So here we are, awash with diabolical pretenders peddling their shallow wares and further assuring us that the glory days of metal are truly over. Do we weep? Do we get angry, drink ourselves into oblivion? Take it out on those around us?
No, the dissidents of yesteryear collect themselves and gracefully drink a toast to a legend. The Jimmi Hendrix of my generation, one Dimebag Darrell Abbott was taken from us five years ago today.
A single act of hatred changed my outlook on life and would determine my musical taste forever more. Not the brutal act of Nathan Gale in Ohio on December 8th 2004 – but the act, not a month before and the words uttered by Phil Anselmo. Potentially, those words were the inspiration for Nathan Gale committing those terrible murders, I was by far and away blown away by just how much baseless hatred was spouted from the lips of this “metal icon” When I read the article. I’m not referring to the “Dimebag deserves to be beaten severely” line that Mr Anselmo has frequently commented on, but the other pages of vitriol that this individual sought to spew about two brothers, who essentially handed him the world he wanted, and one that he proceeded to throw back in their faces. That’s a different story for a different time, this is my story of how I came to know and love the music of the Abbott brothers and the impact it would have on me.
I found myself avoiding Pantera throughout the 90’s, I wasn’t into the arrogance of a band who I narrow mindedly assumed were just a bunch of drunks who made noise – No, I liked Metallica (a band whose drummer is potentially the single most arrogant man in metal and has been for many years – that’s a different story, for another time.) and Iron Maiden, who couldn’t decide who they wanted to sing for them. Guns N Roses, who were dead and buried before they knew it and plenty of others who have fallen by the wayside and long since been forgotten.
No, I wasn’t angry enough for Pantera, I was only a younger teenager at this point in time and to be honest, I had nothing to be that angry about. However, I was a teenager and like most teenagers I got angrier and more pissed off with the establishment of popular music as the decade proceeded and the 90’s was prime fodder for crap music. At this point I hated Grunge (but I grew up), I hated Indie (and still do, thankfully) I found my arena for being angry steadily growing. However, I was young, foolish and narrow minded, so I avoided Pantera because I was too much of a wuss to give them a go. Those who know me and know my musical tastes of the past 10 years will potentially be quite shocked at this revelation. Hell, it’s a time of reflection and we’re all young and stupid once – we grow up in many ways and retain our childlike curiosity in others, I never strayed too far from Pantera though and so my story continues.
Fortunately I woke in time, for I was to learn, just a few short years later that an honest and decent man had been stolen away from us and never again would we see his like again. Anyway, my first taste of Pantera was obviously the indomitable “Walk” from ‘Vulgar Display of Power’ in a night club when I was 16, this is 1995 so I’m a little bit behind the times at this point. This was a revelation, an eye opener and it would be another 2 years before I listened to a whole Pantera album – I loved the music, but I couldn’t get past the man at the front.
So we’ll skip a few years to 2001, the towers fall and the world of metal is changing. I have access to more music than I ever did, I watch music channels I see a Texas based band’s first music video for their first single. That band was Drowning Pool and the song, was their intense “Bodies” single. Another eye opener, I’m hooked that’s it. This group, are a dream with heavy riffs, an awesome singer and everything I’d been looking for in a band for a long time. A veritable powerhouse of fun and metal they were. Then David ‘Stage’ Williams passes away suddenly in Aug 2002 and that dream is suddenly brought to an end (unfortunately they never could find a suitable replacement and even with their current line-up, they’ll never match that ferocity and passion again) I was lucky enough to see them in 2002 at the Ozzfest and they were fantastic, who knew a couple of months later and that amazing guy would be gone. A sad time. In the December of 2002 I was bought a copy of the Drowning Pool Sinema DVD – a tribute to Dave ‘Stage ‘ Williams came from an unlikely source – Well, not unlikely when you discover that Dave and this guy were very good buddies, The tribute came from non other than, Dimebag Darrell Abbott. It was a heart-warming and honest impression of the impact that a rising star had made on a famous heavy hitter of the metal world. I started to understand that there was maybe a little more to the Pantera legend than just drinking and arrogance.
