A tribute to Dimebag Darrell. Lots of music and musical analysis at the link, which goes to my son John's blog. (And by the way, I attended that Pantera concert of which he speaks).
AND: Here are my posts from 10 years ago: "Metal Massacre" and "The death of Darrell Abbott." I wrote the second post because reader had commented to say he was amazed that I'd gone to a Pantera concert.
Pantera was beyond the limit of what I really wanted to hear, but they were undeniably great at what they were doing, and I admired the intense commitment to that extreme form of music. I enjoyed watching the show, including the crowd of kids who just loved them, but I was watching as more of an objective outsider....The news of Abbott's murder came on a day when I was saying don't celebrate death days:
I'm genuinely tired of commemorating murders! And I'm tired of the trite "I remember where I was" reminiscing. Yeah, I remember where I was when I heard John Lennon died: in bed turning on the radio in the morning. I have an identical story to tell about me and Bobby Kennedy. But Bobby Kennedy's death isn't about me, nor is John Lennon's. But I've had enough of it, really. I've been asked a thousand times do you remember where you were when you heard President Kennedy got shot, and I feel like saying, no actually I'm the only one who went ahead and forgot that scintillating fact. But I always say, "I was in a stairwell." But, so what? I remember being in a stairwell, but so the hell what? After forty years, what are we talking about?I stand by that position. But I'm still blogging about Dimebag Darrell today, because it's a 10-year anniversary.
Posts
12 comments:
Wow, Althouse's writing has evolved.
I saw Pantera twice. First time I was 17 at Alpine.
Second time at the Civic Center.
The second show, the thing that most stands out, is Phil bitching about "partying with anyone" but if they fuck with him and his white homeboys then fuck them all!!!!
I felt a surge of racism amongst my white Wisco homeboys and I didn't like it. Why weren't these stupid fucks metaling against China or people taking jobs from Americans? What the fuck is their shit?
Kid Rock would never pull stupid shit like Phil Anselmo did that day.
Jimi Hendrix was 27 when he died. His photos make him look a hell of a lot older.
Another person killed in a mass shooting by a paranoid schizophrenic.
Re: "Another person killed in a mass shooting by a paranoid schizophrenic."
Your point?
"Wow, Althouse's writing has evolved."
Really? In what way?
When I look back in the archive, I see a consistent tone and style.
"Jimi Hendrix was 27 when he died. His photos make him look a hell of a lot older."
27 year olds used to be a lot older than they are now.
I don't know if I'd call Dimebag "The Greatest", but he sure as hell didn't stink. Far from it. There may be debate as to the #1 slot, but there's little doubt that he's in nearly anyone's pantheon.
Darrell had this pretty awesome slot as a guy who could grind out some heavy stuff with a nice, dark edge - less frenetic than, say thrash metal represented by the likes of Metallica's Kirk Hammett, and darker sounding than even the ultimate in cynicism epitomized by Queensrÿche's duo in Operation Mindcrime - without getting lost in the sort of self indulgence that artists like Yngwie Malmsteen was famous for. Compared to more popular guys, it's true he comes off as more deliberate than Eddie Van Halen's happy-go-lucky, near-ADD style, and more ponderous than Steve Vai's ridiculous mile-per-second prowess (although Vai all too often risks going over the same edge as Malmsteen). But he managed to add a virtuosity to a niche normally and detrimentally inhabited by moody modal progressions (which in and of itself isn't a bad thing - listen to what Tony Iommi does with it - but tends to become a monotonous background in the hands of lesser musicians).
In short, it was cool to hear metal have some actual musicaility rather than whack you upside the head with power chord riffs and unimaginitive solos.
I don't know how I'd rank him. I just think guitarists like Van Halen - one of Darrell's friends, and mourners at his funeral - Vai, Randy Rhodes, etc. are better soloists. I'd have to put both Van Halen as well as Tommi Iommi over him as the better overall guitarist. And I just find Queensrÿche's Chris DeGarmo and Michael Wilton more interesting to listen to, at least in the early period from "Rage for Order" to "Promised Land" (Mindcrime was their peak; I still listen to it to this day). But again, just the fact that he's easily in anyone's Top 20 or Top 10 crowd speaks to the respect he's earned. People differ over who's "THE Top", but I'd be surprised at anyone saying he's not in that tier of axe slingers.
Your point?
I think it's interesting. I'm surprised at the number of mass shootings attributable to paranoid schizophrenia. It makes me suspect that support services for these patients and their families are lacking.
It's even worse when you consider in how many cases the ill person's family had been contacting people, begging for help.
"Help! Help! Our family member is sick!"
And no one helps. That's not good. It needs to be addressed.
Here's another point: http://psychcentral.com/news/2013/09/12/loss-of-brain-tissue-in-schizophrenia-tied-to-antipsychotics/59443.html.
Support services are not the only things lacking. Fifteen minutes or less per patient is indeed a bitter pill when combined with medications with severe black box warnings.
Robert Cooke wrote:
27 year olds used to be a lot older than they are now
ah, but I was so much older then. I'm younger than that now. On this blog it all goes back to Dylan.
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