X Japan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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 X Japan in 1997 (left to right: Heath, Pata, Yoshiki, Toshi, hide)
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| Background information | ||
| Origin |  Chiba, Japan |
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| Genre(s) | Power metal, heavy metal, speed metal | |
| Years active | 1982-1997 | |
| Label(s) | Extasy, Tofu, Sony, Atlantic | |
| Associated acts |
hide with Spread Beaver, Dope HEADz, Ra:IN, Violet UK | |
| Website | Official Site | |
| Former members | ||
| Toshi Yoshiki hide Pata Heath Taiji |
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X Japan (エックス ジャパン?) was a successful Japanese band founded in 1982 by drummer and pianist Yoshiki and vocalist Toshi.[citation needed] Originally named X (エックス), the group achieved its breakthrough success in 1989 with the release of their second album Blue Blood. They started out as a power/heavy metal band and later gravitated towards a progressive metal sound, yet at all times retaining an emphasis on ballads. After three more albums, X Japan disbanded in 1997.
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[edit] Band history
[edit] Early years (1976-1983)
Plans for the band started in 1976[citation needed] by Yoshiki Hayashi and Toshi (Toshimitsu Deyama) when they 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. This name was to be changed to X Japan in 1993 with the departure of bassist Taiji.
Yoshiki, Toshi & Terry 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 Zeppelin) and Burn (Deep Purple).
[edit] Indies era (1984-1988)
1984 saw the release of their first official demo tape, "I'LL KILL YOU."[citation needed] 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 form of dressing and performing, which would later become a popular trend in Japanese 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)[citation needed] and X. After the release of this, they began 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.
Of 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 most likely Toshi on drums, as the two switched those very same parts during a famous '86 live part switch performance 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 debut album Vanishing Vision (April 14, 1988) 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" at the Kyoto Sports Valley 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 amalgamated 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 .[citation needed] They had a very small, 5 second part as themselves where the female lead (Played by Carrie Hammelton) went to see them inquiring about a job as a singer. This movie also stars 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 successful album, Blue Blood.
After the release of the album they started the Blue Blood Tour, the tour was a great success. 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 that was recorded in New York by Pata, Toshi Taiji and hide, the videoclip shows some images of this members waking across New York's streets. ROSE OF PAIN was another song that they recorded the videoclip outside from Japan, but this time only Yoshiki went to Paris to record it. 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 recording 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.
With the release of this album the group got more popularity in Japan this caused that they could make more complete tours than those they did with the Vanishing Vision and Blue Blood albums. Some people consider that Jealousy is the album of the band because in the disc every member of the band made a contribution to the compositions.[citation needed] During the recording of the album, Yoshiki and Taiji started having musical differences. [citation needed]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 first 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 success 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). This was the first live that Toshi sang with the hair lowered and with a light make up.
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 piano ballads such as Tears and Say Anything, to alternative and somewhat more alt-rock 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 Ass album, a tribute to the aforementioned band.
After releasing their third album they released one of their most famous songs in a single, Tears, this song was played in some TV programs and in the same live as "Art of Life". The last release of X Japan that years was a compilation of most of the singles that the band released during they were called only X, that compilation was called X Singles.
The 10th of July, 1994 they released another single, Rusty Nail, this will be one of the last rock songs of X Japan so in their next album most of the songs were ballads, but Rusty Nail has algo some calm parts. And because this was the only new X Japan's songs during 1994 they performed in most of the TV programs they went that year. and because, the song debut at the first position on the Oricon charts. And the last day of 1994 they did a concert in the Tokyo Dome were they played another new song, Longing, and the gave to some people a demo of the song. All this songs were released in their final album, Dahlia.
[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 foundation and was an icon of the group it seemed impossible to replace him. X Japan (without Toshi) announced their dissolution at a press conference on 22 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 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. This was later disregarded as it was proven that Toshi met Masaya after leaving the band and Masaya was proven to be only a musician. Another theory is that Toshi left the band due to his recent happiness found in marriage and X songs are generally related to grief. The true cause for Toshi's departure remains a mystery. On 31 December, 1997, the band held 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. Pata and Heath joined DopeHEADz, until their breakup in 2003. Now Heath is a solo artist as well as being in a band called Lynx, and Pata is currently in Ra:IN.
