Hide (musician)

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hide
hide, with his trademark pink hair
Background information
Birth name	Hideto Matsumoto
Born	December 13, 1964
Origin	Yokosuka, Japan
Died	May 2, 1998 (aged 33) Tokyo, Japan
Genre(s)	Alternative rock
Occupation(s)	Singer, songwriter, musician
Instrument(s)	Guitar
Years active	1980–1998
Label(s)	Sony
Associated acts	X Japan, Hide with Spread Beaver, Zilch, Saver Tiger
Website	www.hide-city.com

Hideto Matsumoto (松本 秀人, Matsumoto Hideto^?, December 13, 1964–May 2, 1998), more commonly known by his stage name hide (pronounced /hi.de/) ^[1][2], was a popular Japanese musician.

Born in Yokosuka, he first achieved stardom as a guitarist in the influential Japanese group X Japan, and also took part in the American collaboration Zilch. He rose to his highest level of popularity as a solo artist, providing his own vocals in addition to songwriting and playing guitar. He also organized and creatively managed the group Hide with Spread Beaver.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Early years (1964–1984) 1.2 X Japan (1987–1997) 1.3 Solo career (1993–1998) 2 Death 3 Songwriting 4 Trivia 5 Discography 5.1 Albums 5.1.1 Compilations 5.2 Singles 6 Filmography 7 References 8 External links

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early years (1964–1984)

Hideto Matsumoto was born in St Joseph's Hospital, Midorigaoka, Yokosuka. On April 1, 1968, he started kindergarten, studying English for three years, followed by enrolment in Yokosuka Tokiwa Junior High School.

Long before hide's eccentric hair, wild makeup or garments were known, hide was known as a shy bookworm who had trouble interacting well with others at school. Hide later often mentioned that his obesity severely affected his confidence.

However, everything changed when he was first exposed to rock n' roll at the age of fifteen. It was at a friend's house in 1979 when he first heard Alive by Kiss; he later cited Kiss as a major influence on his music. The band's wild visual aesthetics and commanding sound both shocked and exhilarated young hide.

In the same year his grandmother bought him a Gibson Les Paul DX. In junior high school, hide was known as "Gibson", as he was always seen playing Kiss songs on his guitar.^[3]

On March 11, 1980, hide graduated from Tokiwa Junior High School. He went on to study in Zushi Kaisei Senior High School (Zushi, Kanagawa), where he learned kendo and entered the school's brass band. He had originally wanted to play the trumpet, but was assigned the clarinet. He quit the band soon, and concentrated on guitar playing.^[3] Hide had hopes of starting a rock band in high school and was devastated when he had learned that the school banned guitar. Desperate, hide went to Yokosuka's Live House Rock City to play live shows.

In 1981, he formed the independent band Saver Tiger. In addition to being the guitarist, he was also the songwriter. A year after their founding, they started playing shows at live houses in Yokosuka, such as Rock Night.

In April 1983 he started attending cosmetology and fashion school at the Hollywood Beauty Salon in present-day Roppongi Hills and graduated with an outstanding award in 1984. Later this year he took a nationwide examination and successfully obtained a beautician license. In July 1985 Saver Tiger released the "Saver Tiger" sound sheet. In November, Saver Tiger participated in the omnibus album Heavy Metal Force III, which also included contributions by X Japan.^[3]

In 1986 the group changed its name to Yokosuka Saver Tiger to avoid confusion with a simlarly-named band from Sapporo. Their first appearance with the new name was on the omnibus album "Devil Must Be Driven out with Devil". They continued performances in popular live houses and night clubs such as Meguro Rokumeikan, Omiya Freaks, and Meguro Live Station.^[3]

[edit] X Japan (1987–1997)

Main article: X Japan

Hide joined X Japan (then called X) in 1987.^[4] He became the lead guitarist and occasional songwriter, composing some of X's most popular songs, including Scars, Love Replica, and Sadistic Desire. Hide became recognized in X Japan for his alternative fashion, reflecting his knowledge and eye for visual aesthetics, as well as his eccentric stage personality. Shortly after the release of "Art of Life", the members of X Japan took a break from the group, and began solo projects.

[edit] Solo career (1993–1998)

Hide recorded his first album, Hide Your Face, in 1994, playing all the guitars (including bass guitars) and providing all the vocals. He hired a band to play with him on his Hide Our Psychommunity Tour. Two years later he recorded his second album, Psyence, which is widely considered his best for its remarkable versatility. Thus began the Psyence a Go Go Tour, using the same backing band.

