Forever Love (X Japan song)


"Forever Love" is the fourteenth single by Japanese heavy metal band X Japan, released on July 8, 1996.

Summary

The song was written and composed by Yoshiki. An acoustic version appears on their album Dahlia.
The single has been reissued several times. On December 18, 1997, following the announcement of the band's breakup, a different mixed version was released with a live version of "Longing" as a B-side. The original single was reissued again on July 22, 1998, after the death of guitarist hide. A single containing all previous versions, as well as a live recording of the song was released on July 11, 2001.
Also in 2001, the song was used as background music in several commercials for the Japanese Liberal Democratic Party. LDP member Junichiro Koizumi, at that time the country's Prime Minister has expressed fondness for X Japan's music. "Forever Love" appears on the soundtrack of the 1996 animated feature film X.
Inzargi, vocalist of Megamasso, covered "Forever Love" for his 2012 cover album. Awoi covered it for the compilation album Counteraction - V-Rock covered Visual Anime songs Compilation-, which was released on May 23, 2012 and features covers of songs by visual kei bands that were used in anime. Death metal band Gyze included a cover of the song on the Japanese edition of their 2019 album Asian Chaos.
In 2019, the city of Tateyama, Chiba decided to change the departure signal of trains at Tateyama Station to "Forever Love".

Alternative covers

Commercial performance

The single reached number 1 on the Oricon charts, and charted for 15 weeks. In 1996, with 509,920 copies sold was the 47th best-selling single of the year, being certified Platinum by RIAJ. The edition released in 1997 reached number 13, and charted for 11 weeks, while those in 1998 and 2001 reached number 18 and 19 respectively, and both charted for 4 weeks.

Track listing

Personnel