Bad Day for Metal

In the worst day for rock since the terrible club fire a couple of years ago, a deranged fan has gone berserk at a gig, killing four people. Two of the dead were members of the band on stage, Damageplan, including former Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrell.

Marty Dodge summarises the news reports on Blogcritics.org:

A gunman's attack on a Texas-based heavy metal band during an Ohio concert left at least five people dead, prompting stunned fans around the country to check in at the group's Web site early Thursday.

The attack on the band Damageplan began as the musicians started playing their first song Wednesday night. A witness said the gunman first targeted guitarist "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott, shooting him multiple times at point-blank range at the crowded Alrosa Villa nightclub in Columbus, Ohio.

The gunman killed at least four people and wounded at least two others before police fatally shot him.

In what may or may not be an appalling coincidence, last night was the 24th anniversary of John Lennon's murder by another deranged fan.

Doubtless there will be some that blame this on the aggressive lyrics and high-energy music of many metal bands. I suspect it's only a matter of time before the religious right get hold of this and start screeching 'Metal is eeeevil'.

What many people don't seem to realise is that Heavy metal isn't supposed to be taken seriously; characters like King Diamond and Marilyn Manson are nothing more than pantomime villains. While most heavy metal fans are sane and balanced people who recognise this and play along with it, metal does seem to attract a small minority of seriously disturbed people who take it all for real. I'm not sure what, if anything, the metal community can do about this.

I'm reminded of the two obsessed Judas Priest fans who entered that ridiculous 'backward masking' suicide pact a decade ago. At least those two didn't take anyone else with them.

Update: Contrary to earlier unconfirmed reports, the band's singer wasn't one of the dead, although a member of the road crew was killed. Eric Olsen has a good summary of news reports so far. It sounds as though the killer might have been an undiagnosed paranoid schitzophrenic.