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Name: Hideto "hide" Matsumoto [He never capitalized his name; hide pronounced 'hee-day'] Birthdate: December 13th, 1964 Death Date: May 2nd, 1998, 8:52 AM Birth Place: Kanagawa, Yokosuka Japan Blood Type: AB Height: 5'5 ft [170 cm] Weight: 110lbs [50kg] Bands: Saver Tiger; X / X-Japan, hide with Spread Beaver, Zilch |  |
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Hideto Matsumoto [hide] was born on December 13th, 1964 in Yokosuka. When he was young, he got teased by his classmates for being overweight. Unlike the other boys his age, who took sports (which hide disliked), he took piano and calligraphy lessons in school. He was sent to America in his fourth year of primary school for a while, where he was first introduced to rock. He became interested and started listening to the rock band KISS, and, the very next year, hide's grandmother bought him a Gibson guitar. He carried it around with him everywhere, earning himself the nickname "Gibson". When he came back to Japan, he started the band Saver Tiger. However, due to hide's high standards and expectations, there was never a solid member line-up due to members coming and going frequently. Discouraged by the unsuccessfulness of Saver Tiger, it disbanded. He was turned away from music because of his failure with Saver Tiger and went to school to become a beautician (influenced by his grandmother, who was the town's beautician at the time). Not long after he got his certificate, he got a call from Hayashi Yoshiki (in January 1987), who told him that his band (X, later X-Japan) was having trouble due to them losing a member. He asked if hide wanted to join the band, and hide answered yes without hesitation. X soon became a very, very popular band in Japan. A legend. [more on X-Japan in that band's section] He started his solo career in 1995, two years before the disbanding of X-Japan. He already had 2 albums out in 1997. Psyence and hide your face, and his own record company called LEMONed; producing himself, Spread Beaver, Zilch, and Zeppet Store. He had been planning to release his third album with the band Zilch, and then introduce Spread Beaver and celebrate the release of Ja,zoo with a national tour. He and Yoshiki had also been planning to make a new X-Japan in year 2000. 1998 was going to be a busy year for hide. After a night of drinking with his brother and friends, he was taken home early in the morning (he was very drunk at the time). His roommate sent him off to bed and came to check on him later around 7:30 AM, and found him hanging from his bathroom doorknob with a towel ripped in half. He was rushed to the hospital and died in the ambulance at 8:52 AM from asphyxiation. The police declared it a suicide, but everyone that knew hide were in disbelief. I, personally, believe it was an accident. For one, he was drunk. Secondly, he had so much ahead of him, it doesn't seem likely that he'd do that, and thirdly, as stated by Yoshiki and various friends: he wasn't the type of person to do that (Quote from Yoshiki, "I believe hide's death was an accident"). But on to the facts: The funeral was held on May 7th. Despite the heat (with temperatures soaring to 80° F [26.7°C]), tens of thousands of fans thronged the streets to pay their respects to hide. hide's death produced scenes of hysteria and grief in Japan not witnessed since the war. As the hearse with his body passed by, fans at the roadside called out their goodbye to hide. Ambulances were needed for the fainting of fans (due to the heat). Nearly 60 had to be taken to the hospital and 200 or so were given medical assistance from make-shift first-aid tents erected. A few fans even attempted to follow hide. 3 succeeded in taking their lives and countless others failed in their attempts. X-Japan played their song "Forever Love" at hide's funeral, and Yoshiki, the leader of the band, made a statement in attempt to calm the fans: "Please do not follow him. Do not commit suicide. Please see him off to heaven warmly." In 2000, the Prime Minister of Japan commissioned a museum to be built in honor of our beloved rock star. It is two stories high, and over 2,000 square miles of miscellanous belongings, pictures, a small concert hall and a chapel (it has display cases of his guitars, a car, and little televisions playing his videos and music in each room). Another thing, that may or may not be true, was that guitarists often get neck and back pains and a way to get rid of the pains is to pull your neck back. One way hide worked through these pains was to use a towel and doorknob. While drunk, he could have fallen asleep while doing this, effectively strangling himself. So ends the hideBIOGRAPHY. RIP hide... May 2nd, 1998. We'll always remember. | ||