X Japan discography

X was one of the bands that got me into Japanese music and really taught me to love music in general. Blue Blood was one of the first albums I ever imported and brand new to boot. This was after I had already played a CD-R copy to death over a thousand times, then got a legit copy and played it a thousand times more.

Still have it and kept it in pristine condition. Blue Blood was the most balanced. Joker was the most unusual and unpredictable, and Vanishing Vision was the polar opposite of Dahlia.

Speaking of Vanishing Vision, since it's the first, it was a strong debut. It took me longer to appreciate at as I was somewhat spoiled by the explicit classic influences in Dahlia, but the power ballad Alive is definitely the most underrated among X's ballads, period. In being the polar opposite of Dahlia, it is dark and aggressive while Dahlia is melodic and lighter. I think Phantom of Guilt could've been influenced by songs like Baby Blue or I'm in a Coma by Dead End, who were contemporaries and already signed before X got this album off the ground, although X was already releasing demos before that.

Blue Blood was the most balanced in that it covered the lighter songs as well as it did the heavy ones. There were poppier songs like Celebration and Easy Fight Rambling, then you have the more epic serious tracks like Rose of Pain.

Jealousy was just unpredictable in the song choices and track list. Love Replica is one of the most unusual X tracks, but Hide (the late guitarist) who composed it was known for being quite 'out there'. This one also had more tracks by the other members, Pata and Heath, which are straight up rock 'n roll like Desperate Angel. I certainly found it to be pretty addictive. In X Japan fanbases, the ones that get the most adoration are either Toshi, Yoshiki and Hide, but the later two being the most admired since they were the primary writers and of the most popular songs specifically. But really it's not much worse IMHO than Blue Blood.

Dahlia is often criticized for being too light to begin with because of the emphasis on ballads. But I was a sucker for them without a doubt. Crucify My Love was the song that really made me love X right after Kurenai. But the heavier tracks like Scars and Drain were very well done.

As for the singles, Art of Life was definitely amazing, though like most listeners I was not fond of the piano solo. Standing Sex was an enjoyable track that wasn't on any of the albums that sounded like Jealousy material ala Miscast and Stab Me in the Back. I do like the single version of Weekend better than the album version on Blue Blood. The Last Song is on par with the other ballads on Dahlia, though not really better or worse.