Pink Spider

"Pink Spider"

Cover of the 2006 re-release.
Single by hide with Spread Beaver
from the album Ja, Zoo
Released May 13, 1998
Genre Alternative rock, hard rock
Label Sony
Writer(s) hide
Certification Million
hide with Spread Beaver singles chronology
"Rocket Dive"
(1998)
"Pink Spider"
(1998)
"Ever Free"
(1998)
Music sample
"Pink Spider"

"Pink Spider" (ピンク•スパイダー Pinku Supaidā) is the ninth single by Japanese musician hide, the second to bear the hide with Spread Beaver name, released on May 13, 1998, eleven days after his death. It debuted at number 1 on the Japanese Oricon weekly charts and was the 11th best-selling single of the year, being certified Million by the RIAJ. It was also named "Song of the Year" at the 13th Japan Gold Disc Awards.

On November 22, 2006, the single was re-released. On December 8, 2010, it was re-released again as part of the third releases in "The Devolution Project", which was a release of hide's original eleven singles on picture disc vinyl.[1]

Track listing

All songs written and composed by hide.

No. Title Length
1. "Pink Spider"   3:42
2. "Pink Spider (Voiceless Version)"   3:54
3. Untitled (hidden track) 5:48

Personnel

Personnel per Ja, Zoo liner notes.[2]

Reception

"Pink Spider" debuted at number 1 on the Oricon weekly charts with sales over 513,000 copies in the initial week of the release.[3] By the end of the year it sold 1,033,770 copies, becoming the 11th best-selling single of the year and was certified Million by the RIAJ.[4][5] It was also named "Song of the Year" at the 13th Japan Gold Disc Awards.[6][7]

In 2011, a musical based on and featuring hide's music was created, it was named Pink Spider after the song.[8] It 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.[9]

Cover versions

The song was covered by Siam Shade and Cornelius on the 1999 hide tribute album Tribute Spirits.[10]

Nu metal band Rize covered this song and released it as their single "Pink Spider" in 2006. Rize performed their version live at the hide memorial summit on May 3, 2008, the following day X Japan covered it live with Sugizo and Shinya of Luna Sea.[11][12]

It was also covered by heidi. on the compilation Crush! -90's V-Rock Best Hit Cover Songs-, which was released on January 26, 2011 and features current visual kei bands covering songs from bands that were important to the '90s visual kei movement.[13]

defspiral covered it for their 2011 maxi-single "Reply -Tribute to hide-", which also included the band's interpretations of three other hide songs.[14] hide had signed the members' previous band, Transtic Nerve, to his label Lemoned shortly before his death in 1998.

Koda Kumi, one of the best-selling Japanese artists of all-time, included a cover on her 2013 album Color the Cover.[15] Her recording of the song debuted on J-Wave on January 24. The music video is an adaptation of the manga series Buffalo Gonin Musume.[16] Early in her career, Koda performed at the hide museum in 2002.[15] Her version was included on the hide tribute album Tribute VI -Female Spirits-, which was released on December 18, 2013.[17]

The track was covered by Sadie for the Tribute II -Visual Spirits- tribute album and by Kiryu for Tribute III -Visual Spirits-, both albums were released on July 3, 2013.[18]

For Tribute VII -Rock Spirits-, released on December 18, 2013, Spread Beaver members Joe, INA and Chirolyn teamed up with Pata and Shame to record a new version of the song under the name The Pink Spiders.[19]

References

  1. "hide singles on vinyl". tokyohive.com. Retrieved 2011-06-26.
  2. Ja, Zoo liner notes, 1998-11-21. Retrieved 2013-01-27
  3. "Oricon Weekly Single Charts for the fourth week of May 1998" (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved 2009-12-26.
  4. "What's This Year - Music 1998" (in Japanese). interq.or.jp. Retrieved 2004-07-16.
  5. "List of million sellers in 1998" (in Japanese). RIAJ. Retrieved 2009-10-20.
  6. "The Japan Gold Disc Award 1999". golddisc.jp (in Japanese). Retrieved 2012-12-05.
  7. "THE 13th JAPAN GOLD DISC AWARD 1999". riaj.or.jp. Retrieved 2012-12-05.
  8. "hide musical "Pink Spider" in the works". tokyohive.com. Retrieved 2013-01-27.
  9. "Minamisawa Nao to star in rock musical, "Pink Spider"". tokyohive.com. Retrieved 2013-01-27.
  10. "hide TRIBUTE SPIRITS". amazon.co.jp (in Japanese). Retrieved 2012-06-10.
  11. "hide Memorial Summit Day 1 - Part A". jame-world.com. Retrieved 2012-06-10.
  12. "hide Memorial Summit Day 2 - Part C". jame-world.com. Retrieved 2012-06-10.
  13. "'90s Visual Kei Cover Album". jame-world.com. Retrieved 2011-01-28.
  14. "Reply -tribute to hide-". cdjapan.co.jp. Retrieved 2011-12-09.
  15. 15.0 15.1 "Koda Kumi to Reveal "PINK SPIDER" Cover on Radio Show!". musicjapanplus.jp. Retrieved 2013-01-27.
  16. "Moyoco Anno's Five Girls of Buffalo Manga Gets Music Video Adaptation". Anime News Network. Retrieved 2013-01-27.
  17. "hide Tribute VI -Female SPIRITS-". cdjapan.jp. Retrieved 2013-12-15.
  18. "Two hide Tribute Albums to be Released Simultaneously!". musicjapanplus.jp. Retrieved 2013-05-05.
  19. "hide Tribute VII -Rock SPIRITS-". cdjapan.jp. Retrieved 2013-12-15.
Preceded by
"Yūwaku" by Glay
Japanese Oricon Chart number one single
May 25, 1998 – June 1, 1998 (2 weeks)
Succeeded by
"Ever Free" by hide with Spread Beaver