Musically speaking, when most people think SAW they probably can really only talk about “Hello Zepp” (if anything). Zepp is the song that beings to play as the original film’s twist is revealed. It’s a great piece and remixes have been made for each sequel (and Jigsaw opens with a melancholy version before breaking into a more intense chase-scene theme).
But, there are two other songs I strongly associate with these series and both are, funnily enough, Japanese metal tracks. While I could go on about “Hageshisa to Kono Mune no Naka de Karamitsuita Shakunetsu no Yami” by DIR EN GREY, that song was a thing already that just featured in SAW 3D.
“I.V.” is a different piece and has some profound meaning for me.
October 2007 — I learn of a new Japanese rock (“JRock”) group. They’re one of the biggest of all time in Japan, but I’m learning of them for the first time after mostly listening to bands featured in anime.
This group X JAPAN combines speed metal w./ classical music vibes and also leans heavy on piano driven ballads (the frontman and basically sole creative force, Yoshiki Hayashi, plays drums and piano and also writes orchestral pieces, including several Golden Globes themes).
I hear “Kurenai” and fall in love immediately. I torrent (I did just admit that, yes) all of their music. From “Kurenai” to “Tears” to “Art of Life” to “Drain”, I’m enamored and curious to see what this band does now.
Oh… they broke up in the late 90s after some insane stories including Japanese Christian cults, the heart-breaking suicide of their guitarist, and more.
So I’m bummed! I just heard of them but they’re done.
And so of course a week later I learn they’ve reunited and their first new song?
That new song is going to be in the new SAW movie.
By 2007 my interest in the SAW franchise was far beyond the realm of reason and regardless of quality, I’d see the movies.
SAW IV would also be my first theatrical SAW experience, so hearing a new track from this band would be icing on the cake!
Needless to say, my dad hauled my 16 year-old (and my pal, Hal’s) ass out of the theater when the credits rolled so I couldn’t listen to this new song.
Low key devastated, I was. All I heard was the eery piano as we walked out of the theater.
But, I was not deterred. I went to a Newbury Comics to find the SAW IV soundtrack!
I found it.
But the song wasn’t on the soundtrack.
I gave up for a bit, but by chance in late January of 2008 learned the song had appeared on iTunes. I snatched it up.
“I.V.” is not like many of X’s past songs. It lacks the speed and fury of Blue Blood and Jealousy-era tracks. It’s like the divisive, Dahlia-era track “Drain” — more of a harder-edged more straightforward rock song, English lyrics, etc.
The guitar, especially doesn’t feel like the work of deceased guitarist Hide. But in fact, a lot of it is!? I still don’t know if this is true or just some debunked apocrypha but the guitar in the song is allegedly based on pieces Hide wrote.
Personally, I loved (and still love) the song. Much can be said about X JAPAN’s multiple false starts in the years since reuniting:
- They’ve been promising an album since 2010. In fact, the group did a North American tour in late 2010, including a set at Lollapalooza.
- Said album was meant to come out in 2011, with lead single “Jade” even having a release date set in early 2011. The Earthquake delayed the release of “Jade”, and the album.
- The band hyped a show at Madison Square Garden in 2014 (I went!) and even played some new music unavailable to the masses, including a track called “Beneath the Skin”.
- In 2015 another song was released — one being played live since 2010. “Born to Be Free”. We learned a 2016 release was planned alongside the We Are X documentary and a Wembley show… until more tragedy struck and the show was delayed a year… there is still no album).
- X is playing a set at Coachella this year, with no information on this album since.
And all of this is so frustrating. And frankly, painful.
X JAPAN is a band focused almost entirely on the aforementioned Yoshiki’s ego. He started playing drums after his father committed suicide when he was young. His mantra is to combine the beauty and sorrow of some classical music with the ferocity and rebellious attitude of rock and metal music.
