As I was watching the old Scandal videos from 2008, I wonder what would happen of Scandal had they continue to stay true to punk-rock/garage-rock style that they had initially? Will they be as famous as now? I doubt so actually. It seems Scandal is getting more popular after they venture more into pop-rock and have their image changed to more stylish and sometimes 'kawaii' style that they have now.


And what would you choose, Scandal with their old style and continue to be just rock band without pop gimmick or the Scandal that we know now?

FYI, not that I'm against any of them, I'm honestly happy with how much recognized Scandal now, considering how many all-female band is struggling to get the recognition in Japan. And they got to fulfill their dreams to perform in Osaka-Jo hall made me really happy. But I really wish to hear them releasing a strong single like Shunkan Sentimental or Doll once again.

Hope to hear what other fans think of this.

Everyone's preferences are different so there will be as many different opinions about this as there are fans.

As far as I'm concerned, I *do* love their old sound and their old image circa 2008. I still listen to their old stuff regularly. 

But I love today's SCANDAL even more than that. I love their new polished pop rock sound, the extra layers of complexity in their arrangements, the more mature performances and image etc etc. I love them both but I love grown up SCANDAL more than teenage SCANDAL. Old SCANDAL was cool and all and there's no denying that. But to me, today's SCANDAL is easily 10 times better than the old one. To me there's no going back, I approve of where they are going and I'm having a blast.

From their recent material, AwaTsu, Weather Report, Kagen no Tsuki etc they are going in a certain direction sound wise and I so happen to love that brand of pop rock.

Their next album is going to be awesome.

As for the future, if they decide to inject a bit of alternative rock elements into their sound (like they did in some songs in Baby Action), I would be extremely happy!

Edit:  Gah! It just occurred to me that I didn't answer the first question! If they had stayed the same way from the time they formed, they wouldn't be quite as big as they are now. They might've ended up being a Top 20 outfit rather than a Top 5 one.

In the end as Spacecadet said below, it doesn't matter much. My emotional involvement with this band is such that my greatest wish for them now is that they make music that they are truly happy with, whatever it maybe. I will probably still support them come what may.

and one of the reason SCANDAL gained popularity is the help of their music tie-ins in anime. Their popularity gained a lot when Shoujo S has been the OP for Bleach (from what I read) and most of the fans, I believe, watch anime and their similarities to anime (like wearing school uniforms) linked to the preferences of the fans. And the girls also are open to try out different genres so I guess it's inevitable that their music changes.

They probably wouldn't be as popular as they are now, but for me, that doesn't matter. There's a whole section of that BS artist doc where Haruna is saying she feels like she's just doing everything for the money now, and she hates that. That seemed to be a moment of weakness that passed, but she is right that there has to be more to being in a band than just making money.

They should be doing whatever's true to themselves, because that's what's going to sound authentic. Usually I think they still do that, but occasionally they've released songs lately that seem way off, and they don't sound right because the band doesn't even sound convinced they should be playing them. You can hear it in the playing and singing.

Whether or not those are the songs that make them popular, I don't really care. I want them to make the best music, and I think that's what they want too.

I don't really know, but yeah probably they wouldn't be so famous now, but I don't really care, I like their music anyway and if they're doing I guees it's because they want. I also had some sort of exploring in music when I was younger, where all I really liked had to be metal, but now I matured and if I like something it doesn't matter if it is Speed Metal or jpop, I just like it, maybe something simlar happened to them, they wanted to be a really cool "rock" band but with time they moved to the sound they really like.

Also since I don't really call old Scandal a rock band by my standars, I'm totally ok with all of their music.

If they stayed true to rock, they wouldn't be as popular. Because if SCANDAL didn't expand to different genres, they wouldn't have found popularity within anime and games and such. They became famous when certain songs were featured in animes, such as ShoujoS, soon followed by Shunkan Sentimental. ShoujoS isn't necessarily a rock song, yet people enjoyed it.

I think that sometimes people look for rock automatically whenever they see rock in the genre name. But SCANDAL is, officially, a pop-rock band. The title implies that they would head toward a light-type of sound, with the occasional edginess. Every era had their edgy song. BEST SCANDAL had DOLL (I guess), Temptation Box had Shunkan, BABY ACTION had Pride(in my opinion. That was a great era, and in goes from Nanka to Pride to maybe Love Survive), and Queens are Trumps had Taiyou Scandalous(wasn't a strong era). And if you look at the list of songs, as they got older, the sound of those songs changed. Pride and Taiyou Scandalous have two different sounds, for example.
 
