History Music / HidetoMatsumoto

* {{Bishonen}}: Often crossing into true [[AmbiguousGender androgyne]] better than even Music/DavidBowie, his inspiration for androgyny.

** ''Natural Born Onanist'' is a celebration of [[ADateWithRosiePalms masturbation]].

* MyNaymeIs: It's spelled hide and pronounced hee-day in reference to his solo career. Do not capitalize it there, even if Wiki/ThatOtherWiki does. In regard to his X Japan career, on the other hand, it is pronounced the same way but written in [[NoIndoorVoice ALL CAPS]] as HIDE.

Having been a hard rock guitarist with Yokosuka Saber Tiger, before joining X, he tended to prefer HardRock and HeavyMetal to ballads, notably being on record as saying Endless Rain was the only X ballad he truly liked to perform. In his solo career, he would do everything from {{jazz}} to ElectronicMusic to {{pop}} to HeavyMetal to {{goth}}ic {{industrial}}, [[NeoclassicalPunkZydecoRockabilly often combining said styles wildly in songs or albums]]. He was one of the first true {{cyberpunk}} musicians, his promotional videos and live solo act, hide with Spread Beaver, would often incorporate {{cyberpunk}} or technological themes, and he defined his solo style as "digital kei." He would, near the end of his life, try to break into the American music industry with the band Music/{{Zilch}}, which released one album featuring his works posthumously.

%% * NeoclassicalPunkZydecoRockabilly

* HomoeroticSubtext: With Yoshiki, and unlike in most cases of fanservice or the like, it is pretty obvious that at some point there was an actual relationship and/or at least chemistry between the two.

'''Provides Examples of:'''

* AttractiveBentGender: One of the earliest examples in VisualKei, and the other one making up the more "androgynous" part of 87-92 Music/XJapan (along with Yoshiki), in contrast to the more masculine Taiji, Toshi, and Pata.

* {{Bishonen}} / {{Biseinen}} : Often crossing into true [[AmbiguousGender androgyne]] better than even Music/DavidBowie, his inspiration for androgyny.

* BreakupBreakout: hide became most famous after leaving Yokosuka Saber Tiger and joining Music/XJapan, and his career only improved more when he went solo from Music/XJapan to his own career.

* {{Cyberpunk}} and PostCyberpunk
* DeadArtistsAreBetter: Sadly so in hide's case. This is probably because of the rise of Visual Kei as well as the internet. Many western v-kei fans are curious and many v-kei artists have performed at the hide memorial summit. they look into who he is and instant popularity. With that said, had he lived he would have probably been as influential as Music/KurtCobain, Music/JohnLennon or Elvis. It's obvious the Japanese viewed him that way.

* ElvisLives / HesJustHiding: Some vociferous and heavily in-denial fans subscribe to a UsefulNotes/ConspiracyTheory that claims hide didn't really die and is still alive somewhere. [[Music/ElvisPresley This sounds familiar...]]

* FranchiseZombie: LEMONED, Lemoned Plant, and the entire hide "estate" or "empire." It can be argued fairly well that Hiroshi Matsumoto has ''no'' idea of what hide would have wanted for it, and is solely using it as a personal ATM to gain payment from fans and from artists who admired hide.

* GenreRoulette
* GreatestHitsAlbum: more than one. [[BrokenBase People are beginning to complain about the abundance of these.]]

** ''Sadistic Desire'' (about MurderersAreRapists, from [[CrossingTheLineTwice the murderer/rapist's perspective]]) and ''Joker'' (about [[CompensatedDating mitsu]]) were the most famous from his X Japan days.

* MotorMouth: YES. So very yes. Enough that it might make one wonder how he can be so speedy... *cough*

* NeoclassicalPunkZydecoRockabilly
* OdeToIntoxication: ''Drink Or Die!!!'' is definitely this, as well as DrowningMySorrows, DrunkenSong, and ''much'' HarsherInHindsight. ''Lemoned I Scream'' is this for either alcohol or hallucinogens or both. ''Sold Some Attitude'' is so much of a deconstruction of the idea (bitterly referencing either mania or amphetamine psychosis) that it is arguably an OdeToSobriety.

