ImReadyToQuit

Jeffrey John "Jeff" Hanneman (January 31, 1964 - May 2, 2013)[1] was a rhythm/lead guitarist and founding member of the American thrash metal band Slayer.

Hanneman died on May 2, 2013 near his Southern California home. He was in a local hospital and suffered liver failure.

Drank himself to death.. It's a shame.

ElegantlyWasted

Rip

Readysteady

What?! I knew he had problems from a spider bite and heard he was doing better. That really is a shame. The latest photo's of him, he didn't look too bad. Guess you never know.

And it hit me when I read it cause apparently my brother is dying from liver failure. (he says he is, and is showing signs of it). STILL waiting for him to get his a** in to figure out what's goin on!

KissMyTiara

I also thought his liver and other complications were from the 2011 spider bite, not the drink.

ImReadyToQuit

Nah.. He's went downhill fast on alcohol the last 6 months.. But he's been drinking for 30 years..

Zebra1275

R.i.p.

Vandermast

It is open to speculation but either way its a tremendous loss....30 years of boozing would kill most mortals.hannemans playing was inspired by the infernal and was a thing of gnarled and malignant beauty.rest in peace

Drexo

RIP Jeff... It was a big inspiration for me in my younger years of playing guitar.

flutter

Super sad.. A Slayer bumper sticker was the first one I stuck on my first car..oh, 22 years ago.

Mad4Chaos

I had several Slayer t-shirts in the late 80's until I moved in with a girl friend (she wasn't a fan, said you can't dance to that crap). She did my laundry one day & 'poof' they disappeared. How odd. Lol

This semi-retired head banger probably has some hearing damage from jamming to Slayer in high school. The Slayer/Pantera concert I went to was awesome. Spider bite or not, like Vandermast said, 30 years of touring has got to be hard on the body. You know you're getting old when your teenage metal gods start dying.

Forward12

The statement given is liver failure from a spider bite, though it seems suspicious that it may have actually been alcohol related, is still a great loss to the pioneer of one the most influential bands of all time.

Readysteady

Maybe it was the combo of the spider bite and alcohol. Similar to alcohol and other combos.

AnotherPaul

Hell of a guitar player. Hope he's in a more peaceful existence now.

Petewill

yeah. i grew up listening to Slayer and he is one of my biggest guitar influences....... RIP Jeff..

zeddex

Slayer was hugely important to me as a teenager onwards. They encapsulated and spoke to my post punk aggressive anger and rebellion perfectly. I am 44 now and almost 500 days sober. I would never say that Slayer caused me to drink, but there were definitely in the top 5 reinforcements of my partying ways in the mid-80s. I don't hold that against them at all nor do I regret my partying and rebellious youth. I do know, that for me, alcohol took a decidedly downward turn for me in my 30s onward and became unmanageable. What was previously FTW devil-may-care behavior slowly became an all encompassing crutch that was negatively affecting my heath, family, forward momentum and overall enjoyment of life. As someone who is still aware of what Slayer is up to, it pains me to see a polite "respectful" whitewash of his cause of death. Why we, as a society always feel the need to avoid honesty when dealing with these things will always baffle me. Its never an either/or situation. People can be good people with amazing talents and have flaws. Just because Jeff Hanneman was an alcoholic does't mean he was any less of a good person with an amazing talent that contributed to peoples lives. From where I am sitting (based on several interviews with band members and close friends over the last 3 years), Hanneman got an injury and neglected it long enough that it became life threateningly severe. Its never really even been confirmed that a spider bit him, thats just assumption. By all accounts he was clear of the life threatening skin disease more than a year ago. Its also clear by all accounts, that he went through a messy divorce in 2011 and started dating the guitarist from Nashville *****. He neglected his rehab and his band to go on the road and party with his new girlfriend. It sounds to me like life got to him and his drinking took over. Was he tired of the pressure of being ion a band for 30 years? Possibly, who knows……He stopped communicating with Slayer and there are many rumors of his drinking attaining severe levels. His overload of treatment antibiotics paired with heavy drinking trashed his liver. He was reportedly aware of his liver disease and had recently been 2 months sober in order to get on a doner list (This is total rumor, but it makes sense). So, rumor and conjecture aside, the obituaries saying he specifically got a spider bite, was still fighting it as he was busy writing songs for Slayer and died with his wife by his side seem sadly inaccurate to me. As a longtime fan, its important to me to know that someone I looked up to drank himself to death…..it doesn't detract from his positives at all, but its important to understand that we are all capable of destroying amazing things in our lives with alcohol. Whitewashing human flaws seems like it does an extreme disservice to the community at large in service of some vague notion of "respecting the dead." I also find it weird that the mere mention of this sends some people into offended apoplectic rage - Hannemen was just a person like anyone else at the end of the day. Someone I still respect (albeit with sadness), flaws and all. Just my 2 cents. RIP Jeff Hanneman!

zeddex

Case in point - I just saw pictures from Gary Holt's (Current Hanneman Slayer replacement guitarist) memorial for Jeff Hannemen. Everyone is hoisting Jaeger shots in his honor. Kerry King was on the Golden Gods Metal Awards last week hoisting and drinking two Jaeger shots in Hanneman's honor. Now, I'm not advocating for some endless sobriety lecture every time Hanneman's name is mentioned. People should remember him positively while having fun in whatever way they see fit…..and he liked to drink and thats fine I suppose. It just seems that whitewashing his death enables everyone to just gloss right over a potential learning/teaching moment. Fun memories and learning moments can successfully co-exist.

Forward12

New info has been released that is was in fact liver failure from alcohol.

Yet another life lost far too early from the poison,..

ImReadyToQuit

Slayer's Jeff Hanneman Death Due To Alcohol-Related Cirrhosis | Billboard

Rubysoho

this is so sad. I'm a punk, but I love metal too. It's so sad to see such talented people die of alcohol at any age, but he was relatively young and that is a tragedy. I have to say this story has scared the **** out of me! When you hang around in certain cultures, heavy drinking is overlooked. And in some cases encouraged. I damaged my liver aged 27, thankfully its repairable but I seem to be having a flare up at 8months sober at the moment. When I go to shows I think I'm missing out cos everyone else is drinking.
But this just brings home to me, that none of us are invincible (even if we think we are) and I am so sorry for his family, his band and the metal community. RIP.