Toshi goes to small places like convalescent homes and senior communities, giving them music he and Masaya did together to help heal the sick. He was in the news around 2004, when he was accused of being involved in child abuse and brainwashing them to do certain errands. Toshi, on his site , claims that those are lies, and that he or anyone with Masaya would never harm people or something of the sort. [1]
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). At Otakon on August 5th, 2006 Yoshiki announced he will be forming a band with the Japanese musician Gackt. [2]
As a side note, former Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi had said that he is a big fan of X Japan, which had helped create his image as a different type of politician more in touch with average Japanese citizens.
[edit] Live performances
X Japan has always been characterized by having spectacular live shows. In 1982 when the band was formed, they began to play in cultural events and parties, with this X Japan began to obtain a fanbase.
The day after the launch of their first album, Vanishing Vision, they sold all the entrances for a concert at the Tokyo Nakano Kohkaido, the band also began their first tour for the disc, called the Vanishing Tour. In 1989 they toured some cities, it was known as the Blue Blood Tour and was to promote their just released album Blue Blood. The tour was a great success.
X Japan released their third album on July, 1st 1991. In January 1992, a concert in the Tokyo Dome attracted lot of people over three nights, this was Taiji's last live performance. Because of him leaving the band, X Japan stopped touring, while they were searching for a new bassist. In the final days of 1993 they did the first major live with Heath on bass, the concert was called X Japan Returns, because they didn't play since 1992. The concert was a success with the Tokyo Dome full for two days.
In the early months of 1995 the band started playing some new songs at Japanese TV programs such as Music Station (and the yearly special, Super Live) and HEY!HEY!HEY! MUSIC CHAMP, and later in November, they decided to start the Dahlia TOUR (based on their last studio album with the same name). The tour finished on the last two days of the year at the Tokyo Dome. In 1996, with the release of Dahlia, they did another tour called Dahlia Tour Final finishing too at the Tokyo Dome. Finally the band, because of its dissolution did their last live performance at the Tokyo Dome on December 31, 1997, which was known as The Last Live.
[edit] Awards
| Years | Awards |
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| 1989 |
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| 1990 |
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| 1991 |
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| 1992 |
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[edit] Members
[edit] Final line-up
- Toshi (Toshimitsu Deyama (出山 利三?)) - Vocals
- Pata (Tomoaki Ishizuka (石塚 智昭?)) - Guitar (1987~)
- hide (Hideto Matsumoto (松本 秀人?)) - Guitar (1987 - 1998)
- Yoshiki (Yoshiki Hayashi (林 佳樹?)) - Drums, piano
- Heath (Hiroshi Morie (森江 博?)) - Bass (1992~)
[edit] Former members
- Taiji (Taiji Sawada (沢田 泰司?)) - Bass (1985, 1986, 1986~1992)
- Jun (Hisaishi Takai) - Guitar (1985, 1986) [2 unique stints]
- Hikaru - Bass (1986)
[edit] Former members (indie era)
- Atsushi (Atsushi Tokuo) - Bass (1985)