* ProjectedMan: One of the most successful and scarily UncannyValley (even to Yoshiki, to whom this was so much so that he personally ended the practice) examples ever in regard to the hologram. He was the first musician to have a believable holographic form onstage, this having been accomplished in 2008, long before Music/TupacShakur at Coachella.

* SexDrugsAndRockAndRoll: Quite possible. Quite arguable.

* StylisticSuck: Some of hide's PVs are either this, NoBudget, or both - a good example being the contrast between ''Genkai Haretsu'' and ''Eyes Love You,'' which may seem dated but are competitive with anything else filmed in the early to mid 1990s, and ''Misery'' and ''Oblaat,'' which have far less of a "polished" look.
* TheTysonZone: ''When'' he actually entered it and with what particular incident out of all of them is somewhat in doubt, but he ''definitely'' did - and it was part of why he was able to do half of the stuff he did without any severe negative consequences imposed from the outside.

* MohsScaleOfLyricalHardness: His credited works with Music/XJapan were three 7 (''Joker,'' ''Celebration,'' and ''Love Replica'') two 8 (''Miscast,'' and ''Drain'') and one 9 (''Sadistic Desire'') His solo works could be anywhere from a 0-1 (''Oedo Cowboys'' and ''Psyence'') to a solid 9 (''Bacteria,'' ''Doubt,'' ''Genkai Haretsu'') and he hit 10-11 with some of his Zilch work (''Sold Some Attitude,'' ''Fuctrack #6''). Average is around an 8-9, for his love of IntercourseWithYou and some fairly twisted takes on it and for the generally dark themes.
* MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness: Usually averages out around a 6-7 for his Music/XJapan work, a 4-6 with some occasional drops to 1-2 and occasional bounces all the way up to 9 for his solo work with Spread Beaver, and 4-9 for his work with Zilch. See LyricalDissonance and the above though - even the songs where he's slower and that can't be classified as "metal" by any means are often fairly dark and deal with some deep and troubling issues - and when he goes to harder metal, the lyrics follow (his metal songs are all 8-9 on the lyrics scale above)

On May 2, 1998, hide was found dying. He was taken to a hospital, where efforts to revive him were unsuccessful and he was declared dead. The best comparison of what unfolded to something the Western music scene could be familiar with would be if Music/BuddyHolly and Music/ElvisPresley had died at the exact same time, of reasons no one could really ascertain. [[Music/YoshikiHayashi Yoshiki]] went into a deep depression and many years of mourning for his closest best friend and soulmate, and some fans [[LoveMakesYouCrazy committed suicide]] at the thought of being faced with a world without him. [[EpilepticTrees Many theories were and still are debated]].

