The History Of: X Japan

X Japan (Originally called X) was a Japanese visual kei band, was led by Yoshiki (Yoshiki Hayashi). Their sound started as Japanese rock speed metal, and later gravitated towards psych. progressive rock, but always retained a huge emphasis on beautiful ballads. X became one of the first Japanese bands to embrace the western culture and lead the Japanese youth away from old traditions. Throughout there 17 years together, they have become the most influential band in Japanese history.

Plans for the band started in 1976, when its original members, Toshi (Toshimitsu Deyama) and Yoshiki were only 12. Initially they were simply named X. They dreamed of becoming the best band in the world and model themselves after KISS. Throughout the early 80’s many people came and left X. In 1985 they were ready to record their first single, with the two songs “I’ll Kill You” and “Orgasm”. Unfortunately for the band, no record labels would sign the band because of their transgressive way of dressing and performing.

Yoshiki did not give up hope though, he sold his mother’s business and opened Extasy records. With Extasy, X was finally ready to record their first album, “Vanishing Vision” in 1987. At this point X consisted of: Yoshiki (Drums, Piano), Toshi (Vocals), Taiji (Bass), Hide (Guitar, and Pata (Guitar). Vanishing Vision consisted of many speed metal songs and the first half of the ballad “Unfinished”.

For some reason, Orgasm was not on the album. After finishing Vanishing Vision, X released their second album, “Blue Blood” in 1989, which is by far their most successful album. It contained speed metal songs like “Blue Blood”, “Orgasm” and “X”; rock songs like “Weekend” and “Celebration”; and two ballads, a finished “Unfinished” and “Endless Rain”. It also contained the unique song “Rose of Pain”, an 11 minute rock symphony. Blue Blood made X famous throughout Japan. “Endless Rain” became a hit and was X’s key to success. Although many people didn’t like X’s harder metal songs, they enjoyed their beautiful ballads and rock songs. That year, X was voted best new band of the year in Japan. After finishing the “Rose and Blood Tour”, X returned to the recording studio and finished their third album, “Jealousy” in 1991.

“Jealousy” was a success and contained the orchestrated rock song “Silent Jealousy”, which is considered to be one of their best songs. It also had the acoustical ballad “Voiceless Screaming”, and the hit ballad “Say Anything”. After releasing “Jealousy”, X became one of the most popular bands in Japan. Yoshiki decided to focus on selling albums in America. Since in America, there was already an “X” (L.A. punk band), they decided to change their name to “X Japan”. After this, a feud between Taiji and Yoshiki caused Taiji to leave the band.

Taiji later joined Loudness and Cloud 9. Taiji was replaced by Heath. As the newest member of the band, Heath experienced a period of awkwardness with his new band mates, as well as with the group's fans, who felt his musicianship was weaker than his predecessor's, and that his subdued style of dress did not fit in with X Japan's flamboyant sense of fashion. In 1993, X performed Yoshiki’s epic song “The Art Of Life”. This 34 minute song displayed Yoshiki’s amazing piano and drumming abilities and his poet lyric writing skills. “The Art of Life” became known as one of the greatest composers of all time. “The Art of Life” was not released in America, even though the lyrics were entirely in English, but because Toshi’s accent was strong and his English was hard to understand.

In 1996, X released their 4th album, “Dahlia”. “Dahlia” showed that X had changed since their earlier years. The songs were more psych. rock than metal, but were more complex and mature. Almost ever song on this album was a #1 hit. It featured the hit rock songs “Dahlia”, “Scars” and “Rusty Nail”. This album also featured some of the bands best ballads, all four which became #1 hits. The best of these 4 was “Tears”, a song Yoshiki wrote to his father who committed suicide when he was 10. It was his father’s death that led him into a career in music. After releasing Dahlia, they went on the Dahlia tour, which is considered to be one of their best tours. Many of their shows were released on DVD. After the Tour, Yoshiki told Toshi that he had great plans for X in the future. Unfortunately, this is when everything for X ended. In May 1997 Toshi announced he was leaving the band, which led to its dissolution in September 1997.

