X - "Visual Shock Vol. 2"

X - "Visual Shock Vol. 2"

This is rather long... almost an hour, but it's worth watching!

The majority of what is shown here is concert footage (taken from various performances). It also shows them walking around/hanging out on the streets of New York, as well as "Yoshiki in Paris". It would have been fun to experience that in person! During the New York part, a few people actually stop dead in their tracks. They get a lot stares and "WTF" looks... and at the end , one guy actually lifts up his sunglasses! haha! No dude, you are not looking at a pretty Japanese chick walking by... you're looking at a pretty Japanese dude. There are also random sequences (like the opening scene) that occur a few times throughout all of this, that serve as fillers? Or maybe it's supposed to add to the "visual shock" ? It's a bit weird... but interesting. Towards the end, they show the music video for "Endless Rain", and it ends with more concert/fan footage behind the ending credits, as well as a thank you message to the fans.

A little background information for those who have zero knowledge about this band

X = X Japan. They changed their name to X Japan in 1992. This was made (or released) in 1989, so they were still under the name X.

If you saw a picture of them without hearing their music first, you would probably think they sounded like Poison or Enuff Z'Nuff (or any of the other U.S. glam/hair metal bands... nope! They started out as a speed metal band... but later progressed into a rock band emphasizing on ballads. Their outer appearance/look does not match their music. Guys with big hair... and I mean BIG!!! Makeup galore... in glammed out clothing... playing speed metal. Ha! That makes for some interesting stuff!

They achieved their breakthrough success in 1989 with the release of their second album, Blue Blood.

They're massively f*cking huge in Japan (my brother gave his approval of this statement). In Japan, they're what The Beatles, U2, and The Rolling Stones are to the West, combined. They were at their hugest peak during the mid-90s. However, they are still massively important/popular over there.

SO massively huge that drummer Yoshiki had to move to the States because he became too huge/popular. He couldn't go anywhere or do anything without being swarmed by a sea of fans. Yoshiki is the head honcho, by the way. He's their songwriter and does almost all of the interviews.

hide and Taiji are no longer with us. R.I.P. (hide died in 1998 and Taiji died in 2011.)

Going back to their hugeness and massive popularity, hide's death practically shut Japan down for a while. Seriously. Fans mourned outside of the gates for miles. MILES! Thousands of fans gathered on the streets and sidewalks... if not more. I've seen stuff on youtube... it's massively depressing. My brother is the huge X / X Japan fan around here, but watching all of that still gave me the sniffles. Sad, sad, stuff, man. Sad, sad, stuff. Think of Kurt Cobain's death + John Lennon's death times 50. Maybe even more. 

Although hide is deceased, the band still considers him a member and introduces him at every concert. The group also goes as far as playing audio/video of his voice/guitar for some of the songs. Also, I believe they've even used a hide hologram? That's massively rad... yet massively eerie.

That concludes the brief X / X Japan 101 lesson. Class is dismissed.

We can all thank my brother, Nick, for the lesson... haha!

Peace, Love, & Music,

~Lizzy Lepp