* AccidentalHero: In at least two ways. In the first, he and his music tapped into the hopelessness and ennui of especially rural or "outsider" young Japanese of TheNineties in such a powerful way that he became a "spokesperson in effect" for the angst and suffering hidden behind the "ganbare" mask of Japan. In the second, a young fan suffering from a blood disorder, Mayuko Kishi, happened to meet with him and they formed a deep connection, to the point where hide seemed to see her as the daughter he never had and, on finding out he couldn't donate blood or bone marrow for her, became a strong advocate and financial donor for blood cancers and similar disorders, as well as bringing her onstage at his shows, helping her family financially, and visiting her regularly.
* AccidentalMurder: His suicide/accident can be argued to be this (in the involuntary manslaughter/criminal negligence sense) as well as suicide/accident, from known fact. His brother and manager Hiroshi ''at the very least'' ''knew'' the state he was in and, instead of separating him from further alcohol and drugs and/or supervising him or getting medical help, allowed him to be alone while approaching alcohol poisoning and in an emotionally agitated state. How ''accidental'' this was may also depend on your views of Hiroshi's [[CashCowFranchise post-death monetization]] of his brother...
* TheAlcoholic: Alcoholism defined his life especially after 1990 or so, sometimes his works, and was part of why he died.
* AlcoholInducedIdiocy: Being TheAlcoholic invoked this trope ''too'' often for hide, the final time being his death. Being drunk led him into repeatedly engaging in the BarBrawl and other seemingly pointless physical aggression and assaults, at least one major accident with pyrotechnics, a fall that left him with a broken leg and skull fracture, at least one car accident, and alcohol poisoning itself on at least one occasion prior to his death, and he committed suicide either accidentally during a drunken sex act, or intentionally when so drunk and high he was pushed beyond his emotional limits.
** His song ''Drink Or Die!!!!'' is ''about'' AlcoholInducedIdiocy with a subtext of DrowningMySorrows, and is actually one of his saddest songs in retrospect, despite being a "happy" song when it was created.
* AngelUnaware: Some of hide's fandom actually thinks he ''was'' this. He himself would have probably laughed at the idea or been embarrassed at such though, and those fans are often seen as [[CloudCuckoolander weird]] and too willing to give his bad behavior a pass. That said, Hiroshi Matsumoto seems to have no problem encouraging them and making money off of them.
** Ironically enough, that attitude would actually ''confirm'' eligibility for being a Bodhisattva in some Buddhist views of the Mahayana strain, as humility and sincerity are often considered higher virtues than sexual morality or abstinence from alcohol in those views (which could possibly make this trope very applicable to him), unlike Theravada Buddhist belief where they are equivalent virtues, and someone who is not celibate and an alcoholic would be seen as utterly incapable of becoming a Bodhisattva without several cycles of reincarnation free of sexual vice and drunkenness.
* AngerBornOfWorry: There was this back and forth between hide and his friends.
** Most prominently between him and Yoshiki, to the point of eventually undermining their relationship, because he and Yoshiki were both TheAlcoholic and out of control, but at the time, Yoshiki had less severe mental health problems in general and yet little knowledge of mental illness or how he could actually ''help'' hide, and things only got worse from there.
** [[Music/TomoakiIshizuka Pata]], Music/{{Sugizo}}, J, [[Music/TaijiSawada Taiji]], and pretty much all of hide's other close friends near the end of his life 1996-98 all suspected something was horribly wrong, and would later mention this at various points, that hide seemed almost terrified of being alone, that his drinking was worsening by the day, and that he was emotionally falling apart - yet if they acted or said anything, hide would become angry and deny that anything was wrong, which only made matters worse.
** Hiroshi Matsumoto claimed that he and hide fought a lot at the end of hide's life. That said, whether this was actually this (as he claims it to be) or over financial issues and hide seeking new management is ''very'' much in question.

* AnnoyingYoungerSibling: Hiroshi was occasionally seen as such by hide in life, and large sections of the fandom pretty much began to treat him as such after the events of 2008-10 and the Music/KodaKumi cover.
* AnyoneCanDie: One reason hide's death made such an impression and was such a shock. He seemed to be the least emotionally damaged ex-member of X at the time, had a public face that appeared lively and interested in life, and even seemed to be planning for the future in an interview he did the day before he died.

* ArtisticStimulation: hide was a heavy drinker, possibly [[TheAlcoholic an alcoholic]], though no one really knows "why" outside of speculation, and this inspired his solo songs ''Drink Or Die'' and ''Lemoned I Scream'' among others. There is also a video clip where he's obviously enjoying some good weed. There are rumors of his using/abusing other substances, but these are best not discussed online unless one enjoys backlash.
* AttentionWhore: Out of necessity, and why this trope isn't necessarily bad. That said, he hated being one, and "felt trapped in the body of a pop star" after his BreakupBreakout and career ascendance.

* BarBrawl: hide, along with Taiji and Yoshiki, were the biggest troublemakers in regard to the fighting and damage that Music/XJapan caused in its earlier days. If running around a hotel fighting with the desk people for no reason at all can be considered under this trope...
* BerserkButton: Lots and lots of things, and ''anything'' once hide had consumed enough alcohol.

* BuryMeNotOnTheLonePrairie: While hide has a grave in Japan and his funeral was held at the Hongan-Ji temple, his ashes were scattered off the Santa Monica Pier and Marina Del Rey Pier in UsefulNotes/LosAngeles.

* CassandraTruth / JunkieProphet: People who knew hide around 1997-1998 mentioned that he insisted on telling them a story about a nightmare he often had. About a massive earthquake, followed by a nuclear disaster. The song ''Oblaat'' also is a stinging prediction of a society of ApatheticCitizens under constant surveillance judging each other for the stupidest points while ignoring their own apathy and imprisonment.

* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: From mental illness including Bipolar 1 and bulimia and addiction to alcohol and possibly methamphetamine, yet somehow, it didn't affect his abilities as an artist too negatively.
* ClusterFBomb: Like Yoshiki, a walking ClusterFBomb, with a few musical examples.

* CreepyCockroach: See EekAMouse below - hide was terrified of roaches.

* DisabilitySuperpower: Bipolar 1 was this for him in that had he ''not'' been bipolar he likely wouldn't have conceived of some of the MindScrew nightmarish lyrics he did (which actually made for incredible music), likely would not have even considered half of his onstage antics and his public persona, and more. The "outsider looking in"/"uncontrollable emotions" view it gave him arguably fueled much of his work.

* DrunkDriver: See the incident listed under CoolCar above - that crash was how hide lost his California driver's license (which it was amazing that he ever had in the first place), though it was never really known whether it was hide or [[Music/TomoakiIshizuka Pata]] who was the drunk driver that time, as everyone fled and both claimed to have been driving.
* TheDrunkenSailor: Obviously not one himself, but in hide's days in Yokosuka Saber Tiger, he would allegedly get into bar fights with drunken sailors (which, due to Yokosuka being a US Navy base, were often in quite plentiful supply) on occasion.

* DrivenToSuicide: ''Misery,'' ''Goodbye,'' ''Oblaat,'' and ''arguably'' ''Pink Spider,'' though the "suicide" in it is symbolic for jumping into a new life. As for hide in RealLife, there's a few theories that claim that he was driven to intentional suicide.
* DrowningMySorrows: See ArtisticStimulation, above.
* DrunkenMaster: Not as much of one as Pata, but very close - it's often impossible to tell his level of intoxication onstage watching him perform unless he makes a major mistake, and that's a rare occurrence.

* EasilyForgiven: Massive popularity and then NeverSpeakIllOfTheDead led to this for him, along with the unfortunate fact that few people took his alcoholism, his dangerous or violent actions under the influence, or his mental illnesses seriously at the time.
* EekAMouse: hide was terrified of cockroaches. One time, he was with [[Music/YoshikiHayashi Yoshiki]] in a hotel room and saw one, which led to both screaming and running around until Tetsu from Lordi.5 (or Yoshiki, in another common telling of the story, or Taiji, in another) killed the roach.

* EroticAsphyxiation: There is a common theory that his "suicide" was not intentional, but was actually this. Whether it was or was not, this is a good place to add the warning: never, ever, ever, EVER do this alone or drunk.
* EveryoneKnewAlready: That hide had feelings for Yoshiki.

* FormerlyFat: One of the more sad examples of this trope. All of his family seems to be overweight to some degree (as exemplified in his brother, who is well over 200 pounds at this point), and he was mercilessly abused/teased in school for being a fat child and fat teen. As he hit his late teens, he discovered alcohol, bulimia, and possibly amphetamines. His weight dropped, he joined his first bands Dementia and Yokosuka Saber Tiger, and from then on felt that he ''had'' to maintain perfect thinness to keep the new life as something other than a target of abuse, and even when he had gotten to the point that no one would have cared had he gained weight again, his eating disorders and alcoholism had taken on a life of their own. It could even be argued that he was a "delayed bullycide" as in, someone ''so'' emotionally damaged from the childhood abuse and mockery that he resorted to the behaviors that would in part later on lead to his death.

* FreakinessShame: hide is widely admired as one of the most absolutely beautiful paragons of VisualKei by almost anyone in the scene on a basis of appearance and style if nothing else (trolls and anti-fans aside), and yet viewed himself as ugly and disgustingly fat, partially due to a severe eating disorder and childhood abuse and bullying.

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

* GuideDangIt: Understanding some of hide's lyrics or expressions, or the meaning in some of his songs or PerformanceVideos.
* HairTriggerTemper: hide was nearly legendary for just ''how'' hair-trigger his temper was especially when drinking or consuming other substances, and often over the most ridiculous of reasons.
* HeterosexualLifePartners: With Pata, also with Sugizo and J.
* HeyLetsPutOnAShow: The hide memorial summit, as well as his annual birthday shows from other old bandmates.

* HotBlooded: hide could often get very angry very fast, as a result of bipolar, alcohol, and possibly drugs. He got into arguments and fights quite often as a result.

* IDoNotDrinkWine: A literal non-superhuman version of the trope, combined with ArtisticLicensePharmacology. In the Arena37C interview where he (perhaps unintentionally) revealed the severe extent of his alcoholism, he mentioned that he didn't like to drink wine because he believed it had a worse effect on him than other alcohol.
* IgnoredConfession: There were a few of these, in everything from things in his art to things he mentioned in interviews to his actions - and had ''one'' of them gotten more attention, he might still be alive.
** Probably the biggest was the aforementioned Arena37C interview in 1994. He checked off almost every point on the [[http://depression.about.com/od/screeningtools/l/blmast.htm Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test]] in describing his drinking habits and what they did to his life, and yet at the time, ''no one'' saw fit to tell him that he was an alcoholic.
** His obsessive focus on death/suicide/suicidal feelings in his lyrics and promotional videos - even though he almost always subverted or inverted the trope or treated it in a BlackComedy sense, it was obvious he was severely troubled in that ''nearly almost anything that wasn't written for him by someone else'' had these themes. ''Goodbye'' and ''Pink Spider'' especially are a GutPunch in how HarsherInHindsight they are.
** The equal obsession with abandonment and betrayal he developed in his later writing and the outright bitterness of it - especially in the Zilch songs he wrote - can come across also. Especially with that his last words alive, on seeing Hiroshi for the last time before retreating to his room, were reported to be "and you, too?"

* LunaticLoophole: Played straight almost too many times to count in RealLife: he survived alcohol poisoning on repeated occasions, almost lighting himself on fire in a pyrotechnic stunt gone wrong, being in a rather large number of fights despite being short and scary skinny, sustaining a skull fracture and leg injuries in a fall, a car wreck, and that's just what's known about. Sadly, also subverted in RealLife in a horrific way.
* ManicPixieDreamGirl: The rare male version. That said, as he said in at least two interviews, he *wanted* to be a combination of ManicPixieDreamGirl and TheLadette if he could have. Whether this means he was actually bigender or simply [[AllMenArePerverts perverted]] is unknown.
* MatterOfLifeAndDeath

* TheMentallyDisturbed: hide may have suffered from bulimia and alcoholism according to various sources. Whether it's WordOfDante or WildMassGuessing, some fans also say he suffered from Axis 1 bipolar disorder.

* NeverSpeakIllOfTheDead: Played straight AND averted like hell. Backlash tends to happen when extreme partisans of playing this straight and of averting it end up in the same location. One side will deny things that hide actually did on stage, and the other will post accusations that are patent falsehoods just to "look cool" or out of Shipping related rage.
* NoodleIncident: Quite a few, almost always due to AlcoholInducedIdiocy, and his death itself was one.

* OffTheWagon: Subverted. To argue that hide ever was *on* the wagon is laughable.
* OurGhostsAreDifferent: The hologram in 2008-09 X concerts could be considered a constructed variant of this. Could be played straight also, if you believe some of the stories from some fans who claim to have seen/channeled/otherwise met hide's soul somehow. [[CloudCuckooLander Of course]] [[FanGirl they/we could]] [[LoveMakesYouCrazy all be]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grief batshit]]. [[MindScrew Or maybe they/we aren't.]]

* PersonaNonGrata: Banned from more than a few bars and hotels.

** ''Oblaat'' is a protest of TheNineties Japanese society and its desire to "look the other way" and to ignore problems and sweep issues under the rug.
* RantInducingSlight: Anything could be this for hide depending on his alcohol consumption.
* RefugeInAudacity: This quote on the RefugeInAudacity article sums up hide's career and life:

-->''"This isn't Getting Crap Past The Radar. This is crashing the crap through the front doors and out the back doors of the radar installation in an armored car with sunglasses-wearing flaming skull decals on every flat surface and a Hieronymus Bosch reproduction on the door, hood-mounted machine guns blazing, Motörhead blasting on the jury-rigged PA system, the tires leaving tracks painting sex and violence on the floor and walls and one arm hanging out of the window making a rude hand gesture."''

