Pink Spider

According to recording engineer and Spread Beaver member Kazuhiko "I.N.A." Inada, he and hide wanted hide's singles to be different from each other, so they decided to follow "Rocket Dive", his first since X Japan disbanded and which I.N.A. described as a refreshing number with a sense of speed, with "Pink Spider". For the song, the duo layered live drums and machine sounds. I.N.A. cited this as what hide meant when he described his music as "cyborg rock". When another engineer told him it was impossible, I.N.A. created the section of "Pink Spider" where the audio cuts out for a second manually without the aid of a computer.^[1]

Released on May 13, 1998, "Pink Spider" was the first release published after hide's death on May 2. A live version of "Pink Spider" was included on the 2000 re-recording of "Tell Me". It was recorded on November 18, 1998, during the Tribal Ja, Zoo tour that was undertaken by Spread Beaver using recordings of hide's vocals.

On November 22, 2006, the "Pink Spider" single was re-released.^[2] On December 8, 2010, it was re-released again as part of the third releases in "The Devolution Project", which was a release of hide's original eleven singles on picture disc vinyl.^[3]

The song's music video was directed by Shūichi Tan, who previously directed the video for "Rocket Dive". It was filmed at the Hotel Alexandria as hide was recording in Los Angeles at the time and Tan was fond of David Fincher, whose 1995 film Seven was shot at the hotel.^[4] Behind the scenes footage from the "Pink Spider" video shoot would later be used in the music video for "Ever Free".^[1]

"Pink Spider" debuted at number 1 on the Oricon Singles Chart with sales over 513,000 copies in its initial week of release.^[5] By the end of the year it sold 1,033,770 copies, becoming the 11th best-selling single of 1998 and was certified Million by the RIAJ.^[6][7] It was also named "Song of the Year" at the 13th Japan Gold Disc Awards.^[8][9] The song's music video won the International Viewer's Choice - Japan award at the 1998 MTV Video Music Awards,^[10] and was named the best of the year at the 1998 Space Shower Music Video Awards.

Music journalist Showgun Fuyu called "Pink Spider" the ultimate example of the musical concept of "catchy without being pop". He described it as a heavy rock song that utilizes down-tuning and a heavy intro riff, and incorporates elements of industrial rock and groove metal. As such, he wrote that without the catchiness of the "Pinku supaidā, ikitai nā" chorus, it never would have become a million-selling hit.^[11]

In 2011, a jukebox musical based on and featuring hide's music was created, it was named Pink Spider after the song.^[12] It ran from March 8 to the 27 at the Tokyo Globe Theater and was then brought to Fukuoka, Kobe, Nagoya, Niigata, Sendai, and Sapporo in April.^[13]

All songs written by hide.

• The hidden untitled third track begins with 5 minutes and 27 seconds of silence, representing May 27, the date "Ever Free" was released, before a piece of that song is played.

• hide – vocals, guitar, bass, arranger, producer
• Joe – drums
• Eiki "Yana" Yanagita – drums
• Hide Fujiko – female voice
• Bill Kennedy – mixing engineer
• Doug Trantow – assistant engineer (Scream)
• Eric Westfall – recording engineer (Sunset Sound)
• Daiei Matsumoto – recording engineer (Hitokuchizaka-Studio)
• Kazuhiko Inada – recording engineer
• Hiroshi Nemoto – assistant engineer (Hitokuchizaka-Studio)
• Kevin Dean – assistant engineer (Sunset Sound)

Personnel per Ja, Zoo liner notes.^[14]