Product Description

Dimebag Darrell He Came To Rock biography/picture book, with bonus Dimevision DVD!



He Came To Rock follows Dime from his roots growing up in the household of a working-class musician to his success as a much-loved and world renowned rock guitar God. From deep in the heart of Texas to the Monsters of Rock concert to Ozzfest 2000 to MTV s Headbangers Ball you re there every step of the way.



Join Dime in the early 1980 s with his first band, Pantera, and stay with him through his final tour in 2004 with his last band Damageplan. Always, humble, always crazy, always the best at what he did, he remains burned in our minds and in our hearts a rock God for the ages. But most importantly the echoes of his live music in the countless bands and guitar slingers who remained inspired by his genius.



The book features over 400 color pictures, and takes you backstage and behind the scenes with Dime and Vinnie, including never before seen pictures of the early years of Pantera!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #149442 in Books
• Brand: Universal Studios
• Published on: 2008-11
• Released on: 2008-11-18
• Formats: Best of, DVD, NTSC
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback

Customer Reviews

A Big Letdown
After anxiously waiting for this book to come out, I have to say I'm very disappointed. First impressions do matter and in this case they blew it big time. For a book that is supposed to be "the" tribute, they could have done much better. It starts with the cover. They take a beautiful cover photo of Dime and make it look like a tabloid magazine; surrounding it with cheap, "Heavy Metalish" fonts and a glaring "bonus DVD" pitch at the bottom of the cover giving it a cartoon-like feel. It looks more like a "How To Shred Like Dimebag" guitar tab book, rather than a biographical tribute. As for being a biography of Dimebag, hardly. I was left wanting much more. There are some cool photos but beyond that, there's really nothing new. It read like an advertisement for Dean Guitars and self-serving pitches for Vinnie Paul Abbott and Rita Haney. I mean, seriously, who cares if Rita helped Dimebag design a guitar headstock; so what, whoopdefreakingdo! Yes, some great photos are included, but I didn't find one single interesting, cool, or fascinating shred of new insight that I believe even the most passive Pantera/Dime fan didn't already know. And I found it shameful that Phil Anselmo and Rex Brown were rarely mentioned or shown in photos despite being a very important part of Dimebag's famous life in Pantera. As for Damageplan, the book tends to exaggerate the popularity of the band and sugar coats most every facet of Dime's post-Pantera years. Yeah, it's a bummer. The "official" Dimebag book is pretty much just rehashed stories, anecdotes and yarns that present a very sanitized PG rated view of Dimebag Darrell Abbott. I have to agree with another reviewer. If you want a good read that's Dimebag related get a copy of the book "A Vulgar Display of Power" by Chris Armold. Wow, talk about a powerful book. This book is endorsed in "He Came To Rock" as being a detailed account of Dimebag's murder in Columbus, Ohio. That is true, but it's that and more. There are real in-depth bios about all the other people that were killed that horrific night. I sure hope that someone actually writes an in-depth biography on Dimebag Darrell Abbott, because this isn't it. While it's nice to flip through and check out the photos, it is not the substantial read I was hoping for. You can read the book in two hours and at almost $30, I'd recommend the library. I was very dissatisfied.

Sub-par
While I love picking up whatever new Dimebag gear comes out from Big Vin Records, I am continually let down by the poor quality of the design and packaging. This book, despite plenty of awesome Dimebag photos and some decent written content, looks like it was put out by a bootlegger with an archaic computer and no design sense whatsoever (either that or someone from Hit Parader was hired to design it). With the mountains upon mountains of Dimebag material that Vinnie Paul is sitting on in combination with thousands of talented graphic designers available, the potential for awesome products is immense.

PLEASE Vinnie Paul, spend a little more time and money on the packaging and design, and put out a QUALITY product worthy to carry Dimebag's name and image. Making this book was a good idea, but the final product falls short big time.

BOOK...... MORE A MAGAZINE !
Im a big fan of metal and happy to say the i saw PANTERA at least 5 times in the begining of the 90's. I was I wWas somewhat happy with the dvd Vinnie Paul came out with (i like better the PANTERA home video's) DIMEVISION so for sure I was going to give this book a shot. 1st off, i read this book in one afternoon. This is not a bio at all. There is different articles and stories with lots of pics.I find that it read like a magazine more then anything. I would recommend 'A Vulgar Display Of Power: Courage and Carnage At The Alrosa Villa by Chris Armold' instead. One thing that is good about this purchase though is the fact that it comes with the dvd DIMEVISION with some 'xtra footage'. Now if you wanna buy this for the ' xtra footage'..... dont ! Its a funny bit (10 min max) + a video for the rebels meets rebels album. Their is an other book coming out on april 6th 2009 : Black Tooth Grin: The High Life, Good Times, and Tragic End of "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott. I think as of yet, there is not a definitive book about Dimebag.