Thursday, November 16, 2006

   Death of Hide!

hide died on May 2, 1998. A girlfriend put hide down in bed after a night of drinking, but when she went to check on him an hour later, he was not in his room. hide was found hanged with a ripped towel in his apartment bathroom, the towel tied to the doorknob. He was barely alive when the ambulance arrived, and later died in the hospital. hide was 33 years old.

There is much debate as to the true nature of hide�fs death. Some say it was an accidental death, explaining that he was drunk; hide left no suicide note. Others cite the suicide of INXS lead singer Michael Hutchence, who was reputed to have died from hanging in an attempt to gratify himself through autoerotic asphyxiation. hide was known for performing stunts in attempts to scare others, and some suspect his death to be a stunt gone wrong. Taiji, who played in X Japan with hide for several years, offered a possible explanation for hide�fs death in his book X no Sei to Shi: Uchuu wo Kaeru Tomo e. He explained that after performing shows, the band members would often tie towels around their shoulders and necks to relieve muscle stress. Taiji implies that hide had most likely tied a towel on in such a manner (and one can subsequently assume that he had fallen against the door and was ultimately unable to free himself). Although many fans support Taiji�fs suggestion, others have preferred to see hide�fs death as a purposeful incident, not wanting to see hide�fs death as an accident. These fans have speculated that his song �gPink Spider�h was a musical suicide note (the song was hide�fs final single and music video released before his passing. It features a woman jumping off a building to her death).

hide�fs funeral was held at the Buddhist temple, Tsukiji Hongan-ji, in Tsukiji, Tokyo on May 7, 1998. Over 70,000 people attended. Streets were closed off, and police had to deploy boats, helicopters, 100 officers, and 170 security guards to the temple to control the emotional crowd. By the end of day, 26 people had been hospitalized for various injuries. There is still a small memorial and guest book at the temple—you can find it on the far left on entering the main hall.

hide�fs death and funeral was announced by CNN and other TV channels around the world, despite only being a household name within Japan.

The remaining members of X Japan performed �gForever Love�h at the funeral, and the band leader Yoshiki gave a speech. He was crying and shaking so hard that he was struggling to hold onto the paper he had written the speech on. Below is an excerpt:

�gI'm very shocked to hear about his death. I still can't believe what has happened. Right now, he's sleeping with a beautiful face. I tried to wake him up many times, but he's still sleeping.
Between the five of us, hide was the one who kept his calm and thought out things. Even though I was the leader, he was the calm one who gave me good advice when I was being short tempered and emotional. Of course with all that pressure, he too almost lost his identity. But during those hard times, he'd always give me a call. We would talk about X, music, friends, life, fans, almost anything. He was like a big brother to me and sometimes like a young brother too. We'd drink together and sometimes fight. But the next day, he'd come to me and say, "Yoshiki, have I done something last night? I'm sorry, I don't remember a thing." But this time, he didn't say anything back to me... sleeping.
To all fans and friends, you must all be confused. I also cannot express this sadness in words, but we must understand and accept this painful reality. Everyone please watch over his eternal sleep warmly�h
hide was known to be upbeat, a joker and party-loving, adding to the confusions as to why such a person would choose to escape his problems through suicide. He had gone on record however, that he frequently scared himself when drunk, and frequently regreted what he would do while drunk.

Message:
This is the code Mod. KYOko! ^.^ I know all of us find Hide's death sad! I know I do! To read this makes me want to cry! T.T


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