So I began to consume Pantera in volumes equivelant to those consumed in alcohol by the band themselves at the height of their career. I began to be switched on to heavier music and so I went on a journey of discovery that would allow me to discover some of the most intense bands I’ve experienced, to enjoy the sweet rush of adrenaline nowhere else but a Mosh Pit can deliver. It wasn’t a band, it wasn’t a style of music. But one man and his honest heartfelt tribute to another man, who both shared a love of something that I did too. Music.
I ended up being touched by Pantera’s music and later Damageplan’s because of Dime’s sincerity, I understood his love of the genre and his desire to keep playing. It’s a feeling I can relate to in different parts of my life. The music gained new meaning to me, the same as it did to those who recognized it way sooner than I did, but I got it in the end boys and girls and that’s what matters. Panter were amazing, alas I never saw them live. I did however see Dime and Vinnie perform my much loved “Walk” at Donnington in 2004 – it was a tremendous experience and the voice didn’t matter it was Vinnie and Dime on the mainstage at Download blowing the whole crowd away with a balls out performance of a much loved classic. Tremendous. I can remember the day clearly just like that performance by my other fallen hero two years previously on the same stage. It was spectacular – both times. No-one will ever take that experience away.
I could talk about Dimebag’s tremendous impact on the world of guitar playing, my god who can deny the power of this man’s music. No-one can. But It wasn’t that which switched me on to Pantera, it was Dimebag himself – just being a guy, who missed a friend and wanted to pay his respects to him honestly and simply – I was touched. We let these people into our lives, they bring us up when we need it and help us to understand ourselves and our environments when we’re down. Dime’s words about Dave Williams were honest, heartfelt and most of all uplifting.
The complete antithesis of the tone of the words I would later read in Metal Hammer’s either November or December issue 2 years later in 2004. Such venom and anger were the basis of Phil Anselmo’s interview in that magazine. A hatred for the brothers Abbott, unrivalled (I thought at the time) by anyone else in the world. That article left me cold, I’d read harsh words tossed around between embittered rivals from bands before and it certainly wouldn’t be the last, I mean there’s still artist’s who like to throw bile around about others and create rivalry, it’s par for the course these days. But this interview, it was without playful intention or misunderstood context, it was just mean. It was cold and threatening, anyone as unhinged as Nathan Gale clearly was, was definitely going to read the message he inevitably did and respond in a completely unpredictable way.
I have recently watched over interviews with friends and family of Dimebag and Phil Anselmo various stints in front of the camera. It’s clear from Phil’s own behavior he suffers a tremendous burden of guilt about the death of Darrell Abbott – Whether this is rightly so or not. It’s not for anyone to comment barring the family and Phil Anselmo.
I have an opinion and I will share that amongst friends only, I won’t sully a tribute to a great man by embarking on a separate quest. I just felt compelled to pay tribute to a man who had an impact on my life, and had a huge influence on my musical tastes as well as many of my close friends.
I never lost my love of metal, this is my 30th year on this mortal coil, and the music my folk’s hoped I’d grow out of just won’t go away, it’s profound impact on my life and the sense of comradeship you experience when you’re around likeminded folk is unmatched by any other. Dimebag Darrell was the epitome of metal, love for life, friends and the music he played and listened to.
Dime was a tour de force on stage when I was lucky enough to experience it. I’ve only been touched by one other performance in the same way. They too are gone now.
To our fallen heroes, whoever they may be – We all have them. For me – They were Dimebag Darrell Abbott and Dave “stage” Williams. They were friends and now they’re reunited. I’m glad I got to experience their talents.
That’s what we should celebrate.
So, Get “fucking Hostile” – “let the bodies hit the floor” and “walk” to the Off License/Liquor store or wherever you get your Booze from. Take “5 Minutes alone” and be “reminded” of these awesome guys.
I’m sorry to those who feel it’s wrong to talk about both today, but I can’t think of one without thinking of the other – and they were both just awesome.
Check em out:
