Why is dir en grey popular?

[FOSCOR70 56]

They are very popular Internationally as compared to most of the vk and even a lot of non vk bands in general. how did they achieved this feat?

[sleepy coffee 1476]

ligma

 

but seriously; id imagine they got popular in the west cause they started having a western appeal in their sound starting with withering to death, marrow of the bone etc also this was after or around the time they toured the west with bands like korn so i assume thats where it all started, i doubt they had much western exposure to any album prior to wotd 

Edited December 27, 2018 by chipathy

[platy 3018]

They're one of the vk veteran bands, so whenever someone looks into the movement, dir en grey is at the forefront. They've always used taboo subjects and imagery in their work which makes them stand out and attract a certain demographic. After they caught the attention of the west with more mainstream sounding music and visuals, they were doing world tours when vk was at its peak outside Japan. Not only that, they style of music they were experimenting with was extremely popular in the west at the time too. There's a bunch of other factors and variables but I guess that's the gist of it. 

[Himeaimichu 1535]

They've been around pretty long, and they have big industry people promoting them. They have huge budget production, long albums, and because of promotion from major labels, alongside their releases and how long they've been around, they're a pretty big household name in the Vkei scene.

In a way, it's the same reason any popular Vkei band is popular. It's the promotion. Only, on a larger scale. 

[JukaForever 758]

Good music

[Bear 1817]

It probably has a lot to do with the timing of when they started making more nu-metal inspired music as well as when they began touring the west when this type music was peaking.

 

Right place at the right time, which also goes for bands like Iron Maiden, Satyricon, Killswitch Engage and the vast majority of bands who's broken through within their genres.

 

[anadentone 478]

for the same reason the Kardashians are famous- that slutty one ( I kid)

actually the music. They came around when oshare kei was booming.

[LIDL 692]

They're different, I guess. Aside from music that are very listenable to Western standards, it was their visuals. I suppose not many front man on VK bands who would vomit that kyo did on stage when they started out. Most bands were still embracing the 80s VK imagery popularized by X-Japan, Luna Sea and co., even DEG did it too, but they also did a little bit more too. And among others, DEG grotesque visual were stand out, this, combined with their rascal attitude back then really sold it to lots of VK listeners from abroad to get into them. I mean, people love bad boys as much they love bad girls. And these people does the work on doing mouth to mouth promo to their other friends. And it goes on and on. 

 

These days, it is a breeze for the band, I believe they got quite a street cred after Mike Portnoy praised UROBOROS to high heavens. Like, that is rare for any Asian bands, fam!

[God 264]

I feel like it has something to do with when they toured with korn on that festival thing.  After that, their music really changed and got progressively more brutal.  I'm willing to bet it's also bc around that time, they kinda started to distance themselves from the vk scene.  If they were still hella vk, I really don't think western audiences would take them seriously.

[libertine 125]

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Edited December 12, 2019 by libertine

[PIZAZ 238]

All pretty good points above, but I think a key ingredient is missing- the Obscure video and proliferation of the internet. That video was being passed around almost as a shock video for years in the scene/emo/mypsace days.