Heavy metalPower metal
Progressive metal
Speed metal Years active 1982 – 1997 Label
Extasy, Sony, Atlantic Associatedacts Dope Headz, Hide with Spread Beaver, Ra:In, Violet UK Website X JAPAN OFFICIAL SITE
Lineup :
- Toshimitsu "Toshi" Deyama Vocals
- Hideto "Hide" Matsumoto – Lead guitar
- Tomoaki "Pata" Ishizuka – Rhythm guitar
- Hiroshi "Heath" Morie – Bass (from 1992)
- Yoshiki Hayashi – Drums and piano
- Taiji Sawada – Bass (until 1992)
After being singed on by Sony Records, the band's second album Blue Blood was released in 1989 and spawned several successful singles, such as "Kurenai" and "Endless Rain", as well as a VHS containing one of the concerts of the subsequent tour (later re-released on DVD).[4] Recordings for the follow-up album Jealousy took place in Los Angeles. It was released in July 1991 and shortly followed by the band's first performance in Japan's largest live venue, the Tokyo Dome. The show would later be released both on CD and VHS/DVD.
By 1992 the band's ongoing success in Japan made an international breakthrough appear likely enough to warrant the renaming to "X Japan", in order to distinguish the group from the United States punk band X. Around the same time, Taiji was replaced by Hiroshi "Heath" Morie, supposedly due to creative differences with Yoshiki. He went on to work with Loudness and Cloud Nine. While still named X, the band appeared on two heavy metal samplers, Heavy Metal Force III and Skull Thrash Zone Volume I.[5]
X Japan (1993–1997)
For the release of their next album, X Japan left Sony and signed a deal with Atlantic Records. Art of Life was released in August 1993, notable for containing only the almost 29 minutes long title track, which would only be performed twice for a live audience. By then, the members of the group also maintained several side projects. For example, 1994 saw the release of Hide's first solo album, Hide Your Face, which featured a distinctively different sound from X Japan's music, leaning more towards alternative rock. Yoshiki collaborated with Queen drummer Roger Taylor on the single "Foreign Sand".[6] and provided the Japanese contribution to the international Kiss tribute album Kiss My Ass, a orchestral arrangement of the song "Black Diamond".[7] A compilation with orchestral treatments of X Japan songs, titled Eternal Melody was also released. It was performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra and among others featured The Beatles producer George Martin as an arranger.
In 1996, Dahlia, the band's first studio album in more than three years was released, though with relatively little new material, given that singles included on the record had been coming out as early as a few months after Art of Life. Around that time, the group dropped most of its original visual kei aesthetics in favor of a more casual look. Dahlia would be the band's last major release, since vocalist Toshi left the group, the subsequent dissolution being officially announced in September 1997. X Japan performed their farewell show at the Toyko Dome on December 31, making it the last of five consecutive New Year's Eves the group performed in that stadium.
Much has been made of Toshi's departure, including allegations of him joining a cult and being influenced by it. Toshi has since denied these claims, stating that his decision to leave X Japan dated back as far as April 1996, more than a year before he met the organization's leader, Masaya and that the glamorous, success-oriented life of a rock star failed to satisfy him emotionally, as opposed to a simpler life and career.
copied from wikipedia : X Japan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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