~kich~

Name: hide
Real name: Matsumoto Hideto
Place of birth: Yokosuka, Kanagawa, Japan
Place of death: Tokyo, Japan
Date of birth: December 13 1964
Date of death: May 2 1998
Blood type: AB
Height(approximate): 5'5" / 170cm
Weight(approximate): 110lbs / 50kg
Bands he was in: Saber Tiger*, X(X Japan), hide solo, Zilch, hide with Spread Beaver.
Position: guitarist, vocalist. hide also played the bass during his solo career.
Guitar: hide got his first guitar when he was about 15. it was a Gibson Les Paul DX in natural wood. not long after, he switched to Fernandes Mocking Bird(MG-120X, MG-145S, etc), which is what he used until his passing.
brief history
-hide formed a band in 1982, called Saber Tiger*, after becoming interested in rock music and buying his first guitar. he was still in high school at the time.
-Saber Tiger* couldn't keep a constant line up, thus, they disbanded in 1987. because of such failure, hide no longer had the will to continue as a musician.
-in 1987, his career as a musician was about to truly begin... a very talented drummer who also happened to be the leader of a band in search of a guitarist, contacted hide and asked him if he was interested. hide didn't take much time to think about it, he simply replied "fine". "he appeared on the scene when I already thought of quitting music. and now he made my life an absolute mess!" hide said about Yoshiki, years ago.
-after hide joined Yoshiki's band, X, their line up(which consisted of Yoshiki, hide, Pata on guitar, Taiji on bass and Toshi, the vocalist) was complete and they were finally ready to go.
-everything was running pretty smoothly, until 1992, when Taiji left the band and Heath joined. I think most fans prefered Taiji as the bassist... also, X decided to change their name to X-Japan because of people confusing them with another band(American, I think) called X.
-X Japan's success continued for a few years. they became the most successful metal band in Japan quickly. well, actually... they were probably one of the only metal bands in Japan at the time ^^;
-anyway, hide started his solo work in 1993. his first single was "Eyes Love You" ^_^ and then single number two, "50% & 50%". they were released on the same day, August 5th, 1993. Yukinojo Mori wrote the lyrics for both of these songs. hide told him what he wanted depicted through the lyrics, but... I guess it didn't turn out so well, ne. hide said so in an interview.
-1993, "Eyes Love You"'s PV won the "1993 MTV Video Award"! yay hide! ^__^
-hide became very popular quickly, considering he was already well known in X Japan. his solo work was so different though... I think X fans were amazed, but regardless, they supported him, and he also gained many new fans who weren't into X Japan before. so, his success continued with X Japan and his solo career was going good.
-things seemed to be moving pretty slowly with X Japan at this time. their last album was "Jealousy", released in 1991. reasons to their delay were probably because each of the members were also working on their solor projects, especially hide.
-"Hide Your Face", hide's first solo album was released on February 23, 1994. it has sixteen tracks, four of which are singles.
-1995... hide decided that trying to make it in America would be a good idea, so he formed a band called Zilch! Zilch's line up consisted of hide on vocals and guitar, Ray McVeigh on vocals and guitar, Paul Raven on bass and Joey Castillo on drums.
-finally, X Japan released an album in 1996! titled "Dahlia". unfortunately, this was X Japan's last album... Yoshiki said that if he was told to release the album two years earlier, he could have, but those two years passed because they were working on details. he also said that he wasn't completely satisfied with the album.
-hide released an album in 1996 as well. his second solo album titled "Psyence", and in many fans' opinions, the best one. hide said the album's name is a combination of the words "psycho" and "science".
-I'm sure you can imagine how popular hide was at this point ^_^ he had various tours and lives that I didn't mention here, because I'm not sure when exactly they were... anyway, he had been to the U.S many times for different reasons, and while he was there, he met a band that he liked. that band was Zeppet Store ^_^ I think he met them in L.A...
-some time in 1996, hide started his own record label, "LEMONed"(along with a hairstyling shop, fashion shop and a radio station located near Harajuku), which was meant to promote bands that he thought had potential. some of the bands that were signed to LEMONed were Zeppet Store, Shame, Vinyl and trees of life. I haven't heard any of these bands, except Zeppet Store, and wah! I really like them ^__^ so did hide. they opened some of his lives, I think... and also, their drummer Eiki Yanagita, played drums with Joe in hide's song "Damage"(track 4 on Psyence).
-in 1997, something wasn't right with X Japan. still, no one knows what exactly caused it, but Toshi left the band, and then X announced their disbandment. they had their last live in December...
-hide's solo career was going wonderfully, despite X Japan's disbandment. he was so popular and sucessful, loved and respected... he even had another band, which was formerly his support group for lives. hide chose the name "Spread Beaver" for his new band, well actually, "hide with Spread Beaver". so clever ^^;; the members were hide, of course, on vocals and guitar, Kiyoshi and Pata(who was later replaced by Kaz) on guitar, Chirolyn on bass, D.I.E on keyboards, Joe on drums, and I.N.A the programmer.
-hide with SB's first single was "Rocket Dive", released on January 28th, 1998. this song has a tuff PV ^__^ hide is sooooo cute in it! eeek! ^^ well, he's always cutesy, but in this PV... even more cute than normal. erm, and the song is great too, so... get the PV!
-everything was perfect. ...or so it seemed. hide was out drinking with his brother Hiroshi. they were celebrating after returning from the U.S. I think he had just finished the PV for Pink Spider(I'm really not sure)... his brother escorted him home in the early morning(around 6am). supposedly, a room mate/neighbor/girlfriend became worried about him and went to check on him. she(?) found him in the bathroom, sitting on the floor with his back against the door. he had a towel tied around his neck and around the door knob. the person who found him called 911... hide died in the hospital a couple of hours later...
-I think we all know the story from here. ...the massive amount of people that were at his funeral, the attempted suicides of some fans, and the successful suicides... the museum, the release of various videos, albums and singles after his death. the continuing of bands he helped, and was once part of... hide is gone, but his music will always be around, and so will his fans.
*"Saber Tiger" is also called "Saver Tiger" because in Japanese, the verbalization of 'B' is similar to 'V'(though they don't use 'V')... just like 'R' and 'L'.
other things...
-hide was friends with Marilyn Manson
-hide's LEMONed shop is actually a collection of things he likes ^^ like toys and such.
-hide designed some jewelry for the Necromance shop in L.A. they call it "Hidestyle".
-he was involved with the Children's Make a Wish Foundation as well as AIDS. he donated blood quite often, and money.
-hide saved a young girl's life by donating bone marrow, which is a very painful procedure. hide wrote to her regularly afterwards ^_^ awww! isn't he sweet?
-I don't know if you people are aware of this, but... about hide's second album "Psyence": words and music, produce, arrangement, all guitars, bass, voices and visual concept done by hide. ...I think that's really tuff ^^ and it's the same for all of his singles(save for the first few).
my page is under construction