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Why Taiji was fired by Yoshiki

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Offline Guruxo

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Reply #60 on: November 16, 2017, 02:04:21 PM
I think that Taiji was fired because of drugs also. I remember reading somewhere (not sure where, sorry) that the band made a rule not to do any illegal drugs, and there are a few pictures of Taiji online with marijuana paraphernalia, so perhaps he smoked it? My guess is that perhaps Taiji tried drugs and was fired by Yoshiki as a result. I suppose we'll never know the true reason why Taiji was fired  :(



Offline matsumoto

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Reply #61 on: November 17, 2017, 09:19:09 AM
Fired for smoking a joint? Bro, that's harsh. But yeah, maybe. We don't know if the anti-drugs thing is even for real. If you're in a position like Yoshiki's, I wouldn't expect him to say drugs are awesome and we did them all the time and it was great, try them as well, y'all! Drugs are not as common or readily available in Japan as they are in the West, though. 

Official versions are: 1. Hide and Taiji fought way too much and Yoshiki had to choose between the two (according to Yoshiki's biographer), 2. Taiji got pissed because Yoshiki was making WAAAAY more money than the rest of them (according to Taiji).

My version: the two just couldn't stand each other. Yoshiki then embelished the story by suggesting Taiji had done something terrible to make it more interesting.


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Offline Guruxo

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Reply #62 on: November 17, 2017, 03:45:58 PM
Fired for smoking a joint? Bro, that's harsh. But yeah, maybe. We don't know if the anti-drugs thing is even for real. If you're in a position like Yoshiki's, I wouldn't expect him to say drugs are awesome and we did them all the time and it was great, try them as well, y'all! Drugs are not as common or readily available in Japan as they are in the West, though. 

Official versions are: 1. Hide and Taiji fought way too much and Yoshiki had to choose between the two (according to Yoshiki's biographer), 2. Taiji got pissed because Yoshiki was making WAAAAY more money than the rest of them (according to Taiji).

My version: the two just couldn't stand each other. Yoshiki then embelished the story by suggesting Taiji had done something terrible to make it more interesting.





Maybe. I'm not sure about the anti-drugs rule myself, since I can't find the source and firing someone from a band for smoking a joint seems harsh, especially since X were all about rebelling against society back then.



Offline matsumoto

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Reply #63 on: November 17, 2017, 04:49:18 PM
Ok, maybe it was more than one joint.  ;D
I would need to know more about Japan to decide whether drugs were the likely culprit or not, or how society looks upon drug users. A Jap friend once told me drugs in Japan are fairly rare, by no means as widespread as they are in the West. Even less in the 80s. But if anyone was into them back then, it would probably have been the rockstar crowd. 

Taiji's life story really gives me the drug vibe. But maybe that's just me. For some reason, I also get the feeling Hide was into some sort of speed or accid or both. Again, it might be just me. I don't get that feeling from any of the others, though Yoshiki could definitely use some Valium.  :o

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Teemeah

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Reply #64 on: November 17, 2017, 10:01:33 PM
Hide was a certified alcoholic. He probably didn't have much interest in other forms of self-destruction, considering he was mostly spending his days drinking for hours (he himself said so in an interview). Taiji's story is more like a drug addict, getting totally run down, ending up on the street, with knocked out teeth and such... Especially that even though all of them drank heavily, hide and Pata were known as THE alcoholics of the bunch.



Offline LEMONedMe

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Reply #65 on: November 20, 2017, 01:36:28 AM
I've got a reddit page open where people are discussing drug use in Japan.  The posts are archived and from at least 3 years ago.  Marijuana is highly illegal or was at that time.  Ecstasy and methamphetamines are more popular if you can call it that.  If a person got caught with just an empty marijuana bag or bag that had marijuana in it, they would wind up in prison.  But alcohol is most prominent and it sounds like alcohol is ok.  Hmmm.

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Offline matsumoto

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Reply #66 on: November 20, 2017, 09:04:04 AM
Yeah, funny enough you see a lot of pictures of Japs slumped over tabled pissed drunk. But you never ever get to see a Jap junkie.

Taiji allegedly had his teeth knocked out during a fight but it had to be one hell of a fight. Meth caused severe tooth decay, I'd probably go with that. His whole life story is consistant with some sort of drug use. Poor dude.

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Offline LEMONedMe

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Reply #67 on: November 20, 2017, 12:12:04 PM
Yes, I agree.  I worked with a lot of people who used meth or around them and many had very bad teeth or teeth were broken off especially in the fronts of their mouths.  It does awful things to teeth and really makes a person look bad, in every way.  Some can look like they aged 30 or more years.  Not good!

