| hide | |
|---|---|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Hideto Matsumoto |
| Also known as | hide, HIDE |
| Born | December 13, 1964 |
| Origin | Yokosuka, Kanagawa, Japan |
| Died | May 2, 1998 (aged 33) Tokyo |
| Genres | Alternative rock, industrial rock, heavy metal |
| Occupations | Singer-songwriter, musician, record producer, actor |
| Instruments | Vocals, guitar, bass |
| Years active | 1981–1998 |
| Labels | MCA Victor, Sony, LEMONed |
| Associated acts | X Japan, Zilch, M*A*S*S, Saver Tiger |
| Website | hide-city.com |
| Notable instruments | |
| Fernandes MG series, B.C. Rich Mockingbird, Gibson Les Paul Deluxe | |
Hideto Matsumoto (松本 秀人 Matsumoto Hideto, December 13, 1964 – May 2, 1998), better known by his stage name hide (written in all capital letters when he was with X Japan and in all lowercase letters when solo), was a popular Japanese musician. He was primarily known for his work as lead guitarist of the heavy metal band X Japan from 1987 to 1997. He was also a successful solo artist and co-founder of the United States based band Zilch.
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hide was born in St. Joseph's Hospital in Midorigaoka, Japan, on December 13, 1964 and went on to attend Yokosuka Tokiwa Junior High School. He was first exposed to rock music at the age of fifteen, through the album Alive II by Kiss. That same year his grandmother bought him his first electric guitar, a Gibson Les Paul Deluxe.[1]
On March 11, 1980, hide graduated from Tokiwa Junior High School. He then entered Zushi Kaisei Senior High School in Zushi, Kanagawa, where he entered the school's brass band as a club activity. He quit the band after a short time because he was assigned the clarinet while he wanted to play the trumpet. After this, he concentrated on guitar and in 1981 formed the band Saber Tiger. A year after their founding, they started playing shows at live houses in Yokosuka, such as Rock City.[1]
In April 1983 he started studying cosmetology and fashion at the Hollywood Beauty Salon in present-day Roppongi Hills, from which he graduated in 1984. Later that year he took a nationwide examination and successfully obtained a beautician license. In July 1985 Saber Tiger released their self-titled EP, which included two songs, "Double Cross" and "Gold Digger". In November, the band contributed the song "Vampire" to the Heavy Metal Force III sampler, which also included songs by X and Jewel.[1] Years later, Jewel's guitarist Kiyoshi would join hide's solo band.
In 1986 the group changed its name to Saver Tiger to avoid confusion with a similarly named band from Sapporo (see Saber Tiger). Their first appearance with the new name was on the sampler Devil Must Be Driven out with Devil, with their songs "Dead Angle" and "Emergency Express". They continued to perform in live houses and night clubs such as Meguro Rokumeikan, Omiya Freaks and Meguro Live Station.[1] Until January 28, 1987, when hide became tired of changing members and decided to end the band (vocalist Kyo and drummer Tetsu would both go on to D'erlanger). Around the same time hide was invited to join X.
hide joined X Japan (then called X) in early 1987.[2] He became the band's lead guitarist and occasional songwriter, composing songs like "Celebration", "Joker" and the single "Scars". Shortly after the release of the album Art of Life, the members of X Japan took a break, to start solo projects. Around that time, the group also dropped most of its original visual kei aesthetics, except hide who would still perform in wildly colorful outfits and with his trademark pink hair.[3]
In early 1993, hide was featured on the sampler Dance 2 Noise 004, with the song "Frozen Bug", which he recorded with Inoran and J of Luna Sea, under the band name M*A*S*S. He also starred in an art film titled Seth et Holth, along with Tusk of Zi:Kill.[4] In 1994, hide recorded and released his first solo album, Hide Your Face. In addition to all vocals and songwriting, he played most of the guitars and bass on some of the tracks. The cover art was based on a mask designed by Swiss artist H. R. Giger.[5] The album's musical style differed significantly from the speed metal anthems and power ballads of X Japan, leaning more towards alternative rock. hide then went on the "Hide Our Psychommunity Tour", for which a live band was hired that would later become his primary project, hide with Spread Beaver.[6]
In 1996, hide oversaw the production of the first release on his own label LEMONed (founded in 1989), an album from the band Zeppet Store. His second solo album, Psyence, was released on September 2, it was followed by the "Psyence a Go Go" tour. After X Japan disbanded in 1997, hide formally titled his solo project hide with Spread Beaver. He also formed a new band named Zilch in 1996, which apart from him and Spread Beaver programmer and percussionist I.N.A., was composed of American and British artists, such as Joey Castillo (Queens of the Stone Age), Paul Raven (Killing Joke) and Ray McVeigh (ex:The Professionals).
