Metal Insider’s Top 5 is a column where we count down the top five of…well basically anything.
It’s a fact: Slayer is simply awesome! Thanks to classic albums like Reign In Blood, South Of Heaven, and Seasons Of The Abyss, Slayer have remained one of the most influential metal bands for the past three decades. Slayer are so pivital to the metal scene that even things they weren’t directly involved with kick ass.
So with this in mind, we decided to kick off a new column we’re dubbing Metal Insider’s Top 5 by counting down the best moments that indirectly relate to the almighty Slayer. Check out what crazy and unlikely moments in Slayer history made our top 5 after the jump.
5) Some kid draws a Slayer logo
This is actually the closest thing related to the band on the list. The inside tray of 1994’s Divine Intervention is some kid that drew the Slayer logo. No big deal right? Well, it is when you consider that he drew it on his arm. With a scalpel. Reign in blood, indeed. It’s hard to sell this one as entirely a fan-related incident when the band was at least aware of it. “The whole idea about the dude with Slayer on his arms was brought about because reality is scarier than anything you can make up,” Tom Araya said in an interview. But still, it’s not like the guy that did it was a male model or anything. Dude clearly had no problems with immortalizing his favorite band on his arm.
4) Pantera’s Shout-Out On “Goddamn Electric”
Pantera’s ode to embracing life from 2000’s Reinventing the Steel is as uplifting as the band ever got. The song, from Anselmo’s point of view, is about “the part of me that’s always sixteen,” and contains the immortal line “your trust is in whiskey and weed and Slayer, it’s goddamn electric.” Again, this is a little more directly related to Slayer due to the appearance of Kerry King, who shreds his whammy bar all over an outro solo on the song. Black Sabbath also gets mentioned during the song, but Tony Iommi wasn’t offered a solo slot. But Pantera’s legacy ensures that now a lot of people are placing their trust in whiskey and weed and Pantera.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRiZ_Gy2mxg[/youtube]
3) Hank Moody’s Slight Obsession With Slayer on Californication
We’ve covered this before, but Hank Moody, the protagonist on Showtime’s Californication, appears to have a thing for Slayer. Why else would the novelist, as portrayed by David Duchovny, have written novels titled God Hates Us All, South of Heaven, and Seasons in the Abyss? The fact that his most recent novel was called Fucking and Punching might punch (pun!) a hole in that theory. Unless of course, that’s the title of the next Slayer album. Maybe?
2) Brian Posehn’s Bit About The “S” Word
This might not be something that Slayer is particularly proud of, but one of our favorite bits from comedian/actor and huge metal fan Brian Posehn posits that yelling “Slayer” during the act of guy on guy action makes it “totally not gay.” We here at MI don’t have any practical experience with this, but hearing Posehn yell “Slayyyerrr” in his muppet voice kills us every time.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XluRJ5E2hs[/youtube]
1) “Angel Of Death” breakdown Lives On… And On
The breakdown at 1:40 of “Angel of Death” is hands down one of the best riffs in metal. Not only did it turn an already good song into a classic, it’s influence has lived on aside from it just being a signature song by one of metal’s longest-running bands. Rick Rubin, who’s Def Jam label the band had signed to in 1986, produced both Reign in Blood and label-mates Public Enemy, who sampled the breakdown for “She Watch Channel Zero?!” on their 1988 album It Takes A Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back. Since then, it’s been sampled and played again and again, with artists ranging from industrial pioneers KMFDM to The M.O.P., whose “Raise Hell” was just featured several weeks ago in an episode of the best show on TV, Breaking Bad.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtkQGG8vlPA[/youtube]
