DEAR DEAN GUITARS: STOP MILKING DIMEBAG’S DEATH, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD AND PANTERA

It has to be said: before Dimebag Darrel died, Dean Guitars was nothing. Since their heyday in the early ’80s, the company has been a running joke in the music industry, their most prominent supporter Michael Angelo Batio, himself something of a running joke. Attendees as the annual Winter NAMM show in Anaheim could count on two things from Dean at their booth; hot chicks with enormous silicone breasts, and a live performance from Batio and his double-neck axe, complete with mullet and over-under ridiculousness. The guitars? An afterthought. But all that changed when Dimebag, a Dean supporter himself, died in 2004.

Dimebag is now the company’s poster-child, co-opted by the marketing department for the sake of selling guitars. Their NAMM booth is adorned with posters of him on every surface; a giant video screen showing Dimevision highlights runs on repeat all day long. The Dean official website splash page features Dime waxing about his Dean. Dean has just released the 5,697th version of the Dime Razorback guitar. And guitarists in metal bands the world over are using Dean guitars, thanks to the company hawking Dimebag’s name at every opportunity possible.

This desecration of Dimebag has got to stop. It’s getting ridiculous. Good for Dean Guitars for reviving their image; really, good for them, they make some fine guitars. But drop the Dime worship already. Enough is enough. It’s akin to bands still covering “Walk” and having the crowd chant “Dime-bag! Dime-bag!” at every show just to get everyone riled up. Stop it. You’re killing Dimebag’s legacy. It must end. Now.

-VN