hide died on May 2, 1998. After a night out drinking, he was found hanged with a towel tied to a doorknob in his Tokyo apartment. Authorities officially deemed hide's death a suicide,[7] and this verdict was reported in the media. Within one week, three fans had died in copycat suicides, and of the 50,000 people who attended his funeral at Tsukiji Hongan-ji, nearly 60 were hospitalized and about 200 received medical treatment in first aid tents.[7][8] Later that month, the single "Pink Spider" was released, entering the Oricon charts at number one. The song would also receive that year's MTV Video Music Award in the category "Japan Viewers Choice".[9] Sales were also strong for the follow-up single "Ever Free", while those of a single released previous to his death "Rocket Dive" would also see a substantial increase. American Journalist Neil Strauss commented on the trend saying that: "In just a few weeks, pop culture in Japan had gone from mourning hide's death to consuming it."[7] Popular interpretation of the lyrics to hide's "Pink Spider", which he had performed on the day prior to his death, fueled speculation of a premeditated suicide, because of clear autobiographical elements, and the song's theme of escape from the vicissitudes of life.
Meanwhile, several of hide's friends and colleagues stated that they believed the auto-strangulation to have been an accident, among them X Japan co-founder Yoshiki and former X bassist Taiji. This notion is supported by the fact that no suicide note was left[8] and Taiji theorizes in his autobiography, that at the night of his death, hide may have been practising a technique to relieve upper back and neck pains which guitarists can suffer from continuous use of a shoulder strap.[10] The technique involved was practiced by the X Japan members during their touring days and required the use of a towel and a door knob or handle. According to Taiji, hide may have fallen asleep in his intoxicated state, becoming caught and strangling himself.[11][12]
Zilch bassist Paul Raven commented that hide was "under a lot of stress", due to recording schedule for the Ja, Zoo album. He went on to question the ultimate degree of hide's involvement in the finished record, stating that only three songs had been completed before he died.[7] Ja, Zoo was released in November of that year with the artist listed as hide with Spread Beaver. Zilch's debut album 3.2.1. was also released and the group continued to perform and record for several years. While they never achieved mainstream success in the United States one of their songs was included on the soundtrack for Heavy Metal 2000.[13]
On May 1, 1999, a tribute album was released, titled Tribute Spirits. It features covers of hide's songs by several bands (such as Buck-Tick, Luna Sea and Oblivion Dust) and solo artists. The album was released to coincide with the anniversary of hide's last live appearance on May 1, 1998.[14]
A hide museum was opened in his hometown of Yokosuka on July 20, 2000.[15] It remained open, past its original three year plan, for five years, before closing its doors on September 25, 2005.[16]
The remaining members of X Japan reunited in 2007 and recorded a new song, "I.V.". It contains a previously unused guitar track by hide.[17] X Japan performed at the Tokyo Dome on March 28, 2008, during the performance of "Art of Life" hide's image (taken from footage of the "Art of Life" performance at the Tokyo Dome in 1993) played alongside the band. This was made possible by the use of Musion Eyeliner hologram technology.
