Welcome to Gaia! ::

X Japan (エックス ジャパン, X Japan?) (originally X (エックス, X?)) was a Japanese Visual Kei band, and the brainchild of Yoshiki Hayashi. They started out as a Japanese power metal/speed metal band, and later gravitated towards an alternative rock sound, but always retained a huge emphasis on ballads.

X Japan is widely considered to be one of the most successful and influential bands in Japan, having sold over 20 million albums and singles and over 2 million videos to date.[1].

Early Years (1976-1983)
Plans for the band started in 1976 by Yoshiki Hayashi and Toshi (Toshimitsu Deyama) were only children in school. Influenced by western hard rock, the band was to be modelled after the band KISS. Initial names for the band included Dynamite (1978-1980) and Noise(1980-summer 1982) before settling on X, which was supposed to be only a temporary name until they thought of a better one.

Yoshiki, Toshi & Yuji played live shows in the 1982 & 1983 culture festivals of their Chiba secondary school, where they first publicly performed the original X song, I'll Kill You. They also covered the songs Highway Star (Deep Purple), In The Mirror (Loudness), World Anthem (Frank Marino) and Killers (Iron Maiden) at the festival. The band had previously played other covers of western hard rock bands during the East West Japan audition in 1982, where they played Rock and Roll (Led Zepplin) and Burn (Deep Purple).

[edit]
Indies era (1984-198 cool
1984 saw the release of their first official demo tape, "I'll Kill You." The title song, We Are X and Stop Bloody Rain were the three songs included which showed the band was moving towards power metal.

X seemed to have been publicly inactive between the their demo tape release and the follow-up 2-track EP I'll Kill You, released in June 1985 (Break The Darkness was on side B). The members at that time were: Yoshiki (Drums, Piano), Toshimitsu (Vocal), Yuji (Guitar), Tomoyuki (Guitar), Tokuo (Bass). No record labels would sign the band because of their their form of dressing and performing, which would later become a popular trend in J-Rock music, known as Visual Kei. Not to be stopped, Yoshiki formed his own record label, Extasy Records, with money he and his mother helped provide by selling their family's business. In April 1986. the Orgasm EP was released on Extasy Records, with the title song, and B sides Time Trip Loving (written by Jun) and X. After the release of this started touring. As a side note, the 2nd release on Extasy Records was actually Poison's "Mystery Temptation." Better known as the punk band Poison Arts.


X Japan in 1986Of course before this they were quite active. The end of June 1985 saw the release of two demo tapes, "X Live" (also known as "Live") and "Endless Dream." They each featured the same 4 songs (Kurenai, Stop Bloody Rain [updated], Lady In Tears, Endless Dream) but with a different track order and alternate versions of Endless Dream. In July 1985 they contributed a much faster version of Break The Darkness to the Heavy Metal Force III album. This version is very often mistaken for the EP original which is incomparably different. In early 1986 the "Kurenai" demo tape was released, containing an updated version of Kurenai (in English for the first time), as well as Time Trip Loving and X.

It is often debated whether the infamous "Feel Me Tonight" demo tape was released in 1985 or 1986. The song Feel Me Tonight seems to have been first publicly played at the 1985.11.20 Yoshiki Birthday GIG live, while Stab Me In The Back, the other song on the tape, was never publicly (or at all?) played until 1986. Both songs feature Yoshiki on vocals and we can guess Toshi on drums, as the two switched those very same parts during a famous '86 live part switch performace of 20th Century Boy (a T-Rex cover). This same year they also covered God Save The Queen.

The summer of that year, believed to be June, was the time of the "Jun Tape" also called the "(Jun) Studio Rehearsal Tape." It had the four songs Right Now, Only Way, Tune Up Baby (aka Junon Baby) and the 4th track was untitled. Only Way in particular was a mainstay at live shows for the year. On 27 July that year Toshi, Yoshiki & Jun appeared on an NTV show in a segment called 天才たけしの元気が出るテレビ. In August their song Kurenai was the subject of a flexi disc in the "Rockin' f" magazine.

In March 1987 they contributed two songs -Stab Me In The Back & No Connexion- to the V/A album "Skull Thrash Zone vol. 1." The official line-up of the time was Toshi, Yoshiki & Taiji. Their guitarist Isao broke his arm in a car crash so Pata played support guitar but was not yet an official member. In March Hide joined and in April Pata officially jumped aboard, forming the 5-year line-up for which they are most famous. In August that year they released at two Xclamation Haifu GIG live shows, their famous "Xclamation" video tape. It featured the songs Xclamation, Stab Me In The Back and Kurenai (English). 26 December 1987 saw the band perform at the CBS Sony audition, where they played Xclamation, Piano Solo~Kurenai (English) and Orgasm.

[edit]
First albums (1988-1992)
In 1988 they released their indies album "Vanishing Vision" (April 14, 198 cool At that time the members were Yoshiki (Drums, Piano), Toshi (Vocal), hide (Guitar), Pata(Guitar), Taiji (Bass). The album sold out and was repressed in October as a picture disc with a first-press bonus flexi of Stab Me In The Back; sold out. It was repressed again as a CD in October 1989, again in 1991, appeared in some box sets in the 1990's and was once more available on store shelves as a CD in 2001.

