Headbanging is no good, says X Japan drummer after surgery

Jun 21, 2017 | News On Japan

Jun 21, 2017 (9news) - The frenzied drummer who is the force behind rockers X Japan declared headbanging to be "no good" on Tuesday as he sported a neck brace at his first press conference since emergency surgery.

Yoshiki, who is known for such intense drumming that he sometimes collapses on stage, shocked fans last month when he announced he would need an urgent operation to implant an artificial cervical disc.

On Tuesday Yoshiki appeared at a Tokyo press conference in sunglasses, black leather outfit -- and the neck brace.

"I've thought about it and I have to say that headbanging is no good," he said, drawing laughter from fans.

"I may sound weird saying it at this point."

But the career rocker immediately appeared to walk back his no-banging pledge.

"I may end up headbanging again, unless there is a law banning it."

The frail 51-year-old -- whose group was one of the biggest acts in Japanese music history with fanatical fan followings in the 1980s and 1990s -- cancelled all his immediate activities before and after the operation at a hospital in Los Angeles, where he lives.

A neurosurgeon in Japan had told the rocker he had such severe neck damage that it would have forced a professional rugby player to retire, his management said in May.

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