One of the band's oldest songs, they have been performing "Kurenai" since 1985, and several versions have been released, most significantly as their major-label debut single on September 1, 1989.

[2][3] The lyrics are entirely in Japanese, while the next version, released on their April 1988 debut album Vanishing Vision, is entirely in English and begins with an intro played by hide on guitar.

It is played at nearly all of their concerts, often accompanied by the stage being lit in red light and the band pausing during the last third in order to let the audience sing the chorus on their own.

[1] A new English-language version of "Kurenai" was reportedly recorded for X Japan's unreleased studio album,[6] before it was decided to create entirely new material instead.

The second was directed by Nathan Fox and mainly shot as the band performed live on top of the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, California in January 2010,[7] it has the sound of the audience added to the audio.

[12][13] Japanese voice actress Satsumi Matsuda released a version of the song for the 2014 album THE IDOLM@STER CINDERELLA MASTER Passion jewelries!

[14] Japanese metal band Esprit D'Air released a cover version of the song as a single in 2021, and was accompanied by a motion graphics video along with it.

It features a slideshow of the manga's artwork set to a medley of X Japan's "Silent Jealousy", "Kurenai" and "Endless Rain" and a music video for the song "X" directed by Shigeyuki Hayashi.