PHILIP ANSELMO: Every Action I Do, I Think Of DIMEBAG

Former PANTERA/current DOWN frontman Philip Anselmo has slammed VH1's "Behind the Music" special on PANTERA as "awful," claiming that "they glossed over everything that PANTERA did to and for metal."

The "Behind the Music" PANTERA episode, which had its premiere in May 2006, included interviews with the surviving members of PANTERA — Vinnie Paul Abbott (drums),Philip Anselmo and Rex Brown (bass) — along with appearances by Guy Sykes (tour manager),Walter O'Brien (manager),Terry Date (producer),about five members of PANTERA's/DAMAGEPLAN's crew, and Rita Haney ("Dimebag" Darrell Abbott's girlfriend).

In the November 2007 issue of Revolver magazine, Anselmo is asked about the song "Mourn" on the new DOWN album, which was reportedly written about late PANTERA/DAMAGEPLAN guitarist "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott (who was killed by a deranged fan in December 2004). "That's a very hard, hard song for me to really… honestly, the song speaks for itself," Anselmo replied. "It's about feeling isolated from my family in Texas, feelings about the obvious… deep, deep, deep feelings every day. You know, I've been very quiet ever since the incident, but it's all good. Everyone else has aired their laundry, like on VH1. I'm sorry, I thought what VH1 did was awful. They glossed over everything PANTERA did to and for metal, and not once… I'm not realy sure how it was put, but there was a segue or something that described [Darrell's] killer [Nathan Gale] as 'what many feel was a disgruntled fan angry that PANTERA had broken up.' But not once did they go into the psychology of the killing, and how he was dishonorably discharged [from the Marines], that his mother bought him the gun for Christmas because he was depressed, how he had been kicked out of the same club a weekend before for acting strange. He was going to shoot whoever, and it happened to be one of my best friends, one of my brothers, and one of the most beautiful people…

"I decided a while ago that, yes, absolutely there is a proper time to mourn, and that he deserves a celebration of his life, and that's the path that I've chosen. Every action I do, I think of him. Every pushup I do, I think of him. Every time I hit a line, or I'm working in the studio, I can hear him saying, 'You can do better.' So that's what gets me through the hard times, the trying times, is his positivity. And that's what I wanted to do with ['Down III']: to celebrate life."

For more information on Revolver magazine, visit RevolverMag.com.