Hideto Matsumoto (松本 秀人 Matsumoto Hideto, December 13, 1964 - May 2, 1998), or hide (always spelled with lowercase h), was a Visual kei Japanese rock musician, one of the two guitarists of X Japan and founder, composer, singer and guitar of hide with Spread Beaver , as well as the American collaboration Zilch.
He died on May 2nd, 1998 of a mysterious self-inflicted strangulation (some cite impaired judgement by alcohol consumption as the reason). The famous hide museum in Yokosuka, Japan honours him. There you can see many of his costumes, guitars, pictures and other related things.
Musical Facts
hide led the then controversial indie act Saver Tiger in his late teens, writing songs for them and playing guitar, recordings of which have recently been released.
He followed Saver Tiger with a decade as songwriter and guitarist for the legendary X, later changed to X Japan to eliminate confusion with the Los Angeles punk band of the same name, with bandmates Yoshiki, Toshi, Pata, and Heath [Taiji played bass until 1992]. X Japan released multiple albums, including Blue Blood, Jealousy, and DAHLIA, and numerous popular singles ['Kurenai', 'Tears', 'Forever Love'].
He later released two solo albums, "hide your face" and "Psyence," on which he wrote and performed all the music, produced, and arranged.
A collaboration with American band members and all-English lyrics turned into Zilch, for which hide wrote the songs, played guitar, and sang vocals. Zilch released one album, 3.2.1., plus an album of remixes, Bastard Eyes, which contained mixes by well-known artists, including Lords of Acid, Marylin Manson, Ministry, and Nine Inch Nails. [This was the band hide was going to bring to the US. One of their songs made it into America on the soundtrack for 'Heavy Metal 2000'.]
A solo project called hide with Spread Beaver released a couple of singles and one posthumous album, Ja,Zoo, for which hide wrote the songs, played guitar, and sang vocals.
Various projects have been released after his death. Shortly after he died, a Hide tribute album called Spirits was released, which included Luna Sea's version of 'Scanner', Buck-Tick's version of 'Doubt', and Oblivion Dust's cover of 'Genkai Haretsu'. In March of 2000, an 18-track 'best of hide' was released called ~PSYCHOMMUNITY~. And the careers of shame, Zeppet Store, and Transtic Nerve are still going strong.
Generic Facts
His first guitar was a Gibson, which earned him the nickname "Gibson" in primary school because he always dragged the thing around and used it to play songs done by KISS, who were one of his major stated influences.
hide was also a certified beautician. He had attended cosmetology and fashion school, and was going to become a hairstylist when Yoshiki called him up to be in X. [This might explain his impeccable fashion sense...]
In 1988, hide along with the rest of X Japan starred in the American film 'Tokyo Pop ', starring Carrie Hamilton (Carrie Fisher's daughter), and the fellow members of X.
Early in his solo career, hide was in a movie called Seth et Holth, with contained a very tragic plot.
The cover art for hide's "hide your face" album featured a mask designed by H. R. Giger.
A girl with a terminal illness once wrote to the Make a Wish Foundation. She said her last wish was to meet hide. He visited her in the hospital. Shortly afterwards, the girl began to recover from her illness. hide has also been involved with various aids and other foundations, donating such things as marrow and blood.
In the summer of 2000, a "hide museum " opened. The museum apparently displays various items of hide's, from clothing to instruments. The building itself is shaped like one of his guitars. The museum is located in Yokosuka, Japan.
"Genkai Haretsu", one of hide's songs about an abusive, unhealthy relationship, is actually a phrase that he made up. It literally means "limiting explosion".
"Pink Spider " won the Japanese International Viewer's Choice Award at the MTV Video Music Awards in 1998. A clip of the video was broadcast at the awards.
Death
hide passed away May 2, 1998. He was drunk that morning. A girlfriend brought him to bed but when she went to check on him an hour later, he was not in his room. He had hanged himself with a ripped towel in his bathroom apartment, having tied the towel to the doorknob. He was barely alive when the ambulance arrived, but he later died in the hospital. Hideto was only 33. Four fans around the country attempted suicide when the news was made public, two of them succeeding.
Some say it was an accidental death, citing he was drunk. Others cite the similar suicide of INXS lead singer Michael Hutchence, who died from hanging in an attempt to gratify himself through autoerotic asphyxiation. Also, there was no suicide note, and he was known to do silly stunts to try to scare people and this could have been a stunt gone wrong. However, some fans would rather see it as a purposeful incident because it's better to think that he made the choice to end his life. They don't want to think that it was accidental. To some, it hurts more to think that he didn't want to die, that it was just an accident. As of today, the truth is not clear.
There is also speculation it wasn't suicide, some fans do believe it was a stress relieving technique. Not all fans agree. However, a few others have speculated that his song 'Pink Spider' was a sort of musical suicide note to his fans.
Over 25,000 people attended his funeral at a Buddhist temple in Tokyo on May 7, 1998. Streets in Tokyo were closed off, and police sent boats, helicopters, 100 officers, and 170 security guards to the temple to deal with the emotional crowd. By the end of the first day, 26 people had been hospitalised.
hide's death and funeral was announced by CNN and other TV channels around the world, despite his fame not reaching far outside of Japan.
The remaining members of X Japan performed 'Forever Love' at the funeral, and Yoshiki gave a speech -- he was crying and shaking so hard he could barely hold onto the paper it was written on. Below is an excerpt:
"I still can't believe it. His beautiful face is now sleeping. I've tried to wake him up again and again, but
still he sleeps...it was hide who always gave me good advice. Of course, he sometimes lost his way under various
pressures -- but he always called me anyway. We talked about X, life, fans... sometimes he was like my elder
brother, sometimes he was like a little brother... I think all his fans and friends are confused now... I myself
cannot express my feelings in words."
hide was generally a bouncy, spastic, party kind of guy, which just added to the confusion of why such a person would choose to escape his problems through suicide.
See Also
Discography
Albums
- PSCHOMMUNITY
- DICE
- SCANNER
- EYES LOVE YOU (T.T VERSION)
- D.O.D (DRINK OR DIE)
- CRIME OF BREEN St.
- DOUBT (REMIX VERSION)
- A STORY
- FROZEN BUG '93 (DIGGERS VERSION)
- T.T. GROOVE
- BLUE SKY COMPLEX
- OBLAAT (REMIX VERSION)
- TELL ME
- HONEY BLADE
- 50% & 50% (CRYSTAL LAKE VERSION)
- PSYCHOMMUNITY EXIT
- PSYENCE
- ERASE
- Genkai Haretsu
- DAMAGE
- LEMONed I Scream (CHOCO-CHIP version)
- Hi-Ho
- FLAME
- BEAUTY & STUPID
- OEDO COWBOYS
- BACTERIA
- GOOD-BYE
- Cafe Le Psyence
- LASSIE (demo master version)
- POSE
- MISERY (remix version)
- ATOMIC M.O.M
- SPREAD BEAVER
- ROCKET DIVE
- LEATHER FACE
- PINK SPIDER
- DOUBT '97 (MIXED LEMONed JELLY MIX)
- FISH SCRATCH FEVER
- Ever free
- BREEDING
- HURRY GO ROUND
- PINK CLOUD ASSEMBLY
- Electric Cucumber
- Inside the Pervert Mound
- Sold Some Attitude
- Space Monkey Punks From japan
- Swampsnake
- What's up Mr. Jones?
- Hey Man So Long
- Psyche
- Fuctrack#6
- Doubt
- Pose
- Easy Jesus
External Links
Last updated: 08-02-2005 01:24:25