Toshi joined a cult, related to nature and music therapy, led by a man named Masaya. Many say that this cult influenced Toshi's departure from the band. He later continued his solo career, saying that his friend Masaya was an inspiration for his new compositions. There are many rumors surrounding the cult and Toshi's involvement in it. Some even say Toshi was brainwashed. It is said that Toshi sued his brother for libel because he tried to convince Toshi not to spend money on Masaya's cult. Toshi did agree for X to perform one last concert, “The Last Live”. Toshi also helped Yoshiki write their finally song, “The Last Song”. On December 31, 1997, X performed for the last time. Fans filled the Tokyo Dome to watch X play for the last time. The concert was also shown live on T.V. The band’s finally song was “The Last Song”. After the song finished, a slideshow of a clips throughout X’s career was shown with “Tears” playing in the background. X ended their career with: “I will try to live with love,… with dreams,… and forever with tears” (Yoshiki, “Tears”)

The band split up and took different paths. Hide had a successful solo career. In 1998 there was a rumor that X was going to reform in 200 with a new singer. Unfortunately, no one would have ever known if this would have happened. On May 2, 1998 Hide committed suicide after a long night of drinking. Japan was shocked by Hide’s death, and many fans fainted. Some fans even tried to commit suicide. Hide’s death ruined the bands plans of reuniting. Toshi, Yoshiki, Pata and Heath all played “Forever Love” at Hide’s funeral. Yoshiki started a new band called Violet UK, Pata and Heath formed a band called Ra:in.

Comments

[guitartilldeath]

very interesting. i've heard of this band though but i haven't really heard their songs. any other recommended songs?

[VRluke]

Xjapan seriously owns.. they're unique.. has the catchiest melodies.. and kickass tunes. Hide has nice solos too

Hmmm. guitartilldeath.. some songs which i like are 'Dahlia', 'X', 'forever love', 'endless rain', 'art of life'(which is like.. 35mins. lol) 'crucify my love'.

[GNR-4-Ever]

Sounds interesting...though the lyrics are probably not English. But, if they can play, I'll give em a shot.

Good writing, with no mistakes that I could see. 9 pts.

[punksucks23]

where can we hear there music? id like to see what they sound like

[Gman400]

I only have like 3 songs, Silent Jealousy is great though. I'll probly pick up Blue Blood.

[hoobariffer87]

Oh my... is this really an article on Japanese rock? And no 'ZOMG teh japs need lern 2 spek engish lololzz' people. I just may faint from the greatness of this.

And yes, X-Japan owns you.

[Kouichi]

X-Japan kicks ass. As far as i'm concerned, language doesn't matter if it's good music. Dir en Grey is awesome as well.

[mydadisjewish]

they all look like homosexual herman lis to me.

[TravisWongPG]

I never heard of them until I went to Japan this summer. Then I got into them, very good band.

[Aaron Saldanha]

listen to endless rain Instrumental. beautiful song

[horazonblade]

Sounds like a pretty crazy story, I'm hoping they sound as good as their career story.

[drunk_anarchist]

X-Japan is a great great legend. You guys should check out Hide's funeral video. It's so touching.

[MorbidAngel333]

X Japan pwn noobs.

[cointurtlemoose]

My guitar techer taught me Endless Rain, but I've never heard the actual recording... I really like the song though...

[ChordMonger]

DMBQ is better, look them up

[metalbred]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_Japan
hmm.. the first line of tht seems kinda familiar..

[travislausch]

Kouichi wrote:

X-Japan kicks ass. As far as i'm concerned, language doesn't matter if it's good music. Dir en Grey is awesome as well.

Indeed. I'm glad to see some J-rock get paid its dues here. "Art Of Life" is a contender against "A Change Of Seasons" for best prog-metal epic to me. And I never pay attention to the way these artists dress or look. If you look beyond their outward appearances, these bands have some kickass music.

[toolmns]

I've heard some stuff, sometimes some melodies are cheesy, but gotta admit, they're very ballsy and deserve respect. music's overall decent.

[ananya77041]

j-rock=l'arc en ciel. That is the greatest band ever.

[VectorminatoR]

Lol talking about l'arc en ciel and X Japan... you know the guitarist HYDE of l'arc en ciel is greatly influenced by Hide of X Japan?

Anyway both bands rock. Probably I will go buy the few X Japan albums that I haven't buy yet.

