No joke, I legitimately saw some YouTube comment at some point that said "If he said black power no one would be complaining", and like yeah no shit, because these have different connotations. Some people's attempts at playing "neutral" is laughable.

This was a long time ago. Everyone knows his and Pantera's history. All the members were redneck racists. Doesn't mean they shouldn't be able to perform. If people don't like it...don't go.

No. There should be consequences to being a racist dipshit. Phil fucked around, now he is finding out.

OK. Then the consequences should be...don't book any band he's in. Why book Pantera and get 1000's of fans super excited? Then...nah...Phil is racist...canceling their gig. Phil, Vinnie, Diamond, Rex...I'm sure they are/were all racist rednecks. But, you know/knew that. It wasn't hidden.

You'll find that businesses, whose interest it is to make money, will be reluctant to take stands like that if they've already got something going that is making money and distancing themselves from it would mean that they lose money. Only when the complaints start rolling in will they reluctantly take the stand that they should have in the first place, if they do at all.

This.

If Pantera is getting dropped it's not because anyone had a sudden change of heart. It's purely, 100% because they don't like the bad press and are scared that it might have a negative effect on their profits.

Vinnie, Rex and Dimebag did not go on stage and make racist statements and shout "white power". This is not ambiguous at all. Phil did as late as 2016.

Diamond was all about the Confederate Flag. So was Vinnie. Not sure on Rex.

Not to defend Malevolent Creation or anything, but there is some context here that is missing.

You need to be old enough to know what "The Grimoire of Exalted Deeds" zine was. This was not a normal journalistic publication, it was itself an entirely quasi-satirical 'zine that went into every possible absurd direction for the sake of humour (and deflating the seriousness of the scene and the artists) - mind you in a way that perhaps today would not be found humorous at all, but that was a totally different time. In every interview they pushed bands as absolutely far as they could to say the most ridiculous self-parodying things, and bands went along with it for the sake of it... I think the only person who didn't "get" it was Glen Benton during a Deicide interview where he got really angry at the interviewer.

I'm not saying that this is a clear example of Phil Fasciana engaging in hyperbole on purpose for the sake of the zine, because it's possible that he meant every word he said. But given that those lines appeared in THAT zine IN PARTICULAR, and nowhere else, to me, is not a smoking gun

^

Dude, IDGAF!

Save it for someone that cares. You wrote all that to arrive at the conclusion that Phil F still meant every racist shit he spewed. As if the lyrics to "They Breed" weren't enough. "Smoking gun"? Who asked for it? Y'all love being argumentative, it's weird.

...and here we go...



They didn't go on stage saying racist shit, Phil A did. Either you can't tell the difference in scenarios and imagine everyone's as dense as you are or you're just being argumentative...also they're dead!

As someone who's never been more than a luke-warm Pantera fan I really don't get the uproar about the non-Phil being an idiot aspect of this reunion. It's extremely common for touring bands to feature touring musicians that aren't the integral / original members. Just take a look at almost any classic rock band's current lineup. The shows are generally still very good and they aren't protested as being cover bands. I've never seen Pantera live and I think with the type of tech arenas, stadiums, and big festivals provide these songs will sound quite good live with a guitarist of ZW's ability.

As for Phil's blunders, they are completely indefensible, but if he disavows any racist beliefs / ideology as his current self I think he should be able to perform live.

Well, they didn't do anything in their powers to stop him for the whole tour of 1995, so they pretty much were ok with this.

Anyway, these cancellations would only be acceptable if their justification said "we're kicking you off our multi-million dollar billing because you're lacking artistic integrity".

Or he blindsided them and went off track. Do you think he ran his rants by them before getting on stage lol? He always came off as the loosest of loose cannons and pretty sure no one could talk an ego as unhinged and as big as Phil Anselmo's out of anything.

Also, they are dead! This was in response (and not support of the Abbotts) to DemonFilth2001 who kept insisting we should be okay with Phil's racist rants if we were okay with Dimebag's confederate guitar all those years ago. Which is a really stupid fucking take.

For one thing, Pantera was Dime and Vinnie's band. What if David Lee Roth and Michael Anthony reunited without Alex Van Halen (and obviously without Eddie) and still called themselves Van Halen? I think that would be in pretty poor taste too.

