A half-century of evil
June 6, 2011 5:37 AM Subscribe
Join me and Satan in celebrating the 50th birthday of respiratory therapist turned Kerrang! Hall of Famer Tom Araya of Slayer.
Make every day a Slaytanic day, motherfuckers!
posted by NoMich at 5:49 AM on June 6, 2011 [5 favorites]
posted by NoMich at 5:49 AM on June 6, 2011 [5 favorites]
Lots of people have a birthday today. It's 30 years since Tetris was released which is way more interesting.
This is a really weak FPP.
posted by longbaugh at 5:50 AM on June 6, 2011 [1 favorite]
This is a really weak FPP.
posted by longbaugh at 5:50 AM on June 6, 2011 [1 favorite]
Poser.
posted by jonmc at 5:51 AM on June 6, 2011 [10 favorites]
posted by jonmc at 5:51 AM on June 6, 2011 [10 favorites]
I just looked over the Kerrang hall of fame nominees since 2000, and something went so wrong in 2009 that it actually casts the entire thing into doubt.
posted by mhoye at 5:53 AM on June 6, 2011
posted by mhoye at 5:53 AM on June 6, 2011
happy birthday, Tom - thanks for the lifetime of neck pain and hearing loss! \m/
posted by h0p3y at 5:54 AM on June 6, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by h0p3y at 5:54 AM on June 6, 2011 [1 favorite]
Who, me? I don't think this warrants a MeTa but since when did we start with 50th birthday posts? If he is dead then that's a different matter but frankly I think if we start allowing "such-and-such-is-50-today!" posts then we're not really talking best of the web, we're a fucking e-card site.
posted by longbaugh at 5:55 AM on June 6, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by longbaugh at 5:55 AM on June 6, 2011 [2 favorites]
Damn, I don't have any anecdotes about meeting Satan. Some kid wrote slayer on my school journal when I was 11, and told me if I erased it I'd go to hell. I was terrified, but then wrote over it anyway, 'cause I figured the hell the Jesuits had lined up for me was probably worse than the hell some musicians had.
I never really got Slayer, but did enjoy the video, especially the censorship when the stage was invaded. I actually think this is a good FPP, we don't need one for every birthday boy, but this one is fine.
posted by Elmore at 5:56 AM on June 6, 2011
I never really got Slayer, but did enjoy the video, especially the censorship when the stage was invaded. I actually think this is a good FPP, we don't need one for every birthday boy, but this one is fine.
posted by Elmore at 5:56 AM on June 6, 2011
This isn't such-and-such. This is Tom Fucking Araya.
posted by jonmc at 5:57 AM on June 6, 2011 [10 favorites]
posted by jonmc at 5:57 AM on June 6, 2011 [10 favorites]
Steve Fucking Vai is 51! Where was his FPP last year? Anyway - not worth disrupting this more than I have already - apologies if I've offended anyone.
posted by longbaugh at 6:00 AM on June 6, 2011
posted by longbaugh at 6:00 AM on June 6, 2011
I don't think you've offended anyone, longbaugh, but you probably should've taken that to MeTa. Remember friend, God Loves Hates Us All.
posted by NoMich at 6:04 AM on June 6, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by NoMich at 6:04 AM on June 6, 2011 [1 favorite]
Also, Araya could be seen as symbolic of a shift that's happened in the metal audience over the last 20 years. These days, it's more and more Latino, both onstage and in the audience.
posted by jonmc at 6:08 AM on June 6, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by jonmc at 6:08 AM on June 6, 2011 [1 favorite]
Steve Fucking Vai is 51! Where was his FPP last year?
I'm going to tell him you forgot to post it. And he's going to be sooooo mad!
posted by DU at 6:09 AM on June 6, 2011 [3 favorites]
I'm going to tell him you forgot to post it. And he's going to be sooooo mad!
posted by DU at 6:09 AM on June 6, 2011 [3 favorites]
Reign in Blood is still the most ferocious, crazed metal I've ever heard. It sounds like sharp rusty pieces of it are breaking off as it hurtles into the abyss.
posted by fleetmouse at 6:11 AM on June 6, 2011 [7 favorites]
posted by fleetmouse at 6:11 AM on June 6, 2011 [7 favorites]
These days, it's more and more Latino, both onstage and in the audience.
I've been seeing more and more Latino presence at metal shows here in Raleigh as well. It doesn't hurt that most of the multi-band tours that come around have at least one South American band on the bill. Krisiun for a a big ol' win, by the way.
posted by NoMich at 6:15 AM on June 6, 2011
I've been seeing more and more Latino presence at metal shows here in Raleigh as well. It doesn't hurt that most of the multi-band tours that come around have at least one South American band on the bill. Krisiun for a a big ol' win, by the way.
posted by NoMich at 6:15 AM on June 6, 2011
Incidentally Kerrang! is 30 this year, there's a fun gallery of covers at the Grauniad, including one of Tom from 1991.
posted by SyntacticSugar at 6:20 AM on June 6, 2011
posted by SyntacticSugar at 6:20 AM on June 6, 2011
He's right. The Four Horsemen is an awesome song. When I listen to Sirius in my wife's car (mine doesn't have it), I usually wind up on NPR or Liquid Metal, which plays a healthy dose of Slayer. She bitches about leaving the station on "that god-awful noise"
I always leave the volume cranked when I'm done with it.
posted by double block and bleed at 6:26 AM on June 6, 2011 [1 favorite]
I always leave the volume cranked when I'm done with it.
posted by double block and bleed at 6:26 AM on June 6, 2011 [1 favorite]
Tom's Chilean, and recently recieved the key to his hometown.
posted by signal at 6:28 AM on June 6, 2011
posted by signal at 6:28 AM on June 6, 2011
Obviously, some of you folks don't know the power of SLAAAAAYYYYYYYYEEEERRR!!!!