Street Rock Video Magazine VOS featured Toshi on the cover of its Nov. '88 tape, which contained live clips of X playing Vanishing Vision & Orgasm along with an interview with Yoshiki, who had already signed the band to Sony by that point. Prior to this Toshi & Yoshiki participated in the L.O.X Shake Hand "compilation album." Instead of gathering unique bands to contribute their songs, various members of bands were amalgamted to make a sort of "dream band." Toshi was one of the vocalists on hand, and Yoshiki, uncredited, played drums. Other stars were Butaman (Tetsu Array), Ishiya (Death Side), Ranko (The Continental Kids), Naoki (Lip Cream), Koh-Itoh (Fools). Interesting to note that besides Toshi & Yoshiki the whole the lot were punk/hardcore bands. This is commonly mistaken as a 1990 release when in fact that is merely the year of the CD-repress as it was originally on 12" vinyl.

In 1988 the band also took part in the movie Tokyo Pop in the role of the band mates of Diamond Yukai.

Early on in 1989 came the ThanX 愛をこめて video, another promo tape with clips of the making of the Xclamation video (the later one, not the 1987 one). On April 21, 1989 X released their most succesful album, Blue Blood.

After the release of the album they started the Blue Blood Tour, the tour was a great succes. When they finished the tour, Yoshiki and the other members started writing more songs, and recording some promotional videos for some songs of the Blue Blood album, such as Celebration and Rose of Pain, that where recorded in New York and Paris. X Japan was becoming so popular in Japan, they released the Kurenai single and they started going to talk shows, TV programs, etc. Then they started another tour called Rose & Blood tour.

In 1991 all the members went to Los Angeles to start recroding their new album called Jealousy, after seven months of recording, they return to Japan and the Jealousy album was released on July 1st 1991 in Japan, it debuted at 1# in the Oricon charts. After the release of this album they started their next tour, Violence in Jealousy, and on August 23rd the band made their first concert in the Tokyo Dome.

[edit]
X Japan era (1992-1997)
By 1992, X was widely known in Japan, and they intended to start focusing on America. In the US there was already a band called X, so they decided to change their name to X Japan. During this period, a feud between Yoshiki and Taiji led to Taiji's departure from the band replaced was replaced by Heath (Hiroshi Morie). Taiji went on to work with Loudness ('92 - '95) and Cloud 9.

After the firsts lives of Heath, Yoshiki started writing their most notable song, Art of Life is a carefully crafted progressive rock/metal piece nearly twenty nine minutes in length. The song was released in a mini-album with the same name as the song, the first weeks of its release was a great succes in Japan, becoming a best-seller of the band. Art of Life was performed live only twice, in the Tokyo Dome on December 30th and 31st, 1993 (This live version lasting over thirty four minutes).

X's music, under the caring and determined supervision of Yoshiki, never stopped evolving. Their music ranges from harsh but very emotive speed metal tracks like Sadistic Desire, Phantom of Guilt and Vanishing Love, to moving piano ballads such as Tears and Say Anything, to alternative and somewhat more popish tracks from their last period like "Dahlia" and "Rusty Nail".

The majority of X Japan tracks were composed by Yoshiki with a handful of pieces composed by hide as well as some early ones by Taiji.

Yoshiki loved classical music, and this influence is apparent in tracks like "Rose of Pain", "Art of Life" and the symphonic composition "Amethyst". He led a project called Eternal Melody which consisted of X's songs rearranged by George Martin and other arrangers for classical performance. The double album, performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, was released in 1993. Yoshiki also selected some classical pieces for two compilations called Yoshiki Selection and Yoshiki Selection II. He remade the song "Black Diamond" by KISS into a classical piece listed in 1994's Kiss My a** album, a tribute to the aforementioned band.


X Japan in 1997[edit]
Dissolution of the band (1997)
After the Dahlia Tour 1996, just when X Japan were at the peak of their success, Toshi announced that he was leaving the band. Since Toshi had been the lead singer since the band's founding and an icon of the group, it seemed impossible to replace him, so X Japan the 22 September, 1997 in a press conference, without Toshi, announced their dissolution. 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 rumours 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. It should also be said that in 2004, Toshi announced his retirement in singing, after assumptions that the cult brainwashed children as well as committed child abuse. The 31st of December, 1997, the band did their last concert at the Tokyo Dome.

[edit]
After the breakup
After the dissolution of the band, hide continued his very successful solo career with his band hide with Spread Beaver, Pata performed with him on occasion.