The problem was the two living members (moreso Rex than Phil) talked endless amount of shit about Vinnie and Dime. Even after death. After reading his book I went from respecting Rex to wanting an Anvil dropped on his head. (not a typo, I want Lips Kudlow, Robb Reiner, and whatever bassist they're ripping off to fall on his head. Robb Reiner's fatass alone would crush him like that cargo container from Lethal Weapon II). I believe I've explained my branding issue earlier in the thread.



You've answered your own question.

Haha!!!

Awesome.

Regardless of what Phil said in the past...I don't agree with him...promoters shouldn't book them if they're gonna just fold to some stupid complaints.

US tour is gonna be amazing. Fingers crossed for a tune or two off of Power Metal!!!!

Why would you ever think that was going to happen?

Was my understanding that nothing was played from the early albums due to Vinnie (primarily) and Diamond. With those two gone, why not play some tunes off the Phil album? People would love it.

Why are you using a name he hasn't been referred to as in 30 years?

Because he's a tryhard kid and I've already explained how he's got basically everything completely wrong but apparently all of that has just bounced right the fuck off him.

Reminder: Dime and Vinnie would laugh and say they looked dumb in spandex before gushing over how they're such huge KISS fanboys if the glam era got brought up. Phil was the guy who would get combative and insist that CFH was always Pantera's debut, because pre-internet it was really fuckin' hard to check that sort of thing.

This thread is still dumb as fuck. I can't wait for the whole ass tour to just be called off so I can finally lock this ruinous clownfire.

Lmao!

Even when you think about defending Phil, there's super embarrassing stuff like this:

And what a surprise, another nazi salute at the end.

It's like a drunk dude at a party doing WWE trash talk impersonations

Phil is fat.

Yelling "White power" at the same time. Uh, it's almost like he is actually a racist.

So hammered some guy has to come over and tell him the shows over and take the mic from him.

stage banter was a mistake

Type O Negative's Johnny Kelly, even

JK had some serious second hand embarrassment there. Nice of him to try to calm him down and escort his BS off stage. White wine! Lamest excuse ever! It’s like an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm!

Years ago I would have had a big problem with a band reuniting without two of their essential members. Today I honestly don't care. From the live footage I've seen the band sounds great and the crowd seems to have a really good time. That's more than enough for me.

As for Phil, he's always been an addict who has said and done stupid things. Often embarrassing himself with drunk rants and actions. He's lost in the fog.

Yeah, no. Making an ass of yourself because you're drunk is a thing. Throwing Nazi salutes and yelling white power is another.

I think both can be true here. No doubt that Phil is a racist prick but I'm willing to bet he'd be a lot quieter about it if he wasn't such an unpredictable addict.

Not an excuse obviously but I'm willing to bet there are tons of racists and reactionaries playing in great bands that we just don't know about because they have enough impulse control to shut the fuck up about it.

Yeah, they aren't mutually exclusives, but one if obviously worst then the other. I mean, it must have sucked to be in the audience during Abbath's last tour, as he was often so wasted he couldn't play and had to leave in the middle of the set. But it's nowhere near as despicable as Phil being a white supremacist.

Cant wait to see this incarnation in San Diego in August right on the weekend of my birthday. Say what you will about whatever the fuck people are talking about in this thread, i cant wait to hear this shit live. See you guys in the pit!

Philip H. Anselmo is a racist clown! Sorry but the music and the sound of jumping up and down in the ruckus pit won't drown out that fact.

Sweet! Thank you, King_of_Arnor, 4 telling me this! I'm going to work on getting some tickets now. Chances are, here in Virginia USA, the closet place to where I live where they will most likely be performing will probably be down in the Portsmouth-Virginia Beach-Hampton Area. Pantera has always been one of my top favorite bands; I always thought Phil Anselmo and Rex Brown to be very raw. Although I've always enjoyed all 9 of their old studio albums, I believe that VULGAR DISPLAY OF POWER stands out to me the most. Dimebag Darrell (1966 - 2004): It's been almost TWENTY years since your untimely demise; may you continue to Rest In Peace as most of us remember you.

I'm no concert person but I also would like to see them. It's that kind of music that just works so well in a live setting. I was gonna see them in 2001 but they cancelled because of the terrorist attacks.

Phil can go fuck himself, but even without that, seeing them with half of the lineup different wouldn't be appealing unless the tickets were $40 or less.