As far back as July 8, 2007, Yoshiki announced to be in talks with several musicians regarding a hide tribute concert set for 2008, in order to commemorate the tenth anniversary of his former band mate's passing. The "hide memorial summit" was held on May 3 and 4, 2008 at Ajinomoto Stadium, where X Japan, Dir en grey, D'espairsRay, Versailles and many others performed, bands such as Luna Sea and Phantasmagoria even reunited for one day to perform. hide with Spread Beaver also performed, using studio and live recordings for hide's vocals. There are still tribute shows held every year, where bands perform on hide's birthday and on the anniversary of his passing.
As with many other deceased musicians, re-issues, remixes, compilations and previously unreleased portions of hide's work continue to be published. The most recent being "The Devolution Project", a release of his original eleven singles on picture disc vinyl, throughout 2010.[18]
In August 2010, hide's management company, Headwax Organization, which includes his brother Hiroshi, filed a lawsuit against Yoshiki's management, Japan Music Agency, for using images of the former X Japan guitarist without a formal agreement in place.[19] The claim states that in 2000 the two companies signed an agreement allowing Yoshiki and X Japan to use visual images of hide during concerts. However, images were used at X Japan's August 14 and 15 shows at Nissan Stadium, when apparently the contract had expired.[19][20]
On March 8, 2011, a musical based on and featuring hide's music debuted, named Pink Spider after his song of the same name.[21] The show stars both Nao Minamisawa and Hitomi Takahashi as Meru, a girl who likes rock music, struggling between the real world and a fictional one. Other cast members included Taka (defspiral) and J (Luna Sea), with the backing band being the rest of defspiral. The production ran from March 8 to the 27 at the Tokyo Globe Theater and was then brought to Fukuoka, Kobe, Nagoya, Niigata, Sendai, and Sapporo in April.[22] A compilation album of the songs used in the musical (the original versions by hide) was released on March 2 and is titled "Musical Number" -Rock Musical Pink Spider-.[23]
hide had a younger brother named Hiroshi, who can be seen in the DVD His Invincible Deluge Evidence. Hiroshi was his chauffeur and manager until his last days, he took hide's ashes with him to throw in the Santa Monica Bay, along with a bottle of wine. Hiroshi had a son whom, during the "Hide Our Psychommunity Tour", hide would bring onstage and sing to. Hiroshi is part of hide's management company Headwax Organization, he also appears on Ja, Zoo reading an excerpt on "Pink Cloud Assembly".
During a TV interview on May 1, 1998 (one day before his death), hide said he had a girlfriend [1]. Reports say that he was with a girl at the time of his death, who may or may not have been this girlfriend.
At the outset of his solo career, hide experimented with instrumentations very different from what he usually had access to in X Japan. The song "Psychommunity", for example, has four guitar tracks and employs a full string section. As another example, his song "Blue Sky Complex" features guitars in drop C tuning, a trumpet section, and an organ.[24]
The title track of his second album Psyence is a big band/jazz composition with full brass, other songs on the record explore genres such as reggae, industrial rock and glam rock, with varying uses of guitar effects.[25]
Instruments and songwriting are less experimental on Ja, Zoo, most songs featuring a fairly conventional instrumentation of two guitars, bass, drums, and keyboards. Traditional piano and violins do, however, make an appearance.
hide was a fan of Bow Wow guitarists Kyoji Yamamoto and Mitsuhiro Saito, and selected to use the Mockingbird style guitar, which Saito used.[26] hide was rarely seen performing without a Fernandes guitar. He owned a repertoire of signature models as well as standard models. His signature models are still available for purchase today.[27][28]
hide often utilized the sustainer feature that came equipped with his guitars, and is heard on many X Japan songs. He was often seen in the early 1990s using Peavey amplifiers on stage.
hide's backing band:
X Japan guitarist Pata made numerous live appearances with the band.[6] Jennifer Finch and Demetra "Dee" Plakas, of American all-girl grunge band L7, supported hide on a couple of TV performances in 1993 before Spread Beaver was formed,[29] they also appear in the original promotional video for "Doubt".[30]
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