In Aug, X-Japan's new single "ART OF LIFE" was released. X-Japan got very active. On the New Years Eve, X-Japan held a Count Down Concert which had always been held by the big foreign artistes. In Feb, 1994, hide released his 1st solo album "HIDE YOUR FACE". His first tour "Hide Our
Psychommunity" started in March. The members in hide solo band were Pata, RAN, Joe,
D.I.E., I.N.A.,CHIROLYN.
In 1995, X-Japan released the new single "LONGING" in Aug and the video "Visual Shock" in Oct. X-Japan also started the live tour that covered the whole country. The tour was due in March next year, 1996. However, YOSHIKI collapsed on the stage while performing. Some concerts had to be postponed.
In May, 1996, hide released the VCD "LEMONed". On the same day, he opened a LEMONed shop in Tokyo. LEMONed was the label hide established when he listened to ZEPPET STORE. He fell in love with their music and wanted their music to be heard by many people. That was how it all got started. In the same year, hide released the new singles "MISERY" in June, and "Beauty & Stupid" in Aug.
In Sep, he released his second solo album "PSYENCE". Soon after the release of his new album, he started the second solo tour. It started with the LEMONed concert in Chiba Marine Stadium and ended with the 20 other concerts around the whole country. It was a great success. Tickets were sold out. The members in the band were the same as the ones in the first tour except the new guitarist, KIYOSHI. In Nov, X-Japan released their third album "DAHLIA". On the new years eve, they held the 2 Days Concerts in Tokyo Dome. hide kept releasing his new works. The single "HI-Ho/Good Bye" was released in Dec. In 1997, two live videos, video clips, remix
album("tune-up"), "MIX LEMONed JELLY" were released one after another. Beside releasing his own works, he released two compilation albums
"WooFer! 1" in Dec. and "WooFer! 2" in the following Feb in 1998.
When everything looked so great, X-Japan disbanded in Sep, 1997. The vocal, Toshi had wanted to disjoin the band, which led to a break-up. After the X-Japan's press conference on their disbandment on Sep, 22, 1997, X-Japan held their last Tokyo Dome concert on the New Years Eve in 1997. hide had been an X for almost 10 years. He loved his band, X. hide showed his tears on the stage.
Right after the X-Japan's last concert, hide concentrated on his solo, forming a new band called "hide with Spread Beaver". The members were hide's usual friends who had been playing on hide's first and second tour. hide released his first hide with Spread Beaver single, "Rocket Dive" on 28, Jan. hide did some promotions on the new song and it was a big hit --- ranking 4th on
Oricon. hide then went back to LA to record his soon-to-be-released third album.
Beside X-Japan and hide with Spread Beaver, hide had formed another band called "zilch" with his foreigner friends he met in LA. He had finished recording the zilch album before but had some problem releasing it. hide planned to release it after the release of his third album. Everything went well. hide was going to release two more singles
"Pink Spider" and "ever free" in May. hide talked a lot about what he was going to do in 1998. hide would release his third album and zilch album in summer, hold a MIX LEMONed JELLY again, and start the live
tour.
He always said that the year 1998 would be a very busy year for him. However, hide died all of sudden on 2, May. It was a big shock to all fans. Tens of thousands fans came to lay flowers in Honganji where hide was sound asleep. They mourned over his death. Many fans fainted and even killed themselves to follow him.
Although hide was gone, Spread Beaver was determined to release hide's third album. The recording had not been yet finished. I.N.A. and other members finally released hide's new posthumous album "Ja,Zoo" in Dec. It was possible because the recording had nearly been finished when hide died. There were some songs which hide had recorded only on demo tapes. Spread Beaver edited that demo tapes. However, there was one song left with not even a demo tape. hide had not recorded that last song. That last song had to be recorded by other person's voice.... and it was hide's own younger brother who read down the lyrics. hide with Spread Beaver started the tour too in Oct.
Although hide was not there, the concerts were sold out. Spread Beaver did a great job. hide was on stage with them... hide was in the big round screen on the stage looking down at his fans. hide's zilch album "3.2.1." was released in July too.