I think that even before they started being a major label band, they weren't really rock either. S.L.Magic was out then, and that's more of a light sound. Their mini-album song, Koi no Kajitsu wasn't rock either. There are other songs that they had, but they weren't too hardcore. I think that from the start, SCANDAL was a pop rock kind of band. 

But it's when they do the occasional rock sound, it's what gets fans going. They way SCANDAL produces their music, it's a way where they cater to different genre lovers. Harukaze has an anime feel to it, which is great, because it was in an anime. (The whole single was Bleach-themed.) Anime lovers would especially like that single, and because it was a good song, it could have potentially dragged in more fans, which it most likely did. Then there's Love Survive, which is a cheerful, upbeat summer-pop song. And Shunkan Sentimental was an edgy rock single, Hoshi no Furu Yoru ni included.

With each release, SCANDAL brings something new, not only sticking to "rock." They try to appeal to the fans, and they seem to do it well. Like I said before, only sticking to "rock" wouldn't benefit a band like them, with all the touring they do, and the fact that they're girls. Not to say it like that (since I am a girl), but I'm not sure most people would take 4 girls playing rock music too seriously. Especially when they first debuted. They most likely used past experiences to decide what style of music they'd play.

I hope I didn't rant...I have a problem with that...Please let me know if it's a problem. If I did, I'm sorry.

SCANDAL can only be SCANDAL today from the exposure of anime and games, plus a unique sound to their music. Every band has a sound that's unique to them, so I'm not against their change in style.

To be frank, I hardly noticed the change since they were basically doing releases which were more or less the same as their early days, what I classify as "fun" and "serious" songs.

"Fun" songs include stuff like Taiyou Scandalous or Kagen no Tsuki, those songs which do not have an overly serious tone or heavier drums/guitars.

"Serious" songs are stuff like Shunkan or QAT (the song itself), which has generally heavier drums/guitars.

To get back on topic, in the early days of SCANDAL, they were influenced by some US rock bands (those names slipped my mind) and decided to make their music from there. But from my point of view, I think now they have actually found the style they want their music to be. They can't keep leeching influence from other bands can they? :D

--But I do remember SCANDAL mentioning in some interview (or something else, my memory fails me) that some of them listen to RHCP and Nirvana.--

Also, from experience, playing in a band gets kinda boring if you keep doing the same genre over and over again. There should be some breaks in between that the band does something else (another genre). I personally think that is what SCANDAL is going for, with the singles having more pop-rockish sound, and the albums having 70% of their pop-rock and 30% of generally heavier sound.

I realize that people's definitions of rock can be different depending on what we've been listening. 

It's nice to hear all the other comments here.  

One good thing is that although many of the latest singles have been infused with pop, they still occasionally throw the heavier rock sound in b-side or albums.

And I agree with one of the comment that having variety is also good for the band. Just realize that this is what makes Scandal music not boring to me.

Japanese people I have spoken to say they have never thought of SCANDAL as a rock band but J-Pop.

That's because they've gotten popular largely through their poppier songs, because they don't write most of their own music, and because of their idol-ish image.  That's really the heart of the question, though. Those people you spoke to don't really know Scandal (and I've had this same conversation with people in Japan) - they only know their recent popular songs and what they've seen of the band on TV. Also, Japan is a patriarchal society, unfortunately - Scandal would have a hard time really getting respect as a rock band no matter what they did.

The question can be turned around and expressed as "Has Scandal been misrepresented in order to boost their popularity?", and for me the answer to that question is yes. This is done with a lot of bands in the US too - bands and artists that have hit singles that don't really sound anything like the rest of their stuff. Someone like Feist or Muse fit that category. You could go back a bit and look at a band like The Bangles too, who have a ton of parallels to Scandal. Girl band, big pop single, cute lead singer, everyone thought they were a pop band, but they totally aren't. Most people never made it past their big singles, though, so they never knew it.

Scandal's strategy these days seems to be to rope people in with hit singles and then slap those songs on an album with some other stuff. It's a strategy a lot of bands use, but it doesn't always work because fans of the singles don't always become real fans of the band, and it can actually turn real fans off if a band is seen as pandering (they got flack for PHS even in Japan). With any band, their biggest fans can also be their biggest critics - I'm guilty of that too.

