If you're familiar to the JRock world, the first thing that you'll see when you heard this name might be: PINK! Who wouldn't know hide with his flaming pink hair and his radical style which is so apparent in the way he chose his clothes and make up and even his songs? his attitude was like the i-don't-care-about-you-coz-this-is-how-I-think kind and he's not scared to do things which are out of ordinary and still admired and respected for them.

hide, also a musical genius, was the oldest member in X. he was also often said to be the mother of X, the spiritual leader, the counsellor and so many other things. True, even though Yoshiki was the leader of the band, he very often asks for hide's advice. If hide says okay, then the rest will say okay ^^. Yoshiki said that hide was always advising him, like the time when Yoshiki was harsh on the engineers of Blue Blood album and shouted at him and hide was like 'Yoshiki, this is for our major album, you shouldn't shout to him'. hide always picking up things which Yoshiki had broken, even if later on hide himself would break it again ^^.

hide, like Yoshiki, was a trouble-maker during his school days. In fact he was an overweight kid until he was teased by his schoolmates. hide got his first guitar when he was about 12 (hana: true?) and he loved it so much he went practising everyday and skipped his meals and such. before joining X, hide was a leader of the band Saver Tiger. Saver Tiger, though was quite a popular band in the Indies world, was constantly changing members too, just like early days of X, until they disbanded (hana: reason unknown, anyone knows?). when Saver Tiger disbanded, hide was planning to let go of music. Yoshiki called him (hana: or was it he called Yoshiki?) and they had a talk. hide mentioned that he wanted to quit music and Yoshiki was like, "Do what you want to do, but before that come and see our practice". hide did and guess what, he joined X! ^^

hide was a certified beautician, yep. He had finished his education and he could open his own beauty shop if he did not have that conversation with Yoshiki. It's no wonder he has such a radical style and always have this eye-catching appearance. Taiji wrote in his book that hide always look outrageously great in old clothes but he can also look wonderful in new clothes. i agree with him totally. even after X had tuned down their visual kei appearance, hide still looked marginally different with his pink hair and big goggles and neon-bright-green and pink clothes... he's so unique that whatever he wears, you won't be surprised anymore.

Regarding hide's guitar playing, there was always a debate on this. I have to say that hide was one of the greatest guitarists Ive ever heard. His short solo for each song is always captivating. True, I can't say that it's his own solo coz Pata surely had some parts too. But the point is, X's guitar parts are always one of my favourite part of the song. they're melodious and for some songs I can just lost myself in it (e.g. Forever Love) However, as much as i wanted to hail hide as one of the greatest guitarist around, there will always be people who disagree with me. Its true, my knowledge about the JRock world is still shallow and I don't listen to western rock, so I can't make a fair comparison. Okay let's stop this, it's getting nowhere...

hide was a good composer and a great lyricist too. This is not too apparent during his X Japan days. Even though he did write some songs during X Japan days, they were not too well-known. In fact, of those which he had written, I only like Scars and Drain, but of course it's just my personal opinion. His composing skill was proven through his solo work during and after X Japan era. hide's songs are almost always sound happy and carefree, just like himself. However I just read that his songs' meanings are nothing like the melody of the song. I don't understand Japanese, so Im just relying on people who understand. They said that hide's lyrics have deep meaning and it's rare that they're as cheerful as they sound. Pink Spider, for example, holds conversation from 4 different speakers, the spider, the sun, the bird and ... uhh, someone else *can't remember* *sweatdrops*.

After the disbandment of X Japan, hide went solo with a band called Spread Beaver. I don't know if hide initiated this band or just initiated the name, but their songs are always under 'hide and Spread Beaver' name. His solo career was fantastic. Taiji said that because X Japan was not his, hide always kept a small part to himself. Now that he was going solo, he really shows his true image and that was a fresh change for him. hide's solo works were getting more attention and they always topped the charts. hide released some singles and albums at which he composed, wrote and sang the songs themselves. He also played the guitar and bass parts and produced them himself.  hide was planning a tour and a release of his new singles when that incident happened.

On morning of 2nd may 1998, hide was found dead at his house. He was hung by a towel to a doorknob. There were no suicide notes or signs of robbery whatsoever. Suicide? I don't think so.

Again there were many rumours out there about this. Many fans believed that hide committed suicide. But I don't believe all those rubbish. I believe what Yoshiki and Taiji believed, that his death was an accident. Apparently he went home in a highly drunk state that night. Taiji's theory was that he wanted to do some massage on his stiff shoulder by tying a towel to a doorknob, it was a therapy known to most guitarists. It was suspected that in the process he slipped or maybe fell asleep and didn't wake up due to the effect of alcohol and involuntarily strangled himself.

No matter what the reason for his death was, hide's death was a terrible blow to his fans and more so to his fellow X members. Yoshiki went back from Los Angeles immediately after he received the news. He delivered a speech to hide's fans, trying to calm them down and prevent more of them from following hide's footsteps. By the end of the week, there were several girls who killed themselves in a copycat suicide and more who tried unsuccessfully to do so. I saw the video when Yoshiki read his speech from a piece of paper. He was wearing sunglasses so I can't see his eyes, but his hands were visibly shaking and he was trembling when he talked and his words were muffled by his tears. This is an excerpt on what Yoshiki said, thanks to Morgan at http://misery.the-fey.net/hideinfo.html

"...still can't believe it. His beautiful face is now sleeping. I've tried to wake him up again and again, but still he sleeps... it was hide who always gave me good advice. Of course, he sometimes lost his way under various pressures -- but he always called me anyway. We talked about X, life, fans... sometimes he was like my elder brother, sometimes he was like a little brother... I think all his fans and friends are confused now... I myself cannot express my feelings in words..."

I saw the report of hide's death and it was a terribly sad one. there was Yoshiki delivering speech to hide's fans while trying hard not to cry, footage of hide's fans crying and lining up beside the road which would be passed by the car carrying his ashes, and while the car passed by all of them reached out their hands and cried, several even went out of the barrier and ran after the car while many others fainted *sobz*

After hide's death, his band mates continued his unfinished work. A tribute CD for hide, hide Tribute Spirits, was produced at which many bands sang hide's song as a tribute. Luna Sea sang Scanner, Siam Shade did Pink Spider, Glay covered Tell Me, Yoshiki did the short-but-deeply mournful 58 seconds introduction and the piano version of Goodbye. hide also left a demo tape. his band mates just finished mastering and released hide's new song, In Motion, in the year 2002, a great song with cute PV ^^.

hide, wherever you are right now, rest in peace. We all still love you and we will always will.