The Pantera co-founder and guitarist Dimebag Darrell was brutally murdered on December 8, 2004 at the age of 38 by a deranged fan. The tragedy happened during a concert of Damageplan, band he formed with his brother Vinnie Paul after Pantera came to an end.
He was pronounced dead at the scene and thousands of fans appeared on his public memorial alongside many legendary guitarists. He was famously buried in a Kiss coffin, donated by Gene Simmons but something that not many people knew is that he was also buried with the guitar that appeared in the back of the album “Van Halen II” and was brought to the funeral by Eddie himself.
The Anthrax drummer Charlie Benante, who is now also a touring member of Pantera recalled that story in an interview with Vinyl Guide Podcast (Transcribed by Ultimate Classic Rock).
Van Halen gave a special guitar to be buried with Dimebag Darrell
“We were in the family room. It was me, Vinnie was sitting with me, and Rex (Brown) had just gotten there, too. So Rex was sitting next to me. I noticed that Eddie was carrying a guitar and came right over to us and he crouched down. (He) put the guitar down on the floor and crouched down. (He) was talking to us, just saying how sorry he was. And I noticed on the guitar case it had a piece of tape that was there for like, forever. And it said VH2 on it.”
“Darrell’s favorite Van Halen guitar was the bumblebee, which was on Van Halen II. And (Eddie) opens the guitar and he says, ‘I brought this for your brother.’ It was the guitar from the back of Van Halen II.”
He continued:
“We went into the other room and he placed the guitar in the coffin with Darrell. We all lost it. Right now, I’m thinking about it and I get choked up just thinking about it, because it was such a special moment. And that was my first encounter with Eddie Van Halen. It was very surreal. What I was seeing in front of me was something that almost felt like a dream. It was absolutely a very emotional moment and I will never forget that,” Charlie Benante said.
In an interview with Metal Monthly, reported by VHND, Eddie told them at the funeral that “Dime was an original and only an original deserves the original”.