Flashback X-Japan

Yoshiki of X-Japan
Originally uploaded by PensilShapener.

Just happen I was surfing aimlessly & happen to surf to an X-japan website & it brings back memories.Beautiful songs, great rock playing.. but X-Japan is all about virtual rock.

The 5 man band was created a while back all the way to 1988 with numerous ppl changing but the most influential was Hide & Yoshiki. The band was split up sometime before 1997 but was secretly suppose to be reunite until the sudden suicide of HIDE in May 2nd 1998(he was the guitarist).

Extract from AsiaNews
"I believe hide's death was an accident," said X Japan leader Hayashi Yoshiki at a hastily called press conference the night before the funeral. Sensing the worst, he appealed to the guitarist's fans: "Please do not follow him. Do not commit suicide. Please see him off to heaven warmly."

It was not to be. Within days of the rocker's death, three girls killed themselves in copycat suicides. The first victim, aged 15, was found hanging in her bedroom - described as virtually a shrine to hide - in Chofu. She died in hospital May 7. That same day, a 14-year-old killed herself in Hiroshima and a 17-year-old died in a hotel room in Osaka. Two other girls tried unsuccessfully to take their own lives. One, wearing an orange shirt emblazoned with the rocker's name, jumped off a bridge near Tokyo, and the other cut her wrists at a Tokyo funeral wake for the musician. With the grieving still going on, more deaths are feared."

X-Japan was suppose to perform a memorial in 2000 but was axed as they felt it woul become too commercial.

Pic was from the X-Japan memorial for Hide.

Unbeknown to some, Yoshiki was asked to perform to the emperor of Japan & Yohsiki played the song Anniversary which was an orchestra piece. Coming from them most people would have though them to be rockers & not balla or the orchestratic type. WRONG !
Yoshiki later joined Tetsuya Kimura's GLOBE which was also a great band...

When X-Japan performs ballads it was always great songs.. midi playing here is from X-Japan "Forever Love". X-Japan also had did some songs in anime soundtracks..
Long Live X-JAPAN