Pantera and Megadeth
Not to tell tales out of high school but I recently heard a YouTube video where a Texan guy claimed to have heard a story about plagiarism from a guy who was on close terms with Pantera’s guitarist, Dimebag Darrell. The story goes that James Hetfield stole a riff when half of Metallica (i.e. plus Lars Ulrich) met Pantera in Texas where James jammed with Dime on April 16, 1985. Allegedly, Dimebag’s girlfriend Rita Haney confirmed that a theft had taken place. Dime’s close friend didn’t want to reveal what riff was used on what song because he didn’t want to start a war of words, but I don’t see why not. Megadeth had ripped off Pantera as well, and hardly any feuding had happened as a result.
In 1989, Pantera were recording demos for what become their 1990 album: Cowboys from Hell. One particular demo was for a song that didn’t end up on the album. Titled The Will to Survive, it contains a riff that would ultimately end up on Megadeth’s 1990 album, Rust in Peace. Despite the riff being used on a single titled Hangar 18, Pantera would eventually take back the riff and use it on a single called This Love from their 1992 album: Vulgar Display of Power. Dime’s brother, Vinnie Paul (Pantera’s drummer), once cheekily suggested to Megadeth in 2013 that they should open their concerts with Hangar 18. Surprisingly, Megadeth agreed to do it without realizing the ulterior motive behind it.
As to how Megadeth got wind of the riff in the first place, there are several circumstances that had led up to it. Prior to the recording of Cowboys from Hell, one of the original choices for the role of producer was Max Norman. He was currently assigned to be the mixer of Megadeth’s Rust in Peace. Max’s manager was also Megadeth’s manager: Ron Laffitte. In his 2013 memoir titled Official Truth, 101 Proof, Rex Brown (Pantera’s bassist) referred to Ron as being someone who was already one of his good friends. Rex also remembered Pantera playing a show with Megadeth when the latter came to Houston. As such, it’s easy to see how one thing had led to another…but that’s not all.
In his 2013 autobiography titled My Life with Deth, David Ellefson (Megadeth’s bassist) had quite a bit to say about the shared history of both bands. In May 1984, Megadeth received interest from a man at Combat Records named Walter O’Brien. He later managed Pantera. David, whose nickname is Junior, had a girlfriend whose parents lived in Texas. When they visited her parents in the summer of 1988, she suggested that they make time to hang out with the guys from Pantera. This was during a time when Darrell Abbott’s stage name was Diamond Darrell. Even during those days, he was something of a guitar star in magazines. As Junior recalls, Pantera had just recorded their album - Power Metal - with their new singer: Phil Anselmo.
Junior and his girlfriend, Charlie, drank with Pantera. On the first night, Dime told Junior that Megadeth’s second album, Peace Sells…But Who’s Buying?, changed his life. The next night, the couple went to hear Pantera play at a club at Dallas. They invited him on stage to play the title track of Megadeth’s 1986 album with them. They played great even though they were drinking heavily. Ellefson was respected by Pantera enough that, years later, he received a promo copy of Cowboys from Hell. The album was released on July 24 in 1990 whereas Rust in Peace came out on September 24. Regardless of Dave Mustaine’s plagiarism, Rex Brown respects Junior as a bassist and expressed that respect in Junior’s memoir.
Pantera were a supporting act for Megadeth in 1993 when they promoted their 1992 albums (Vulgar Display of Power and Countdown to Extinction respectively), but they didn’t tour together for their 1994 albums (Far Beyond Driven and Youthanasia respectively). It’s a shame because those albums were their heaviest. The reunion didn’t happen because Megadeth’s frontman, Mustaine, claimed that Dime’s guitar playing was derivative of the style which Mustaine and Hetfield had pioneered. In spite of all this, there was still some modicum of respect for Megadeth that Dime had. He liked the lyrics to their 1992 song, Sweating Bullets, so much that he came up with a drink called black-toothed grin: a glass of whiskey with a shot of Coca-Cola.
I haven’t even touched on the obvious connection between the two bands. When Mustaine fired his drummer and lead guitarist, Dime wanted to apply for the vacancy of the latter. He got the gig but he wouldn’t accept because he would only have joined if his brother did. That’s not to say that Vinnie Paul wasn’t to Mustaine’s liking, it’s just that Megadeth already had a new drummer in the form of Megadeth’s drum tech: Nick Menza. Given that Mustaine had been kicked out of Metallica, it would have been poetic justice for Metallica to be completely outshone by a band whose line-up would have essentially consisted of a supergroup comprised of Pantera and Megadeth.
Back to David “Junior” Ellefson, he recalled that it was his idea for Dime to try out for Megadeth. He specifically remembered this happening in early 1989, and it was right before Pantera signed to Atco Records where they were ready to record Cowboys from Hell. As for what would have happened had Nick Menza been demoted to drum tech to make way for Vinnie Paul, it wouldn’t been a long shot to say that Rex Brown and Phil Anselmo would have formed Down a lot earlier seeing as how they were already friends with the other members of that band. In all likelihood, some of the material that ended up on Pantera’s albums would have been recorded for Down. So much for downtime.
