Poll: Who Has the Bigger Ego?

Yoshiki and Kisaki are known for having the one of the biggest egos in the jrock industry. So, I decided to let you, my precious cult followers, choose who had the bigger ego. It was a close race and the results were neck and neck.



Looks like the followers have spoken: X Japan's own leader/workaholic/Cinderella Yoshiki! *claps* Congratulations, Yoshiki! You have the biggest ego in Japan. Now...do you think that ego can contend with Kanye West's. haha

Rant: Top 5 Artist/Musicians That Annoy Me

5. Tokio Hotel
Before crossing over to North America to make a name for themselves, I enjoyed their music, but when they broke barriers, the madness in their rabid fandom became reality. I got to step in this reality when I saw them live in 2008 and, unfortunately, it has scarred me to never see them perform again. As I probably mentioned before, I thought Humanoid was a nice step up from the earlier work, but they gradually became less visually stimulating for me. Bill has this whole Adam Lambert style to him now and it feels like their egos have taken over everything they do. I'm not planning on see them live again for a loooooong time, but I'll still keep track of their new releases at a safe distance.

4. Yoshiki
You've seen my rants about the man, but I do have a little sympathy for him with this whole lawsuit nonsense. I just wish I could see X in Texas. C'mon! You could practically make a phrase out of that. We're the only state that has an "x" in our name, but it's okay. I just hope you guys actually go through your plan of touring at all, because you always disappoint us. Maybe new music in the future too?

3. Linkin Park
I fell so hard for you guys when you brought Hybrid Theory to stores. Your remixes were genius, your music videos were rememberable, and the follow up album Meteroa was just as great. When the hype for Minutes to Midnight was the big thing, I was so excited. I thought, "LP never fails! They only produce the best of the best!!", but I was wrong. It was good temporarily, but it was a weak album. It didn't destroy my love for them, but made a bit nervous about their experimentations. A Thousand Suns has been placed in the spotlight and it seems like fans are a little hesitant on how it will come out. The preview for "The Catalyst" has been released on YouTube with and without lyrics. I enjoyed the musical preview, but once the whole song was uploaded, it didn't immediately cling to me. So, I feel a bit torn: Do I want to trust that LP is still an amazing band or hold my tiny grudge of disappointment from their last album?

2. Dir en grey
Ah, Dir en grey...I fell in love with you about 5 years ago and things have been good. I loved your visual kei days all the way to casual style. It never was a shallow relationship between us, it was pure passion through your lyrics and harmonious melodies. Seeing you live and listening to your musical growth has made my love grow stronger for you. Your fandom has increased, your music has populated in more accessible places for your fans, and you've gain more experienced performing for your overseas fans. But somewhere last year, you lost your spark, your passion, everything myself (and perhaps other fans) truly enjoyed. The members seem bored with their music and lost that energy they've been delivering for the past decade. I was upset upon the news of them touring North America with Apocalyptica, because I want new music so much! I'm tired of the same old songs being performed, live DVD after live DVD of the same array of tracks and emotionless deliverance. I don't even expect a new PV, they've become mediocre lately anyway. I just request an album. Lock yourself up with some coffee, energy drinks, anything to get the creative juices flowing to produce some quality music!

1. Kisaki
You have surpassed Yoshiki with your musical plots and twists. You've constantly teased us with so-called "retirement" announcement, revival lives for Phanatasmagoria, spontaneous releases for the disbanded band, your love denial for Riku, and the birth of Rin consisting of former chariots members and Riku. I knew the retirement was a joke like when Jay-Z announced his and he ended up releasing a new album and such. But all the Phantasmagoria nonsense has become annoying. Either let it go or bring it back!

Rant: X Japan Revival

Last month, I had the pleasure of seeing the new possible PV of an old X Japan song by the name of "Rusty Nail". This was one of the first PVs I saw when I joined the jrock fandom and marvelled at the nostaglia of old school anime glory. It was entertaining and the song immediately stuck to me. It became one of my favorite X songs. So, I was curious how this new version would play out without their late guitarist hide taking over the world with giant animated eyeballs, being a little bit older, and having Sugizo on their team.



Honestly...I laughed! I thought it was ridiculous and Yoshiki is really trying hard to put X back on the charts. I kinda admire his effort, but in the end all I can do is shake my head at every decision he makes for X and how everyone just sighs and goes along with it.

Why do I keep ragging on poor old Yoshiki? Because it's fun and he really needs to stop sometimes. It reminds me how people complain about bands experimenting with their sound and wanting thme to go back. Well, this is what happens when a band stays the same. Sure, people are excited about a new release, but it's practically the same old material with a new package and possibly a new arrangement. Then there's all this hype about "taking the U.S. by storm" with tour plans. I'm sorry, I'm not gonna get excited until plans actually followed through and see them with my own eyes on stage.

I think if Yoshiki wants to get serious about resurrecting the X Japan hype, then new material would be greatly appreciated and I don't mean the same old stuff from back in the day being re-recorded in English either. If you feel a little uncomfortable or uncertain about the idea of putting out a full album with new songs then mix it up like Seikima-II and maybe nip it in the bud if you're not completely satistfied with the direction.

Rant: X Japan Hype

While watching a new video presented by the always truthful Hinakun, I realized a lot of things she said was true about one of the legendary founders of visual kei in the Japanese rock industry. When I got introduced into the jrock fandom, I never really noticed the hype on X Japan and that was the first jrock band I heard. I don't think it's a requirement to like them or any other iconic jrock band, but it's nice to know the foundation sometimes.

I never became a hardcore X fan, just a mere admirer of their impact, diversity, and style. I ended up liking hide's solo work more than X and I know a lot of new jrock fans claim to like them a lot even though they only know a few basic songs, only got into them because of hide but barely know anything else about the band, or they claim to like them because they were a major influence to Dir en grey. Otherwise, no one really cares about them except older fans and fans that like older jrock music.

Hearing Hinakun's words of Yoshiki putting so much hype into X Japan is sadly true and amusing. X Japan is no longer a big deal to the jrock fandom. Only wannabes claim the X fandom nowadays (and maybe a few old jrock music lovers) and it just seems that Yoshiki wants attention because he's a big time musician and producer that starts up exciting music projects and never delivers. X will never be the same because hide has been dead and gone for more than a decade and mainstream jrock has changed.

I kinda want to believe that Yoshiki just wants people to inflate his ego because of his musical history and that his biggest musical success is slowly fading into the background due to the new jrock fan generation. Honestly, I think he should stick to producing bands and focus more on making his projects come to life instead of building all this hype for nothing like he's done with nearly every X Japan revival world tour and his "super visual kei" band S.K.I.N. Let hide's legacy rest, let Toshi move on with his new life since the divorce, and stop pretending X will be the big thing because you have Sugizo as your new guitarist. It'll never be the same~