You know what they say, everything happens for a reason. Everything did happen for a reason for the two metal giants too. Although James Hetfield wanted Dimebag Darrell to join Metallica, he was a package deal with Vinnie Paul, which led to Pantera becoming the iconic band that metalheads adored. Pantera’s former lead vocalist Terry Glaze gave insight into their relationship with Metallica in an interview with Eon Music.
“About that time, when bands like Metallica and Megadeth and Anthrax and Slayer were starting to bubble up, you would see independent magazines, heavy metal magazines, like in Europe, and they didn’t know about us,” Terry began to explain the rise of a few of the now household names. “You know, some bands were in New Jersey living with their parents; we were in Texas living with our parents; Metallica is living in a basement here, you know?”
After similar bands started to get recognition, they counted the days until their breakthrough as a newly emerging act on the metal scene. The singer noted, “So we were all happening across the United States. And we would try and get copies of what everybody else was doing. We just felt like, ‘Somebody’s got to be the next one; why not us?’”
The frontman then shared the first time they met Hetfield and Ulrich. He recalled hanging out with the two Metallica members, saying, “James and Lars came to Arlington to hang out a couple of times. They would come over and hang out with Darrell, and they would jam and everything.”
At one point, Hetfield had intentions for Dimebag to become a part of Metallica, but Glaze remembered, “But nothing was ever going to happen with them and Darrell because Darrell and Vince are a package. The same thing happened with Megadeth there; it wasn’t going to happen. So, you know, thank goodness.”
As Terry Glaze said, ‘thank goodness,’ Dimebag stuck with Vinnie. Pantera became one of the bands that massively influenced the metal scene, not just in the moment but for future generations. Last year’s reunion is proof of the band’s legacy that has stood the test of time, even though the two legendary musicians, Dimebag and Vinnie, aren’t here to witness the resurgence of their iconic band.
