Yoshiki
Encyclopedia : Y : YO : YOS : Yoshiki
Yoshiki is a Japanese musician-superstar. He is most renowned as a founding member of the legendary band X Japan, and considered to be one of the most influential drummers in rock history.
Biography
Yoshiki Hayashi was born in Tateyama, Chiba, Japan.He started playing the piano at the age of 4 by parental support. Later, his father bought him a drum set. When Yoshiki was ten years old his father committed suicide. This tragedy and the ensuing trauma threw Yoshiki completely into his music. He grew long hair and took up playing the drums to release his anger and pain. A great fan of Western bands, particularly KISS, while in middle school Yoshiki came to enlist childhood friend Toshimitsu Deyama as a member of his rock band X. A handful of other members came and went, but in 1985 the lineup finally emerged with Yoshiki on drums and piano, Toshi on vocals, Hideto Matsumoto (hide) on guitar, Tomoaki Ishizuka (Pata) on guitar, and Taiji Sawada on bass.
In 1986 Yoshiki's mother sold her business (kimono shop) to promote the band, whose music was too angry and aggressive for an existing label to support, so they started their own label called Extasy Records. By 1987 the band was taking off, with the hit singles Orgasm and I'll Kill You, and next year their first album Vanishing Vision. On September 1, 1989 the band's song Kurenai placed 5th in its first week on the Oricon Charts. They were the first indies band to reach the chart. In 1992, the band changed its name from X to X Japan. The reason was so that people wouldn't get them confused with bands named X in Australia and Los Angeles, USA. At this time Taiji (bass) left the band and was replaced with Heath. The band reached its final and best known line-up. The band's appearance became milder. They no longer had spiky hair by the time they held the legendary concert in Tokyo Dome in 1992, Hanmettsu ni Mukatte (On the Verge of Destruction), though most of the members retained their long hair. Around 1994, Yoshiki cut his long hair and kept it short. The only member who still retained a sense of psychedelic appearance was hide, being famous for his short pink-and-black hair and eccentric personality.
In 1997, Toshi decided to leave the band. In 22nd September 1997 the band announced their dissolution and had their last concert at the Tokyo Dome in December of that year. The concert, called The Last Live, was almost a replica of their earlier tour: Dahlia Tour, but with an unprecedented sad ambiance. After the band broke up Yoshiki and Toshi went their separate ways, and Yoshiki continued to run his company. X Japan left the stage as Japan's most influential and imitated band ever.
Even during the throes of X Japan's wild popularity, he managed to scout out and promote other Japanese rock bands of notable worth (e.g. LUNA SEA, Glay in around '92-'93, Dir en grey in around '98); therefore, with the role of "musician" so suddenly retired, Yoshiki was able to focus and hone his efforts as a producer. After the sudden death of hide on 2nd May 1998, Yoshiki fell into a great depression, and vowed never to play the drums again. He moved to Los Angeles and stayed out of the public for 2 years.
In 2000, he opened up Extasy Records International and Extasy Records North (a recording studio) up in Hollywood, California. He considered a memorial concert for hide to be done in 2002, but cancelled due to it being too 'commercial'. By then Yoshiki was at work once more, this time to finalize a private project called "Violet UK", on which he had been hatching for 10 years. "Violet UK" is scheduled to be released on the 22nd of September, 2005, the 8-year anniverary of the disbanding of X Japan.
2002 also saw Yoshiki's return to the pop music scene by joining the Japanese pop band globe (always in lowercase); which he later left, in 2005. Yoshiki has worked with many other famous musicians in various smaller projects such as the collaboration with Tetsuya Komuro to form the band V2 which only released one single. George Martin producer of The Beatles in the production of Eternal Melody in around '92; and Roger Taylor of Queen in production of the song Foreign Sand, and expressed his creativity through various avenues. He has shook hands with Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi during campaign season, who claims to be a huge fan of X Japan.
Fans of Yoshiki may remember him most from his heavy visual days with X Japan, when his extreme personal style and effeminate dress was almost a literal representation of the Japanese bishounen aesthetic. He was then an enigmatic man who was just as easily a demon tearing up his drums as a gentle, living doll seated before a crystal piano; and while nowadays Yoshiki prefers to stand behind the curtains and spends his time between Tokyo, Japan, and Los Angeles, California.
On June 20, 2006, Otakon announced that Yoshiki would be visiting the convention to do a panel and autograph session.
Discography
Studio Singles
- Amethyst (3 November 1993)
- Foreign Sand (1 June 1994)
- 'Sex and Religion' - VioletUK (December 29th 2005)
Studio albums
- Yoshiki Selection (12 November 1991)
- Eternal Melody I (21 April 1993)
- Yoshiki Selection II (4 November 1996)
- Eternal Melody - Yoshiki present (27 December 2001)
- Eternal Melody II (23 March 2005)
Compilations by Various Artists
- KISS My Ass (21 June 1994)
- Hide Tribute Spirits (1 May 1999)
- Ai Chikyu-haku Presents Love The Earth (30 March 2005)
For his discography with globe please see the page globe.
Multimedia
DVDs
External links
- http://www.yoshiki.net - Yoshiki's offical webpage
- [http://www.myspace.com/Yoshiki] - Yoshiki's Myspace account
- [http://www.myspace.com/VioletUK] - VioletUK's Myspace account
- [X Japan Fan Forum] - A forum for fans of X Japan and/or it's members
| X Japan |
|---|
| Yoshiki (drums and piano) - Toshi (vocals) - hide (guitar) - Pata (guitar) - Heath (bass) - Taiji (bass) |
| Albums |
| Vanishing Vision - Blue Blood - Jealousy - Art of Life - Dahlia |
| Singles |
| I'll Kill You (1985) | オルガスム (Orgasm) (1986) | 紅 (Kurenai) (1989) | Week End (1990) | Silent Jealousy (1991) | Standing Sex / Joker (1991) | Say Anything (1991) | Tears (1993) | Rusty Nail (1994) | Longing ～跡切れた Melody～ (1995) | Longing ～切望の夜～ (1995) | Forever Love (1996) | Crucify My Love (1996) | Dahlia (1996) | Scars (1996) | Forever Love (Last Mix) (1997) | The Last Song (1998) | Forever Love (hide Tribute) (1998) | Scars (hide Tribute) (1998) | Forever Love (All Versions) (2001) | |
| Compilations |
| X Singles (1993) | B.O.X ～Best of X～ (1996) | Ballad Collection (1997) | Singles ～Atlantic Years～ (1997) | Star Box (1999) | Perfect Best (1999) | X Japan Best ～Fan's Selection～ (2001) | Trance X (2002) | X Japan Complete II (2005) |
| Other related articles |
| Luna Sea - Glay - globe - Violet UK - Visual Kei - J-Rock |
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.