X Japan Greatest Hits

X Japan is a very popular Japanese band founded in 1982 .X Japan is finally here, it is so sad that now that they have been disbanded for six years they are gaining so many fans in America, the one place that never recognized their greatness. X Japan is of course much more talented than Led Zep, but they did affect Japan's music in the same revolutionary way. Well, I call them the best because they actually seem like the fathers of everyone else I love in Japanese music. They inspired and helped so many bands that even though those bands don't have the same image or sound, you can feel X in the air. I also call them the best because to be honest, they were made of the best. I am a guitarist myself and have seen many bands and listened to so much music, old and new, but I have never never come across any other guitarists with the same skill and flair as Hide and Pata!!!! And absolutely NO drummer can ever hold a candle to the mad drumming of Yoshiki. There are also few compostitions as great as Yoshiki's and Hide's songs done for X. I hope this band will continue to gain popularity in the west. It is never too late to appreciate music. X Japan was to Japan what Elvis, Michael Jackson, the Beatles and Madonna all rolled into one are to the United States. They were simply the most influential sound in Japan since the invention of the Taiko drum.

The person who died was hide (pronounced HEE-DAY), the lead guitarist (think Eric Clapton meets Slash). He was found hanging from a towel on a doorknob, but he certainly wasn't doing anything sick at the time. He was drunk (a problem with hide) at the time.

It's strange that a group that took power ballads to a place so far above anything you could imagine in America is represented here by almost all metal songs, but they could easily play hard and soft. Greatest Hits of X-japan:

1. X
2. Voiceless Screaming
3. Unfinished
4. The Last Song
5. Silent Jealousy
6. Scars
7. Sadistic Desire
8. Longing
9. Endless Rain
10. Dear Loser
11. A Live