Tuesday, June 27, 2006

About X-Japan..

X Japan were one of the first visual bands in Japan and also one of the most popular. X Japan plays rock/heavy style of music but they also have many great ballads. The band was formed by five members: Yoshiki (drums/piano/lyrics/leader of the band), Toshi (head vocalist), Hide (guitar/background vocalist), Pata (guitar) and Taiji (bass). Later on Heath replaced Taiji. Some rumours say that Taiji had arguments with Yoshiki about the music style of X Japan and that reason got kicked out of the band. That's sad because Taiji wasn't bad in playing bass. What made them so good?

The heart of X Japan is definitely in Yoshiki's lyrics if you listen carefully you can notice how much there is emotion in the lyrics. And of course every member of the band is in their own class of playing their instruments. There was no weak link in the band.

It's not big surprise if you haven't heard of X Japan because it was only a hit in Japan and when I say it was a hit it was a big hit. In business Japan music industry is second after USA so it's not a small thing to be a hit in there. X Japan created a whole new music style called visual shock. Today there are lots of visual shock bands in Japan who try to get there where X Japan once was. And the legend of X Japan still goes on. Band leader Yoshiki Hayashi is in Japan like Michael Jackson in America for give you some clue how respected the members are there. One of the members of X Japan has become a legend in Japan and he was Hide (Matsumoto Hideto). With his awesome guitar skills and personal style he was the one of the rising stars in Japan when he lived. What finally made him a legend was that he made a suicide (that seemed not to have any reason at all). Today there is a museum for the memory of Hide in Yokosuka.

How it all began?
First there was Yoshiki and his dream to become a rock star. To make his dream come true Yoshiki formed a band with his friend Toshi. The new band was named as X (not X-Japan) the year was 1982. The first songs were "I'll kill you" and "Break the darkness" at that time X members were Toshi (Vocal), Yuji (Guitar), Tomo (Guitar), Tokuo (Bass), Yoshiki (Drums/Piano/Lyrics/Leader).

Yoshiki offered songs to recording companies but no one wanted publish the music. Recording companies thought that the music was too aggressive and new to people so it wouldn't sell. Yoshiki didn't give up he trusted his music so much that he made his own recording company with his own money. And so in 1986 Extasy Records was found.

In 1987 X changed dramatically. Taiji joins X and then hide and Isao also joined. Because of an accident, Isao had to leave, so then Pata joined. So X ended up with Yoshiki, Toshi, Hide, Pata and Taiji. 1988 the first album X made and Extasy Records released was "Vanishing vision". It was a success album was ranked 1st in the indies chart list and only one week after the release. It sold 10 000 copies. With the success of the album X was being noticed and so Yoshiki's Extasy records made some contracts. After that all members went to record to Los Angeles. After that the future is history.

With their personal visual style and music their live shows were huge success in Japan. With the huge success in Japan X decided to go international. X had to change the name to X Japan because there was already a band named X. But the albums didn't sell well in western world. So X Japan decided to give up on western markets and go only for Japan where they were being adored.

In the year 1997 X Japan declared that the band is going to disband. It was a huge shock in Japan and all the fans over the world. It's said that X Japan disbanded because of some differences in between the members. They held their final concert "The Last Live" at Tokyo Dome on 31st December 1997. Later there was some thought about making a new X. It was a Yoshiki's idea and Hide had a strong role in that but when Hide died, the new X died with him. Today X Japan members are doing their own solo projects.

Life Sux..

yosh!ki
5:40 pm