If you compare Scandal's single and album sales, the single sales have been generally going up while the album sales have been going *down* since Temptation Box. This is why you see them making a conscious effort these days both to get new fans and to please old ones (with songs like "24 Hours", Rina saying "Awanai" is "just the four of us", etc).  No band can survive and keep growing without a real foundation of loyal fans who they can count on with every release to support them financially, and Scandal's base does not seem to have grown much over the past few years.

Few bands in Japan stay at this level of popularity forever so realistically, there will come a day when these hit single buyers get tired of them and what's left is that loyal fan base. It will be interesting at that time to see what kind of music they choose to make.

Well I don't know exactly who chooses what music/song they play or the whole process but one thing to not forget is that they were very young when they started and obviously you grow up and cannot simply play the same songs over and over again.

Especially in their case they were getting better with the instruments so they surely wanted to try out more sounds! And as you grow up you may want different things. I think it's a never ending story with each band with their fans asking "why don't they sound like in the past?!".

Now it's difficult to define rock anyway but their older songs were more... "aggressive" I guess. And then there is the b-side on Awanai, obviously they are not a pop band now!

But I have to admit i'm not a fan of Kagen and the Robot song. But it's a summer single so... Maybe they wanted a cool pop song. Maybe their next single is gonna be like Doll or Shunkan who knows?

Let's see what their new album will be like. I sure hope to hear some good "rock" songs in it and not only pop-ish songs like Kagen.

Also to the topic question well... If you look at the sales, their old songs sold "ok", it's not like that suddenly they sold much much more with a pop song. There are some ups and downs in the sales, even some "light" songs didn't sell that well, other more "heavy" songs sold better. "SCANDAL Nanka Buttobase" was a good sell and it's surely not pop at all... And Awanai was their record sell and it's not a pop song at all to me (not garage rock metal heavy of course ^_^).

So I think they grew a fan base over time, but it's not like they completely changed their style and got huge success. Actually the only real... hum how to call them..."garage rock/raw rock" songs are the first 4 singles. They were very young and on a indie label (except Doll) and that didn't last long, so it's not like they played garage rock for 4 years then changed to pop. Their evolution seems pretty normal to me and even if i'm not a music expert at all, their songs/sound sound pretty much the same over the years, it just depends what songs we are talking about.

So I guess what i'm trying to say is that they just evolved years after years and nowadays they are obviously more pop-rockish than pure heavy rock. But again, they only sounded "garage" for their first year as a band. And this topic suggest a bit that they suddenly changed their music which I think is not true.

Basically their first year and early songs are from an amateur/young band, you can't define the band forever like that. Of course you can like those songs and want more like them, I too would like to get more songs like that, love the style!

And this post got much much more longer that I expected, sorry.

I just want to say that I agree with spacecadet. I think that SCANDAL took time to find their sound. Everyone says that they miss the old SCANDAL from 2010 because they don't like the style of music now. I think that the fans who weren't there from the beginning are the ones who say this, and they only do so because they don't really know SCANDAL. Sure, they'll get around to their other stuff, but they don't really appreciate the other songs, besides what they heard. 

This is what affects the fanbase. With fans like this, they wouldn't have become as popular. If they only did rock, they definitely wouldn't become as effective because after 2010, The BABY ACTION era was all about synths, and pop-ish songs. The era and the album, in my opinion, was one of their greatest, but rock fans wouldn't have enjoyed it much.

Another point I'd like to bring up is something spacecadet mentioned, and I had said this as well.  Like I said before, 4 girls playing rock won't be respected as much as any other band. Most famous females have a large male fanbase. SCANDAL isn't an idol band, but they are a girl band. Now, I don't how true this is, but I feel that most men also listen to regular J-pop. I think that after listening to something for a while, you grow a musical preference for it. I'm not sure about this, but I think that's a huge influence. At the BEST SCANDAL live, there were a lot of guys at first. SCANDAL makes great music, but the fact that they're girls can't be ignored. 

This all goes back to what I said about the men being fans of J-pop. They have females in their fanbase, but not as much as there are guys. So if this is taken into account, rock is definitely not the path for them.

This post may have gone a little off-topic, and a little off from my original thoughts. Sorry. Please let me know if it's a problem, and I'll edit it.

I more than likely wouldn't have liked them as much if they were just rock. Most of the best bands in history are cross-genre, and it shows their depth in musical ability because they can pull it off. That brings their appeal to me much higher.