Yoshiki and hide were believed to have been secretly planning to resurrect X in 2000, sans Toshi, and were looking for a replacement singer. Tragedy rendered these plans impossible when hide died in the hospital on May 2, 1998 after a night of hard drinking. He was found hung to a doorknob by a towel. This news stunned Japan's youth; four fans around the country attempted suicide, two of whom died. Much speculation about hide's death has taken place, but no definitive explanation has been found. An apparent suicide, it is thought by some to be an accidental death, but there is not a clear motive for either suicide or murder. Some speculate that the lyrics to the song "Pink Spider" by hide, which was set to be released the day after his death, is a suicide note of sorts. Following hide's demise, Yoshiki entered a state of depression for almost three years, being unable to compose or play.

In late 2000, Yoshiki recovered, and announced the creation of his new project Violet UK, a project involving music, visuals and art. He also collaborated with Roger Taylor in several songs. In 2002 he produced and starred in three commercials for the chain of 24-hour stores 7-Eleven, using some Violet UK music and concepts for those. Unfortunately, as of present, not much else from Violet UK has been shown or released. In the same year, Yoshiki announced he was joining the J-Pop band Globe, to help his long time friend Tetsuya Komuro (in 1991 Yoshiki, on drums, and Komuro, on keyboards and singing, did a musical collaboration under the name of V2, releasing some singles and performing live).

As a side note, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has said that he is a big fan of X Japan, which has helped create his image as a different type of politician more in touch with average Japanese citizens.

[edit]
Live performances
X Japan always characterized by spectacular lives, all the sites where they went where full of people. In 1982 when the band was formed, they began to play in cultural events, and with this X Japan began to obtain fame, after playing in cultural events they started playing in live houses, that are the small sites where the indies groups play.

When they released their first disc, Vanishing Vision, the day after the launch they sold all the entrances for a concert at the Tokyo Nakano Kohkaido, also began their first tour for the disc, the Vanishing Tour. In 1989 they also did a tour for some cities, the tour was called Blue Blood Tour and was to promote their just released album Blue Blood. The tour was a great success. After this tour they started another one called Rose & Blood Tour. During the Blue Blood tour most of the performances were held outside beacuse they played in some events, but in the Rose & Blood Tour most of the performances were in stadiums.

But the concerts of the tours were not the only lives that X Japan did in that time, because of the succes of the band they started playing in some TV shows like Music Station. X Japan released their third album on July, 1st 1991. The day after the release of this album they started a tour called Violence in Jealousy. After playing in lot of cities on august of that year they did their first concert at the Tokyo Dome.


Tokyo DomeIn January 1992, a concert in the Tokyo Dome attracted lot of people over three nights, this was on of the last Taiji's lives. Because of Taiji left the band, theys stopped with the concerts for a time while they were searching for a new bassist. They found it and then the final days of 1993 they did the first major live with Heath on bass, the concert was called X Japan Returns, because since 1992 they didn't play. The concert was a succes with the Tokyo Dome full the two days. In this live they played the two live versions of Art of Life.

The 30th and 31st of December, 1994 they repeated at the Tokyo Dome, the live for the first day was called Blue Night and the the one for the second day White Night. This concert attracted over 100.000 people in only two days.

In the early months of 1995 the band started playing some new songs at some Japanese TV programs, and then in November they decided to start their new tour called: Dahlia Tour, finishing the last two days of the year at the Tokyo Dome. And in 1996 witth the release of their last album they did another tour called Dahlia Tour Final finishing too at the Tokyo Dome. Finally the band beacuse of its dissolution did their last live at the Tokyo Dome the last day of 1997, the live was called The Last Liv

Live albums: 1992 Tokyo Dome Live | Live Live Live Tokyo Dome 1993-1996 | Live Live Live Extra | Live in Hokkaido 1995.12.4 Bootleg | Art of Life Live | The Last Live
Compilations: X Singles | B.O.X. ~Best of X~ | Ballad Collection | X Japan Singles ~Atlantic Years~ | Star Box | Perfect Best | X Japan Best ~Fan's Selection~ | Trance X | X Japan Complete II
DVD and Videos: Xclamation | ThanX | Bakuhatsu Sunzen GIG | Shigeki ~ Visual Shock Vol. 2 | Celebration ~ Visual Shock Vol. 2.5 | Shigeki 2 ~ Visual Shock Vol. 3 Yume no naka ni dake ikite | Say Anything ~ Visual Shock 3.5 X Ballad Collection | Extasy Summit '91 at Nippon Budokan | Hametsu ni Mukatte ~ Visual Shock Vol. 4 | X Clips | Dahlia the Video ~ Visual Shock Vol. 5 Part 1 | Dahlia the Video ~ Visual Shock Vol. 5 Part 2 | Dahlia Tour Final 1996 | X Japan Clips II | The Last Live Video | Art of Life 1993.12.31 Tokyo Dome

some of my stuff

XD I've listened to it all the way through like... tons of times. The lyrics are amazing as always. I havent gotten around to watching the live hyet though T-T

R.I.P. Hide. I miss you, but will never forget you. crying crying crying

I heard yesterday while waiting for VAMPS to start that Yoshiki had gotten neck surgery?!?!?! I didn't get the full story, does anyone know what happened?D: