hide

Genres: Alternative rock, heavy metal, power metal, progressive metal, J-Rock

Instruments: Guitar, bass, vocals

Associated acts: X Japan, Zilch

Hideto Matsumoto, known professionally as hide, was a popular Japanese musician. He was primarily known for his work as lead guitarist of the popular heavy metal band X Japan from 1987 to 1997. He was also a successful solo artist and co-founder of the United States based band Zilch.

He died in May 2, 1998, found hanged with a towel tied to a doorknob in his Tokyo apartment. Although officially ruled a suicide, several of Hide's friends and colleagues stated that they believed the auto-strangulation to have been an accident, among them X Japan co-founder Yoshiki and former X bassist Taiji.