Jeff Hanneman

Jeffrey John Hanneman (January 31, 1964 – May 2, 2013) was an American musician, best known as a founding member and guitarist of the thrash metal band Slayer.

Born in 1964 in Long Beach, California, Hanneman listened to heavy metal and hardcore punk in his childhood and adolescence.

Hanneman was born January 31, 1964, in Long Beach, California, and grew up there in a family containing several war veterans: his father fought in Normandy during World War II and his brothers in Vietnam, making warfare a common conversation topic at the dinner table.

War films were popular on TV at the time, and Hanneman often joined his brothers in constructing and coloring tank and plane models.

His interest in warfare and military history has been attributed to his upbringing.

He was working as a telemarketer in 1981 when he met Kerry King, with whom he founded Slayer.

He wrote the music for many of the band's most famous songs, such as "Angel of Death", "Raining Blood", and "Die by the Sword"; his own favorite album was Reign in Blood. His guitar riffs, inspired by metal and punk bands such as Led Zeppelin, Wasted Youth, and Iron Maiden, have been called some of the most famous in metal, while his dual guitar solos with King have attracted high praise.

A reserved character, Hanneman rarely gave interviews, and preferred to indulge his interest in German war medals and history.

In 1981, Hanneman, who was working as a telemarketer at the time, met Kerry King, when King was auditioning for a southern rock band called "Ledger".

King remembered: "As I was leaving, I saw Jeff just kinda standing around playing guitar, and he was playing stuff that I was into, like Def Leppard's 'Wasted' and AC/DC and Priest".

After the try-out session, the two guitarists started talking and playing Iron Maiden and Judas Priest songs.

Slayer was born when King asked "Why don't we start our own band?", to which Hanneman replied "Fuck yeah!"

Hanneman stated that he was playing guitar for a year by the time he met King and put an effort into improving his skills after watching him play.

Hanneman, who was heavily influenced by hardcore punk music, got the other members into the genre, leading Slayer into a faster and more aggressive approach.

The band's drummer Dave Lombardo asserted that his hardcore influences pushed him to play faster, contributing to shape his drumming style.

In 1984, Hanneman, Lombardo and Suicidal Tendencies guitarist Rocky George had a brief hardcore punk side project called "Pap Smear" – the band had many tracks and was due to start recording when Hanneman was advised to avoid the side project by Slayer's producer, Rick Rubin, who is quoted as saying "Aaaah, don't do it, man – this is the kind of thing that breaks bands up!"

and Hanneman took Rubin's advice.

Only a demo was recorded, consisting of Hanneman on vocals and bass, Lombardo on drums and George on guitar.

Hanneman said in 1987 that although he had begun reading the Satanic bible for lyrical inspiration, he was far from a Satanist.

He said his lyrics were typically antitheist in nature and that he hated the idea of Satanism as much as Christianity, calling them "the same thing".

"What we're attacking, in a roundabout way, is the Christian TV conmen. It's unbelievable, the amount of money stolen in the name of Jesus", Hanneman said.

While he conceded that much of the dark subject matter in his songs was "quite ridiculous", his extreme Satanic lyrics were ultimately "an easy way of offending people".

Hanneman took a lot of his lyrical inspiration from books he would read.

For example, he described the controversial song "Angel of Death" as "a history lesson" and that the song in no way implied he was a Nazi, saying "I'd read a lot about the Third Reich and was absolutely fascinated by the extremity of it all, the way Hitler had been able to hypnotize a nation and do whatever he wanted."

Later two of the songs were re-recorded on Slayer's 1996 album Undisputed Attitude.

Early in Slayer's career, Kerry King began to be heavily influenced by English black metal band Venom, and this influence had a big impact on Hanneman's songwriting as well.

In a 2009 interview with Decibel magazine, he stated his father is German, but fought for the Allied side in World War II.

In the same interview, he also goes into detail of what district of Germany his father and grandparents hail from.

His grandfather was fluent in German.

Hanneman was introduced to heavy metal music as a child through his older sister Mary, when she was listening to Black Sabbath at her house.

Once he reached high school, he discovered hardcore punk, which had a significant influence on his style and attitude.

A bout of necrotizing fasciitis in early 2011 left him battling serious health issues; he was replaced on Slayer's tours by guitarists including Gary Holt.

In early 2011, Hanneman contracted necrotizing fasciitis on one of his arms.

Reports linked this illness with a spider bite he claimed to have received while in a friend's hot tub.

Approximately one week later, an intoxicated Hanneman showed the arm to his wife, who recalled "...and I just freaked out when I saw (it). It was bright red and three times the normal size. I said, 'Jeff, we need to go now. We need to get you to the ER.' But all he wanted to do was go to bed and sleep...".

The following morning she convinced him to seek medical attention in Loma Linda and it was learned that amputation was one possible outcome.

At one point, Hanneman was placed in a medically-induced coma.

Prior to surgery, hospital staff informed his wife that he may not survive.

Hanneman composed both music and lyrics for every Slayer album until his death in 2013.

Hanneman died of liver failure on May 2, 2013.