Yesterday was Dimebag Darrell’s birthday, and festivities aplenty ensued celebrating the life and times of one of the greatest modern heavy metal guitarists. The manner in which Dimebag died turned the man into a martyr, which I, and every other metal fan can accept and even embrace. I recognize the skills, personality and music Dimebag brought to the table for all aspiring musicians to look up to. However, while musicians remembered him with stories, radio stations played music inspired by him, and websites, much like this one, wrote editorials to commemorate the guitar legend, I come to one question in my mind…..what about all of the other great musicians and artists that have passed that played such a critical role in the evolution of our genre?

Over the past 20 years, we have lost the likes of dozens of preeminent figures, yet even the most influential of these people are overshadowed by 4 years of remembrance for only one fallen brother. Isn’t it about time that we commemorate everyone who had an impact on our life as metal fans? Dimebag was important, but his life wasn’t the sole eclipse of premature lost talent. With that being said, I have compiled a list of members of the metal family whom have lost their lives, often too early and in tragic circumstances. I feel this is a good time to do it, as most metalheads are feeling fond of the past in regards to Dimebag, so why not tack on a few other fond memories of a bygone era of musical geniuses?

Without further ado, the 2008 call of musicians who left us much too early:

1982 – Randy Rhoads (Quiet Riot, Ozzy Osbourne)

1986 – Cliff Burton (Metallica)

1991 – Dead (Mayhem)

1991 – Eric Carr (KISS)

1991 – Roger Patterson (Atheist)

1993 - Criss Oliva (Savatage)

1993 – Ray Gillen (Black Sabbath, Badlands, Phenomena)

1996 – Vincent “Vinny Daze” Civitano (Demolition Hammer)

1996 – Dawn Crosby (Detente)

1997 – Audie Pitre (Acid Bath)

1998 – Wendy Orlean Williams (The Plasmatics)

1999 – Gar Samuelson (Megadeth)

2001 – Chuck Schuldiner (Death, Control Denied)

2001 – Mario Parillo (Detente)

2002 – Layne Staley (Alice in Chains)

2002 – Paul Baloff (Exodus, Hirax, Pirahna

2004 – “Quorthon” Tomas Forsberg (Bathory)

2004 – “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott (Pantera, Damageplan)

2005 – Denis “Piggy” D’Amour (Voivod)

2005 – David Wayne (Metal Church)

2005 – Krzysztof “Doc” Raczkowski (Vader)

2006 – Jon Nödtveidt (Dissection)

2007 – Witold “Vitek” Kie?tyka (Decapitated)

2007 – Kevin DuBrow (Quiet Riot)

That’s all I can think of for now, but I guarantee there are some glaring examples I missed. Do me a favor and and post a comment to let me and all the readers know about well deserved musicians who should be mentioned in this list.

CODY