Remember Dimebag...

[wolfking]

Still remember when this happened, I was upset and felt sick for days.  Can't believe it's been 10 years either, crazy.

RIP Dimebag.

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

Crazy that John Lennon was assassinated at the exact same date as Dimebag.

[Accelerando]

Man, I was in high school and people were talking about it that day. Even people who didn't listen to metal were disturbed by it. My history teacher, who also taught music, talked about it in class. You hear about violence in music, whether it's a brawl or drive-by shooting, all tragic and ridiculous, but this was at a fucking concert, man. It changed everything.

Saw this article on Billboard. Some words from fellow musicians and friends about Dimebag:

https://www.billboard.com/articles/dimebag-darrell/6385925/fellow-rockers-and-friends-remember-dimebag-darrell-on-the-10th?facebook_20141208


“I’ve always said that if he was still alive today, he and I would have buried the hatchet a long time ago, and Pantera absolutely would have continued on and we would have made new records.”
--Phil Anselmo, former Pantera frontman

“When people get interviewed about people who’ve passed away, a lot of times they stretch the truth: They try to make the person sound better than they really were. But he really was a sweetheart of a guy. There’s nothing bad I could say about Dimebag.”
--Ace Frehley, former KISS guitarist

“I would put Dimebag in the same territory as Hendrix, Jimmy Page and Eddie Van Halen -- all the [legendary] guitarists that we think about when we think about rock and metal.”
--Rob Halford, Judas Priest frontman

“Darrell still has a lot of marketability and I don’t really know that he’d be down with being marketed as much as he is. The Darrell that I know -- he loved to play guitar, and he loved to drink and live life. To me, it seemed that it was never about the money. It was always about the metal. It’s just such a shame that we lost him. ”
--Dave Mustaine, Megadeth leader

"The first time I heard Cowboys From Hell, I was taken aback, especially by Dimebag's style, because I hadn't really heard anything with that approach from a groove standpoint in metal. and with his lead playing, it was really unique. In a sense, it was like Billy Gibbons and Eddie Van Halen were to be combined; that's kind of the sound he was extracting when he'd play his leads. Who knows where Damageplan would have taken things. Who knows if there would have been a reunion with Pantera. Who knows where they would have taken things musically. I do believe that we lost one of metal's greatest guitar players when he was shot, without a doubt."
--Myles Kennedy, singer/guitarist for Alter Bridge; singer for Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and The Conspirators

"He was just one of those people that everybody loved. It was such shame to lose him. Soon after [he died], a fan was at one of our Alter Bridge shows, and he was passing out pictures of Dimebag. It's an image that shows his face and the years of his life. I put that sticker on my favorite guitar ever, and it's still there today. It was an emotional time when that happened, so I just put it right there on my No. 1 guitar. The picture's kind of faded, but I'll never remove it."
--Mark Tremonti, guitarist for Alter Bridge

"I saw Pantera in New York with [former Dream Theater drummer] Mike Portnoy. We were watching it, and we were blown away by this whole scene and how heavy the music was and how the riffs were so infectious. It inspired us to approach our [album Train of Thought] in a heavier way. There was so much energy in the room -- it was ridiculous. We walked away thinking, 'Wow. There's something there that's pretty special.' "
--John Petrucci, guitarist for Dream Theater

[Anguyen92]

There's another article from Billboard on JP having more thoughts on Dimebag.

What do you think it was about Dimebag’s playing that made people connect with it, even if they didn't play guitar?

First and foremost, I think that his strength was coming up with those signature riffs. Such a great riff writer and in metal, that's such a big part of it. He obviously had a major talent for doing that. Then, his whole sort of persona and the way that he wore the guitar and looked and presented it, it was very honest, and I think people related to that. He was just [like], "This is the way I am," and embracing the culture that his music was a part of and created, so it was very congruent with what the style of music was.

In the immediate aftermath of his death, were you worried about going out and performing?

No. I didn't think that way. I realized that the situation was, unfortunately, isolated to him. I guess I was able to think rationally enough to know that it wasn't some sort of movement against guitar players onstage. [As a performer], you're subjecting yourself to these situations when you're out in the open and really anything can happen at any time, but in this situation that kind of violence should never happen. Absolutely ridiculous. So sad, and such a big loss, and he was way too young. It sucks.

Do you think his death changed the course of metal in any way?

Whenever somebody dies who is a musician [and] their life ended prematurely and they would have had the opportunity to continue to create music, I always think about that. What would have happened if Stevie Ray Vaughn never died or Randy Rhoads never died? What kind of music would they have been creating, and how would the world have been different? You can't deny they would have continued. Obviously at that point Pantera wasn't together anymore, but Dimebag would have continued writing and being an influence in metal and music.

Any final thoughts about Dimebag?

As much as Dimebag was a star in the metal community and a living legend in that community, he was also into the guitar subcommunity. He would do guitar clinics and workshops. He would have signature instruments and signature amps and be all about the sound and the tone. He was way into that, which is good. A lot of times you see guitar players that are in larger bands, having success, they won't do stuff like that, and he was unabashedly into that scene. It's the fun kind of guitar club community, and it was great that he was part of that as well.

https://www.billboard.com/articles/dimebag-darrell/6363717/dream-theaters-john-petrucci-on-the-major-talent-of-dimebag-darrell?utm_source=twitter

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

Nice words from JP.