Nathan Gale is the new Mark Chapman.

I now understand, in part, what it must have been like to hear about Lennon's murder. Murder. That's a harsh way to die. Dimebag Darrell Abbott, of Damageplan and Pantera, was murdered on Wednesday night, Ohio time. On stage. By a militay nut.

This is terrible and there isn't much I can say. Dime would have been immortalized and deified even if he had lived till old age and died of failed kidneys, but this early, tragic death adds another legend to the book of legendary deaths.

For Dime to be murdered is more significant than people might think. In terms of influence, integrity, talent, kindness and other good qualities, Dime was the top dog. This incident will live on as more important than the Euronymous murder, more than Lyn Strait and that moron from Drowning Pool. Also, because of the weight of murder as compared to suicide, this is more tragic than Kurt Cobain's death, despite Dime's best work being behind him (arguably).

Whenever somebody dies, especially tragically, people go over the top in paying tribute, no matter how little talent he or she had (remember when Lyn Strait died?). Dime, however, was a true legend, no exaggerations. If every single member of Metallica had been murdered on Wednesday night, Dime's death would still be the one that people would be talking about.

For rap-fans to understand, this is more significant than Tupac and Biggy combined. More significant than Jeff Buckley's drug induced suicide or a whole other manner of 'the world doesn't love me' deaths. Dime was strong and he had no part in his death, unlike the other deaths I've mentioned. Pantera had a #1 Billboard album in 1994. This is due almost entirely to Dimebag's catchy riffs. Do you know how amazing that is? Compare that to what we see on the charts today.

Pantera toured Australia in 2001 for what would prove to be the last time. We always hoped there would be some kind of reunion tour, but now all we can hope for is a tribute album which seems like such an empty gesture. At least, I guess, I was able to see the legend at work, in the flesh.

My thoughts are with the Abbott family, and I'm still worried about the lack of word about Vinnie's condition, who was also apparently shot. The news hasn't been much help, though. Nobody is saying anything. I'm also waiting for Rex and Phil to make a public statement, but I fear Phil now longer is in full control of his faculties.

I don't like the sudden spirituality that all the condolences have taken on (Mustaine even said 'see you in heaven'), so I'm going to keep it simple. Dime was a legend in life and in death and he will be never be forgotten. Raise a blacktooth, stroke your pink beard and blast those timeless riffs.


(By the way, I haven't heard any yet out of respect for the tragedy, but I have a feeling there will be some Fox News morons or other such tools who will try and draw a line between aggressive music and aggressive behaviour. Please keep this in mind when these foolish statements start to come: Nathan Gale was in the navy, or some other 'we pay people to kill people' organization. For someone to suggest that rock and roll is to blame is ignoring some very important things. I'm pre-empting idiocy)


http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=591630

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=24283