This is a perfectly fine post. At least it's not about the Mountain Goats.
posted by gcbv at 6:33 AM on June 6, 2011 [4 favorites]
This is a perfectly fine post. At least it's not about the Mountain Goats.
posted by gcbv at 6:33 AM on June 6, 2011 [4 favorites]
Happy Birthday to YEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGHGHGHGHGHGHHHHGHGHHHHHHHHHH!
posted by Wolfdog at 6:36 AM on June 6, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by Wolfdog at 6:36 AM on June 6, 2011 [2 favorites]
I've always looked as Slayer's music as exactly what rock and roll is supposed to be about: rebellion. Slayer was one of the bands that my generation used to scare the piss out of our parents. Esquire Magazine once ran a special issue called "White People:The Problem With America" that featured an article entitled "Four Out Of Five Kids Who Kill Love Slayer".
So Metal.
posted by DWRoelands at 6:40 AM on June 6, 2011
So Metal.
posted by DWRoelands at 6:40 AM on June 6, 2011
Born 6-6-61, coincidence?
posted by phirleh at 6:40 AM on June 6, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by phirleh at 6:40 AM on June 6, 2011 [2 favorites]
thanks for the lifetime of neck pain and hearing loss! \m/
From the first link:
Q: Had you spent much time with Metallica before these shows started last year?
A: I talked to James Hetfield the night before the tour started, at a dinner with all the bands. We talked neck issues.
Reminding me of the story of the one time Proust and Joyce met. Proust complained, "My stomach!" And Joyce complained "My eyes!".
posted by Trurl at 6:41 AM on June 6, 2011
From the first link:
Q: Had you spent much time with Metallica before these shows started last year?
A: I talked to James Hetfield the night before the tour started, at a dinner with all the bands. We talked neck issues.
Reminding me of the story of the one time Proust and Joyce met. Proust complained, "My stomach!" And Joyce complained "My eyes!".
posted by Trurl at 6:41 AM on June 6, 2011
Slayer is the only band ever where the person introducing me to them (I guess this would have been '87?) made me swear up and down first that yes, I was ready to hear them, and yes, I was prepared for the evil, and yes, I was down, and yes, I knew this was going to be some serious shit.
Finally, the cassette was handed over and my world was changed forever.
posted by stinkycheese at 7:00 AM on June 6, 2011 [7 favorites]
Finally, the cassette was handed over and my world was changed forever.
posted by stinkycheese at 7:00 AM on June 6, 2011 [7 favorites]
Seen several Slayer shows. Nothing compares to it although many bands try to be as forceful. Sometimes (every time I have seen them) the mosh pit is something like synchronized fighting to the beat. So fun, if your 20. And don't wear glasses. Or care about being beaten while my favorite heavy shit is making your ears bleed more than your nose from that giant dudes fist... So fun. I fuckin love me some Slayer. All of it. Even the punk record of almost all covers from 1996.
Happy birthday Tom!
posted by brando_calrissian at 7:05 AM on June 6, 2011
Happy birthday Tom!
posted by brando_calrissian at 7:05 AM on June 6, 2011
The fact that the man who started this band made it to 50 is worth posting here. Read his lyrics, its a wonder the Feds haven't locked him up for speaking his mind.
posted by brando_calrissian at 7:10 AM on June 6, 2011
posted by brando_calrissian at 7:10 AM on June 6, 2011
Anyone who came up with "Death is fucking you insane" as a lyric deserves all the praise we can muster.
posted by josher71 at 7:40 AM on June 6, 2011 [3 favorites]
posted by josher71 at 7:40 AM on June 6, 2011 [3 favorites]
Some of you will never get it but some of us totally do.
It's pretty serious.
posted by photoslob at 7:43 AM on June 6, 2011 [4 favorites]
It's pretty serious.
posted by photoslob at 7:43 AM on June 6, 2011 [4 favorites]
In grad school some students were invited to a party at the home of one our professors - a bearded, bespectacled, scholarly type of guy. He was related to someone in the band and had a gold record for one of their albums hanging on the wall. Blew our minds.
posted by exogenous at 8:03 AM on June 6, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by exogenous at 8:03 AM on June 6, 2011 [1 favorite]
It's 30 years since Tetris was released which is way more interesting.
