Hideto "hide" Matsumoto

Born: 13 December 1964, 8:16pm, Yokosuka, Kanagawa prefecture

Died: May 2, 1998, Minato, Tokyo

Blood type: A

Associated acts: Saver Tiger (1981-1987), X Japan (1987-1997), solo project (as hide between 1993-1996, as hide with Spread Beaver in 1997 till his death), zilch (1996-2002)

Fun facts:

Despite his mischevious stage persona, he was known to be mature and level headed. He was considered a mentor/older brother figure by a lot of his coworkers.

hide actually hated singing and said he dislikes most bands' frontmen.
He initially wanted to hire a vocalist for his solo but couldn't find any he liked, so he took lessons from Toshi's vocal coach to sing for his debut.

He had a phobia of bugs and heights, but spesifically only when looking up.

He was shortsighted and wore contact lenses.

hide loved his grandma and considered her one of his style icons. A lot of clothes he wore on stage actually once belonged to his grandma.

He owned a dog and a hamster but gave both of them away.

He liked tamagotchis, owned one and received them as gifts from fans often, which he'd brag about to his band members when he received rare ones.

Him and Yoshiki always shared hotel rooms on tours.

He had a cosmetology license and intended to be a hairdresser. His goal before that was getting a job in the medical field.

He played the bass in a lot of his solo tracks along with the guitar, and was learning how to play the drums. He also mentioned he wanted to learn how to play the piano.

His first guitar was a gift from his grandma and earned him the nickname "Gibson" among his classmates since he'd take it around with him often.

He was a heavy drinker and a very violent and impulsive drunk, except of when he was recording his albums in which let alone drinking, he wouldn't even step out of the studio. He was very perfectionist and finicky with his work.

A few of his drunk misadventures: nearly drowned in Yoshiki's pool, fractured his skull after a fall and only noticed it days after when he was nearly dying because of it, fractured his foot jumping off of his car's roof, drove his car backwards down a hill on accident, scared off a bunch of muggers in the streets at LA trying to steal from him, countless fights in which Yoshiki would have to come collect him, said to have the world record for tv thrown for the longest distance out of a hotel window

He did X Japan's hair and makeup and came up with their looks early in their carreer, and did his own hair until it got too big for him to handle by himself.

Pata's mohawk was a result of hide shaving half of his hair off to make extensions for himself.

hide really liked kids. He didn't want to get married, but he's mentioned he'd like to have a kid and spoiled his baby nephew a lot, even bringing him up on stage multiple times. He also visited children's hospitals often and had a close friendship with one of his fans named Mayuko who was terminally ill and asked to meet him via Make a Wish.

He donated blood often, donated bone marrow to Mayuko and was also involved with AIDS charity.

He liked spending time online, and once said his breaks during recording go to replying to fanmail online. He also had a list of fansites he liked from both Japanese and international fans on his (now defunct) official website.