DCT's Place in J-POP World

[zberry]

I was checking out a J-Pop/rock site (projectJ.net) and was surprised to see no mention of DCT anywhere. It made me wonder, is DCT too old, or simply on a different plateu and not considered J-Pop? Any comments on where DCT fits in in the overall J-Pop World?
I was surprised, because to me, DCT is the best of the best.
(I did find a lot of info on other bands that made me want to check them out.)

[Jei]

That website's list is rather JRock heavy, so it wouldn't surprise me a bit to not see them on there...plenty of other great non-Rock bands not listed there either...
(BTW...Check out Shiina/Shena Ringo...oh sooo good ^_^)

DCT is definitely not too old...
An ancient group like the Southern All Stars & contemporaries like B'z and Mr. Children are still hot and still top the charts...

With the exception of this year, DCT has released very few singles in the past few years (especially in comparison to the current mainstream groups)...kinda easy for the new fans to miss them...

And since they also float between genres...wouldn't be surprised if that contributed to it too...

Still, DCT is a JPop supergroup, period. They could not release another album for 10 years, yet sell out concert tours in every one of those ten years...

They're very highly respected and almost always treated as top tier whenever they're on music programs. (I'll never forget the KinKi Kids floor bowing to them....or seeing the 15 years of performances on the last Music Station they were on ^_^)

A possible theory: I was wondering why those old groups still were buring up the charts, while DCT dropped a bit...

All the continually popular old groups are all lead by men....
Other than DCT, I can't think of any female fronted band 15 years or older that even comes close (and none at all, not even DCT, that maintained the same heightened level of popularity)

(Yeah yeah...occasionally you hear from Mariya Takeuchi or Seiko Matsuda....but they don't hit the singles charts like DCT...)

Think about it...when was the last time the Rolling Stones had a #1 hit?
(And they don't seem to be hurtin' any...)

[tachikaze]

http://www.tbs.co.jp/cdtv/artistdb/artist40-j.html

shows their singles ranking history since 4/1995.

Miwa's getting old -- turning 40 next year... the 15-20 yo age bracket wasn't even listening to music at DCT's peak in '91-'92...

DCT released their first two albums in the 80's ... very few bands from the 80's have survived -- I think The Alfee and S-A-S are the only other two, and both are somewhat similar to DCT in that they are certainly doing their own thing wrt music.

man it's fun looking at those old cdtv charts. so many memories...

From the 4/8/1995 top 100, the survivors are:

Amuro Namie
Mr Children
ZARD
SMAP

all the other big-name act sback then passed on by the late 90's.

B'z is still going tho. They probably had the most hits ...


here's a rough count of top-100 chart-positions for each group, 1995-now (basically 500 is a perfect score of 1 single in the top 100 every week):

GLAY: 410
Amuro Namie: 394
SMAP: 384
L'arc en ceil: 382
B'z: 373
Mr Children: 313
Southern All Stars: 267
ZARD: 257
DCT: 235
SPEED: 228
Max: 217

Most of the bands ahead of DCT got their start after 1995. Mr Children hit it in '93 IIRC, B'z I think in '95.

If we were to include the 1990-1994 years too, DCT would then look a little better, since their 1989-1994 period produced more hit singles than 1995-2004; but those 5 years have only 250 weeks, and the way DCT released singles they probably would only score another 150 or so weeks of chart placement, so I doubt they would be the #1 act by this measurement.

[zberry]

Thanks for the statistics tachikaze, and thanks for the comments jei! Very interesting. That Glay really has a tight grip on the top spot. What a score.
I was just surprised to not find a mention of DCT on that other site. I know that site (projectj.net) is more of a rock site, but I'm a longtime rock fan and am still blown away by DCT's musical prowess.
I think DCT is one of those bands that, by virtue of their catalog of songs and history of thrilling live performances, has captured a very strong base of fans. The older fans who remember DCT from the early days are the core, but surely they continue to attract young fans, too, who are lucky enough to be exposed to their music via videos, radio or Hey, Hey, Hey type shows.
In my mind, I'm always comparing Miwa to my other musical idol, Bruce Springsteen, who is now in his mid-50s. Bruce no longer sells a ton of records, but he sold out 10 nights at Giants Stadium(!!!) last summer, which tells you something about his popularity. The crowds on the 2003 Wonderland tour looked pretty sizable, too.

[nakoruru]

My personal opinion is that the fact, just like Jei pointed that DCT floats between genres makes it not so "easy" to listen like mainstream pop. But it's one of the things I love about DCT anyway. I know some people that think their style is "random" so they enjoy only a couple of songs.

I think DCT is really going well lately. Wonderland 2003 was AMAZING, their latest singles are amazing as well and they are going to tour next year. Sure I agree their peak was '91-'92 but they definitely aren't going downhill like some bands I know.

I used to be a Zard fan. Their two singles from '98 were brilliant. Even since that their music is going DOWNHILL really bad. I downloaded their latest album, listened to it once and just erased it. Another thing I love about DCT, I know they aren't going to disappoint me.

[ricekid]

keep in mind that despite their clear musical talent, dct is generally thought of as a housewives band.

[newrynyuk]

[quote="ricekid"]keep in mind that despite their clear musical talent, dct is generally thought of as a housewives band.[/quote]

There probably is some truth in this. If you look at the crowd shots from the last couple of Wonderland DVDs, it does seems to be almost entirely women.

[Jei]

There probably is some truth in this. If you look at the crowd shots from the last couple of Wonderland DVDs, it does seems to be almost entirely women.

To quote a friend of mine (in Japan):
"If you were a 20 something female in the 1990s, Dreams Come True was your band."

All those 20 somethings are 30 somethings now...make sense ^^

Still (please correct me if I'm wrong), isn't Southern All Stars a housewives band too?

[ricekid]

There probably is some truth in this. If you look at the crowd shots from the last couple of Wonderland DVDs, it does seems to be almost entirely women.

To quote a friend of mine (in Japan):
"If you were a 20 something female in the 1990s, Dreams Come True was your band."

All those 20 somethings are 30 somethings now...make sense ^^

Still (please correct me if I'm wrong), isn't Southern All Stars a housewives band too?

they are very much so. just like how a 30 something shufu will squeal and yell 'natsukashii!' if someone mentions Matsuda Seiko.

Sazan I think is like the beatles in that everyone says they like them and gets their singles, but no one really listens to them...

[zberry]

About DCT being a housewives' band, it is probably true, but it cracks me up. I consider myself a hard-core rock fan: Rolling Stones, Who, Led Zep, AC/DC, Bruce, Clash, etc. I've seen pretty much all the greats, and except for Bruce, Miwa kicks butt over all of them. And not just by a little bit. She blows them all away (especially when she sticks up her pinky and index finger in the Ozzy-esque rock salute!)
The longevity and consistency of DCT is the key. Lots of bands put together one or two good albums. Very few can put out 3, 4, or 5. Virtually none can put out more than 10, and still be making great music. I'll proudly stand with all the housewives and OLs when it comes to DCT.
As for southern all-stars, I like them, too, but way too inconsistent.

[KogeJoe]

When I was in Japan a couple of years ago, I noticed it was mostly teenage girls and such that had their CDs, but everyone pretty much knew who they were.

Sazan, however, was more widespread, even among guys. Like, it was a guy who introduced me to them, and when I went to karaoke with some friends, guys would often belt out Sazan hits. The most popular ones at the time where Mannatsu no Kajitsu, and TSUNAMI.

I dunno about NOW though. It's been 2 years since...

About DCT being a Shufu band, screw it, I like it no matter what others think!