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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful. 7 of 9 people found the following review helpful. 6 of 8 people found the following review helpful. An accomplished writer about the music scene, Crain knows the lingo and understands what is important to his readers, those devoted to “Dimebag,” his band Pantera and the final iteration of that band, Damageplan. Fans who clamor for information on Abbott the man, his character, musical influences (though, of course devotees know about his affinity for KISS and Van Halen) and his associations with other musicians will find a wealth of information in these pages. Crain has talked with former band members and those in the media, such as Juliya Chernetsky, host of the FUSE network’s metal show to provide a full picture of “Dimebag” the generous guy, the partier, the musician. Black Tooth Grin, named after the whisky and cola shot drink “Dimebag” loved to down, and pour for others, gives the reader a thoughtful look at Abbott’s beginnings in Arlington, Texas, a suburb of Dallas and his development as a skilled guitarist with an instantly recognizable sound to his morphing into a business person of sorts. Crain never merely chronicles “Dimebag’s” life and career. Perhaps more importantly and impressively, Crain draws conclusions and suggests causes and effects but never at the expense of the facts. In other words, Crain does not marshal or manipulate mention of incidents in Abbott’s life to support his own theories of the whats and whys of “Dimebag’s” success, failure, even of his murder. That is exactly what we want in a biographer. As Crain writes, “No one can predict the butterfly effect of the countless–and usually innocuous–coin flips that happen every second of every day.” But Crain’s volume is not fluffy. In the pages following that observation, he details the circumstances that caused Atco Records scout Mark Ross, stuck in Texas when Hurricane Hugo struck North Carolina, to check out the band. Crain continues the story by explaining that a self-conscious Pantera gives what band members consider a constrained performance in the presence of Ross and think they’ve blown it. As they see him walk out the door, (as it turns out, only to return from a visit to his car and a phone call confirming his intent to sign the group), they kick into high gear and play with their signature abandon. This kind of fully fleshed out information makes the book a compelling read. Black Tooth Grin tells the story of a man whose end we know. But Crain frames the story nicely by beginning with references to that ending. When, in the chapter titled “Slaughtered” Crain recounts the murder in detail, it is the most illuminating description of the tragedy that ended Abbott’s life that has been written. On December 9, 2004, MTV.com published a story about the murder. At the time, the available sources were the 911 call transcripts and the words of eyewitnesses. The article references “amateur video footage” that investigators have yet to study. For his 2009 book, Crain studied the “video of the incident, unwittingly captured by the band’s own camera” and poured through hundreds of eyewitness accounts. His account is thoughtful, thorough and chilling. Black Tooth Grin: The High Life, Good Times and Tragic End of “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott by Zac Crain, 2009 Da Capo Press is a must read for metal fans. |
Not bad for what it is.
A Metal Historians Perspective
Well worth reading