Besides, a rock band is only going to attract rock fans and in Japan there aren't many girl rock bands because of the "masculine" image the country places on rock which only hurts their chances of becoming popular. I was actually very surprised that their tour after performing at Budokan was at small venues with many of them having under 2,000 people attend...at least until I found that much of Japan outside the major cities (and surrounding areas) are still clinging to the old traditions, thus making a girl rock band unpopular in those parts of the country.

By branching out in musical terms it allows them to reach more people in their own nation, let alone others, as well as show their musical depth.

Af8! wrote: Everyone says that they miss the old SCANDAL from 2010 because they don't like the style of music now. I think that the fans who weren't there from the beginning are the ones who say this, and they only do so because they don't really know SCANDAL. Sure, they'll get around to their other stuff, but they don't really appreciate the other songs, besides what they heard. 

But couldn't this basically make those people posers? If they only saw certain songs they liked as what SCANDAL is all about, yet cast aside everything else they've put out, and then used those same songs they liked as a defense to say "Oh, SCANDAL sucks balls now, i'm not gonna listen to them cuz their sellouts because they aren't making this song (insert some random song here) type anymore, so their total trash now." Comments like this (which are just rampant on YouTube like a cancer if you visit certain videos) make the band look bad for many people (there are so many close minded ignorant people out there who would take comments like these as truths and thus get turned off to the girls music) and can decrease the amount of potential fans. Because these people pretend to like the band when they only know one song, they never take the time to learn about the band (which would help classify them as actual fans, since "fan" is just shorthand for a fanatic) and they just sh*t on their music for the hell of it cuz their trolls, the fanbase becomes full of posers (at least from what i've seen on YT, though i'm pretty sure there are more than just the ones we can see)

@ topic

I love whatever music they put out, because i love their playing, and i respect them as people. I know they can make anything sound good, hell, they could sing a song about taking out the garbage and i'd still love it, because their the ones playing it and i understand their mission to experiment and evolve. I don't even worry about them one day playing songs that are on the level of today's filth on the radios in the States, i already know that they are far too mature and self respecting to pull that crap. Like many others have said as well, it would be boring if they stuck themselves in just one spot forever and ever. It's nice hearing different styles come into their songs, i don't care because everything they put out is amazing. Screw the people who bash them for not fitting into a category. Those are the trolls. .cool. 

@jpopishot

I guess it could make them posers, but I'd like to think of it as selective listeners. It's more they're the fans that are just there to be there. They're not faithful, but they still have the tolerance to continue listening. But I see those YT comments a lot, and that's what I was talking about when people want 2010 SCANDAL back. But then if they did get a complete rock category, there would be people complaining about the band's lack of variety.

Af8! wrote:@jpopishot

I guess it could make them posers, but I'd like to think of it as selective listeners. It's more they're the fans that are just there to be there. They're not faithful, but they still have the tolerance to continue listening. But I see those YT comments a lot, and that's what I was talking about when people want 2010 SCANDAL back. But then if they did get a complete rock category, there would be people complaining about the band's lack of variety.

People are so frustrating .rage.  I understand what you mean though

As much as I don't like admitting it, SCANDAL would probably not be as popular as they are now if they had stuck to only their beginning style. A band who does one style only can get awfully boring after a while, because they're only doing the same thing over and over again. The variety we see in SCANDAL is something I like about them so much, because they don't stick to one style and they change it up. The girls' music doesn't get boring because of the variety.

But going further than that, as some people mentioned, the sexism in music would hold the girls back a lot if they stuck with their old garage stuff. All female rock bands are simply not respected in a lot of countries unless the combine their rock sound with another genre. Their popularity would be badly damaged both in Japan and internationally if they only did garage rock and hadn't ventured into other genres. They would never be respected simply because they're women. Japan isn't the only one who struggles with finding respect for female rockers. A lot of people in my country won't admit it, but a lot of people in this country have similar thoughts/feelings towards female rockers as Japan does.

Women just seem more "expected" to do pop or a mixture of pop/rock, they're never expected to do anything like garage rock for their entire careers. It's just not seen as a very "female thing" to be doing so women are often not respected in the genre. SCANDAL would not have been respected or well-liked if they had stuck to doing only garage rock.

Personally, I am a fan of rock and pop. While I prefer SCANDAL's more rock sounding songs, I don't mind their pop ones. Though I hope they won't go purely to only pop, because I like the variety that SCANDAL has. It's one of the things that has kept me listening to them all these years.

@Airi-chan I agree with you. It's sad that we don't see many female rock bands doing well and getting recognition, whether it's in Asia or Western countries. It's difficult enough to get recognition for rock bands, and it's even harder for all-female rock bands.

