History Music / TaijiSawada

* {{Unperson}}: He was this for ''years'' (from 1992 until 1998) to both Yoshiki and the official history of Music/XJapan, though hide and Pata had both maintained their personal friendships with him quietly to some degree. Averted with his 2010 return as a guest bassist for X Japan and with his death, with his being considered the "seventh member," though he ''still'' doesn't get half of the tribute space and attention that hide does.

Taiji Sawada (known by his given name/stage name Taiji) was a Japanese rock musician who played bass guitar and guitar, as well as being a prolific songwriter. Having been in a number of famous Japanese rock and metal bands, he was best known for his work with Music/XJapan and with Music/{{Loudness}}. While in Music/XJapan, he co-wrote several songs, developed Toshi's "french fries" mohawk hair style, and heavily contributed otherwise toward the band's musical skill and lyrical and stylistic focus.

* NeverSuicide: Started out as a ConspiracyTheory, but gained credibility with the testimony of Taiji's fiancee that he had no neck wounds, with the information about Kitami's and Shinso's conduct around him in his last days and after his death that has gotten out, and with quite a few people, including other artists he knew, providing information that he was not suicidal at the time - but was a victim of financial fraud, feeling angry and tired of his situation, and was worried about his future. While his death may still have been suicide (and a new legal investigation will be required to verify the truth once and for all) it is ''definitely'' possible he was a victim of PoliceBrutality or homicide in custody.

Taiji Sawada (known by his given name/stage name Taiji) was a Japanese rock musician who played bass guitar and guitar, as well as being a prolific songwriter. Having been in a number of famous Japanese rock and metal bands, he was best known for his work with XJapan and with Music/{{Loudness}}. While in XJapan, he co-wrote several songs, developed Toshi's "french fries" mohawk hair style, and heavily contributed otherwise toward the band's musical skill and lyrical and stylistic focus.

He left XJapan in 1992 due to [[CreativeDifferences musical differences]] and a fight with [[Music/YoshikiHayashi Yoshiki]], and proceeded to play with {{Music/Loudness}}, leave Loudness to form his own off-and-on band D.T.R., and experienced a major CreatorBreakdown due to a variety of issues he'd struggled with throughout his life. He slowly returned from his CreatorBreakdown to play with the soon-to-be-disbanded D.T.R., Otokaze, Kings, and with Music/TheKillingRedAddiction and TAIJI WITH HEAVEN'S.

In July 2010, Taiji rejoined XJapan as a bassist, playing on stage at the Yokohama Nissan Stadium reunion live, though he did not join XJapan for the North American tour. He had also been a model and jewelry designer for Arizona Freedom, a Japanese rock couture house, and also played with Loudness at the 2009 and 2010 memorial concerts for Munetaka Higuchi. He had planned for a return to the rock scene with Taiji and Shu Project...

* DoubleEntendre: "Desperate Angel" for XJapan.

* HopeSpot: 2009 and 2010. He'd recovered from life-threatening injuries, by all accounts was beginning to get toward FunctionalAddict territory if not on the wagon, he was performing with major bands including his first gig outside of Japan in LA in 2009 and returning to play with XJapan in 2010. He'd formed a new band, was active in creating fashion and jewelry, seemed to be working his way back up from nothing into stardom. Then a BlackWidow came along...

* SurvivorGuilt: Taiji was hit especially hard by the death of [[Music/HidetoMatsumoto hide]] who was one of his closest friends. He also played in {{Loudness}} and was a friend of late drummer, Music/MunetakaHiguchi, who died of cancer November 30, 2008 - which led to his playing at both the 2009 and 2010 Munetaka Higuchi memorial shows.

Taiji Sawada (known by his given name/stage name Taiji) was a Japanese rock musician who played bass guitar and guitar, as well as being a prolific songwriter. Having been in a number of famous Japanese rock and metal bands, he was best known for his work with XJapan and with {{Loudness}}. While in XJapan, he co-wrote several songs, developed Toshi's "french fries" mohawk hair style, and heavily contributed otherwise toward the band's musical skill and lyrical and stylistic focus.