[TeenBite]

That article is awfully written. Learn to use some discourse markers, and join the sentences better. The way it's written just reads like several hundred separate statements.

[Supersonic^]

Art of Life is ****ing beautiful

[Wolfsdrive]

You need to correct some stuff

Forever X

[Jotun666]

Very good band, though I'm not a fan of other visual kei bands or whatever. Jap Thrash band Volcano is good as well and not visual kei.

[Nathanial_ng]

whats visual kei???

[Nathanial_ng]

i heard that even the japanese prime minister was a big fan of X Japan

[chinesechipmunk]

^He was... It's considered to be one of his best political moves, admitting he was an X fan. Such was the fantaticism with which they were loved, pretty much an entire generation voted him in for being a big fan.

Everybody needs to hear the art of life. That song is enough to make a grown man cry...

[chinesechipmunk]

^ again... type "define: visual kei" without the speech marks into google... Google Define rocks

[Riceboi32]

Omfg X japan are gods
Have u ****ing seen the art of life concert?

[Riceboi32]

NOte Yoshiki broke his neck twice and his arm three times playing drums, he's the the greatest drummer the world has ever seen

[de7ilznite]

X Japan is brilliant, Silent Jealousy is an amazing song.

^Yeah, Yoshiki's a mad drummer and he's a great pianist too.

[bourcier700]

x Japan is awesome, but if you like them you might like the Pillows

[artoflife]

Yes x-japan not only had great songs but great artists as well. Some people believe yoshiki to be the greatest rock drummer ever. And taiji was undisputedly the best bassist in asia.

[angelarmy]

Wow... seeing this article, poorly written though it was, just made my day. hide was my first ever guitar hero, and the first licks i ever learned by ear were the ones he played around 0:45 in Rose of Pain. They are definitely a band worth checking out. While L'arc is good as well, they just don't quite measure up to X.

[auranos]

This article reads like it was written by a native Japanese speaker who is learning English. If so, you're doing better than many native English speakers. If not, you're shaming us native English speakers.

Either way, the writing style fits writing about a Japanese band. I should probably track down one of their albums.

[fa'q]

xjapan is a legend in japan

[Jotun666]

Volcano Song (They really are great, more metal than X, but I can see if someone says something negative about the vocals.: http://rapidshare.de/files/20224079/03_4148.mp3.html

[priest.fan.]

theres a ton of videos of X on youtube. Great band, really sad about hides death.

If you want some other cool j-rock/visual kei bands, try dir en grey, D'espairsRay, or Kagerou. Some cool stuff.

[Kouichi]

If you like more punk style j-rock, I highly reccomend Asian Kung-Fu Generation. They're really awesome.

[Jude88]

Heeey,
This is one of the greatest bands ever, They REALY are

[Emiri Neko]

ananya77041 wrote:

j-rock=l'arc en ciel. That is the greatest band ever.

I wouldn't say L'Arc is the greatest. X can be counted as that, but not L'Arc. They're very popular today, but so are bands like Dir en grey and Pierrot. They'll never be legends.

[Emiri Neko]

Riceboi32 wrote:

NOte Yoshiki broke his neck twice and his arm three times playing drums, he's the the greatest drummer the world has ever seen

If he broke his neck he would be in hospital and close to death. He was close to breaking his neck.
Also Yoshiki is a hell of a good drummer but not the best in the world.

[kwokwok]

great stuff... x japan is seriosuly amazing.. not just music wise.. well mainly..
but being an azn myself it was absolutely amazing for them to do what they did, sing what they sang, dress what they wore some 20yrs ago.. ppl c their concerts of some 10 yrs ago and think hey no big deal, but it was unseen in an azn culture, esp japan who only realli opened out in the past decade or so

kudos to them

[Aziraphale]

At whoever siad Hyde was the guitarist for L'Arc, that's not true. Hyde is the singer, the guitarist is called Tetsu or something, not quite sure.

Anyway, nice to see there are more J-Rock fans outside Japan! I'm a big fan of Laruku, Luna Sea, Dir en Grey and quite a few others. Thanks for the article!

[Treiz]

Hide is not committed suicide...
It was an accident.

