Hideto Matsumoto (1964~1998(On bottom middle)) was best known for his stage name within X Japan, HIDE. He was and is still one of the most popular member within the band. He also had a very successful solo career in Japan with the stage name "hide", pretty much the same one he used in X Japan except its all lower cap. This thread is created for his solo projects as well as his accomplishment outside of X Japan.
He's songwriting style for his solo project is very different than his performances within X Japan, imo it tends to be on the more cheerful and carefree side except for a few.
Taken from wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hide_(musician)"The title track of his second album Psyence is a big band/jazz composition with full brass, other songs on the record explore genres such as reggae, industrial rock and glam rock, with varying uses of guitar effects.[21]
Instruments and songwriting are less experimental on the Ja, Zoo album, most songs featuring a fairly conventional instrumentation of two guitars, bass, drums, and keyboards. Traditional piano and violins do, however, make an appearance."
He also helped discovered another influential band in Japan, Luna Sea, and founded/co founded bands like Zilch as well as Spread Beaver with KAZ(Vamps)
hide passed away in 1998. It came as a big shock in Japan; 3 fans died in a copycat suicide (I'll get to this later, don't go crazy on me yet). 50,000 people attended his funeral, close to 60 people were hospitalized and 200 needed medical treatment in first aid camp. Below is a video of TV report of his death and funeral. The video gets more and more crazy and emotional as it progresses, showing how much impact he had on his fans and Japan.
Hideto Matsumoto was found dead in the bathroom with a towel hung to his neck to a doorknob. Initially the news media and the authority deemed it to be suicide, but was later disputed by his colleagues and friends such as YOSHIKI and TAIJI, and claimed that that was a common stretching technique he's been using over the years, their dispute is also backed up by the fact that hide never left a suicide note and was drunk out of his mind and may have passed out while stretching, suffocating himself. While his fellow band member from Zilch, Paul Raven (1961~2007) claimed hide was under a lot stress for his Ja Zoo Album.
His real reason of death is still being debated, but I just want to ask everyone that posts here not to fight over it. Just let him rest in peace.