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« on: June 10, 2011, 07:54:50 PM »
I know a lot of the forum haven't read this yet, and would like to, given that it is full of juicy and previously untold/unknown information from the history of X and Yoshiki. As such I'm going to post a couple of the more interesting things (or at least things which I found to be interesting) for you all to read. I'm not going to go into massive detail on each factoid, but just enough to get the point across. There is much I have yet to cover, but for now this is a start:
X Major Debut – Taiji being fired 1988 - 1992
Yoshiki wrote much of “Art of life” whilst recovering from injuries he sustained on a tour supporting “Blue Blood”
Jealousy was intended to be a double album, and feature much more music and end with “Art of Life”, but the record label deadline meant that the recording had to be hurried up and the album put together and released unfinished. Yoshiki was angry that the album was not to his standards and refused to go to Japan for the press launch and locked himself in his LA apartment. Record label staff had to break down his door and force him to return to Japan, and eventually granted him 24 hours to re-record vocal parts he was not happy with.
Taiji being fired was eventually brought about by Hide. He told Yoshiki “not one more day can I work with Taiji”. Yoshiki claims to have attempted to keep the band together but eventually found Taiji’s “difficult and reckless behaviour” too much, and fired him.
Renaming to X Japan - The Breakup 1993 - 1997
Yoshiki recorded Art of Life mostly on his own, because the other members were busy with solo work. He had to fight with medical opinion and pay a large sum to have the MRI photo of his skull taken for the Art of Life cover image, as every hospital he went to refused to do the MRI scan when he had no health issue, as the radiation blast required is potentially detrimental to health.
Tension in the band started in 1993 when Toshi took part in the Hamlet rock opera. Hide reacted angrily and demanded that Toshi not take part and that Yoshiki force him to break his participation, thinking that Toshi was making the band look stupid. Yoshiki refused to tell Toshi what to do and he and Hide became on bad terms for a while
After partaking in Hamlet Toshi met his future wife, Kaori, who began to influence his life. Toshi would act different around the band, sometimes not even speaking to the other members at all before shows and spending a lot of his time in his own private dressing room.
The band would only meet up with each other to partake in recording sessions, promotion material or concerts. Yoshiki and Hide had a large argument where Yoshiki claimed that Hide was more interested in his solo work than with X, and if he cared about X he would stop prioritising his solo material. He also had similar arguments with Toshi.
When Toshi quit the band Yoshiki agreed immediately, feeling that Toshi’s mind could not be changed. He forced Toshi to explain his decision to the rest of the band, who Yoshiki summoned to LA for a meeting. Pata and Heath were calm and asked few questions, but Hide was angry and volatile, and argued long with Toshi over the decision.
Before The Last Live Hide locked Toshi in a room for 3 hours and again attempted to change his mind over leaving, but emerged angrily at the end declaring “To hell with him” after failing to be successful.
Death of Hide
Yoshiki received the news from his American secretary whilst driving to the recording studio to begin the evening recording. He believed it to be a sick joke and did not accept it until he received confirmation from X Japan’s manager.
Hide and Yoshiki had spoken less than a month before on the phone where Hide seemed happy and care-free, and Yoshiki complimented Hide on the recording of Ja Zoo.
Hide was very committed to starting the second X, but did not want to wait for the year 2000 to arrive so kept himself overly busy. He compiled detailed reports on other singers for Yoshiki to look into hiring.
Hide had been on his computer on the internet replying to fan messages on his website minutes before he died. His computer was left on and his website still open when he was found hung.
Hide had plans to build a new house with a recording studio in the basement approved by the local authorities in Tokyo and had bought a plot of land several weeks before his death.
Rebirth of X Japan 2007 – Present
Yoshiki found the work on “REPO! The Genetic Opera” very difficult and had many arguments with Producer Mark Berg, who he found to be annoying and constantly interfering with his work. At one point Yoshiki erupted angrily and shouted “One more word from you and I will fire you”, to which Mark Berg replied “Under your contract you work for me, you cannot fire me”. Yoshiki then retorted “I will fire you nonetheless”.
Yoshiki wrote 2 songs for S.K.I.N that were not played in LA due to lack of time. "Killing you softly" was written by Sugizo. Gackt wrote "Gei-sha"
Toshi called Yoshiki’s studio spontaneously after 8 years of the two having not spoken a word. It was such a shock that when Yoshiki’s assistant told him Toshi was calling him, Yoshiki replied “Who is Toshi? Which Toshi? Do I know this person?” thinking it may have been someone else.
Toshi asked Yoshiki to reunite X Japan several times after they agreed to meet but Yoshiki refused each time. Then, Toshi wrote on his blog and website that he and Yoshiki had met at Yoshiki’s studio and that “their new project would start soon” despite this having not been agreed. Yoshiki felt the pressure of the media and the fans who were speculating on X Japan’s reunion and thought about it long and hard before agreeing and contacting Heath and Pata.
I.V. was written in two weeks, the demo being produced in a hastily arranged recording session in Tokyo over 3 days. Yoshiki wrote 24 songs over the two weeks after being asked to put forward a song for the film Saw I.V. and in the end chose I.V. The chorus line “Can’t you see me standing right here?” is a deliberate reference to Kurenai, and is an English translation of one of its lyrics. Out of 200 songs which were put forward to be the ending theme of the film I.V. was selected.
The I.V. music video cost 350 thousand dollars.
Yoshiki fainting during the first Tokyo Dome concert of 2008 was apparently real. He claims he did not sleep for two days before, and a Tokyo Dome concert could not run longer than at 9:30 by curfew laws. The time was past 10pm and the Dome staff were threatening to switch off the electricity and the pressure and fatigue caught up with Yoshiki causing him to collapse.
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