I think the number you're looking for is 27.
posted by pashdown at 8:28 AM on June 6, 2011
I think the number you're looking for is 27.
posted by pashdown at 8:28 AM on June 6, 2011
I think everybody who was ever into metal remembers when they first heard Slayer. I mean, there was metal, and then there was fucking SLAYER!
Happy birthday, Tom. Thanks for all the brutality.
posted by ob at 8:58 AM on June 6, 2011 [1 favorite]
Happy birthday, Tom. Thanks for all the brutality.
posted by ob at 8:58 AM on June 6, 2011 [1 favorite]
SSSSSSSSLLLLLLLLLLLLLLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRR
posted by Maaik at 9:25 AM on June 6, 2011
posted by Maaik at 9:25 AM on June 6, 2011
I think if we start allowing "such-and-such-is-50-today!" posts
It is not such-and-such-is-50, fool!
IT IS INTERNATIONAL DAY OF SLAYER
KNEEL, MORTAL SWINE
posted by furiousthought at 10:27 AM on June 6, 2011 [2 favorites]
It is not such-and-such-is-50, fool!
IT IS INTERNATIONAL DAY OF SLAYER
KNEEL, MORTAL SWINE
posted by furiousthought at 10:27 AM on June 6, 2011 [2 favorites]
I just saw them last month at the Indio Big 4 show. Beneath the noise, they were musically tight and technically impressive on a level that few other bands achieve.
posted by bgrebs at 10:47 AM on June 6, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by bgrebs at 10:47 AM on June 6, 2011 [1 favorite]
"They say the pen is mightier than the sword. Well, I say 'fuck the pen', because you can DIE BY THE SWORD!!!!!"
Happy half century to one of the greatest of metal giants!
As much as I worship them, Slayer is kinda making me feel old. A granddad of two tried to pick me up at the Slayer concert I went to last fall. And that incident weirdly recalled the 'Clash of the Titans' show I saw them at 20 years earlier, where some guy tried to pick up my mom. (Yeah. My mom has seen Slayer. And she liked them. She's way cooler than you.)
posted by medeine at 10:55 AM on June 6, 2011
Happy half century to one of the greatest of metal giants!
As much as I worship them, Slayer is kinda making me feel old. A granddad of two tried to pick me up at the Slayer concert I went to last fall. And that incident weirdly recalled the 'Clash of the Titans' show I saw them at 20 years earlier, where some guy tried to pick up my mom. (Yeah. My mom has seen Slayer. And she liked them. She's way cooler than you.)
posted by medeine at 10:55 AM on June 6, 2011
My mom has seen Slayer. And she liked them. She's way cooler than you.
As it happens, today is my mother's birthday as well.
She has not seen Slayer. Since she's 76, it's probably best that we keep it that way.
posted by Trurl at 11:31 AM on June 6, 2011
As it happens, today is my mother's birthday as well.
She has not seen Slayer. Since she's 76, it's probably best that we keep it that way.
posted by Trurl at 11:31 AM on June 6, 2011
Also, Araya could be seen as symbolic of a shift that's happened in the metal audience over the last 20 years. These days, it's more and more Latino, both onstage and in the audience.
I came up with a theory, walking around Bushwick and seeing latino kids in metal t-shirts - that metal is precision-engineered to make religious parents irate/concerned, and there is a lot of Catholic tradition in Spanish-speaking countries. So there you go. A perfect storm, if you will, raining blood from a lacerated sky.
posted by dubold at 1:13 PM on June 6, 2011 [4 favorites]
I came up with a theory, walking around Bushwick and seeing latino kids in metal t-shirts - that metal is precision-engineered to make religious parents irate/concerned, and there is a lot of Catholic tradition in Spanish-speaking countries. So there you go. A perfect storm, if you will, raining blood from a lacerated sky.
posted by dubold at 1:13 PM on June 6, 2011 [4 favorites]
Born 6-6-61, coincidence?
Holy Christ that is a metal birthday.
posted by herbplarfegan at 1:33 PM on June 6, 2011 [1 favorite]
Holy Christ that is a metal birthday.
posted by herbplarfegan at 1:33 PM on June 6, 2011 [1 favorite]
This is a perfectly fine post. At least it's not about the Mountain Goats.
John Darnielle writes about metal. What I know about metal that I didn't learn from my boss, I learned from him.
he also wrote this. Such a good book.
posted by bibliogrrl at 6:44 PM on June 6, 2011
John Darnielle writes about metal. What I know about metal that I didn't learn from my boss, I learned from him.
he also wrote this. Such a good book.
posted by bibliogrrl at 6:44 PM on June 6, 2011
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TOM!
Back in the early 90's me and a few friends went to a Slayer signing at the Tower Records downtown. There was a line around the block and everybody was liquored up and rowdy and blasting tunes out of boomboxes. When it was our turn, my friend Leslie let Araya sign her boobs. He thought that was cool and let us hang out at the table with them for awhile and posed for a few pics with us. The other guys were nice too, although Hanneman was either really tired or really stoned.
(also, inline we got freindly with these two dudes we met. One of them was named Arsenio Santos. "Arsenio? I said. "It was 1970. Who knew.")
posted by jonmc at 5:47 AM on June 6, 2011 [2 favorites]