Back in 1984, Pantera were still deep in their glam-metal days. Philip Anselmo had yet to join the band, and singer Terry Glaze — a David Lee Roth-style belter — was fronting the group. But Pantera's prodigious young shredder Diamond Darrell (he wouldn't become known as Dimebag until years later) would occasionally take on lead mic duties. Case in point, a 1984 performance in Lawton, Oklahoma, during which the Texan upstarts covered Metallica's "Seek & Destroy" with their 17-year-old guitarist on impressively solid vocals. Watch above.
Metallica, as well as their "Big 4" thrash peers Slayer, would have a huge influence on Pantera's evolution from hair-metal wailers to power-groove demolition crew. And Darrell would eventually go on to befriend his heroes in the band.
Pantera's guitarist was a "gigantic" Metallica fan, James Hetfield recently recalled in an interview with SiriusXM's Jose Mangin — and the feeling was mutual.
"Well, what a blessing to have been in his life and him in my life," the Metallica frontman said. "Yeah, some of those early days ... just traveling down there to the Dallas area and meeting with those guys and just hanging out.
"Dimebag introduced me to the solid state amp. I remember he had this freaking amazing crunch going on. It's like, 'What is that?' You know? So yeah, [we] inspired each other. He inspired me as well. No doubt."