A collaboration with American band members developed into Zilch, for which hide wrote songs, played guitar, and provided vocals. Zilch released one album – 3.2.1. – and an album of remixes, BastardEYES – containing mixes by artists including Praga Khan, Charlie Clouser, Pitchshifter, and Chris Vrenna. Although the plans never truly materialized, hide had hoped to bring Zilch to the North American mainstream. Nevertheless, one of their songs did see official release in the West, as part of the soundtrack for Heavy Metal 2000.

Around the same time, hide created a band with the musicians he'd been playing with in his concerts. He called them Spread Beaver, making their full name "Hide with Spread Beaver", for which he composed, sang, and played guitar. They began recording Ja, Zoo, their first album. On May 2, midway through production, hide was found dead. The remainder of the album was recorded with pre-existing voice samples and the help of hide's brother, Hiroshi Matsumoto. After this began a tour with the band playing live while videos of Hide's previous performances were projected onto a big screen. The tour sold out every night.

A wide array of hide tribute records have been released in the years after his passing. Shortly after his death, a 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 2000, an 18-track best-of album was released, called Psychommunity. A large number of other singles, compilations, and mix albums have continued to maintain Hide's presence in record stores across Japan and elsewhere in the world. 2004 saw the release of a new hide solo album, King of Psyborg Rock Star, a blend of remixes, live recordings, and hide-only versions of X Japan songs.

[edit] Death

Hide died on May 2, 1998, in his Tokyo apartment. A roommate put him to bed after a night of drinking, but when she went to check on him an hour later he was not in his room. He was found hanged with a ripped towel in his apartment bathroom, the towel tied to the doorknob. He was barely alive when the ambulance arrived, and later died in the hospital. He was thirty-three years old.

There is much debate as to the true nature of hide's death. Some say it was an accidental death due to his drunkenness. Hide was known for performing stunts in attempts to scare others, and some suspect his death to be a stunt gone wrong. Others bring up the suicide of INXS lead singer Michael Hutchence, who was reputed to have died from hanging in an attempt to gratify himself through autoerotic asphyxiation, as a possible explanation.^{[citation needed]} Taiji, who played in X Japan with hide for several years, offered a possible explanation for hide's death in his book X no Sei to Shi: Uchuu wo Kaeru Tomo e. He explained that, after performing shows, the band members would often tie towels around their shoulders and necks to relieve muscle stress. Taiji implies that hide had most likely tied a towel on in such a manner (and one can subsequently assume that he had fallen against the door and was ultimately unable to free himself). Although many fans support Taiji's suggestion, others have preferred to see Hide's death as a purposeful incident, not wanting to see it as an accident. Although he left no suicide note, these fans have speculated that his song "Pink Spider" was a musical suicide note. The song was Hide's final single and music video released before his death. It features a woman jumping off a building to her death.

Hide's funeral was held at the Buddhist temple, Tsukiji Hongan-ji, in Tsukiji, Tokyo on May 7, 1998. Over 70,000 people attended. Streets were closed off, and police had to deploy boats, helicopters, 100 officers, and 170 security guards to the temple to control the emotional crowd. By the end of day, twenty-six people had been hospitalized for various injuries. There is still a small memorial and guest book at the temple.

The remaining members of X Japan performed "Forever Love" at the funeral, and the band leader Yoshiki gave a speech. He was crying and shaking so hard that he was struggling to hold onto the paper on which he had written the speech. It read, in part:

"I'm very shocked to hear about his death. I still can't believe what has happened. Right now, he's sleeping with a beautiful face. I tried to wake him up many times, but he's still sleeping.

"Between the five of us, hide was the one who kept his calm and thought out things. Even though I was the leader, he was the calm one who gave me good advice when I was being short tempered and emotional. Of course with all that pressure, he too almost lost his identity. But during those hard times, he'd always give me a call. We would talk about X, music, friends, life, fans, almost anything. He was like a big brother to me and sometimes like a young brother too. We'd drink together and sometimes fight. But the next day, he'd come to me and say, 'Yoshiki, have I done something last night? I'm sorry, I don't remember a thing.' But this time, he didn't say anything back to me... sleeping.

"To all fans and friends, you must all be confused. I also cannot express this sadness in words, but we must understand and accept this painful reality. Everyone please watch over his eternal sleep warmly."

The hide museum in Yokosuka was constructed in his honor. It opened on the second anniversary of his death on May 2, 2000, and featured many of his costumes, guitars, and personal possessions. The hide museum closed on September 25, 2005 due to council regulations.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Songwriting

Hide's songwriting style developed slowly during his time with X Japan, and became more experimental as his solo career progressed. His songs generally include an instrumental introduction (usually by a guitar, with or without accompaniment), usually playing the melody, followed by various structurings of verse, pre-chorus, chorus, and solo sections.^{[citation needed]}

At the outset of his solo career, Hide experimented with more complex and diverse instrumentations than he'd had access to in X Japan. The song "Psychommunity", for example, has three guitar tracks (all of which were played by hide in the studio), and a full string section.^[5]. As another example, his song "Blue Sky Complex" features guitars, a trumpet section, and an organ.^[6].