Sometimes our tears blinded the love
We lost out dreams along the way
But I never thought you'd trade your soul to the fates
Never thought you'd leave me alone


Offline TaijiSawada

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Reply #68 on: January 14, 2020, 04:31:09 PM
Sorry to bump up such an old topic, but I remembered a Reddit post written by Yoshiki himself about the whole situation (here's the link https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/4a9o6b/i_am_yoshiki_pianist_drummer_and_leader_of_x/d0yim3p/ ). Seems like hide was involved in one way or another too...



Offline OmniaDei

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Reply #69 on: January 15, 2020, 05:49:47 AM
Sorry to bump up such an old topic, but I remembered a Reddit post written by Yoshiki himself about the whole situation (here's the link https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/4a9o6b/i_am_yoshiki_pianist_drummer_and_leader_of_x/d0yim3p/ ). Seems like hide was involved in one way or another too...

As older replies said, there exist two versions of how Taiji left the band, depending on whose biography you believe. According to Yoshiki's biography hide was very angry with Taiji but that wasn't the main reason how Taiji got fired. Yoshiki made the decision to fire Taiji alone, and hide with other members only were told after the fact. This occurred exactly on 1992 New Year's Eve. Taiji claimed that he was fired earlier in December 1991 and assumed Yoshiki already consulted with hide, and claimed he heard hide was seen crying on New Year's eve. Whichever version is true or partially true, what we know is that hide was indeed crying in On the Verge of Destruction, and there are sources out there claiming to have seen hide visibly upset after the New Year's eve Rokcmaykan party. However, you can interpret it both ways, hide could have either been sympathetic to Taiji's departure, or he could have just felt sorry for making him leave.




Offline nb

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Reply #70 on: January 15, 2020, 08:05:30 PM
Sorry to bump up such an old topic, but I remembered a Reddit post written by Yoshiki himself about the whole situation (here's the link https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/4a9o6b/i_am_yoshiki_pianist_drummer_and_leader_of_x/d0yim3p/ ). Seems like hide was involved in one way or another too...

No probs here to bump old topics ;)

In Taijis book it says he was fired bcs he asked for equal splits for every musician. He also said, Yoshiki is very two-faced.


positively unsure。


Offline OmniaDei

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Reply #71 on: January 17, 2020, 02:26:31 AM
Sorry to bump up such an old topic, but I remembered a Reddit post written by Yoshiki himself about the whole situation (here's the link https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/4a9o6b/i_am_yoshiki_pianist_drummer_and_leader_of_x/d0yim3p/ ). Seems like hide was involved in one way or another too...

No probs here to bump old topics ;)

In Taijis book it says he was fired bcs he asked for equal splits for every musician. He also said, Yoshiki is very two-faced.

While Yoshiki does have his own problems, I think this part of Taiji's book was probably taken out of in certain fan translations. This was more about how Yoshiki was both "an angel and a devil" with duality in his personality if I remember correctly, than about how Yoshiki was too-faced as in the English context (Taiji definitely did not mean that Yoshiki's personality was fake or that Yoshiki says fake things, which is what "too-faced" would suggest in English).
Also I personally find money & copyright unlikely to be the central reason, even though it probably played a part too. However this has always been an unclear thing, so I honestly can' t be certain either.




Offline TaijiSawada

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Reply #72 on: January 17, 2020, 11:22:04 AM
Also I personally find money & copyright unlikely to be the central reason, even though it probably played a part too. However this has always been an unclear thing, so I honestly can' t be certain either.

Me too. Honestly, Yoshiki is way too secretive and the way he brings back the topic of Taiji being fired (in the movie) without allowing the interviewer to get an explanation is confusing to say the least. The only things I can think of are personal threats, violence involved-- and he doesn't want to disclose that information easily to keep Taiji's memory pristine.



Offline nb

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Reply #73 on: January 17, 2020, 08:17:39 PM
I do understand your point of view. I honestly have no idea. oc I have my own thoughts about it.

I thought about someone fucked with the others girlfriend or took drugs or anything.
Another idea and not particularly my opinion, but could it also be possible that Yoshiki won't say the actual reason bcs it would show him (Yoshiki) in a bad light? (I'm not sure if this is correct English, since I'm not a native speaker). Or maybe Yoshiki also is thinking that the reason was a bit childish and he doesn't want to talk about it anymore?

On the other hand, I don't think it's totally wrong to debate the possibility Yoshiki kicked him because of business reasons or questioning Yoshiki too much. I mean, read in Toshis book. Yoshiki don't like any criticism at all and is very harsh when someone questions him or is not as good as Yoshikis standards. Look at how sad, wasted and lonely Toshi felt at the time he started dating wanku.