In 2009, he dissolved D.T.R., firing all but one of his bandmates claiming a copyright issue, and claiming that he was going to reform D.T.R. as Death To Rive. He played with The Killing Red Addiction (members Music/DynamiteTommy [v], Kenzi [d], Taiji [b], Tatsu [g]), played with his solo act "TAIJI WITH HEAVEN'S," which became Taiji Sawada Project, then Taiji and Shu Project (TSP) (members Taiji [b], Shu [g], Takanari [d] who was replaced with Hina from Crazy Danger Mile on drums) and as a session musician with other bands including a return to {{Loudness}} for the Munetaka Higuchi memorial shows in 2009 and 2010.

He is the second member of the original Music/XJapan and the third formation of {{Loudness}} each to die.

* ArtisticStimulation: Taiji was a heavy user of alcohol, weed, and stimulants. This reflected a lot in his music...

In 2009, he dissolved D.T.R., firing all but one of his bandmates claiming a copyright issue, and claiming that he was going to reform D.T.R. as Death To Rive. He played with The Killing Red Addiction (members DynamiteTommy [v], Kenzi [d], Taiji [b], Tatsu [g]), played with his solo act "TAIJI WITH HEAVEN'S," which became Taiji Sawada Project, then Taiji and Shu Project (TSP) (members Taiji [b], Shu [g], Takanari [d] who was replaced with Hina from Crazy Danger Mile on drums) and as a session musician with other bands including a return to {{Loudness}} for the Munetaka Higuchi memorial shows in 2009 and 2010.

* HorribleHistoryMetal: His solo magnum opus for D.T.R. ''Voices Of The Dead,'' opens with a sample of a news report on the First GulfWar, overlaid with a sample of a baby screaming. It turns into a fusion of Western and metal bemoaning the tragedy of war and from the perspective of those killed in it.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: His entire life had so much WhatCouldHaveBeen that this almost deserves its own page, but here's a few:
** What if he had never been introduced to stimulants? Had he never gotten involved with the amphetamine-class drugs (or had but had been able to remain a FunctionalAddict) he likely would have had a much better life. He likely would never have spent all of his money and royalties from Music/XJapan and Music/{{Loudness}}, he wouldn't have had the stroke/the epilepsy it uncovered to be far worse, his career and home life probably would have been far more stable, and even the situation leading to his death probably would have been averted.
** What if he'd never gotten kicked out of Music/XJapan or Music/{{Loudness}}? Again, he would have had a far more stable career and income, and both bands would have produced even better bodies of work than they already did. If you can imagine Taiji's bassline on, say, Dahlia instead of Heath's, you can just imagine how epic this would have been.
** What if on their departure from Music/{{Loudness}} he and Music/MunetakaHiguchi had formed their own thrash band, picking up guitarists and a singer? Had he gone this direction rather than the far more experimental (and only much later appreciated) D.T.R., they would have likely been successful even with metal going out of style being heavy drum and bass ThrashMetal.
** Much of D.T.R's music wouldn't have been out of place in a SpaceWestern - and since the genre was being made in TheNineties, it's just another odd thing that he and YokoKanno, for example, never worked together. (If you want to imagine how Anime/CowboyBebop's soundtrack could have been ''even more'' badass...)
** What if he had learned to adapt D.T.R.'s sound a bit more, and/or worked with another band until its style of metal rode the PopularityPolynomial back up in the late 2000s?
** What if he *had* gotten valid, legitimate help for his addictions and illnesses and stuck with it at least enough to remain the FunctionalAddict and not well but alive and surviving?
** What if Music/XJapan had let him stay in 2010, either as sole bassist or in becoming a double bass band along with Heath?
** What if he had told Toshi about Shinso/Shinsho in early 2011? Probably one of the saddest of these, as Toshi, from his own experience with a ScamReligion, probably would have given him the information that would have saved what was left of his money and his life - that he needed to get away from the guru, lawyer up to break the contracts etcetera, and get real help.
** What if he had just gone blank instead of fighting/having an overt seizure on the plane?
** What if the arresting officers had noticed his unwell state and had him sent to a place with valid neuropsychiatric care outside of Saipan and banned Kitami or Shinso from any contact with him until the situation had been sorted out?
** What if he ''had'' at some point before he died gotten a competent lawyer who had immediately bailed him out of jail and gotten him out of Saipan?
** What if someone had called BS on Shinso's requisitioning the body and had demanded an autopsy?

* OutlivedItsCreator: TSP as a band, which Shu kept ongoing as a memorial and as an act in and of its own right until announcing disbandment in October 2013 but agreeing to play shows ongoing into February 2014.