He is a perfectionist (The 27-minute long “Art of Life” took a year to record as Yoshiki demanded vocalist Toshi sing it in English… a language Toshi did not speak at the time). He also composes all of the music. He also is at risk of dying from over-exertion — he’s had multiple surgeries for spine issues but still plays the drums like someone trying to destroy the kit they’re playing. He is, in a lot of ways, an unaware, self-destructive force.
And the pain comes through quite clearly in X’s lyrics — ”I.V.” especially.
Lyrically the song is about pain and needing help. Imagery of IV’s run throughout.
I don’t know if my passion for X JAPAN would’ve been quite as strong had the lyrics not resonated so much with 16-year-old me.
You see, if you know me, you know I talk a lot about my mental health (or lack thereof?). “I.V.” released shortly before I entered McLean’s Hospital for help with a serious bout of social anxiety and depression — I had stopped going to school for about a month, etc. I was afraid of people around me and, on an emotional level, in so much crippling pain.
When I heard the song I knew more about Hide’s suicide than Yoshiki’s health — but it’s clear the song speaks to both. This is, after all, one of the first tracks from the group after Hide’s death.
Yoshiki is outspoken that he thinks suicide is selfish. He’s lost three people to it, and while I may not like this viewpoint I understand that to lose so many people to the same cause of death is world shattering. This song seems like him yearning so much for those lost in his life, while also fitting in with the physical anguish he may feel from repeated surgery and treatment for his body.
So there is a deep connection to the lyrics.
There’s also the silly “These lyrics also kinda work for a SAW movie huh?” elements. The music video included at the top, which is the official video, opens with a scene from SAW IV.
Jigsaw, the main character of the franchise, is dead at the end of SAW III. He had impromptu surgery to help with his tumor, was hooked up to monitors, etc. trying to stay alive. Of course, his head gets sawed off by an angry father put through one of Jigsaw’s gauntlets.
In SAW IV we see flashbacks, we know Jigsaw is dead. The film starts with his autopsy. But, his presence is felt — we learn more about what made the villain tick. His anger over the loss of his child, his attempted suicide, his cancer diagnosis. This is a tormented, calculating man. He’s also a pretty fucked up terrible human as his coping is testing people’s will to live but hey.
The connection is clear, at least to me. SAW is a series about pain and suffering and this is a very good song about pain and suffering, granted not in the same vindictive fashion.
But it’s not just the “super apt for a SAW movie” vibe or the elements that I relate to that make this song so powerful to me.
It’s the memory I’ve attached to it.
I mentioned how, in early 2008, I went to hospital for help with my mental health. One recurring session was Music Therapy. While I was there we only did the variety of Music Therapy where we listen to music and try to process the emotions it makes us feel. In two cases we shared a song of our own and the group would talk about it. I still remember the song I did during the two session we did this.
“In this Twilight” by Nine Inch Nails
and oh — what’s that?
“I.V.” by X JAPAN.
Playing it to the group was an extremely bizarre experience for me. People liked it, which with a disclaimer “this is a Japanese band” my anxious 16-year-old self was not expecting — I was conditioned for that to immediately make the reception negative.
People in the group took their own meaning from the song but they found it a powerful song — noting how the power chord fueled verses brought an intensity and unease to the situation that made them relate to the feeling of pain and suffering (self-inflicted or otherwise). The softer, more uplifting chorus sections spoke to that hope and desire to feel connection and understood. I just remember how powerful an experience sharing the song was.
And maybe the story ended there… except it didn’t.
Rock Band 2 launched with a promise — the 84 tracks we’d get would be supplemented with 20 extra tracks post-launch — for free!
Rumors ran wild — would these be more big-name tracks, or just a mix of local Boston acts, and Harmonix groups? The answer was really the latter with a bit of lesser known acts… and some Japanese band and oh — what’s that?
“I.V.” by X JAPAN.
I joked once how I requested this song about 1000 times on rockband.com/request. “Joke” is a stretch, I did actually request it a ton my Junior/Senior years of highschool and chance + happenstance made it happen, I guess.
Anyways, “I.V.” by X JAPAN is a song with a special place in my heart.