- Eddie - Guitar (1985)
- Hally - Guitar (1985)
- Isao - Guitar (1987)
- Kerry - Guitar (1986)
- Satoru - Guitar (1986)
- Terry (Yuji Izumisawa) - Guitar (1983~1985)
- Tomo (Tomoyuki Ogata) - Guitar (1984~1985)
- Zen (Zenon) - Guitar (1985~1986)
[edit] Discography
[edit] Studio albums
| Album Cover | Album Name | Date of Release | Label |
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Vanishing Vision | April 4, 1988 | Extasy Records |
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Blue Blood | April 21, 1989 | CBS Sony |
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Jealousy | July 1, 1991 | Sony Records |
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Art of Life | August 28, 1993 | Atlantic Records |
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Dahlia | November 4, 1996 | Atlantic East West Japan |
[edit] Multimedia
[edit] Video games
- X-Japan Virtual Shock 001 (Sega Saturn)
[edit] Videos
- XCLAMATION (1987.08.XX)
- ThanX ～愛をこめて～ (1989.03.16)
- Blue Blood TOUR 爆発寸前 (Bakuhatsu Sunzen) GIG (1989.06.01)
- 刺激 (Shigeki) VISUAL SHOCK VOL. 2 (1989.12.31)
- CELEBRATION VISUAL SHOCK VOL. 2.5 (1990.09.01)
- 刺激 (Shikegi) ２ ～夢の中にだけ生きて～ VISUAL SHOCK VOL. 3 (1991.09.30)
- SAY ANYTHING ～X BALLAD COLLECTION～ VISUAL SHOCK VOL. 3.5 (1991.12.21)
- 無敵と書いてEXTASYと読む!! ～EXTASY SUMMIT 1991 AT NIPPON BUDOKAN～ (1992.02.21)
- 破滅に向かって 1992.01.07 TOKYO DOME LIVE VISUAL SHOCK VOL. 4 (1992.11.01)
- EXTASY SUMMIT 1992 ～みんな無名だった、だけど・・・無敵だった～ (1993.05.10)
- X CLIPS (1995.01.01)
- Dahlia THE VIDEO VISUAL SHOCK #5 PART I (1997.01.01)
- Dahlia THE VIDEO VISUAL SHOCK #5 PART II (1997.03.05)
- Dahlia TOUR FINAL 1996 (1997.10.29)
- X Japan CLIPS II (2001.10.24)
- THE LAST LIVE VIDEO (2002.03.29)
- Art of Life 1993.12.31 TOKYO DOME (2003.09.24)
[edit] DVDs
- X CLIPS (2000.07.05)
- Blue Blood TOUR 爆発寸前 (Bakuhatsu Sunzen) GIG (2001.09.05)
- 刺激 (Shigeki) "VISUAL SHOCK VOL. 2" (2001.09.05)
- CELEBRATION "VISUAL SHOCK VOL. 2.5" (2001.09.05)
- 刺激 (Shigeki) ２～夢の中にだけ生きて～ "VISUAL SHOCK VOL. 3" (2001.09.05)
- SAY ANYTHING ～X BALLAD COLLECTION～ "VISUAL SHOCK VOL. 3.5" (2001.09.05)
- 破滅に向かって 1992.01.07 TOKYO DOME LIVE "VISUAL SHOCK VOL. 4" (2001.09.05)
- X Japan CLIPS II (2001.10.24)
- THE LAST LIVE VIDEO (2002.03.29)
- Dahlia THE VIDEO "VISUAL SHOCK VOL. 5" (2002.12.04)
- Dahlia TOUR FINAL (2002.12.04)
- Art of Life 1993.12.31 TOKYO DOME (2003.09.24)
[edit] References
- ^ The truth オフィシャルサイト～マスコミ誤報道について. Toshi official website.
- ^ Yoshiki, the honored guest at OTAKON 2006. JAME.
[edit] External links
- X Japan.ne.jp - The official X Japan website
- X Japan.de - Unofficial X Japan website
- Weekend - Korean X Japan fan club website
- X-Freaks Fan Forum - A forum for fans of X Japan and/or it's members
- Extasy Records homepage
- Yoshiki's official site
- Yoshiki's unofficial website
- Yoshiki's unofficial website for international fans
| X Japan |
| Members |
|---|
| Toshi | hide | Pata | Heath | Yoshiki |
| Jun | Taiji |
| Discography |
| Studio albums: Vanishing Vision | Blue Blood | Jealousy | Art of Life | Dahlia |
| Singles: I'll Kill You | Orgasm | Kurenai | Endless Rain | Week End | Silent Jealousy | Standing Sex | Say Anything | Tears | Rusty Nail | Longing ~Togireta Melody~ | Longing ~Setsubou no Yoru~ | Forever Love | Crucify My Love | Dahlia | Scars | Forever Love Last Mix | The Last Song |
| Related articles |
| Extasy Records | Violet UK |
