MusicGuest UserOctober 13, 2022japanese, subculture, original, culture, japan, music, electronic, rock, punk, punk culture, tokyo dome

How Japan’s Craziest Rock Band Changed the Country

MusicGuest UserOctober 13, 2022japanese, subculture, original, culture, japan, music, electronic, rock, punk, punk culture, tokyo dome

This collaborative post between GATA and Sabukaru is part of an ongoing series between both magazines to explore common grounds.

With the modern resurgence of emo, it’s surprising that visual kei isn’t getting as much traction. To those unfamiliar with this genre, visual kei was an alternative music genre heavily associated with baroque fashion, punk hairstyles, androgyny, and vampy makeup looks, and it dominated Japan for a few decades, as a response to glam rock and punk. The pioneers of visual kei are considered to be X Japan, a band that forever left a mark on the country.

Founded in 1982, X Japan was a band constituted of five eclectic men. They were indie for a long time, as this group was too fierce and flamboyant to be categorized as punk, and too unconventional to be marketed as pop. They were extreme and destructive, to say the least, but they challenged conservative and outdated ways.

X Japan’s success was immense. Around 1988, the band’s name was topping the Oricon charts, and sold-out tours lined up one after the other. This rise to fame led to many tragedies, however: after 15 years of working together, X Japan disbanded, and the vocalist Toshi later claimed that he had enough of the abuse and swindling behind closed doors, but others cite that he was brainwashed by the cult Home of Heart, convincing him that his music was a source of evil for a decade.

A year after the disbandment, the remaining members and fans globally were devastated by the suicide of the lead guitarist Hide. There was a massively publicized funeral, which is considered the biggest funeral in Japan, but a string of similar deaths following the loss of Hide, alarming the entire nation.

The chaos that wrapped X Japan dissipated over time, but they were nonetheless a milestone in rock globally and in Japanese culture. They rebanded in 2007 and now opt for a toned-down glam-rock look, but their influence is inescapable; X Japan is often cited as the Nirvana of the Nippon archipelagos. Among crazy collaborations, the Emperor of Japan was also a fan and commissioned a composition.