Members of Metallica, Slayer Taking Part in Ozzfest's Dimebag Tribute

This year's Ozzfest, being held August 9th in Dallas, will feature an all-star metal tribute to slain Pantera and Damageplan guitarist "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott. The participants include Metallica's Kirk Hammett, Slayer's Kerry King, Jerry Cantrell of Alice In Chains and Anthrax's Scott Ian. Bob Zilla of Damageplan and Dimebag's brother Vinnie Paul will also take part in the event, which was orchestrated by Abbott's partner Rita Haney. The set is expected to pull strongly from Pantera's catalog. Dimebag Darrell, who called Dallas home, was shot and killed onstage by a deranged fan during a concert in December 2004.

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Song Stories

“Piano Man”

Billy Joel | 1973

Billy Joel’s first hit, “Piano Man,” was – ironically – an autobiographical lament about how his first album wasn’t a hit. When Cold Spring Harbor didn’t take off, Joel briefly became a lounge pianist in Los Angeles, and this song, about that experience, expressed his frustrations and fears at the time: “And they sit at the bar and put bread in my jar/And say, ‘Man, what are you doing here?’” “It was all right,” Joel said later, about the gig. “I got free drinks and union scale, which was the first steady money I’d made in a long time.”

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