the darkest days 2013

In 2013 it seemed barely a month went by before we said goodbye to yet another of rocks leading performers. The year saw no less than 11 artists who had been making music from the 1960's on and helped shape the way rock was changing through that revolutionary decade and beyond. Mayer and Hanneman were musically active a decade later but they were no less important influences on their genre. They were all inspirational musicians and artists.
Collectively they have created countless hours of recorded music and performances that connected deeply to their audiences.
It's a sad loss indeed to lose all these artists in just 12 months. They are not replaceable, they were a result of the times they lived in and that reflected in the music they created. We will not see their like again.
These were the darkest days...

Kevin Ayers - (Soft Machine) see post

Alvin Lee - (Ten Years After) see post

Richie Havens - (Woodstock) see post

Jeff Hanneman - (Slayer) see post

Ray Manzerak - (The Doors) see post

Alan Myers - (Devo) see post

Mick Farren - (The Deviants) see post

George Duke - (Frank Zappa) see post

Allen Lanier - (Blue Oyster Cult) see post

Ronald Shannon Jackson - (Decoding Society) see post

Lou Reed (Velvet Underground) - see post

:

picket planned for jeff hanneman's funeral

In an astoundingly crass and bombastic announcement -

Westboro Baptist Church says
Which of your idols will God kill next?
Yesterday Chris Kelly #kriskross
Today Jeff Hanneman #Slayer #PicketFunerals pic.twitter.com/paWQV76YqZ

Not only do these blessed Bible mum-chancers give scant disregard to Jeff's family and friends as well as the solemn service of whatever denomination the family chooses, it should also be deemed an extremely unwise move and the WBC might well be far better off spending the time repeating several thousand times "As You Sow, So Shall You Reap" and pray long and hard that several thousand Slayer fans don't take this personally and descend upon their dumb-assed picket.
The outcome of that meeting may need a little more than spiritual guidance.

jeff hanneman RIP

It was a sad day for the world of metal yesterday as one of the most famous and well respected metal guitarists, Jeff Hanneman of Slayer, sadly passed away. Many bands, guitarists and metal fans both young and old credit Slayer with being one of their major influences and the 'godfathers' of thrash metal.

Hanneman was one of the riff writing machines behind Slayer, writing some of Slayer's most popular and memorable (and controversial) songs in a career with the band spanning over 30 years. Slayer pushed the boundaries of both playing and lyrical themes and the bands popularity only ever increased in the global circle of metal fans.

Following a spider bite in 2011 Hanneman contracted a flesh eating disease, necrotizing fasciitis, causing him to nearly lose his arm. Following a series of operations and rehab he was showing signs of recovery, started playing guitar again and was able to join Slayer on stage at a 'Big Four' show. Despite the signs of improvement, Hanneman passed away yesterday due to liver failure which is believed to have been caused by the disease contracted from the spider bite.

Jeff Hanneman will be immortalised by metal fans worldwide, simply by the fact he has written awesome music!

Here is Slayer \m/