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Hideto Matsumoto
Hideto "hide" Matsumoto was born on the 13th of December, 1964 in Kanagawa, Yokosuka, Japan. During his teen years, hide (pronounced "hee-day") was overweight at 80kg (about 176 pounds, and nearly twice the weight of his other classmates), so he was made fun of. Somewhere around the age of 15, hide got his first guitar, which was a Gibson Les Paul DX in natural wood. Because hide carried the Gibson with him almost everywhere, his classmates began to call him "Gibson".
Influenced by "KISS", hide's first band, Saver Tiger, came to be. A friend from high school let hide listen to a few KISS tapes and he became infatuated with the band. Saver Tiger had been banned from the school for their "wild" behaviour. The group quickly separated after a series of arguments.
hide had given up on his rock star career, and was nearly graduated from beauty school, when he received a phone call from the lead of X Japan (then called "X"), Yoshiki. He had asked for hide to become their second guitarist, and hide replied with one simple word, "fine". hide had said "he appeared on the scene when I already thought of quitting music, and now he made my life an absolute mess!” about Yoshiki, those many years ago.
X had become popular soon after starting in the mid 80's. They tried to release their album "Jealousy" in America, but no one in the States wanted a Visual Kei band. However, X Japan found success everywhere even without any CDs released in the US.
While hide was having huge success with X Japan, he started other projects such as "hide with Spread Beaver", "ZILCH", and a solo career. hides’ first solo album was called "hide your face", and his second, "Psyence", which he played almost every instrument for. Just in those, hide became incredibly popular all over Japan.
Sadly, X Japan disbanded in spring of '97, after Toshi (vocals) quit because of "artistic and religious reasons". While X Japan was together, he had gotten married and had ties to a cult with his wife. "Dahlia", which was released in '96, would be their last album produced ever while being together.
hide continued with his other projects, however. He was also involved with helping young musicians get going, as well as helping sick people. hide donated blood (AB blood type) and bone marrow (a surgery that puts you through an extremely large amount of pain), and was involved with Leukemia patients and AIDS charity projects. There was even a girl with terminal illness who wrote into Make a Wish Foundation, her wish being to meet hide. After they met, she began to recover at an amazing rate, and hide stayed in touch with her through many letters.
hide was only at the beginning of his success apparently, when the impossible happened. On May 2nd, 1998, hide died on the way to a hospital in Tokyo after what police and media both said was a suicide attempt, however, friends, family, and certain fans could not believe hide would ever want to kill himself. hide's brother Hiroshi had driven him home after drinking in celebration for a gig he had done, a common thing for our beer lover to do. A female room mate laid him down on a bed, and when she went to check on him an hour later, hide was not in his room. Instead, hide was found with a ripped towel in his apartment bathroom, the towel wrapped around (or tied) to the doorknob. hide was barely alive when the ambulance arrived; he was only 33 years old.
There were five suicide attempts, two succeeding. 25, 000 people attended his funeral, 26 people had been hospitalized for various injuries. At the funeral, X Japan performed "Forever Love", and Yoshiki gave a speech (he was crying and shaking so hard that he was struggling to hold onto the paper with the speech) saying:
"Now, I am very shocked because I heard his sudden death. I still can't believe it. He is sleeping with a very beautiful face. I tried to wake him up again and again, though he is still sleeping. hide was the calmest person in our band. It was also hide who gave calm and accurate advice to me, who were short tempered and acted impulsively, even though I was a leader. Of course, he sometimes lost his way when he was in various pressures. However, he always called me in such a case. We talked everything; such as about our band, music, friends, life, fans. Sometimes, he was like my elder brother, and sometimes like a younger brother. Sometimes, we drank and fought, but he always said, like, "Yoshiki, what did I do yesterday? Sorry, I don't remember anything" the next day. However, he went to sleep without saying anything. All his fans, and all his friends, I think everyone is confused now. I cannot express myself how sad I am, but we have to accept the fact firmly because we cannot change anything. Please see him off to the heaven warmly."
A museum went up in Yokosuka, in the year 2000 (Sadly, it closed on September 25th, 2005), and hide's song "Pink Spider" won an MTV Music Award in '98 after his death, for Japanese International Viewer Choice Award. Some believed Pink Spider to be a musical suicide note.
hide may be gone, but his memory will live forever in the hearts and minds of his fans. Remember the legend. Never forget hide.
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