This could be the reasons why Scandal become more pop. They could be tormented between the desire to 'rock and be cool' (they have said that they prefer to be seen as cool rather than cute) and the desire to be successful which means they need to conform with the society. It's sad but it's reality that they can't have both.

I must say I was quite amused by the discussion. So I decided to give my 2 cents.

Simply answer that question. Mainstream music listeners aren't attuned to heavier, grungy, rawer rock that would we group as "rock", so what the girls are doing this for their benefit (transcending from pop, synth, disco (kinda for PHS), garage (used to). They can give a fresh sound and blend of genres and sub genres by doing so instead of sticking to heavier rock which is slightly more restrictive in terms of style and sound. 

Just reading one of Spacecadet's comments

With any band, their biggest fans can also be their biggest critics - I'm guilty of that too.

I'm certainly most guilty of that. But hell I love SCANDAL to bits, I normally ease into them anyway.

Though I must say I have a immense dislike for the people who call themselves fans but only stick one single or album stating that it is the pinnacle of SCANDAL's music e.g. Shunkan. I mean yes, you can complain but if you can't give constructive criticism and calling their retards for not making a similar sounding single is just pointless and worthless. Not letting them change their music style? How wants to hear cut and paste singles 10 times over? No one!

And talking about the whole sexism "females should pop". Maybe that was why they were asked if they played their instruments which I guess was a huge insult to their ability and profession.

RE: Negative comments on Youtube/other places on the internet. Well, as they say haters gonna hate. There is little anyone can do about that. As the band gets bigger the number of haters will increase in conjunction with the number of fans. It's just the way it is. After 7 years, I think (hope) the girls can handle it. Especially Japanese society, it's doubly hard which makes me respect them even more. It can't be easy to deal with that kind of thing.

Anyway, I never put any weight to troll comments posted by uninformed people and this goes for everything I'm interested in including SCANDAL. At best, these people are just casual listeners who base their opinions on popular songs, like some of you here have said. So I'm not surprised when I see comments like those wishing that the next SCANDAL song to be Shunkan Pt.2 and for the next album to be BEST SCANDAL 2.

These people don't "get" the band like we do.

As for the "becoming more pop" question, the thing about SCANDAL is that to me, they technically never really were a proper "rock" band. From Maido! SCANDAL Desu! to QAT the biggest changes are production (which became more polished), arrangement complexity, increasing variety (from the softest of soft pop/rock to things like Hoshi no Furu Yoru ni) and the girls' individual playing skills.

The music, to me has remained broadly the same. Pop rock and power pop. I think what people mean when they talk about their "rock" sound is the rougher, sparser production of their earlier work.

And to get back on topic, once again if they had stuck to their earlier relatively lo-fi production values not only would they not be as big as they are now, their music would eventually become stale.

And RE sexism? Have you ever heard/read/said something like the following:-

"Gee RINA's a really good drummer for a girl".

That's sexist.

If you've been saying/thinking things like this even without malice, it's better if you stop it.

Btw, this is a great thread with lots of good discussion. I like it

Edit:

@bleachnlife: Nice comments. I agree especially with that Shunkan cut and paste thing. If people want to listent to the same thing over and over, they should listen to Nickelback

@spacecadet: Thanks for mentioning The Bangles. I love them to death and yes, my favourite Bangles songs are not their singles either and it gets my goat when I hear people insist that Eternal Flame was their best song ever. It's a good song but no, just no.

and if scandal hadn't ventured out to different genres, they wouldnt get a diversity of fans. them trying out pop songs help them gained female fans. 

and looks like everyone has posted all the points so im also agreed to your statements

:/

I think if they like what they do, then it's fine. though i want a longer mami solo. :PI'm dreaming.

besides, getting popular is an important thing since they have to sell, that's why i see things that i really dislike.

offtopic: I think they have a lot of work because I have never seen a band having many performances, without mentioning they're creating new songs while they're at it.

Shoujo S is pop-rock right? And that's one of their most popular songs because of bleach fans... (right? >.<) I think it's good for a band to play other genres to appeal to more people but then again... Hearing most of their songs I thought they only played pop-rock and I like their rock sound more so that kind of drove me away from them at first. I don't think they would have been more popular if they would have stuck to rock because I think more people like their pop-rock. I like all the genres... Even though I'm new to them I see the new and old VERY much. They started with Indie and did Rock and now they do a lot- Dobondo, Sunny Day Sunday,Pinheel Surfer... ETC.