He achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the rock band X Japan from 1987 to 1997 and rose to prominence in Asia as a solo artist from 1993 to 1998, until his death.

At the height of his fame, while recording his third studio album and about to launch an international career with the newly formed Zilch, he died in 1998 of what was ruled a suicide by hanging.

Around that time, the group also dropped most of its original visual kei aesthetics, except Hide who would still perform in wildly colorful outfits and with his trademark red, later pink, hair.

[18] In early 1993, Hide recorded the "cyborg rock" song "Frozen Bug" with Inoran and J of Luna Sea under the band name M*A*S*S; it was included on the sampler Dance 2 Noise 004.

[21] The album's musical style differed significantly from the speed metal anthems and power ballads of X Japan, leaning more towards alternative rock.

[19] Prior to starting his own label, Hide would introduce bands he liked to Yoshiki, who then signed them to Extasy Records, as he had done with Zi:Kill, Luna Sea and Glay.

[21] He also formed a new band named Zilch in 1996, which apart from him and Spread Beaver programmer and percussionist I.N.A., was composed of American and British artists, such as Joey Castillo (Danzig), Paul Raven (Killing Joke) and Ray McVeigh (ex-The Professionals).

No suicide note was left[1] and Taiji theorizes in his autobiography that on the night of his death, Hide may have been practicing a technique to relieve upper back and neck pains which guitarists can suffer from due to continuous use of a shoulder strap.

[34] Zilch bassist Paul Raven said, "I saw him a few days before he passed away, and I had no indication from him that anything was wrong, other than that he was exhausted," but commented that Hide was "under a lot of stress," due to the recording schedule for the Ja, Zoo album.

[16][21] Despite Hide's death, Spread Beaver went through with the 1998 Tribal Ja, Zoo Tour from October through November, performing live with the addition of recordings, drawing an audience of 50,000 people.

It features covers of Hide's songs by several bands such as Buck-Tick, Luna Sea and Oblivion Dust, and solo artists including Tomoyasu Hotei and Cornelius.

[51] As far back as July 8, 2007, Yoshiki announced to be in talks with several musicians regarding a Hide tribute concert set for 2008, in order to commemorate the tenth anniversary of his former bandmate's death.

[63] Hide had previously expressed his desire to make a"rock opera", and said that the story of Pink Spider is not finished in the single, it remains open, and the musical aims to follow this thought thread.

[64] The show stars both Nao Minamisawa and Hitomi Takahashi as Meru, a girl who likes rock music, struggling between the real world and a fictional one called Psychocommunity.

[46] Two tribute albums, following the first in 1999, were released on July 3, 2013, and contain twenty-five tracks covered by newer visual kei acts such as heidi., Sadie, Matenrou Opera and Screw.

[68] Two additional tribute albums were released on December 18 as the final installments, one composed of covers by female recording artists such as Koda Kumi and Kanon Wakeshima, and the other by rock acts including D'erlanger and Kinniku Shōjo Tai.

[70] The new live concert film hide Alive the Movie -hide Indian Summer Special Limited Edition- was shown in theaters throughout Japan.

[71] Special limited tickets to see the movie came with a thirteen-track live CD of songs from the depicted concert, which was recorded on September 8, 1996, at Chiba Marine Stadium.

[71] In March 2013, Headwax Organization announced that Hide's grave site at Miura Reien was vandalized when unknown suspect(s) scratched the gravestone with a sharp object.

[73] A previously unfinished song by Hide called "Co Gal" (子　ギャル, Ko Gyaru) has been completed by Yamaha and INA utilizing vocaloid technology to mimic the deceased musician's voice.

The song was originally written and demoed for Ja, Zoo in 1998, took two years to finish and was included on an album by Universal Music released on December 10, 2014.

[74] Junk Story, a theatrical documentary on Hide that includes interviews with friends, staff and fellow musicians who knew him, entered theaters across Japan on May 23, 2015.

In addition to Hide with Spread Beaver on both nights, other acts that performed over the two days included Buck-Tick, Oblivion Dust, Mucc and Tomoyasu Hotei.

Hiroshi is the president of Hide's management company Headwax Organization, and also appears on Ja, Zoo reading an excerpt on "Pink Cloud Assembly".

The song "Xclamation" from 1989's Blue Blood, co-composed with Taiji, included traditional Indian percussion;[91] "Scars", a single written by Hide from 1996's Dahlia, was a glimpse into his future experiments in industrial rock, according to Alexey Eremenko of AllMusic.

"[1] Radio and TV host Bryan Burton-Lewis explained "In Japan, the image that we have of the X audience is rural kids going through a rebellion phase", "they all talk about how [hide] gave them something to live for.

X Japan is considered one of the founders of visual kei, a movement among Japanese musicians comparable to Western glam,[2] and subsequently are influences to many newer bands.

As such, acts that cite him specifically as an influence include D'espairsRay, Mucc guitarist Miya and vocalist Tatsuro, Nightmare's Hitsugi, Syu of Galneryus, Hizaki and Teru of Versailles, members from heidi., Naoto of Deathgaze, DuelJewel's Shun, Kouichi of Laputa, Jui from Vidoll, Reo of lynch.,[99][100][101][102] Dir En Grey vocalist Kyo and guitarist Kaoru,[103][104] each member of Daizystripper,[105] Kohshi from Flow,[106] members of MarBell,[107] Head Phones President frontwoman Anza,[108] DJ Ozma,[109] Ami Suzuki,[110] Silver Ash leader Ling,[111] Chiemi Ishimoto from Mass of the Fermenting Dregs,[112] Marilyn Manson[113] and Minami Momochi.

"[115] According to Josephine Yun, Hide's "stage persona was insolent, in your face, taunting and belligerent, and it thrilled Japanese youth while horrifying older generations.

[22] Jennifer Finch and Demetra "Dee" Plakas, of American all-girl grunge band L7, supported Hide on a couple of TV performances in 1993 before Spread Beaver was formed,[118][119] they also appear in the original promotional video for "Doubt".