engineered version of metal by someone following an algorithm or something. That’s exactly what I felt on first listen. Metal-by-numbers with JPop thrown over the top. That said, it amuses me. I, too, wonder if it’s just taking the piss. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-all-of-us-superfans-of-babymetal-yes/710397/29 "2015-01-21T04:32:36Z")
> [@jovan](#): > > Because kids need to get of my lawn, I’m going to add that back in the days you could be cute and heavy because that’s who you were, not because some guy in a suit thought it would sell. > > [Sentimental Bus](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASunjSeT-LQ) Sentimental Bus was the only band I liked back in college (when I lived in Japan) that made it big. I’m still rather surprised that they took off, but definitely it’s got to be the band which puts the most sheer “we’re having a kick-ass time playing this music” of any band I know. ---
**Author:** ![Arabella\_Flynn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8491ac/32.png) [@Arabella\_Flynn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arabella_Flynn)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-all-of-us-superfans-of-babymetal-yes/710397/30 "2015-01-21T06:42:47Z")
> [@jovan](#): > > And, in case you think I might need to lighten up, it’s not just that I’m fed up having to hear variations in this song every day, it’s that I have a daughter. Watching this video reminds me of the sort of society she’s growing up in. You’re a girl, so be cute, look like a dumb child, don’t ask questions, do as you’re told, here, you’re a metal band now just because everything else’s been done to death. It might make you less angry if your daughter was watching this instead. Difficult to tell under the makeup sometimes, but the band is all-female. I'd classify it more as extremely heavy Goth/visual kei, but only because I have caught flack from metalheads in the past for not understanding the intricate maze of classes, subclasses, subsubclasses, and international culture feuds in the genre. :D They're not smash-hit superstars, but they're well-known enough to have toured in the US and Europe. Babymetal is one of those things that just sort of makes me shrug and go, “Eh, Japan.” ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-all-of-us-superfans-of-babymetal-yes/710397/31 "2015-01-21T07:05:59Z")
Hmmm… listening to the song in the original post, my first thought was “Great, take the worst of pop and mix it with the worst of metal.” Just many layers of bad there, sorry. But I was intrigued enough to look around a little more. Their song [Akatsuki](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjQsayrmMoU) I could actually listen to a second time. Neither one is going to make it to my regular playlists, though. ---
**Author:** ![jovan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/0ea827/32.png) [@jovan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jovan)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-all-of-us-superfans-of-babymetal-yes/710397/32 "2015-01-21T07:17:11Z")
> [@Arabella\_Flynn](#): > > It might make you less angry if your daughter was watching this instead. My kids aren’t quite at that age yet :). That’s much more generic J-metal. [This girl, though, she’s the shit.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YXpfcZy2Sk) [Wata, from Boris also rocks](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxishhgT560). And, if girly girls playing metal really is your thing, [Galmet](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0shORxbJIV8) is at the very least the real thing and not a marketing campaign. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-all-of-us-superfans-of-babymetal-yes/710397/33 "2015-01-21T08:25:11Z")
Nah, not really. It’s kind of hilarious, but I can listen to Dethklok for silly metal. Plus, I think J-pop (and now J-pop-metal) always sounds like it’s the theme to a bad anime series. ---
**Author:** ![Eddie\_F](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/22d042/32.png) [@Eddie\_F](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eddie_F)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-all-of-us-superfans-of-babymetal-yes/710397/34 "2015-01-21T13:12:42Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > To me you’ve described its charm to a T. 'Zactly. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-all-of-us-superfans-of-babymetal-yes/710397/35 "2015-01-21T22:23:05Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Here’s what I wrote in the SDMAS thread a few months back: What makes Steel Panther tiring is that it’s so ridiculously nasty that it was only funny on the first album. After that, it just became uncomfortable and they really weren’t bringing enough talent to look past it. Babymetal, I’ve liked every song I’ve heard from them and I love the choreography. IF there’s one thing metal needs more of it’s more performance. You see a metal show now you don’t actually have any reason to actually watch the band. Nothing’s going on. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-all-of-us-superfans-of-babymetal-yes/710397/36 "2015-01-21T22:48:25Z")
I initially read the thread title as “survivors of Babymetal.” ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-all-of-us-superfans-of-babymetal-yes/710397/37 "2015-01-21T23:31:59Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > What makes Steel Panther tiring is that it’s so ridiculously nasty that it was only funny on the first album. After that, it just became uncomfortable and they really weren’t bringing enough talent to look past it. No, that’s what makes Steel Panther so tiring to you. I have a different set of things I dislike about them. > [@adaher](#): > > Babymetal, I’ve liked every song I’ve heard from them and I love the choreography. IF there’s one thing metal needs more of it’s more performance. You see a metal show now you don’t actually have any reason to actually watch the band. Nothing’s going on. I disagree with your characterization of all metal shows that are not Babymetal shows. I have a great time watching the band perform and I find that most bands are performing, not just standing on stage playing their instruments. Babymetal is _product_; no different than N’Sync or Spice Girls or any Kpop or Jpop act is product. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-all-of-us-superfans-of-babymetal-yes/710397/38 "2015-01-21T23:38:36Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Babymetal is _product_; no different than N’Sync or Spice Girls or any Kpop or Jpop act is product. I don’t know whether or not they’re just product, but from watching a minute or two of the OP’s link, I feel safe in saying that Babymetal is _theater_, as opposed to (pure) music. Which is what some people (including, apparently, **adaher** ) want. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-all-of-us-superfans-of-babymetal-yes/710397/39 "2015-01-21T23:41:50Z")
For me it’s about the music more than anything else, and Babymetal delivers. No, it’s not Avantasia, but it’s good, it’s providing that pop/metal hybrid that is cool as a change of pace. ---
**Author:** ![Arabella\_Flynn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8491ac/32.png) [@Arabella\_Flynn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arabella_Flynn)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2015, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-all-of-us-superfans-of-babymetal-yes/710397/40 "2015-01-22T06:25:45Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > I don’t know whether or not they’re just product, but from watching a minute or two of the OP’s link, I feel safe in saying that Babymetal is _theater_, as opposed to (pure) music. There’s a lot of music like that in Japan. The visual kei genre and all of its subdivisions descends basically from what Western audiences would recognize as “glam rock”, only it’s Japan, so they’ve turned it up about 400%. The bands that finally broke through into the mainstream are full of people who list acts like KISS as their main inspiration. One of the most famous AND most theatrical is Malice Mizer. You can look them up on YouTube, but I recommend you not, unless you’re prepared for the constant surreal shaky-cam, the Gothy vampire drag queen, loads of fake blood, and eyeball licking. ETA: If you’re going to hunt them down anyway, eyeball licking be damned, it’s probably useful to know that “music video” is “PV”, short for “promotional video”, in Japanese parlance. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-all-of-us-superfans-of-babymetal-yes/710397.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-all-of-us-superfans-of-babymetal-yes/710397.md?page=3)