The late Pantera co-founder and guitarist Dimebag Darrell was a huge fan of Thrash Metal and loved Megadeth. In an interview with Alternative Nation, the band’s former bassist David Ellefson recalled that Dime loved the album “Peace Sells… But Who’s Buying?” (1986) and told him it changed his life.
The Megadeth album that changed Dimebag Darrell’s life
“I was introduced to them by a girlfriend of mine from Texas back in 1988. I was down there. I met the guys. We went out, drank hard, a good time, and Dimebag – who was known as Diamond Darrell at that time – after we had been drinking all night, he comes up to me, and he looks me dead in the eye, and he goes, ‘David, I just want to tell you the ‘Peace Sells’ album changed my life.'”
“And I kind of shrugged it off like, ‘Oh, thanks, man. Appreciate it.’ And I remember he put his hand on my shoulder. He goes, ‘No, it changed my life.’ It was like a sobering moment, right there when he said that.”
He continued:
“For me, my Pantera is still the ‘Power Metal’ album. And that is pre-‘Cowboys from Hell.’ That was the first album when Phil Anselmo had just joined the band – it still had some ZZ Top, some Van Halen, and a little bit of some Megadeth, Metallica, right? They were transitioning to what would become ‘Cowboys from Hell’ and ‘Vulgar Display.’ Basically, the ’90s version of Pantera,” David Ellefson said.
Pantera was active from 1981 to 2003 when the band broke-up and the brothers Dimebag and Vinnie Paul formed Damageplan. That group lasted only one year until Dime (38) was brutally murdered in a venue by a fan who blamed the brothers for the end of Pantera. Vinnie passed away of natural causes in 2018 at the age of 54.
In 2022 the vocalist Phil Anselmo and the bassist Rex Brown reunited under the name Pantera and with the Abbott family blessing are touring accompanied by guitarist Zakk Wylde and drummer Charlie Benante.
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