"Rocket Dive" is the eighth single by Japanese musician

hide __NOTOC__ Hide or hides may refer to: Common uses * Hide (skin), the cured skin of an animal * Bird hide, a structure for observing birds and other wildlife without causing disturbance * Gamekeeper's hide or hunting hide or hunting blind, a stru ...

, the first to bear the hide with Spread Beaver name, released on January 28, 1998. It reached number 4 on the

Oricon Singles Chart The Oricon Singles Chart is the Japanese music industry-standard singles popularity chart issued daily, weekly, monthly and yearly by Oricon. Chart rankings are based on physical singles' sales. Until 2017, Oricon did not track download sales. In ...

and was the 33rd best-selling single of the year. It has been certified double platinum by the

RIAJ The is an industry trade group composed of Japanese corporations involved in the music industry. It was founded in 1942 as the Japan Phonogram Record Cultural Association, and adopted its current name in 1969. The RIAJ's activities include ...

for sales over 500,000 copies. The song's name and intro are a homage to

Kiss A kiss is the touch or pressing of one's lips against another person or an object. Cultural connotations of kissing vary widely. Depending on the culture and context, a kiss can express sentiments of love, passion, romance, sexual attraction, ...

' " Rocket Ride". Its music video was directed by Shūichi Tan, who went on to direct the video for hide's next single, " Pink Spider". On May 2, 2007, the single was re-released with a slightly different cover. 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 Picture discs are gramophone record, gramophone (phonograph) records that show images on their playing surface, rather than being of plain black or colored vinyl. Collectors traditionally reserve the term picture disc for records with graphics ...

vinyl.

Reception

"Rocket Dive" reached number 4 on the

. By the end of 1998 it sold 690,220 copies, making it the 33rd best-selling single of the year. The single was certified gold by the

in February 1998, platinum in May 1998, and double platinum in February 2020 for sales over 500,000. It was used as the opening theme song for the 1998

anime is hand-drawn and computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japanese, (a term derived from a shortening of ...

series ''AWOL -Absent Without Leave-'' and appears on its soundtrack. It was the theme song of the

Fuji TV JOCX-DTV (channel 8), branded as and colloquially known as CX, is a Japanese television station based in Odaiba, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Owned and operated by the it is the key station of the Fuji News Network (FNN) and the Fuji Network S ...

variety show Variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is entertainment made up of a variety of acts including musical performances, sketch comedy, magic, acrobatics, juggling, and ventriloquism. It is normally introduced by a com ...

''Rocket Live'', which aired from October 2012 to March 2013.

Track listing

All songs written by hide.

Personnel

– vocals, guitar, bass, arranger, producer *Joe – drums *Eric Westfall –

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recording engineer An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproducti ...

(at Victor Studio) *Ritsuko Baba – assistant engineer (Victor Studio) *Yasushi Konishi – recording engineer (at Studio Somewhere) *Kazuhiko Inada – recording engineer :Personnel for "Rocket Dive" per ''

Ja, Zoo ''Ja, Zoo'' is the third album by Japanese musician hide, released on November 21, 1998. It is also his last studio album as he died on May 2 while recording it, and the only one released under the name hide with Spread Beaver. It is his best-sel ...

liner notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the record sleeve, sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for cassettes. Origin Liner n ...

Cover versions

The song was covered by

Tomoyasu Hotei , also known simply as Hotei ( ), is a Japanese musician, singer-songwriter, composer, record producer and actor. With a career spanning more than 35 years, Hotei claims record sales of over 40 million copies and has collaborated with acclaimed a ...

on the 1999 hide tribute album ''

Tribute Spirits ''Tribute Spirits'' is a tribute album released on May 1, 1999 in memory of Japanese rock musician hide. It collects cover versions of his songs by various artists, among them most members of hide's former band X Japan. It reached number one on ...

''.

Tetsuya Komuro is a Japanese musician, songwriter and record producer. He is recognized as the most successful producer in Japanese music history and introduced contemporary electronic dance music to the Japanese mainstream. He was also a former owner of the ...

remixed the song for his 2007 album ''Cream of J-Pop ~Utaitsuguuta~'', which was released under the name DJ TK. It was also covered by Megamasso on the compilation ''Crush! 2 -90's V-Rock Best Hit Cover Songs-'', which was released on November 23, 2011 and features current

visual kei is a movement among Japanese musicians that is characterized by the use of varying levels of make-up, elaborate hair styles and flamboyant costumes, often, but not always, coupled with androgynous aesthetics, similar to Western glam rock. Som ...

bands covering songs from bands that were important to the '90s visual kei movement.

defspiral Defspiral (stylized as defspiral, and briefly existing under the name Wilma-Sidr) is a Japanese visual kei rock band composed of most of the former members of the Underneath. When the Underneath disbanded in 2010,Transtic Nerve The Underneath, formerly known as Transtic Nerve, was a Japanese visual kei rock band formed in 1995. The band released four full-length records as Transtic Nerve and two full-length records as The Underneath. As Transtic Nerve, the band played ...

, to his label Lemoned shortly before his death in 1998. It was covered by And for the compilation album ''Counteraction - V-Rock covered Visual Anime songs Compilation-'', which was released on May 23, 2012 and features covers of songs by visual kei bands that were used in

. The track was covered by R-Shitei for the ''Tribute II -Visual Spirits-'' tribute album, which was released on July 3, 2013. Amiaya and

Kishidan , which means "The Knights", are a Japanese rock band. They have a retro image, wearing Japanese school uniforms in the style of bōsōzoku. The lead singer, Sho Ayanokoji (often styled as "Show Ayanocozey"), was DJ Ozma, until he retired in De ...

recorded versions for ''Tribute VI -Female Spirits-'' and ''Tribute VII -Rock Spirits-'', respectively. Both albums were released on December 18, 2013.

Luna Sea Luna Sea (stylized as LUNA SEA) is a Japanese rock band formed in Kanagawa Prefecture in 1986. Due to the use of make-up and costumes early in their career and their widespread popularity, they are considered one of the most successful and infl ...

covered "Rocket Dive" at the second day of their rock festival, Lunatic Fest on June 28, 2015. The song was covered by

Dragon Ash is a Japanese rap rock group founded in 1996 by Kenji "KJ" Furuya and Sakurai Makoto. They were one of the first groups to popularize hip hop in Japan. Dragon Ash is a member of Mob Squad, which is an affiliation with the bands Source and En ...

for the June 6, 2018 ''Tribute Impulse'' album.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Hide (musician) songs 1998 singles 1998 songs Songs written by hide (musician)