* ReligionRantSong: "Easy Jesus" with Zilch.
* RuleOfDrama: Invoked it by dying.
* SanitySlippage: Arguably, his life from 1997 onward. The pressures of his solo career, his alleged drug use catching up to him, the pain of the band that had made him famous and his friendships from said band breaking up, and his increased need for alcohol all pointed to hide's being in somewhat of a downward spiral toward the end.

* SecretRelationship: Though one that becomes more of EverybodyKnewAlready over time. hide and [[Music/YoshikiHayashi Yoshiki]].
* SelfHarm: See FormerlyFat above - hide suffered from bulimia.

* SmokingIsCool: hide was a rather notorious tobacco addict, who once posted a blog whining about not being able to smoke indoors in California, and who would occasionally even smoke ''while performing.'' He provided quite the free advertising for his preferred brand, too.

* TeamMom: Despite his issues, he was, according to everyone else, this for Music/XJapan while he lived.
* TooMuchInformation: How he died. If someone tells you "it was an accident," asking "why" may very well lead to this trope being invoked.
* TheTrickster: Often seen as sympathetic to the [[Myth/EgyptianMythology Egyptian mythological deity]] Set/Seth due to his role as such in the art film "Seth et Holth" and due to a few photoshoots on this same theme.

* UnstoppableRage: Often as a result of consuming alcohol, and directed at some of the oddest targets. Being a hotel desk clerk was not safe when you had hide staying there...

* VitriolicBestBuds: Yoshiki and hide could be a type of this.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: The Dice live on TV was groundbreakingly NSFW.

* BiTheWay: hide seemed to think "all sex is good sex." The song ''50% & 50%'' is arguably a direct reference to coming out as bisexual.

* AngelUnaware: Some of hide's fandom actually thinks he ''was'' this. He himself would have probably laughed at the idea or been embarrassed at such though, and those fans are often seen as [[CloudCuckoolander weird]], too willing to give his bad behavior a pass, and FanDumb. That said, Hiroshi Matsumoto seems to have no problem encouraging them and making money off of them.

* ArtisticStimulation: hide was a heavy drinker, possibly [[TheAlcoholic an alcoholic]], though no one really knows "why" outside of speculation, and this inspired his solo songs ''Drink Or Die'' and ''Lemoned I Scream'' among others. There is also a video clip where he's obviously enjoying some good weed. There are rumors of his using/abusing other substances, but these are best not discussed online unless one enjoys InternetBackdraft.

* FlameWar: Discussing hide's death and the circumstances of it has led to more than one raging flame war, to the point that it's almost considered InternetBackdraft especially when participated in by newbies or people in places where not everyone will agree on what is stated.
** Also, whether hide or Toshi was Yoshiki's true love created possibly the biggest flame war of X Japan fandom's ShipToShipCombat. It's also considered InternetBackdraft, especially if invoked with claiming hide killed himself to punish Toshi or Yoshiki.

* NeverSpeakIllOfTheDead: Played straight AND averted like hell. InternetBackdraft tends to happen when extreme partisans of playing this straight and of averting it end up in the same location. [[FanDumb One side will deny things that hide actually did on stage,]] and [[FanDumb the other will post accusations that are patent falsehoods just to "look cool"]] or out of Shipping related rage.

* SexDrugsAndRockAndRoll: Quite possible. Quite arguable. [[InternetBackdraft And that is all we shall say about that.]]

* {{Trickster}}: Often seen as sympathetic to the [[Myth/EgyptianMythology Egyptian mythological deity]] Set/Seth due to his role as such in the art film "Seth et Holth" and due to a few photoshoots on this same theme.

* hide solo works: [[TomoakiIshizuka Pata]], Kiyoshi, [[DaijiroNozawa D.I.E.]], Chirolyn, Ran, I.N.A., Joe, KAZ Iwaike

* ElvisLives / HesJustHiding: Some vociferous and heavily in-denial fans subscribe to a UsefulNotes/ConspiracyTheory that claims hide didn't really die and is still alive somewhere. [[ElvisPresley This sounds familiar...]]

* ElvisLives / HesJustHiding: Some vociferous and heavily in-denial fans subscribe to a ConspiracyTheory that claims hide didn't really die and is still alive somewhere. [[ElvisPresley This sounds familiar...]]