Most rock lovers would associate KISS and Pantera by genre alone, but the makeup-clad four-piece and Pantera’s original guitarist Dimebag Darrell have a surprisingly morbid connection that transcends mortal things like Billboard charts and concert venues.
After a mentally unstable fan shot and killed Dimebag, born Darrell Lance Abbott, during a December 2004 concert in Columbus, Ohio, Abbott’s family had one parting wish for the late musician that only fellow rock ‘n’ rollers KISS could fulfill.
KISS’ Final Send-Off to Dimebag Darrell
Pantera frontman Dimebag Darrell greatly admired KISS, which preceded Darrell’s band by almost a decade. The guitarist had an image of KISS guitarist Ace Frehley tattooed on his chest, and both bands performed together in the past. Following his senseless murder in the early 2000s, Abbott’s family asked KISS if they could provide a unique piece of band merchandise for the funeral: a Kiss Kasket.
KISS first licensed the Kiss Kasket as merchandise in 2001. The functional casket featured images of all four band members with their trademark logo, decorative flames, and the musicians’ signatures. Although the band initially used the eccentric merchandise as a promotional tool, it took on a new meaning when Abbott’s family asked if they could bury him in one of the caskets.
“I think it meant a lot to Darrell,” KISS frontman Gene Simmons said during an appearance on Fox News’ The Big Story: Weekend Edition with Rita Cosby (via Blabbermouth). “When he was alive, he gave lots of people great joy. I mean, he had the band tattooed onto his chest. He was a major figure in rock and roll. He’s going to be greatly missed. The family wish—you know, the one last wish they had—was that he be buried in a Kiss Kasket.”
“I had a few different kinds of Kiss Kaskets, and I actually sent one from my collection,” Simmons later added in a 2023 interview.
The Impact Of Dimebag Darrell’s Death On The Music Community
Dimebag Darrell and his brother, Vinnie Paul Abbott, disbanded Pantera in 2003 and formed a new band, Damageplan, months later. Some theories suggest the Pantera breakup upset Dimebag Darrell’s mentally unstable killer so much that he decided to murder the guitarist in the middle of his performance at the Columbus nightclub. The public, violent killing had fans and musicians alike reeling.
“It’s about as shocking as it can get,” Simmons said during his Fox interview. “The unfortunate thing is that the media will tend to look at the visuals—you know, the flying hair and the crazy look and all of the over-the-top stuff—which is what performing is all about. But people forget that underneath all of that, Darrell was a very, very sweet guy, very upstanding, very quiet in his own way, immensely talented. And I’m sure all the fans are going to miss him very much. I know I do.”
Heavy metal drummer Vinnie Paul struggled with whether to return to music following his brother’s death. Eventually, he formed a band called Hellyeah and released six studio albums before he died on June 22, 2018, from natural causes. Paul, too, chose a Kiss Kasket as his final resting place. His family interred the rock legend at Moore Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Arlington, Texas, beside Dimebag.
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