Dimebag Darrell and Vinnie Paul were Nickelback Stans

Two bands you might not want or expect to think about at the same time are Nickelback and Pantera, but that doesn’t change with the fact that both Dimebag Darrell and Vinnie Paul were both fans of Nickleback and friends with the band.

Unlikely as it may seem, Darrell even collaborated with the band at one point, and an interview with Tommy Carroll of 97.9 WGRD reveals that Chad Kroeger loved how the brothers would stand up for his band and tell people they need to see them live before they jump on the Nickleback hate bandwagon.

“Vinnie Paul and Dimebag used to say all the time when the metal community would come down on those guys and be, like, ‘What’s with this love for Nickelback? I don’t get it.’ And they would defend us, and it was really, really lovely. They were, like, ‘Go watch ’em play, and then say they suck. Or then say something negative about them.’ Because my favorite thing is when someone comes to the show, and they go, ‘Honestly, I wouldn’t call myself a fan, but I would definitely go see that show again.’ I’m, like, ‘I’ll take that. I’ll take that all day long. That’s a hell of a compliment.’”

Kroeger also talked about how hard it was when Dimebag was taken too soon back in 2004, something we can all relate to, even if we can’t relate to the Nickleback love

“That one hurt,” he says. “I had a tough time—really tough time—with that one for such a long time. You’d see him on (the cover of) a guitar magazine or something like that, and I’d be standing there in a grocery store.

“And my girlfriend would go to pull me. She’s, like, ‘C’mon, let’s go.’ And she can’t move me. And then she looks over, and there’s just tears streaming down my face. And I’m, like, ‘Ugh.’ And she’s, like, ‘Do you wanna go home?’ And I’m, like, ‘Yup. I wanna go home right now.’”

So there you have it, folks—Dimebag and Vinnie really were angels, even down to defending everyone’s least favorite band.