Still famous, even after his in death in 1998, Hide lives on in the world as the musical genius that he was. Since a young age, his passion had always been music, and his talent: the guitar. After being expelled from school for rebellious behavior, Hide joined a band called Saver Tiger and performed in various music houses. True to his passion for music, Hide pushed all the band members to their max; imposing high standards upon them. Many members left because of this. Deciding to move on, in 1987 Hide joined with Yoshiki in his band X Japan.

As you probably already know, Hide’s career soared with X Japan, bringing him closer to the true definition of a performing legend. Although, while he was with the band his creative instinct sometimes led him to clash with Yoshiki’s. Apparently, Hide and Yoshiki argued many times about the direction of X Japan. This is probably why, in 1995, Hide started his own solo career, though he still stayed with X Japan, until two years later when it disbanded.

While Hide was on his own, he created his own record label LEMONed. Three other bands that were on the label as well, which he performed with occasionally, were: Speed Beaver, Zilch, and Zeppet Store. By the year 1997 Hide had already produced two albums “hide your face” and “Psynce”. And after that, he planned to record “Ja, Zoo” with Speed Beaver and Zilch, going on tour shortly after its release.

However, before “Ja, Zoo” could even be finished, Hide was found in his bathroom, strung up by a towel on the door. Shocked fans nationwide had to be hospitalized from fainting. Some fans even went as far as to commit suicide, as well. His reasons for bringing about his death aren’t really all that clear.

“Ja, Zoo” was later completed by Speed Beaver and with help from Hide’s brother. The planned tour still happened, though with the absence of Hide, videos of his past performance were played instead. Grieving fans attended, booking all tours packed full. Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi allowed for the plans of a memorial museum to be created in honor of Hide. Although, this museum could have possibly been taken down recently, but my source for this is not entirely reliable.   

Random Hide tidbits:

--Hide used to be chubby as a kid and was teased because of it.

--Hide’s name is not pronounced like hide in “Hide-n-go-seak”. It’s HE-DAY.

--Hide’s full, real name is Matsumoto Hideto. (LAST, FIRST)