Hideto Matsumoto, or hide, was a legendary guitarist and music artist in Japan. He is well known and has fans all around the globe. Although hide is no longer alive, his fans and band members still miss his cheery smile and goofy attitude.
Hideto Matsumoto’s love for rock music began when he first listened to an european rock band, KISS. He recieved his first guitar, a Gibson, and immediatly began playing. Slowly, he became introverted and expressed himself through guitar, the other children not accepting him because they thought he was overwieght and often teased him. Soon after, hide formed his own band in highschool.
The first band he was ever in was named Yokosuka Saver Tiger, and was the first time he was recognized. Even though the band was banned from school, hide and his other band members played in Tokyo live houses. After several changes in the band members, Yokosuka Saver Tiger split up. hide was frustrated that his music career wasn’t working out, and decided to become a beautician.
Near his graduation, hide recieved a phone call from the band leader of “X”, Yoshiki. Yoshiki asked hide if he would like to be one out of two guitarists, hide simply said, “Fine.” Even though hide’s answer was simple, it made a huge impact on his life.
“X”, later changed to “X Japan”, was a huge success not only because of their music, but because they did something other Japanese bands hadn’t done before. The band members of X Japan wore over-the-top outfits at concerts and sometimes a band member would dress as a girl, just to make their songs’ story have more effect. X Japan’s, and hide’s, popularity grew rapidly. hide was recognized in X Japan because of his alternative fashion, making him one of the most mysterious characters of the group.
After a glorious career in X Japan, hide and the other band members split up, deciding to focus on solo works instead. It didn’t take long for hide to jump right back into music, shocking everyone with his unique songs and lyrics that hide had written himself. On May 22nd, 1996, hide opened his own production company called LEMONed, which aimed at bringing up rock bands that held potential. Two bands that hide had been focusing on were “Zilch” and “hide with Spread Beaver”.
On May 2nd of 1998, fans, family, and former band members were shocked and horrified when they found out that hide had been found in his apartment barely breathing, due to a towel tied around his neck. Before he even got to a hospital, hide died.
Even though hide died in 1998, he is always remembered and is celebrated on his birthday, December 13th. His music still plays and is often intimitated, but no one can imitate someone as unique and loved as hide.
Reference:
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hide_%28musician%29http://www.jrocker.com/hide/profile.htmlhide [a nice site, but must know japanese to read.]
