Crazy Days and Nights: Jeff Hanneman Has Died

Friday, May 03, 2013

Jeff Hanneman Has Died

Guitarist Jeff Hanneman, a co-founder of the heavy metal band Slayer, died in southern California on Thursday, the band said in a statement posted on their website. He was 49. Jeff died of liver failure after a spider bite which started eating his flesh from within.

46 comments:

libby6:54 AM
The rumor I heard is that a compromised liver (years of abuse) made his liver more likely to fail, and that for most people the spider bite wouldn't be that bad.

So be careful out there, my beloved CDaN drunkards, with your stumbling and spider-baiting.

RIP Jeff Hanneman.
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Anonymous6:57 AM
Good point Libby. Seems odd that spider bite would equal liver failure. That is a pretty unusual way to go. Rest in Peace.
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Pip6:59 AM
What a horrible way to go!
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8====D KermitGossnellKnobjob7:00 AM
Rest in Peace, sweet angel (of death).
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Jessica7:03 AM
That is absolutely a rumor libby - he lost a large chunk of his arm from the spider bite and nearly died from it when it happened. You can see a picture of him and area he had skin grafts in GIS. He was basically pumped full of drugs for 2 years because of it. Not that his drinking helped, but he pretty much lost his career because of that bite and was still in rehab to even learn to play guitar again.
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Ms Cool7:08 AM
What the hell kind of spider?!
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Unknown7:16 AM
So sad.
I have been a Slayer fan since I was a kid. I have been listening to "Raining Blood" this morning, and it makes me remember just how much I love them.
RIP
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Jessica7:17 AM
Does this sound like it "wouldn't be that bad" for most people and that is was more to do with his "years of abuse" from a "compromised liver"?

Slayer Guitarist Jeff Hanneman: Spider Bite Nearly Killed Me
by jon Wiederhorn December 16, 2011 10:00 AM

“I was an hour away from death,” Slayer guitarist Jeff Hanneman tells UK’s Classic Rock magazine about the infected spider bite that has kept him off the road since January.

Hanneman was relaxing in a hot tub drinking beer when he saw the bite on his arm. “[I] didn’t even feel it,” he recalls. “But an hour away later, I knew that I was ill… I could see the flesh corrupting. The arm was real hot.”

An ambulance rushed the guitarist to the hospital and he was diagnosed him with necrotizing fasciitis, a bacterial infection in the skin and arm. Realizing the severity of the condition, doctors immediately underwent surgery to remove the dead and dying tissue, saving the muscles and tendons in Hanneman’s arm, but leaving him with an open wound that has required extensive skin grafts over a two month period. Hanneman has also been on heavy doses of antibiotics to heal the infection.

The rehabilitation process was grueling for the guitarist, who couldn’t stand for a month and suffered weakening in all the muscles in his muscles and tendons of his infected arm. “It’s the kind of thing I might have written a song about,” Hanneman said. “Everything that could go wrong this year did, but you know, it turned out okay. Satan had my back.”

While Hanneman was incapacitated, Exodus guitarist Gary Holt filled in for him on tour, including the Big 4 shows. The guitarist is currently undergoing physical rehabilitation to strengthen the arm and says he’s on the mend. But he didn’t indicate how long it would be until he’s ready to rejoin Slayer.

Drummer Dave Lombardo has said on his Facebook page that the band is currently working on the follow up to ‘World Painted Blood,’ but Tom Araya told Billboard.com that the band will not enter the studio until Hanneman is fully recovered.
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Brooke7:19 AM
@ Ms Cool - maybe a brown recluse? Those things are deadly, and they will give you an infection that eats away at the bite from the inside. It gives you a bulls-eye like mark and they have a little brown violin-like mark on their thorax. I am terrified of those things, because they are everywhere in the US and so many people die if the bite isn't treated properly.
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libby7:22 AM
Jessica--I meant that a well-functioning liver could have processed the poison better. Helping process poison= NOT rotting your flesh.

