I can't avoid it...
posted on 10 Dec 2004 under category History
… and haven’t really been able to stop thinking about it. “It”, of course, being the murder of Diamond/Dimebag Darrell. As some of you who know me may know, I used to run a “Panterrible” band site where I posted all sorts of pictures and ranting about their glam days and their modern-day denial of it. So why does it bother me?
I may not have cared for his music but I sure as shit didn’t want him dead. That’s just plain childish. People hate my music - should they want to kill me over it?
As Snxke said, take the band feelings out of the equation - someone was murdered at a gig, and the incident ended up with others, some in the crowd, dead as well. Over what? Because he was upset Pantera broke up? I may never play a gig again, but I have in the past, and to think of that happening right there… disturbing. Even more so to think of the audience - I’ve seen far more gigs than I’ve played, obviously… again, disturbing. (Someone on a board pointed out that you’re still statistically more likely to die in a car accident than getting gunned down at a gig - that ignores the fact that driving assumes the risk, and you’re in control and can do something about threats - who the hell goes to a gig thinking “Hm, looks like rain of bullets tonight, I better get my flak jacket…”) What will this mean for the future of club shows? Metal shows or music shows in general?
Finally, just one last thought I originally wrote on another message board about this that somehow got lost in the shuffle:
And lest anyone think I’m crying over this, that’s not exactly the reaction. It’s more detached but more visceral than that - hard to explain. I just went through this shit last week when the guy who works in the cubicle next to me died over the weekend. Someone’s there, and then they’re gone, and that fact just smacks you in the face with the reality that death is coming for YOU, too. You just don’t know when or how. Like the lottery, but in reverse - everyone’s going to get their number, but nobody wants it, and would prefer not to think about it - and when something like this happens, it becomes impossible NOT to think about it, stare at your own ticket, and wonder “Hm, when are THOSE numbers going to drop out of the hopper…?”
(I can’t believe this has been almost ten years. Shootings are even more common now, but my and Aerik’s fear that this would happen at more gigs never really came to pass - not that I heard of, anyway.
I still hate the Phil-era of Pantera, but that old shit fucking rocks. “It’s all over tonight!!!”)