[KaiserX]

actually Ken is the guitarist for L'arc En Ciel, Tetsu is the bass. Hyde plays guitar for his solo stuff but doesn't often play for L'arc. If anyone has seen Ken play, theyed know why, that guy is amazing. but yea. X Japan is an influence to all j-rock, they had a hand in starting many of these bands. and also, Hide died from an asphyxiation accident, he was stimulated by the feeling of suffocation and accidentally went too far to kill himself. there you have it.

[Aziraphale]

KaiserX wrote:

actually Ken is the guitarist for L'arc En Ciel, Tetsu is the bass. Hyde plays guitar for his solo stuff but doesn't often play for L'arc. If anyone has seen Ken play, theyed know why, that guy is amazing. but yea. X Japan is an influence to all j-rock, they had a hand in starting many of these bands. and also, Hide died from an asphyxiation accident, he was stimulated by the feeling of suffocation and accidentally went too far to kill himself. there you have it.

Yeah, sorry I know that now. Anyway, Ken is indeed a great player, even if he does rip off Sugizo's sound sometimes... but Ken might be the better guitarist. Also a great guitarist is You from Janne da Arc. He's got better technique than both of the above, but of course musicianship and compositional skills are just a question of preferences.

[haotehmao]

^Sugizo is clearly better than Ken in terms of creativity.

X-Japan is definitely a legendary band. You have to love Blue Blood, X, Silent Jealousy, Art of Life, Dahlia and all their ballads. Last Song, the memorial track for Hide is ****ing beautiful. If anyone dislikes them because of how they dress, they're dumbasses. It's suppose to be a style. That's why they're called Visual Kei artists. FIY, Visual Kei means Visual Shock. Pretty accurate article though

[kennerd]

to mydadisjewish: haha..you are stuck in your jewish land for too long my dear...till you cant differentiate who is homo and who is not..get out of there and lead a normal life my jewish friend.

[henrylo917]

Since founding them in web unexpectedly,I just indulge in listening their songs and use my spare time in web to search any info about them. Surely I'm crazy about them. They got own image and song in unique style.

Unfortunately they disbanded in 1997. But I must say they are the most greatest band which can make Japan being proud of.

[HYDEcamui]

Emiri Neko wrote:

ananya77041 wrote:

j-rock=l'arc en ciel. That is the greatest band ever.
I wouldn't say L'Arc is the greatest. X can be counted as that, but not L'Arc. They're very popular today, but so are bands like Dir en grey and Pierrot. They'll never be legends.

I'm sorry, but I have to disagree with you Emiri. L'Arc~en~Ciel are definitely legendary in their own right. Sure, they are not as legendary as X-Japan, but they also have not been around for as long as X-Japan was. But I can tell you this, L'Arc~en~Ciel is Japan's next biggest export aside from anime. They are popular, but it is amazing that a few years ago their career was nearly destroyed and yet, they managed to make a comeback. That's legendary, especially in Japan where the music scene is constantly changing. So you can't say that they will never be legendary because you don't know that.

[HYDEcamui]

Just a side note, the member of L'Arc~en~Ciel are:
Hyde - lead vocals & sometimes backup guitarist
Ken - guitarist
Tetsu - bassist
Yukihiro (or Yuki) - drummer

[Rukasu Rindu]

They've reunited again! =D I was so happy when i saw it late last year. ^^ They made a PV for their new song "IV" if i remember correctly! ^^

[uban]

hey.. lar'c fans.. let me give u some facts that they became popular after X Japan's break up..
no offense, I just want to tell u not to compare X Japan with kind like them..

hide influences many japanese musician.. did you know how many japanese musician dyed their hair with pink colour??

Dir en Grey, GLAY, Luna Sea all of them came to the surface because of Yoshiki and hide.. Those two people are the most influential musician in Japan..

Japan emperor even asked Yoshiki to compose a song and played it for him.. so they are the real japanese legend..

Good news for X Japan fans that X Japan strikes again after 10 years.. few weeks ago they held a reunion concert in Tokyo Dome.. and they will make live performance in Paris at 5th of June &perform in Madison Square Garden at 22th of September..

X are really awesome.. I really really love them.. ^^

[darksauce]

X JAPAN FTMFW!