johnhorny's blog post - DIMEBAG DARRELL. 1966 - 2004

On this day in 2004, Darrell "Dimebag" Abbott, was taken from this world in the most tragic of circumstances.

Dimebag, was originally the guitarist in the popular 90s Texan groove metalers Pantera, responsible for such classics as 'Walk', 'Cowboys from Hell', 'Five Minites Alone', to name but a few.

Pantera fell apart due to personality clashes in the early 00s. Dimebag & his brother Vinnie-Paul (Pantera drummer), henceforth formed a new band, Damageplan!

On this day in 2004, Damageplan were playing a gig at a club in Ohio, when a mentaly-disturbed fan by the name of Nathan Gale, stormed the stage, and shot Dimebag point-blank in the head, killing him instantly, as well as turning his gun on several others in the immediate proximity, killing them as well, including a fan who quickly rushed up in a vain attempt to perform CPR on his hero!

Gale was shot dead straight away by a cop who just happened to be outside the club, heard the chaos, and slipped in. So we will never really know Gale's motive.

This all won't really be acknowleged in the music press today! Its overshadowed by the aniversary of John Lennons murder (another gun death).

But I would like to pay tribute to a great guitarist who was sadly taken from us at so early an age! And that my thoughts & prayers are with Dimebag's family on this painfull day. ;-(