Hideto Matsumoto, aka "hide" (pronounced hee-deh) was a highly original artist in the world of "J-Pop", or Japanese Pop music. He first rose to fame as the lead guitarist of X-Japan, the premiere "Visual Rock" band in Japan in the late '80s through to the mid '90s. X-Japan took glam rock aesthetics to the extreme, and it seemed that hide and drummer/band leader Yoshiki enjoyed pushing the envelope the most. While Yoshiki's tastes were more gothic, romantic, and feminine, hide combined glamour with horrific imagery, and went for more shock value.
Throughout the 1990's, hide kept himself very busy. When he wasn't recording or touring with X-Japan, he concentrated on a solo career and various other projects. After releasing a couple of singles in 1993, his first full length CD, Hide Your Face, was released in 1994. The cover featured a bust based on a design by Swiss surrealist H.R. Giger, the artist most known for designing the creature for the 1979 film Alien. Hide also embarked on his first solo tour to support the album in 1994.
Following the Dahlia tour in 1996, X-Japan went on hiatus, but hide never stopped working. That same year, he started his own record label, LEMONed (pronounced like lemonade), which released a compilation CD featuring up and coming bands. Hide's second full length CD Psyence, was released in September, and was followed by another highly successful tour of arenas throughout Japan.
1998 started off as what would seem to be a very promising year, kicking off with the release of hide's 7th solo single, Rocket Dive in January. At this point, hide was living between Los Angeles and Japan, and in addition to working on his third solo album with Spread Beaver (he finally gave his backup band a name in '97), he was also recording with a band he'd formed in the US, called Zilch. Zilch was the first attempt at worldwide recognition.
Without warning, hide was found dead in his home on May 2, 1998, of an apparent suicide. He was 33 years old. His funeral took place in Japan, where literally thousands of grieving fans lined the streets, and the members of X-Japan performed a tear-filled rendition of Forever Love, dedicated to hide. Later that year, the Zilch album, "3 2 1", was released in Japan, which is hide's only album recorded completely in English. hide's final CD with Spread Beaver, "Ja, Zoo" was completed by the band, who also went on a final tour at the end of the year.
Interest in hide is still going strong in Japan. In the Spring of 2000, a best of compilation, called Psychommunity, was released, and the hide Museum opened in Japan, where you can see hide's guitars, his outfits, his car and other memorabilia. Banpresto has been producing a steady supply of new catcher items since that time as well, and new items are planned for the rest of 2001.