It's a bit like Stock Aitken Waterman - everybody hates it because it's mainstream pop or whatever, but there are some good tunes in there that nobody will admit to liking. Which is a shame. I'm no VK fanboy but there are good songs, even good albums. Those who say that these bands rely on the visual component to distract people from realising how shit their music is are actually half right, because most of the posts in this thread are waffling on about the appearance and how tacky it is.

These people do write songs, you know. Some of them are nu metal and alternative horseshit, but others are melodic in the tradition of modern sugary Japanese pop music from the 80's onward. That's why bands like, say, Queen have always been big over there - they love that big stadium bubblegum glam thing. But like I said before, I can understand how Japanese people could get a little tired of hearing those particular cheap "dramatic" chords at the end of every chorus/verse or slickly arranged and fast paced "epic" songs on the radio for over 27 years. It's like if I were to listen to 27 years of power metal.