Hide experimented less on Psyence. Although the title track does appear to be a jazz song (with full brass),^[7] most of the other songs explored new genres (reggae, industrial rock, glam rock) rather than new instrumentations, through varying uses of guitar effects.

By the time of his final album, Ja Zoo, his instrumentation and songwriting style became less experimental, most songs having two guitars, bass, drums, and keyboards. Some involvement of traditional piano and violins do, however, make an appearance.

[edit] Trivia

In 1988, hide (along with the rest of X Japan) appeared in the American film Tokyo Pop, starring Carrie Hamilton (Carol Burnett's daughter). The group members played the bandmates of Hiro, performed by the rock musician Diamond Yukai.

In 1993 hide starred in the forty-three-minute art film Seth et Holth (produced by Fool's Mate magazine) with fellow J-rocker Tusk. The film was a blend of the biblical story of Adam and Eve, Egyptian mythology, goth visual kei, and social commentary on the hectic nature of modern life.

Hide's Hide Your Face album features a distinctive mask designed by H. R. Giger across the cover (the mask was on display at the hide museum).

He was also involved in various medical aid foundations, and was a marrow and blood donor. When a terminally ill girl wrote to him and asked to meet him, he gave her VIP backstage access to an X Japan show, gave her a signed guitar, and soon became very close to her. She is still alive today, and in one journal entry she recounted on an incident in which hide rushed her into Yoshiki's (drummer of X Japan) room to introduce her as a close friend.

The title of one of hide's songs, about an abusive, unhealthy relationship, "Genkai Haretsu", is a phrase that he coined, meaning "limiting explosion".

His song "Pink Spider" won the Japanese International Viewer's Choice Award at the MTV Video Music Awards in 1998.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

• Hide Your Face (February 23, 1994)
• Psyence (September 2, 1996)
• 3.2.1. (with Zilch, July 23, 1998)
• Ja, Zoo (with Spread Beaver, November 21, 1998)

[edit] Compilations

• Tune Up (June 21, 1997)
• Tribute Spirits (May 1, 1999)
• Best ~Psychommunity~ (March 2, 2000)
• Psy-Clone (May 22, 2002)
• Singles ~ Junk Story (July 24, 2002)
• King of Psyborg Rock Star (April 28, 2004)

[edit] Singles

• "Eyes Love You" (August 5, 1993)
• "50% & 50%" (August 5, 1993)
• "Dice" (January 21, 1994)
• "Tell Me" (March 24, 1994)
• "Misery" (June 24, 1996)
• "Beauty & Stupid" (August 12, 1996)
• "Hi-Ho/Good Bye" (December 18, 1996)
• "Rocket Dive" (with Spread Beaver, January 28, 1998)
• "Pink Spider" (with Spread Beaver, May 13, 1998)
• "Ever Free" (with Spread Beaver, May 27, 1998)
• "Hurry Go Round" (with Spread Beaver, October 21, 1998)
• "Tell Me" (with Spread Beaver, January 19, 2000)
• "In Motion" (July 10, 2002)

[edit] Filmography

• Tokyo Pop (with X, 1988)
• Seth et Holth (with Tusk, 1993)

[edit] References

1. ^ as seen on http://www.x-japan.de/main.htm
2. ^ as seen on http://www.hide-city.com/
3. ^ ^{a b c d} "Biography, 1964-1986". Official fan club. Retrieved February 3, 2007.
4. ^ "Biography, 1987". Official fan club. Retrieved February 3, 2007.
5. ^ Hide Your Face Photo & Band Score, p.10, Doremi Music Publishing Co., Ltd. ISBN 4-8108-3853-6
6. ^ Hide Your Face Photo & Band Score, p.144, Doremi Music Publishing Co., Ltd. ISBN 4-8108-3853-6
7. ^ Psyence, p.10, Doremi Music Publishing Co., Ltd. ISBN 4-8108-3969-9

[edit] External links

• "End of a Life, End of an Era" - The New York Times article about hide's death.
• "Isolated in Their Grief" - Asiaweek article about hide's death.

X Japan
Members
Toshi | Hide | Pata | Heath | Yoshiki | Taiji
Discography
Studio albums: Vanishing Vision | Blue Blood | Jealousy | Art of Life | Dahlia
Singles: I'll Kill You | Orgasm | Kurenai | Endless Rain | Week End | Silent Jealousy | Standing Sex | Say Anything | Tears | Rusty Nail | Longing | Forever Love | Crucify My Love | Dahlia | Scars | The Last Song
Related articles
Extasy Records | Hide with Spread Beaver | Violet UK
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