I wasn't blaming him, I was trying to explain why this is such an odd way to go around here.
A nutcase friend on FB was freaking out, thinking it must be Fukushima-mutated spiders on a rampage, and our mutual RN friend directed her to info about WHY spider bites kill, when they do, how. How rare it is in this country, with the species we have & hospital access everywhere, etc.

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Pip7:25 AM
I don't think they know what kind of spider it was.
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libby7:26 AM
My friend deleted her freak-out post, sorry. I guess you can google how spider bites normally only affect people who are old/ young, or compromised.
Seriously, I did not mean to insult him, you're obviously a fan.

If you 'knew' me around here better, you'd probably 'know' that I'm the LAST person who would shame someone for mental health struggles like addiction. Sheesh.

------

I'm gone for the day, ladies. My BF is awake. May be back for photos!
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All about Eve7:26 AM
Sad, that's a horrible way to go
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Jessica7:29 AM
No you didn't insult him, you just put it out there right at the beginning that it was basically his own fault.
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martadore7:31 AM
Metal blog The Gauntlet quotes a "source" that says he died from alcohol abuse and not the spider bite - click here
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MadLyb7:34 AM
Too young to die. :(
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Ms Cool7:46 AM
Can't handle the spider stuff. Stay away from woodpiles and outhouses. Argh!
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Ms Cool7:46 AM
Oh, and sorry not to be respectful on a RIP thread. He was very young to die.
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Unknown7:56 AM
The type of spider is irrelevant. That condition is caused by bacteria; not venom. Any type of wound, including insect bites, can lead to the infection, assuming the bacteria is present. As for the liver failure, I'm guessing a combination of beer with massive amounts of antibiotics and pain relievers. Tylenol and alcohol is a nasty combination.
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Unknown7:57 AM
Oh yeah, and SLAYER RULES!
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annabella8:05 AM
may he rest in peace. what a horrible thing to happen.
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Its just U8:17 AM
R.I.P. Jeff. I am truly devastated. I love that band in a way only other metal heads understand.
He was a truly nice guy and family man.
I hung out with him and can tell you from personal experience that he was no addict, just enjoyed his beers.
My man has worked with Slayer many times and knows them well. He is gutted today.
On and on South of Heaven. Legends never die. Thanks for the riff man.
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Rosie riveter8:22 AM
Hey Jessica, cool down. Libbys right, a compromised liver would most certainly function differently than a healthy liver. Rest easy knowing your beloved slayer player is ensconced in the burning arms of satans lair. sweet sweet rest. aahhh
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di butler8:36 AM
Poor dude! RIP, man. Now I have something new to add to my parnoias and fears of flesh eating and necrotizing ailments. So awful seeing people around my age or younger die. :(
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HannahBanana8:37 AM
Terrible news....:( RIP Jeff.
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Tempestuous Grape8:50 AM
RIP Jeff - Season in the Abyss was a great album.
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Tempestuous Grape8:52 AM
Seasons...ssssssssss
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OKay9:42 AM
Get off your soapbox, Jessica. When you abuse your body for decades, it doesn't work properly anymore. Fact.
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Jenna10:15 AM
Seriously folks, don't screw around with spiders and keep a careful eye out for them.

Over the last 4 years I got hit bad a few times. First a mass of wolf spiders chewed up the back of my upper thigh while camping then the year after a brown recluse bite went necrotic and dang near killed me with the cascading body systems failing. Not quite sure what made the spider people declare a junta on my butt - but whatever their reason, I now feel fully justified for screaming like a 1950's sitcom housewife (complete with table standing and mass flailing) when I see one. Lost 4 years, gained massive nerve damage, and generally have to restart my life again. It's not an easy thing to manage so my heart goes out to his family. It seriously sucks that something so small can take a grown person out.
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Andy10:34 AM
Jeff was a legendary drunk, often performing in that state. His bout with flesh-eating bacteria had zero to do with his liver, it was his drinking. Even die-hard Slayer fans noted in his final years with the band before the bite he was fat, flabby and horribly sloppy on stage.
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Pip10:36 AM
The spider bite caused his death, not any past substances he took. He more than likely would still be alive if he was never bitten. I don't know why people are basically putting the fault on him for allegedly being into drugs in the past. He's dead, his drug history, or lack thereof, is a moot point.
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Sherry10:47 AM
Wow Jenna! That is a horrifying story. Interestingly experts say that the Brown Recluse isn't as far west as CA but I call bullshit on that. Too many stories from people who have so obviously been bit by them.