* CreatorBreakdown: Taiji went from being one of the most successful and acclaimed rock musicians in Japan to, at one point, being [[OffTheWagon addicted]], divorced, homeless, and [[TheMentallyDisturbed severely depressed]]. He got into fights while living on the streets, suffering from [[ScarsAreForever a broken jaw and other facial injuries]] that gave him a speech impediment and permanently changed his appearance. Then, [[Music/HidetoMatsumoto hide]], who had been one of his closest friends, died in 1998, adding grief and SurvivorGuilt to his [[DespairEventHorizon depression]].
** The story of his final days is also CreatorBreakdown - albeit one mostly allowed and imposed from the outside. First he joined Shinso's religion for help getting clean/coming to terms with himself and his problems. Unfortunately, Shinso provided very little meaningful mental health help and did introduce him to Kitami Terumi, and pressured Taiji to bring on Kitami as his manager and keep her as such. The trips to Saipan and the draining of what little remaining cash Taiji had from his 2010 gig with X Japan and his other ventures ensued - as did Taiji being told to keep everything away from the people who could have helped him. By the time he had realized what was going on, he was likely using methamphetamine and abusing alcohol again (in his final photos, his arms showed evidence of injection), was in a desperate financial and social situation, and in a horrible enough place mentally to think ViolenceIsTheOnlyOption - on an airplane, no less - and got into a fight with Kitami on the flight, and things only got much worse from there...

* MoneyDearBoy: Some of his fans think that was why he rejoined Music/XJapan.

He is the second member of the original XJapan and the third formation of {{Loudness}} each to die.

He left XJapan in 1992 due to musical differences and a fight with [[Music/YoshikiHayashi Yoshiki]], and proceeded to play with {{Music/Loudness}}, leave Loudness to form his own off-and-on band D.T.R., and experienced a major CreatorBreakdown due to a variety of issues he'd struggled with throughout his life. He slowly returned from his CreatorBreakdown to play with the soon-to-be-disbanded D.T.R., Otokaze, Kings, and with Music/TheKillingRedAddiction and TAIJI WITH HEAVEN'S.

Taiji was (and is) considered in some circles to be among the world's top rock bass players. Especially skilled at slapping and tapping, he was credited with teaching the late XJapan and solo guitarist [[Music/HidetoMatsumoto hide]] his own guitar tapping technique back when they played together.

In 2011, he got into a fight with his manager on a flight and was arrested for causing a disturbance on a flight. He was alleged to have [[DrivenToSuicide committed suicide by hanging]] in custody July 17, 2011, but this cause of death is ''highly'' disputed due to witness testimony claiming that he had no neck wounds or bruises. There is currently pressure to reopen a homicide investigation into his death and the suspicious circumstances (including his manager having been embezzling money from him and allegedly trying to scam his friends for money as he was dying, and his "spiritual advisor" who was his manager's friend pressing for no autopsy and a hurried cremation of his body against his own family's wishes) surrounding it.

* OutlivedItsCreator: TSP as a band, which Shu kept ongoing as a memorial and as an act in and of its own right until October 2013.

* {{Irony}} One of the songs [[HarsherInHindsight he wrote for]] Music/{{Loudness}} was called "BlackWidow."

** [[{{Irony}} One of the songs]] [[HarsherInHindsight he wrote for]] {{Loudness}} was called BlackWidow and was ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin lyrically.

* IgnoredEpiphany: One of the saddest cases ever. In his final communication to his apprentice and friend, he bemoaned the situation he was in financially, mentioned being in fear for his life, and was frustrated with Kitami for it all. Unfortunately, he apparently couldn't put it together enough to realize he needed to call one of his friends for immediate help, refuse to get on the plane, and get a lawyer - and still apparently thought he could handle it himself, which put him in the situation that led to his death. It's an even more sad situation because ''had'' he contacted, say, Yoshiki or Toshi with "I'm in trouble, get me out of this place now," he likely would be alive today.

* NeoclassicalPunkZydecoRockabilly: Not as obviously, extremely so as hide's work, but D.T.R. is what happens when you fuse SpaceWestern, WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs, blues rock, and metal (or take metal out of the equation for an acoustic western sounding album, which was what the acoustic album is) with the occasional ProtestSong. Much of D.T.R's music wouldn't have been out of place in a SpaceWestern - and since the genre was being made in TheNineties, it's just another odd thing that he and YokoKanno, for example, never worked together. (If you want to imagine how Anime/CowboyBebop's soundtrack could have been ''even more'' badass...)