Myrothantos wrote:I am absolutely obsessed with the Super Eurobeat series. It's what I listen to almost exclusively, and has been for years. I can't believe I haven't thought to look for like-minded forum-goers earlier. So, hi
I have always wondered why SEB is so appealing to me, yet 99% of my friends (I'm American and so are they) just shrug it off as cheesy pop music. I've been an active listener for the past six years, and even now, I still get that energized feel good feeling when listening to SEB. Totally rocking out to "My Sweet Forever" (184) at the moment, totally mind blowing to me. I guess it just really annoys me to have such a passion for something that no one else can relate to on a daily basis.
The one friend that encompasses the "1%" that didn't shrug it off as meaningless crap music keeps his liking of SEB secret. He calls it his "guilty pleasure," and being my best friend, he'll tell me that, but like at social situations, he'll deny liking any kind of dance or techno music. I hate that SEB has such a position/reputation (in America at least). Why is it *that* bad or embarassing to others?
Welcome to the forums. We share quite a common opinion already. :3
The thing about Eurobeat that drives away most American listeners is... well, it's actually a few things. (Note: My use of "we" is meant to imply the Average American listener/listening audience. Yes, I'm stereotyping, but it's only for the sake of speed, aheheh.)
1) We're not used to pop music being so consistently cheerful, nor to the extent at which Eurobeat almost consistently
is. This puts some listeners off right away (especially stateside, where such ideas as "Cut yourself" or "kill yourself" or "kill everyone" or "b*tches & h*es are the answer to your sucky life's problems" sell incredibly well).
2) Eurobeat is not always (or even often) written in perfect English, at least, not enough for MOST Americans to understand right off the bat; as such, we're not as easily able to derive a meaning (if any) from the music. Even if a song is pointless, many listeners like to understand it.
3) We're used to slower tempos (usually) in our mainstream music (over here, most varieties of dance music are niche, even if we've had a few breakouts, mostly from Europe). As such, we're not used to Eurobeat's nearly "blaringly fast" tempo. Even some "mainstream" metal doesn't hit Eurobeat's 155~175 BPM. It gives the music almost a "sugar rush" feel to it. (Add to this that most Eurobeat that folks have heard were sung by high-pitched Japanese girls and/or related to even FASTER, Chirpier, higher-pitched songs on DDR, and their opinions are practically set in stone that Eurobeat is "Syrup".)
4) Most Americans have distaste for the kinds of timbres (specific sounds) of Eurobeat singers. (There's some even I can't stand, and I've been keeping with the system for a few years.) (See above for more on this)
5) We're not used to some of the QUALITY of music found in Eurobeat. We're used to 3+ chords with a beat, and that's on a GOOD day. Take most popular music over the last two decades; three chords, the right sounds, cuss words and/or relations to sex, and the rest of the song doesn't matter. Eurobeat goes FAR more complex than that, on frequent occasions. Chord changes, harmonies, majors/minors/7ths/13ths... all eschewed by the average "pop" communities in the USA.
6) Americans relate more to individual acts, a LOT of them under one label, producing a few songs a year. Eurobeat is MUCH harder to follow; an artist can have as many as, what, 30+ titles? Besides that, they produce songs almost MONTHLY. That's a huge difference. Also, in Eurobeat, there's only a few individuals attached to a given Eurobeat label (big names like Time and SAIFAM included, if only counting Eurobeat artists). Plus, over here stateside, we relate a sound of an artist to the artist (or a (set of) producer(s) at one given studio at the time... or whatever). In Eurobeat, the sound is more specific to one or two producers, and THAT Record Label's sounds. Would you listen to, say, Metallica, and say, "Oh, that's classic Warner Brothers sounds!" While with Dave Rodgers, you can say "That's ABeatC in a nutshell". Or X Eurobeat Artist, you can say "That's Y Eurobeat Label". Harder for American listeners to understand/get into.
7) Dance music has a HUUUUUGE connotation with homosexuality here in the states (SAIFAM/Boom Boom Beat/Asia even has specific compilations for that variety of music). Essentially, if you want to "pick up chicks"... don't be blaring SAIFAM Eurobeat. (Lesson learned the hard way on my part... and I wasn't even trying to "pick anyone up"!) This is done, ironically, in the face of the fact that most rap/pop acts these days not only use dance drum machines/synthesizers, but have Dance REMIXES. The hypocrisy and irony are thick enough to make HOUSES out of.
It appeals to, I tend to find, much more musically-inclined listeners that don't mind some of the differences of Eurobeat. I found myself attracted to the sheer musical technicality/ardence of the synth lines (wasn't too fond of the vocalists at first), and have grown to like Eurobeat more and more since then. I imagine you share similar tastes to myself, at least in that sense.
