Rock and Roll Suicide - An Exploration into Music and Mental Health

Hideto was a singer, guitarist, and songwriter who went by the stage name hide (pronounced hee-day, and yes, he spelled it with a lower case ‘h’) and was in the same band as Taiji Sawada of X Japan. He was also successful in his solo career with the band in addition to co founding the US based band Zilch which also featured members of Killing Joke , Danzig , and Queens of the Stoneage .   His last band, Spread Beaver , was formed prior to his death.   Jennifer Finch and Demetra “Dee” Plakas from L7 supported hide on several television performances in 1993 prior to the creation of Spread Beaver . Upon entering high school in Zushi, Kanagawa, he joined the brass band club but eventually quit because he preferred the trumpet. After that he switched to the guitar and formed the band Saver Tiger . hide was first turned on to rock and roll when he was 15 through the album Alive II by Kiss ; later that year his grandmother purchased...

Taiji was born in Ichigawa, Chiba Prefecture. He first tried to play his dad’s guitar when he was in junior high school and was mostly inspired by western music, namely Queen and The Beatles.   He dropped out of school in 1984 when he was 16 to form his first band called Trash and was their front man and lead guitarist.   Two years later he switched to playing bass and joined the band Dementia . It was during this period that he met hide (intentional lower case 'h'; birth name Hideto Matsumoto); later they both were in X (also known as X Japan to differentiate them from the American band) which became Taiji’s most popular and well known band. Taiji played several shows with X before joining their band in 1986 and stayed with them until 1992. Taiji once stated in an interview that the band was everything to him: “Originally, rock came from America [to Japan]. While everybody [in Japan] was still copying American rock, I was recording with X …I felt that finally, the...

Born Robert George Meek in Gloucestershire, England, Meek is known as England’s first independent record producer. He broke new ground in recording techniques and introduced a DIY approach to the music industry that was unheard of. Despite not being able to play an instrument or write musical notation, he had an incredibly gifted ability to write and produce successful commercial recordings. He was the first producer to record many artists prior to launching into major recognition, including Marc Bolan, Tom Jones, Ritchie Blackmore, and Jimmy Page. He decided to not record David Bowie, the Rolling Stones, the Kinks, or the Beatles, stating the latter was “just a bunch of noise, stealing other people’s music.” One of Meek’s recording artists was Screaming Lord Sutch (remember that guy?). Meek recorded in a small flat upstairs at 204 Holloway Road, North London, between 1960 and 1967.   From this studio he recorded his most well known hit is The Tornados’ “Telstar”, whi...

Although not a rock and roller, you would be hard pressed to say you have never heard this man's voice or a piece of music he composed or arranged.  Donny Hathaway’s style of singing jazz, blues, gospel and soul influenced musical artists such as Led Zeppelin, Stevie Wonder, Amy Winehouse, Victor Wooten, and John Mayer. He was a major contributing force to the 70’s funk and soul music scene and garnered respect and high demand from others in the industry. Born in Chicago and raised in a St. Louis housing project, Hathaway was raised by his grandmother, a professional gospel singer who encouraged him to sing gospel at church when he was only 3 years of age. In college he met his lifelong friend, singer Roberta Flack, whom he later recorded multiple duets with. In addition to the 5 albums of his own he worked on, Hathaway did soundtrack work for the TV show Maude and either composed, arranged, or performed for artists such as Willie Nelson, Joe Cocke...

Originally from NJ, William Tucker was a prolific post punk/industrial guitarist who was mainly a session player. He taught guitar lessons locally for a while and had Mickey “Dean Ween” Melchiondo from the band Ween as one of his students. After Al Jourgensen from Ministry heard a Swinging Piston’s single on which Tucker played guitar, he asked him to join Ministry’s A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste tour in 1989 (and as a result, moved to Chicago that same year). This opened up several doors afterwards for him as he became a highly sought after musician by other bands who were impressed with his guitar playing skills. He later went on the road with Foetus, My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult, the Revolting Cocks, KMFDM, and Pigface. In 1999 Tucker joined Ministry again for what would have been his second year long tour with them on their Dark Side of the Spoon tour. He committed suicide on May 14 th  by overdosing on prescription medication and then slitting his th...