Hideto Matsumoto (松本 秀人, Matsumoto Hideto, December 13, 1964–May 2, 1998), better known by his mononymous stage name
hide (ヒデ, written in capital letters, HIDE when he was with X Japan, and written in lowercase letters with hide in other projects), 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.
Early years and Saver Tiger: 1964–1987
Hideto Matsumoto 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 and roll music at the age of fifteen, through the album
Alive! by Kiss. In the same year his grandmother bought him his first electric guitar, a Gibson Les Paul Deluxe.
On March 11, 1980, Matsumoto 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.
In April 1983 he started attending cosmetology and fashion school 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.
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.
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.
X Japan: 1987–1997
Main article: X Japan
hide joined X Japan (then called X) in early 1987.
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, the exception being Matsumoto, who would still perform in wildly colorful outfits and with his trademark pink hair.
Solo career: 1993–1998
In early 1993, Matsumoto 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.
In 1994, hide recorded and released his first solo album,
Hide Your Face. In addition to songwriting, he played most of the guitars and bass on some of the tracks, and provided all lead vocals. The cover art was based on a mask designed by Swiss artist H. R. Giger.
The album's musical style differed significantly from the speed metal anthems and power ballads of X Japan, leaning more towards alternative rock. Matsumoto then went on the "Hide Our Psychommunity Tour", for which a live band was hired that would later become part of his primary project, hide with Spread Beaver.
In 1996, Matsumoto 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 2nd, also followed by a tour, "Psyence a Go Go". After X Japan disbanded in 1997, hide formally titled his solo project hide with Spread Beaver. He also formed a second 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 (formerly in Danzig), Paul Raven (of Killing Joke and Ministry) and Dave Kushner (of Velvet Revolver).
May 2, 1998: Death
Hideto Matsumoto 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 Matsumoto's death a suicide,
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 in Tsukiji Hongan-ji, nearly 60 were hospitalized and about 200 received medical treatment in first aid tents.
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".
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."
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 Hayashi and former X Japan bassist Taiji Sawada. This notion is supported by the fact that no suicide note was left
and Sawada 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.
The technique involved was practised by the X Japan members during their touring days and required the use of a towel and a door knob or handle. According to Sawada, Matsumoto may have fallen asleep in his intoxicated state, becoming caught and strangling himself.
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.
Ja, Zoo was released in November of the same year with the artist listed as not just "hide" but as "hide with Spread Beaver", making it the only original studio album to bear the "hide with Spread Beaver" handle. 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.
Posthumous
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-ever live appearance, which included "Pink Spider", on May 1, 1998. This song was covered on
Tribute Spirits by the hard-rock group Siam Shade.
A hide museum was opened in his hometown of Yokosuka on July 20, 2000.
It remained open, past its original three year plan, for five years, before closing its doors on September 25, 2005.
The remaining members of X Japan recently reunited and recorded a new song, titled "I.V.". It contains a previously unused guitar track by hide.
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 Hayashi 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, Versailles, Dir en grey, D'espairsRay 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 late musicians, re-issues, remixes, compilations and previously unreleased portions of Matsumoto'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.
