Hyde is the lead singer for Japanese rock back L'Arc En Ciel, who have contributed music for the animes Rurouni Kenshi, Blood+ and Full Metal Alchemist, as well as the anime movies Full Metal Alchemist and Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. His solo work has also been featured in the game Baiten Kaitos. He is a very famous (in Japan) solo artist. Hide, on the other hand, was the lead guitarist for X-Japan as well as a successful solo artist (before passing away) who had a song featured in the Heavy Metal 2000 movie. They sound nothing alike, yet because of the similarity of their names, I have gotten them confused on more than one occassion. I'll admit it: I'm an idiot.

The pronounciation for Hyde and Hide is totally different. Hyde is pronounced "Hai-do" or "Hide," whereas Hide is pronounced "Hi-De." It's only the similar spelling that has thrown me off.

When I found out that Hyde was a different person, I checked the library, and was surprised to find his 666 album. I was pretty excited because I had heard good things about Hyde. Judging from the one L'arc En Ciel song that I'd heard, I figured his music would be upbeat poppy rock music. (I'd heard "READY STEADY GO!" from Full Metal Alchemist.) While Hyde's solo work sounds similar, it is also more metal, more glam and more boring. I was seriously disappointed.

Hide, on the other hand, is brilliant. I have both Hide Your Face and Psyence full-length albums. They are an amalgamation of various styles, genres and sounds, at times both familiar and exotic, various musical disciplines blending together to form a cohesive whole. His music is at times whimsical, angry, mature and childish, but mostly just plain genius. It is also obviously Japanese, plundering from Western music, but never aping it.

Hyde apes Western music. His songs are familiar to the point where you might think you've heard them on the radio. If you have listened to the radio recently, you know how bad that can be. Yes, Hyde takes the worst kinds of Western rock music and mashing them together into a pulp, then regurgitates them. It's as disgusting as it sounds. I've always had a problem with X-Japan (Hide's original group) because they relied on Western music way too much, imitating the glam rock and thrash of the time. This is also what Hyde does. He takes in the worst elements of modern rock music (with some glam and thrash thrown in for good measure) and turns it Japanese. It can be cringe-worthy at times.

Maybe I'm being too hard on Hyde because I had confused him with Hide. Maybe that particular album just isn't his best. Maybe I didn't give it enough of a chance and should have listened to it over again before returning it. Who knows? But now you won't make the same mistake I did. If you hear someone talking about Hyde, or Hide, ask them who they mean. Japanese music can be confusing at times.