By the way, I just Googled necrotizing faciitis. DON'T DO IT unless you want to see pictures. They even have them on Wiki.Ugh.
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Jenna11:09 AM
@Sherry - not sure how far west they have gone, but here in Northern Ohio I had a doctor insist we didn't HAVE any at all, couldn't be it.... until we handed a bunch of them over. That was likely the fastest I have ever shut another human up, ever. I got lucky, while my arm got disgusting for about a year (seriously girl. WHY would you Google that? I ~HAD~ it and I won't look. I basically had to keep it covered from myself the whole time - tough on a forearm! - or I'd make myself ill! Why on earth would you do that to yourself! Go... look at kitten videos on Youtube for a while to get the brain bleach going!) it's also gotten better at last. The skin feels different then the other arm and I will never tan on the side again, but at last their IS skin there and I CAN use it. It was touch and go for a long time. It also kicked of shingles (I was 29 at the start, so... not the 'normal' age for THAT) and a bunch of other crap.

And for the record for the folks who seem to be banging on his addictions? Other then the odd glass of mead (I'm a Rennie) and WAY too much caffeine, I don't really drink. Don't do any illegal, am ALLERGIC to weed. I'm a 6'2 Amazon who takes care of her body - and a critter smaller then the a quarter, who got me while I was working felling trees with my hubby for our home woodburner need.... damn near took me out. I'm a literal shadow of myself, and I still get stuck on bedrest and chairrest. Likely? I'll never be as strong and able as I was. The doctors, to my irritation, still volunteer labels like 'Disabled' - mainly for the heart valve damage the toxin did as well - but I've resisted thus far. Did Jeff do damage to himself? Sure. But that isn't necessarily what killed him. I think it's just too scary to face that something so small, something so outside of your control, in just a moment, can take you out of the game permanently so instead there needs to be the comfort of "Well, it only happened to him because HE did THIS to himself, ~I~ don't so ~I~ am safe." to deal.

And... ah. Sorry. Life is just tough and crap out of nowhere can end it. Or at least make you slog through the upper rings of hell for a few years.... or life.
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califblondy11:16 AM
Wow Jenna, that's awful.
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chopchop11:41 AM
Oh. My. God. You should see the look on my face as I'm reading this stuff about spider bites. HORRIBLE.
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Ashlea12:04 PM
I saw Slayer a few years ago with Lamb of God. It was one of the best shows I've ever been to. Metal is sex, drugs and rock and roll. 90% of these guys party hard and if you live by the sword, you die by the sword. A true legend gone too soon, RIP.
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Meanie Rhysie1:12 PM
IJU <3
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Maja With a J2:29 PM
RIP Jeff. Thanks for all the shredding.
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Jenn4:09 PM
Spiders have always terrified me, stories like this are but a small part of the reason why. I watched some show on Nat Geo that said once the spider bites, it puts in this pheromone that signals other spiders to come bite you. Basically it hangs up an Eat at Jenn's sign. Just hell no!

Glad to hear all your recovery stories, and sorry about the death of the Slayer guitar legend. RIP.
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NaughtyNurse4:18 PM
From what I have read, it is unclear what caused his liver to fail. It is possible the spider bite "contributed" to the liver failure, but there has not been an autopsy to determine what happened. The spider bite was in 2011, and he has had medical problems ever since.
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SugaMama8:19 AM
STFU Jessica. Grow up
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Brian5:26 PM
I was bitten by a spider on my finger last night. It started to burn and swell as incredible pain shot up my arm. I immediately thought of the brown recluse spider and was "oh, shit, there goes my hand." I was getting ready to go to the hospital and suddenly the pain went away and the swelling subsided. I can't even begin to explain the sense of relief.
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