But yeah, idk. It's also possible Yoshiki was sick of Taijis constant complaining. And it seems he had a little backup of hide...

We'll never know.


positively unsure。


Offline TaijiSawada

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Reply #74 on: January 18, 2020, 05:23:00 AM
Another idea and not particularly my opinion, but could it also be possible that Yoshiki won't say the actual reason bcs it would show him (Yoshiki) in a bad light? (I'm not sure if this is correct English, since I'm not a native speaker). Or maybe Yoshiki also is thinking that the reason was a bit childish and he doesn't want to talk about it anymore?

it might very well be that both reasons are one. Maybe a "childish reason that would also have put him in a bad light". What's certain is that almost everybody in their entourage knew that the break up was imminent, and Yoshiki spread the 'rumor' soon to be confirmed... I recall that paragraph from Taiji's autobiography where he speaks about his future without X in those terms... " My departure from X was inevitable. When I think about it now, wasn't everyone saying things like that when I wasn't around?"
« Last Edit: January 18, 2020, 07:19:12 AM by TaijiSawada »



Offline OmniaDei

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Reply #75 on: January 20, 2020, 02:31:54 AM
Another idea and not particularly my opinion, but could it also be possible that Yoshiki won't say the actual reason bcs it would show him (Yoshiki) in a bad light? (I'm not sure if this is correct English, since I'm not a native speaker). Or maybe Yoshiki also is thinking that the reason was a bit childish and he doesn't want to talk about it anymore?

it might very well be that both reasons are one. Maybe a "childish reason that would also have put him in a bad light". What's certain is that almost everybody in their entourage knew that the break up was imminent, and Yoshiki spread the 'rumor' soon to be confirmed... I recall that paragraph from Taiji's autobiography where he speaks about his future without X in those terms... " My departure from X was inevitable. When I think about it now, wasn't everyone saying things like that when I wasn't around?"

He only sort of retroactively realized he was destined to get fired, but when Yoshiki brought it up with him, Taiji's first reaction was still "wtf are you saying man," which means whatever he did to get fired, at that specific time he didn't realize that was a huge issue, so that might rule out some wild guesses out there...

I sort of get the feeling that the ultimate trigger to him getting fired must have happened really quickly, cuz timeline-wise, those larger issues like money, contracts or whatever could still wait, but when Yoshiki fired Taiji they literally was a few days away from the three-day Tokyo Dome concerts, and Yoshiki wasn't even thinking about this huge thing when he decided to let Taiji go. They had to literally negotiate (with staff) before Taiji at least had a chance to do the Tokyo Dome concerts to exit X properly. If it's about money & album copyright, Yoshiki could honestly just wait till Tokyo Dome's over before firing him. If the central issue wasn't an urgent thing, why such a hurry then?

Besides all kinds of crazy rumors out there (i'm pretty sure "underage groupie" wasn't the issue, even if there was any), there are two more likely hypotheses that were not brought up. 1. Taiji got too close with Loudness and when Yamashita quit, he probably promised to be involved with their next album without consulting Yoshiki. X members and staff were supposedly already unhappy with him making friends with Loudness. 2. Remember all X members spent half a year in LA under stressful recording conditions and lived in the same apartment for a while, and if drugs were involved at some point, it's not like Taiji could hide it from the others, and he would probably not be the only one doing it. However, it was likely that either he was talking too much once everybody got back to Japan, or he wasn't stopping the drugs when all others had stopped.



Offline TaijiSawada

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Reply #76 on: July 26, 2020, 08:07:20 AM
recently stumbled across this: https://ameblo.jp/xjapanxx/entry-10977113468.html

"In 1992, He left the band because, according to the official press release, he had “musical differences” with the group. However, in Taiji’s autobiography Uchuu o Kakeru Tomo e: Densetsu no Bando X no Sei to Shi he says that, in truth, he was asked to leave because he confronted Yoshiki about the substantial income gap between Yoshiki and the other band members"

that would also explain why Yoshiki was so secretive about it in "We are X"



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Reply #77 on: July 27, 2020, 01:20:32 AM
So, not that I can't imagine that conversation taking place, but why has it not been brought up before after all this time?

Taiji's book was released years ago and we've had people link translations. Taiji being fired was and always will be a huge part of X's history yet even Japanese fans have said the true reason why has been a mystery.

I just cant help but air on the side of caution for this. Things aren't adding up. If it's been here all this time what has the years long debate been for?



Offline TaijiSawada

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Reply #78 on: July 27, 2020, 08:26:50 PM
I think it has a lot more to do with the known fact that some fans just idolize Yoshiki regardless of what he does, so it might be a  tad too difficult to digest what Taiji said about the past management of the band. It's a matter of acceptance more than of a 'mysterious secret truth'