RIP Jeff Hanneman

RIP Jeff Hanneman
Screengrab of Slayer.net

Slayer on their Facebook page announced the passing of guitarist Jeff Hanneman.

My first introduction to Slayer was in 1994 when Divine Intervention was released. They were on Loveline back when Rikki Rachtman hosted it, and to be honest I don’t remember much of anything about the show with one notable exception.

To promote the album, they played the song “Serenity in Murder” which they jokingly introduced as their love song.

I bought the album, and so things went.

Jeff was the one in the band who was fixated on Nazi history which shows up on songs like “Angel of Death”.

When you hear a musician dying from liver failure, you automatically think of booze and drugs and all of the other fun shit that is available in that line of work. But when you realize he had been suffering with necrotizing fasciitis after being bitten by a spider last year, you just shake your head.

Slayer was Slayer. Talk to any metal fan about any band. Oh Metallica are sellouts. Pantera are pussies. Everyone has a complaint about every metal band with one notable exception: Slayer.

I know they were in the middle of writing a new album with Jeff, so I don’t know if they will continue on.

One of the best shows I’ve ever been to was Slayer at the Palace (now the Avalon) in 1998. In fact I still have the bootleg t-shirt I bought outside the venue for $10. As to how a big homo ended up being a huge Slayer fan, I don’t know. I just like what I likes.