For those of you who don't know who he or his band are, you need to go find youselves a copy of Reign in Blood, throw it on, and thank me later. Slayer is widely recognized as being one of the "Big Four" thrash bands to have come out of the 80's, along with Metallica, Megadeth and Anthrax.
Heavy Metal doesn't get much better than those bands, and as far as bone crushing, pulse pounding, nerve shattering Thrash goes, it doesn't get much better than Slayer.
Jeff Hanneman not only played guitar, but he wrote the music and lyrics for many of the band's most popular songs such as "Seasons in the Abyss," "War Ensemble," "South of Heaven,", and "Angel of Death."
And let us not forget our favorite Slayer musical moment, which is "Raining Blood." The beginning of that song always feels like the announcement of impending doom, and it never fails to gives us chills.
Without Jeff Hanneman, none of it would exist.
From the Official Slayer Facebook Page:
Slayer is devastated to inform that their bandmate and brother, Jeff Hanneman, passed away at about 11AM this morning near his Southern California home. Hanneman was in an area hospital when he suffered liver failure. He is survived by his wife Kathy, his sister Kathy and his brothers Michael and Larry, and will be sorely missed.
Our Brother Jeff Hanneman, May He Rest In Peace (1964 - 2013)
As fans, we're sad that someone who gave us so much fantastic music is gone. As people, we truly feel for his loved ones in their time of loss, and hope that their hearts aren't too heavy for too long.
Thanks for everything, Jeff, and we'll see you south of Heaven.
Liver Failure... aw man. That sucks. RIP dude.
ReplyDeletei met jeff in the late 80's -
ReplyDeletewe both played the same venues.
a few years earlier i had met randy rhoads and i have the pics from meeting him and randy signed my guitar- jeff begged to buy it , i declined as randy had died few years earlier. this is a loss - they were a good band , not my fave music but each guy was really talented and they did great stuff together. we are the same age - this really sucks.
Drunketh- Liver failure that came from a flesh eating disease that looks like it came from a spider bite... that poor guy.
ReplyDeleteHoward- Not my fave music either, but sometimes Slayer just fits the mood, you know?
They all seem like really cool guys, and we totally feel for them right now.
It's been a week now, but I'm still saddened by the news of his demise. Since then, I've been listening to "Reign in Blood" every day at least once.
ReplyDeleteJeff was a creative musician and a really nice guy (I met him twice over the years). :-(
I regret never having seen Slayer in concert. Still a very sad thing indeed.
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